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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/21128-8.txt b/21128-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..30a371e --- /dev/null +++ b/21128-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,28746 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2), by +James Gillespie Blaine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2) + From Lincoln to Garfield, with a Review of the Events Which + Led to the Political Revolution of 1860 + +Author: James Gillespie Blaine + +Release Date: April 17, 2007 [EBook #21128] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY YEARS OF CONGRESS *** + + + + +Produced by Ed Ferris + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Right-hand-page heads have been set right-justified before the + appropriate paragraphs. + + Footnotes are at the end of the chapter. Asterisks have been added to + show where the notes occur in the text (unless at end of chapter). + Four notes from the Errata to Vol. I (in Vol. II) have been added, and + the other corrections indicated there made. + + The statistical tables in the Appendices have been rearranged for + .TXT format, using long lines when required and joining tables + split across pages. + + Lines set as caps and small caps have been transcribed as upper-and- + lower-case (except some table headings). + + The typographic fist is transcribed by the right guillamet (»). + + LoC call number: E661.B6 v.1 + + 2nd proof completed Apr. 11th, 2007. + Errata corrected Apr. 13th. + Submitted Apr. 13th. + + +[Frontispiece: v1.jpg] + +[Signature] James G. Blaine + + +TWENTY YEARS OF CONGRESS: +FROM +LINCOLN TO GARFIELD. +WITH A REVIEW OF +THE EVENTS WHICH LED TO THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION OF 1860. + +BY +JAMES G. BLAINE. + +VOLUME I. + +NORWICH, CONN.: +THE HENRY BILL PUBLISHING COMPANY. +1884. + + +COPYRIGHT, 1884, +BY JAMES G. BLAINE. + +_All rights reserved._ + + +ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED +BY RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY, +BOSTON, MASS. + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. + +CHAPTER I. +A REVIEW OF THE EVENTS WHICH LED TO THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION OF +1860. +Original Compromises between the North and the South embodied in +the Constitution.--Early Dissatisfaction with National Boundaries. +--Acquisition of Louisiana from France by President Jefferson.-- +Bonaparte's Action and Motive in ceding Louisiana.--State of +Louisiana admitted to the Union against Opposition in the North.-- +Agitation of the Slavery Question in Connection with the Admission +of Missouri to the Union.--The Two Missouri Compromises of 1820 +and 1821.--Origin and Development of the Abolition Party.--Struggle +over the Right of Petition. + +CHAPTER II. +Review of events before 1860 (_continued_).--Early Efforts to +acquire Texas.--Course of President Tyler.--Mr. Calhoun appointed +Secretary of State.--His Successful Management of the Texas Question. +--His Hostility to Mr. Van Buren.--Letters of Mr. Clay and Mr. Van +Buren opposing the Annexation of Texas.--Mr. Clay nominated as the +Whig Candidate for the President in 1844.--Van Buren's Nomination +defeated.--Mr. Polk selected as the Democratic Candidate.--Disquietude +of Mr. Clay.--His Change of Ground.--His Defeat.--Prolonged Rivalry +between Mr. Clay and General Jackson.--Texas formally annexed to +the Union. + +CHAPTER III. +Review (_continued_).--Triumph of the Democratic Party.--Impending +Troubles with Mexico.--Position of Parties.--Struggle for the +Equality of Free and Slave States.--Character of the Southern +Leaders.--Their Efforts to control the Government.--Conservative +Course of Secretaries Buchanan and Marcy.--Reluctant to engage in +War with Mexico.--The Oregon Question, 54° 40´, or 49°.--Critical +Relations with the British Government.--Treaty of 1846.--Character +of the Adjustment.--Our Probable Loss by Unwise Policy of the +Democratic Party. + +CHAPTER IV. +Review (_continued_).--Relations with Mexico.--General Taylor +marches his Army to the Rio Grande.--First Encounter with the +Mexican Army.--Excitement in the United States.--Congress declares +War against Mexico.--Ill Temper of the Whigs.--Defeat of the +Democrats in the Congressional Elections of 1846.--Policy of Mr. +Polk in Regard to Acquisition of Territory from Mexico.--Three- +Million Bill.--The Famous Anti-slavery Proviso moved by David +Wilmot.--John Quincy Adams.--His Public Service.--Robert C. Winthrop +chosen Speaker.--Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.--Presidential Election +of 1848.--Effort of the Administration to make a Democratic Hero +out of the Mexican War.--Thomas H. Benton for Lieutenant-General. +--Bill defeated.--Nomination of General Taylor for the Presidency +by the Whigs.--Nomination of General Cass by the Democratic Party. +--Van Buren refuses to support him.--Democratic Bolt in New York. +--Buffalo Convention and the Organization of the Free-soil Party. +--Nomination of Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams.--Mr. Clay's +Discontent.--Mr. Webster's Speech at Marshfield.--General Taylor +elected.--The Barnburners of New York.--Character and Public Services +of Mr. Van Buren. + +CHAPTER V. +Review (_continued_).--Contrast between General Taylor and General +Cass.--The Cabinet of President Taylor.--Political Condition of +the Country.--Effect produced by the Discovery of Gold in California. +--Convening of Thirty-first Congress.--Election of Howell Cobb as +Speaker.--President Taylor's Message.--His Recommendations Distasteful +to the South.--Illustrious Membership of the Senate.--Mr. Clay and +the Taylor Administration.--Mr. Calhoun's Last Speech in the Senate. +--His Death.--His Character and Public Services.--Mr. Webster's +7th of March Speech.--Its Effect upon the Public and upon Mr. +Webster.--Mr. Clay's Committee of Thirteen.--The Omnibus Bill.-- +Conflict with General Taylor's Administration.--Death of the +President.--Mr. Fillmore reverses Taylor's Policy and supports the +Compromise Measures.--Defeat of Compromise Bill.--Passage of the +Measures separately.--Memorable Session of Congress.--Whig and +Democratic Parties sustain the Compromise Measures.--National +Conventions.--Whigs nominate Winfield Scott over Fillmore.--Mr. +Clay supports Fillmore.--Mr. Webster's Friends.--Democrats nominate +Franklin Pierce.--Character of the Campaign.--Overwhelming Defeat +of Scott.--Destruction of the Whig Party.--Death of Mr. Clay.-- +Death of Mr. Webster.--Their Public Characters and Services +compared. + +CHAPTER VI. +Review (_continued_).--The Strength of the Democratic Party in +1853.--Popular Strength not so great as Electoral Strength.--The +New President's Pledge not to re-open the Slavery Question.--How +he failed to maintain that Pledge.--The North-west Territory.--Anti- +slavery Restriction of the Missouri Compromise.--Movement to repeal +it by Mr. Clay's Successor in the Senate.--Mr. Douglas adopts the +policy of repealing the Restriction.--It is made an Administration +Measure and carried through Congress.--Colonel Benton's Position. +--Anti-slavery Excitement developed in the Country.--Destruction +of the Whig Party.--New Political Alliances.--American Party.--Know- +Nothings.--Origin and Growth of the Republican Party.--Pro-slavery +Development in the South.--Contest for the Possession of Kansas.-- +Prolonged Struggle.--Disunion Tendencies developing in the South. +--Election of N. P. Banks to the Speakership of the House.--The +Presidential Election of 1856.--Buchanan.--Frémont.--Fillmore.-- +The Slavery Question the Absorbing Issue.--Triumph of Buchanan.-- +Dred Scott Decision.--Mr. Lincoln's Version of it.--Chief Justice +Taney. + +CHAPTER VII. +Review (_continued_).--Continuance of the Struggle for Kansas.-- +List of Governors.--Robert J. Walker appointed Governor by President +Buchanan.--His Failure.--The Lecompton Constitution fraudulently +adopted.--Its Character.--Is transmitted to Congress by President +Buchanan.--He recommends the Admission of Kansas under its Provisions. +--Pronounces Kansas a Slave State.--Gives Full Scope and Effect to +the Dred Scott Decision.--Senator Douglas refuses to sustain the +Lecompton Iniquity.--His Political Embarrassment.--Breaks with the +Administration.--Value of his Influence against Slavery in Kansas. +--Lecompton Bill passes the Senate.--Could not be forced through +the House.--The English Bill substituted and passed.--Kansas spurns +the Bribe.--Douglas regains his Popularity with Northern Democrats. +--Illinois Republicans bitterly hostile to him.--Abraham Lincoln +nominated to contest the Re-election of Douglas to the Senate.-- +Lincoln challenges Douglas to a Public Discussion.--Character of +Each as a Debater.--They meet Seven Times in Debate.--Douglas re- +elected.--Southern Senators arraign Douglas.--His Defiant Answer. +--Danger of Sectional Division in the Democratic Party. + +CHAPTER VIII. +Excited Condition of the South.--The John Brown Raid at Harper's +Ferry.--Character of Brown.--Governor Wise.--Hot Temper.--Course +of Republicans in Regard to John Brown.--Misunderstanding of the +Two Sections.--Assembling of the Charleston Convention.--Position +of Douglas and his Friends.--Imperious Demands of Southern Democrats. +--Caleb Cushing selected for Chairman of the Convention.--The South +has Control of the Committee on Resolutions.--Resistance of the +Douglas Delegates.--They defeat the Report of the Committee.-- +Delegates from Seven Southern States withdraw.--Convention unable +to make a Nomination.--Adjourns to Baltimore.--Convention divides. +--Nomination of both Douglas and Breckinridge.--Constitutional +Union Convention.--Nomination of Bell and Everett.--The Chicago +Convention.--Its Membership and Character.--Mr. Seward's Position. +--His Disabilities.--Work of his Friends, Thurlow Weed and William +M. Evarts.--Opposition of Horace Greeley.--Objections from Doubtful +States.--Various Candidates.--Nomination of Lincoln and Hamlin.-- +Four Presidential Tickets in the Field.--Animated Canvass.--The +Long Struggle over.--The South defeated.--Election of Lincoln.-- +Political Revolution of 1860 complete. + +CHAPTER IX. +The Tariff Question in its Relation to the Political Revolution of +1860.--A Century's Experience as to Best Mode of levying Duties.-- +Original Course of Federal Government in Regard to Revenue.--First +Tariff Act.--The Objects defined in a Preamble.--Constitutional +Power to adopt Protective Measure.--Character of Early Discussions. +--The Illustrious Men who participated.--Mr. Madison the Leader.-- +The War Tariff of 1812.--Its High Duties.--The Tariff of 1816.-- +Interesting Debate upon its Provisions.--Clay, Webster, and Calhoun +take part.--Business Depression throughout the Country.--Continues +until the Enactment of the Tariff of 1824.--Protective Character +of that Tariff.--Still Higher Duties levied by the Tariff of 1828. +--Southern Resistance to the Protective Principle.--Mr. Calhoun +leads the Nullification Movement in South Carolina.--Compromise +effected on the Tariff Question.--Financial Depression follows.-- +Panic of 1837.--Protective Tariff passed in 1842.--Free-trade +Principles triumph with the Election of President Polk.--Tariff of +1846.--Prosperous Condition of the Country.--Differences of Opinion +as to the Causes.--Surplus Revenue.--Plethoric Condition of the +Treasury.--Enactment of the Tariff of 1857.--Both Parties support +it in Congress.--Duties lower than at Any Time since the War of +1812.--Panic of 1857.--Dispute as to its causes.--Protective and +Free-trade Theories as presented by their Advocates.--Connection +of the Tariff with the Election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency. +--General Review. + +CHAPTER X. +Presidential Election of 1860.--The Electoral and Popular Vote.-- +Wide Divergence between the Two.--Mr. Lincoln has a Large Majority +of Electors.--In a Minority of 1,000,000 on Popular Vote.--Beginning +of Secession.--Rash Course of South Carolina.--Reluctance on the +Part of Many Southern States.--Unfortunate Meeting of South-Carolina +Legislature.--Hasty Action of South-Carolina Convention.--The Word +"Ordinance."--Meeting of Southern Senators in Washington to promote +Secession.--Unwillingness in the South to submit the Question to +Popular Vote.--Georgia not eager to Secede.--Action of Other States. +--Meeting of Congress in December, 1860.--Position of Mr. Buchanan. +--His Attachment to the Union as a Pennsylvanian.--Sinister Influences +in his Cabinet.--His Evil Message to Congress.--Analysis of the +Message.--Its Position destructive to the Union.--The President's +Position Illogical and Untenable.--Full of Contradictions.--Extremists +of the South approve the Message.--Demoralizing Effect of the +Message in the North and in the South.--General Cass resigns from +State Department.--Judge Black succeeds him.--Character of Judge +Black.--Secretaries Cobb, Floyd, and Thompson.--Their Censurable +Conduct in the Cabinet.--Their Resignation.--Re-organization of +Cabinet.--Dix, Holt, Stanton.--Close of Mr. Buchanan's Administration. +--Change in the President's Course.--The New Influences.--Analysis +of the President's Course.--There were two Mr. Buchanans.--Personal +and Public Character of Mr. Buchanan. + +CHAPTER XI. +Congress during the Winter of 1860-61.--Leave-taking of Senators +and Representatives.--South Carolina the First to secede.--Her +Delegation in the House publish a Card withdrawing.--Other States +follow.--Mr. Lamar of Mississippi.--Speeches of Seceding Senators. +--Mr. Yulee and Mr. Mallory of Florida.--Mr. Clay and Mr. Fitzpatrick +of Alabama.--Jefferson Davis.--His Distinction between Secession +and Nullification.--Important Speech by Mr. Toombs.--He defines +Conditions on which the Union might be allowed to survive.--Mr. +Iverson's Speech.--Georgia Senators withdraw.--Insolent Speech of +Mr. Slidell of Louisiana.--Mr. Judah P. Benjamin's Special Plea +for his State.--His Doctrine of "A Sovereignty held in Trust."-- +Same Argument of Mr. Yulee for his State.--Principle of State +Sovereignty.--Disproved by the Treaty of 1783.--Notable Omission +by Secession Senators.--Grievances not stated.--Secession Conventions +in States.--Failure to state Justifying Grounds of Action.-- +Confederate Government fail likewise to do it.--Contrast with the +Course of the Colonies.--Congress had given no Cause.--Had not +disturbed Slavery by Adverse Legislation.--List of Measures Favorable +to Slavery.--Policy of Federal Government steadily in that Direction. +--Mr. Davis quoted Menaces, not Acts.--Governing Class in the South. +--Division of Society there.--Republic ruled by an Oligarchy.-- +Overthrown by Election of Lincoln.--South refuses to acquiesce. + +CHAPTER XII. +Congress in the Winter of 1860-61.--The North offers Many Concessions +to the South.--Spirit of Conciliation.--Committee of Thirteen in +the Senate.--Committee of Thirty-three in the House.--Disagreement +of Senate Committee.--Propositions submitted to House Committee.-- +Thomas Corwin's Measure.--Henry Winter Davis.--Justin S. Morrill-- +Mr. Houston of Alabama.--Constitutional Amendment proposed by +Charles Francis Adams.--Report of the Committee of Thirty-three.-- +Objectionable Measures proposed.--Minority Report by Southern +Members.--The Crittenden Compromise proposed.--Details of that +Compromise.--Mr. Adams's Double Change of Ground.--An Old Resolution +of the Massachusetts Legislature.--Mr. Webster's Criticism Pertinent. +--Various Minority Reports.--The California Members.--Washburn and +Tappan.--Amendment to the Constitution passed by the House.--By +the Senate also.--New Mexico.--The Fugitive-slave Law.--Mr. Clark +of New Hampshire.--Peace Congress.--Invited by Virginia.--Assembles +in Washington.--Peace Measures proposed.--They meet no Favor in +Congress.--Territories of Colorado, Dakota, and Nevada originated. +--Prohibition of Slavery abandoned.--Republicans in Congress do +not ask it.--Explanation required.--James S. Green of Missouri.-- +His Character as a Debater.--Northern Republicans frightened at +their own Success.--Anxious for a Compromise.--Dread of Disunion. +--Northern Democrats.--Dangerous Course pursued by them.--General +Demoralization of Northern Sentiment. + +CHAPTER XIII. +Mr. Lincoln's Journey from Springfield to Washington.--Speeches on +the Way.--Reaches Washington.--His Secret Journey.--Afterwards +regretted.--Precautions for his Safety.--President Buchanan.-- +Secretary Holt.--Troops for the Protection of Washington.--Inauguration +of Mr. Lincoln.--Relief to the Public Anxiety.--Inaugural Address. +--Hopefulness and Security in the North.--Mr. Lincoln's Appeal to +the South.--Fails to appease Southern Wrath.--Dilemma of the South. +--The New Cabinet.--The "Easy Accession" of Former Times.--Seward +Secretary of State.--Chase at the Head of the Treasury.--Radical +Republicans dissatisfied.--Influence of the Blairs.--Comment of +Thaddeus Stevens.--The National Flag in the Confederacy.--Flying +at only Three Points.--Defenseless Condition of the Government.-- +Confidence of Disunion Leaders.--Extra Session of the Senate.-- +Douglas and Breckinridge.--Their Notable Debate.--Douglas's Reply +to Wigfall.--His Answer to Mason.--Condition of the Territories.-- +Slavery not excluded by Law.--Public Opinion in Maine, 1861.--Mr. +Lincoln's Difficult Task.--His Wise Policy.--His Careful Preparation. +--Statesmanship of his Administration. + +CHAPTER XIV. +President Lincoln and the Confederate Commissioners.--Misleading +Assurance given by Judge Campbell.--Mr. Seward's Answer to Messrs. +Forsythe and Crawford.--An Interview with the President is desired +by the Commissioners.--Rage in the South.--Condition of the Montgomery +Government.--Roger A. Pryor's Speech.--President determines to send +Provisions to Fort Sumter.--Advises Governor Pickens.--Conflict +precipitated.--The Fort surrenders.--Effect of the Conflict on the +North.--President's Proclamation and Call for Troops.--Responses +of Loyal States.--Popular Uprising.--Democratic Party.--Patriotism +of Senator Douglas.--His Relations with Mr. Lincoln.--His Death.-- +Public Service and Character.--Effect of the President's Call on +Southern States.--North Carolina.--Tennessee.--Virginia.--Senator +Mason's Letter.--Responses of Southern Governors to the President's +Call for Troops.--All decline to comply.--Some of them with Insolent +Defiance.--Governors of the Free States.--John A. Andrew, E. D. +Morgan, Andrew G. Curtin, Oliver P. Morton.--Energetic and Patriotic +Action of all Northern Governors.--Exceptional Preparation in +Pennsylvania for the Conflict.--Governors of Free States all +Republicans except in California and Oregon.--Critical Situation +on Pacific Coast.--Loyalty of its People.--President's Reasons for +postponing Session of Congress.--Election in Kentucky.--Union +Victory.--John J. Crittenden and Garrett Davis.--John Bell.-- +Disappoints Expectation of Union Men.--Responsibility of Southern +Whigs.--Their Power to arrest the Madness.--Audacity overcomes +Numbers.--Whig Party of the South.--Its Brilliant Array of Leaders. +--Its Destruction. + +CHAPTER XV. +Thirty-Seventh Congress assembles.--Military Situation.--List of +Senators: Fessenden, Sumner, Collamer, Wade, Chandler, Hale, +Trumbull, Breckinridge, Baker of Oregon.--List of Members of the +House of Representatives: Thaddeus Stevens, Crittenden, Lovejoy, +Washburne, Bingham, Conkling, Shellabarger.--Mr. Grow elected +Speaker.--Message of President Lincoln.--Its Leading Recommendations. +--His Account of the Outbreak of the Rebellion.--Effect of the +Message on the Northern People.--Battle of Bull Run.--Its Effect +on Congress and the Country.--The Crittenden Resolution adopted.-- +Its Significance.--Interesting Debate upon it in the Senate.--First +Action by Congress Adverse to Slavery.--Confiscation of Certain +Slaves.--Large Amount of Business dispatched by Congress.--Striking +and Important Debate between Baker and Breckinridge.--Expulsion of +Mr. Breckinridge from the Senate.--His Character.--Credit due to +Union Men of Kentucky.--Effect produced in the South of Confederate +Success at Bull Run.--Rigorous Policy adopted by the Confederate +Government.--Law respecting "Alien Enemies."--Law sequestrating +their Estates.--Rigidly enforced by Attorney-General Benjamin.--An +Injudicious Policy. + +CHAPTER XVI. +Second Session of Thirty-seventh Congress.--The Military Situation. +--Disaster at Ball's Bluff.--Death of Colonel E. D. Baker.--The +President's Message.--Capital and Labor.--Their Relation discussed +by the President.--Agitation of the Slavery Question.--The House +refuses to re-affirm the Crittenden Resolution.--Secretary Cameron +resigns.--Sent on Russian Mission.--Succeeded by Edwin M. Stanton. +--His Vigorous War Measures.--Victories in the Field.--Battle of +Mill Spring.--General Order of the President for a Forward Movement. +--Capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson.--Prestige and Popularity +of General Grant.--Illinois Troops.--General Burnside's Victory in +North Carolina.--Effect of the Victories upon the Country.--Continued +Success for the Union in the South-West.--Proposed Celebration.-- +The Monitor and the Merrimac.--Ericsson.--Worden.--Capture of New +Orleans by Farragut.--The Navy.--Its Sudden and Great Popularity. +--Legislation in its Favor.--Battle of Shiloh.--Anxiety in the +North.--Death of Albert Sidney Johnston.--General Halleck takes +the Field.--Military Situation in the East.--The President and +General McClellan.--The Peninsular Campaign.--Stonewall Jackson's +Raid.--Its Disastrous Effect.--Fear for Safety of Washington.--Anti- +Slavery Legislation.--District of Columbia.--Compensated Emancipation. +--Colonization.--Confiscation.--Punishment of Treason. + +CHAPTER XVII. +Ball's Bluff Disaster.--Mr. Conkling's Resolution of Inquiry.-- +Unsatisfactory Reply of Secretary Cameron.--Second Resolution.-- +Second Reply.--Incidental Debate on Slavery.--Arrest of General +Charles P. Stone.--His History.--His Response to Criticisms made +upon him.--Responsibility of Colonel Baker.--General Stone before +the Committee on the Conduct of the War.--His Examination.--Testimony +of Officers.--General Stone appears before the Committee a Second +Time.--His Arrest by Order of the War Department.--No Cause assigned. +--Imprisoned in Fort Lafayette.--Solitary Confinement.--Sees Nobody. +--His Wife denied Access to him.--Subject brought into Congress.-- +A Search for the Responsibility of the Arrest.--Groundless Assumption +of Mr. Sumner's Connection with it.--Mr. Lincoln's Message in Regard +to the Case.--General Stone's Final Release by an Act of Congress. +--Imprisoned for One Hundred and Eighty-nine Days.--Never told the +Cause.--Never allowed a Trial.--Appears a Third Time before the +Committee.--The True Responsibility for the Arrest.--His Restoration +to Service.--His Resignation.--Joins the Khedive's Service. + +CHAPTER XVIII. +The National Finances.--Debt when the Civil War began.--Deadly Blow +to Public Credit.--Treasury Notes due in 1861.--$10,000,000 required. +--An Empty Treasury.--Recommendation by Secretary Dix.--Secretary +Thomas recommends a Pledge of the Public Lands.--Strange Suggestions. +--Heavy Burdens upon the Treasury.--Embarrassment of Legislators. +--First Receipts in the Treasury in 1861.--Chief Dependence had +always been on Customs.--Morrill Tariff goes into Effect.--It meets +Financial Exigencies.--Mr. Vallandigham puts our Revenue at +$50,000,000, our Expenditures at $500,000,000.--Annual Deficiency +under Mr. Buchanan.--Extra Session in July, 1861.--Secretary Chase +recommends $80,000,000 by Taxation, and $240,000,000 by Loans.-- +Loan Bill of July 17, 1861.--Its Provisions.--Demand Notes.--Seven- +thirties.--Secretary Chase's Report, December, 1861.--Situation +Serious.--Sales of Public Lands.--Suspension of Specie Payment.-- +The Loss of our Coin.--Its Steady Export to Europe. + +CHAPTER XIX. +The Legal-tender Bill.--National Finances at the Opening of the +Year 1862.--A Threefold Contest.--The Country thrown upon its own +Resources.--A Good Currency demanded.--Government takes Control of +the Question.--Authorizes the Issue of $150,000,000 of Legal-tender +Notes.--Mr. Spaulding the Author of the Measure.--His Speech.-- +Opposed by Mr. Pendleton.--Position of Secretary Chase.--Urges the +Measure upon Congress.--Speeches by Thaddeus Stevens, Mr. Vallandigham, +Mr. V. B. Horton, Mr. Lovejoy, Mr. Conkling, Mr. Hooper, Mr. Morrill, +Mr. Bingham, Mr. Shellabarger, Mr. Pike and Others.--Spirited and +Able Debate.--Bill passes the House.--Its Consideration by the +Senate.--Speeches by Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Sumner, Mr. +Bayard, Mr. Collamer and Others.--Bill passes the Senate.--Its +Weighty Provisions.--Secretary Chase on State Banks.--Policy of +the Legal-tender Bill.--Its Effect upon the Business and Prosperity +of the Country.--Internal Revenue Act.--Necessity of Large Sums +from Taxation.--Public Credit dependent on it.--Constitutional +Provisions.--Financial Policy of Alexander Hamilton.--Excises +Unpopular.--Whiskey Insurrection.--Resistance by Law.--Supreme +Court Decision.--Case of Hylton.--Provisions of New Act.--Searching +Character.--Great Revenue desired.--Credit due to Secretary Chase. + +CHAPTER XX. +Elections of 1862.--Mr. Lincoln advances to Aggressive Position on +Slavery.--Second Session of Thirty-seventh Congress adjourns.-- +Democratic Hostility to Administration.--Democratic State Conventions. +--Platforms in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.--Nomination +of Horatio Seymour for Governor of New York.--The President prepares +for a Serious Political Contest.--The Issue shall be the Union or +Slavery.--Conversation with Mr. Boutwell.--Proclamation of +Emancipation.--Meeting of Governors at Altoona.--Compensated +Emancipation proposed for Border States.--Declined by their Senators +and Representatives.--Anti-slavery Policy apparently Disastrous +for a Time.--October Elections Discouraging.--General James S. +Wadsworth nominated against Mr. Seymour.--Illinois votes against +the President.--Five Leading States against the President.-- +Administration saved in Part by Border States.--Last Session of +Thirty-seventh Congress.--President urges Compensated Emancipation +again.--Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863.--Long Controversy +over Question of Compensation for Slaves.--Test Case of Missouri. +--Fourteen Million Dollars offered her.--General Pope's Campaign. +--Army of the Potomac.--Battle of Antietam.--McClellan removed.-- +Burnside succeeds him.--Defeat at Fredericksburg.--Hooker succeeds +Burnside.--General Situation.--Arming of Slaves.--Habeas Corpus.-- +Conscription Law.--Depressed and Depressing Period. + +CHAPTER XXI. +The President's Border-State Policy.--Loyal Government erected in +Virginia.--Recognized by Congress and Senators admitted.--Desire +for a New State.--The Long Dissatisfaction of the People of Western +Virginia.--The Character of the People and of their Section.--Their +Opportunity had come.--Organization of the Pierpont Government.-- +State Convention and Constitution.--Application to Congress for +Admission.--Anti-slavery Amendment.--Senate Debate: Sumner, Wade, +Powell, Willey, and Others.--House Debate: Stevens, Conway, Bingham, +Segar.--Passage of Bill in Both Branches.--Heavy Blow to the Old +State.--Her Claims deserve Consideration.--Should be treated as +generously at least as Mexico. + +CHAPTER XXII. +National Currency and State Bank Currency.--In Competition.--Legal- +tender Bill tended to expand State Bank Circulation.--Secretary +Chase's Recommendation.--Favorably received.--State Bank Circulation, +$150,000,000.--Preliminary Bill to establish National Banks.-- +Fessenden.--Sherman.--Hooper.--National Bank System in 1862.-- +Discussed among the People.--Recommended by the President.--Mr. +Chase urges it.--Bill introduced and discussed in Senate.--Discussion +in the House.--Bill passed.--Hugh McCulloch of Indiana appointed +Comptroller of the Currency.--Amended Bank Act.--To remedy Defects, +Circulation limited to $500,000,000.--National Power.--State Rights. +--Taxation.--Renewed Debate in Senate and House.--Bill passed.-- +Merits of the System.--Former Systems.--First Bank of the United +States.--Charters of United-States Banks, 1791-1816.--National +Banks compared with United-States Banks.--One Defective Element.-- +Founded on National Debt. + +CHAPTER XXIII. +Depression among the People in 1863.--Military Situation.--Hostility +to the Administration.--Determination to break it down.--Vallandigham's +Disloyal Speech.--Two Rebellions threatened.--General Burnside +takes Command of the Department of the Ohio.--Arrests Vallandigham. +--Tries him by Military Commission.--His Sentence commuted by Mr. +Lincoln.--Habeas Corpus refused.--Democratic Party protests.-- +Meeting in Albany.--Letter of Governor Seymour.--Ohio Democrats +send a Committee to Washington.--Mr. Lincoln's Replies to Albany +Meeting and to the Ohio Committee.--Effect of his Words upon the +Country.--Army of the Potomac.--General Hooker's Defeat at +Chancellorsville.--Gloom in the Country.--The President's Letters +to General Hooker.--General Meade succeeds Hooker in Command of +the Army.--Battle of Gettysburg.--Important Victory for the Union. +--Relief to the Country.--General Grant's Victory at Vicksburg.-- +Fourth of July.--Notable Coincidence.--State Elections favorable +to the Administration.--Meeting of Thirty-eighth Congress.--Schuyler +Colfax elected Speaker.--Prominent New Members in Each Branch.--E. +D. Morgan, Alexander Ramsey, John Conness, Reverdy Johnson, Thomas +A. Hendricks, Henry Winter Davis, Robert C. Schenck, James A. +Garfield, William B. Allison.--President's Message.--Thirteenth +Amendment to the Constitution.--First proposed by James M. Ashley. +--John B. Henderson proposes Amendment which passes the Senate.-- +Debate in Both Branches.--Aid to the Pacific Railroads.--Lieutenant- +General Grant. + +CHAPTER XXIV. +Presidential Election of 1864.--Preliminary Movements.--General +Sentiment favors Mr. Lincoln.--Some Opposition to his Renomination. +--Secretary Chase a Candidate.--The "Pomeroy Circular."--Mr. Chase +withdraws.--Republican National Convention.--Baltimore, June 7.-- +Frémont and Cochrane nominated.--Speech of Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge. +--Mr. Lincoln renominated.--Candidates for Vice-President.--Andrew +Johnson of Tennessee nominated.--Democratic National Convention.-- +Chicago, August 29.--Military Situation discouraging.--Character +of the Convention.--Peace Party prevails.--Speeches of Belmont, +Bigler, Hunt, Long, Seymour.--Nomination of General McClellan for +President.--George H. Pendleton for Vice-President.--Platform.-- +Suits Vallandigham.--General McClellan accepts, but evades the +Platform.--General Frémont withdraws.--Success of the Union Army. +--Mr. Lincoln's Popularity.--General McClellan steadily loses +Ground.--Sheridan's Brilliant Victories.--General McClellan receives +the Votes of only Three States.--Governor Seymour defeated in New +York. + +CHAPTER XXV. +President's Message, December, 1864.--General Sherman's March.-- +Compensated Emancipation abandoned.--Thirteenth Amendment.--Earnestly +recommended by the President.--He appeals to the Democratic Members. +--Mr. Ashley's Energetic Work.--Democratic Opportunity.--Unwisely +neglected.--Mr. Pendleton's Argument.--Final Vote.--Amendment +adopted.--Cases arising under it.--Supreme Court.--Change of Judges +at Different Periods.--Peace Conference at Fortress Monroe.-- +Secretary Chase resigns.--Mr. Fessenden succeeds him.--Mr. Fessenden's +Report.--Surrender of Lee.--General Grant's Military Character.-- +Assassination of President Lincoln.--His Characteristics.--Cost of +the War.--Compared with Wars of Other Nations.--Our Navy.--Created +during the War.--Effective Blockade.--Its Effect upon the South.-- +Its Influence upon the Struggle.--Relative Numbers in Loyal and +Disloyal States.--Comparison of Union and Confederate Armies.-- +Confederate Army at the Close of the War.--Union Armies compared +with Armies of Foreign Countries.--Area of the War.--Its Effect +upon the Cost.--Character of Edwin M. Stanton. + +CHAPTER XXVI. +Relations with Great Britain.--Close of the Year 1860.--Prince of +Wales's Visit to the United States.--Exchange of Congratulatory +Notes.--Dawn of the Rebellion.--Lord Lyons' Dispatch.--Mr. Seward's +Views.--Lord John Russell's Threats.--Condition of Affairs at Mr. +Lincoln's Inauguration.--Unfriendly Manifestations by Great Britain. +--Recognizes Belligerency of Southern States.--Discourtesy to +American Minister.--England and France make Propositions to the +Confederate States.--Unfriendly in their Character to the United +States.--Full Details given.--Motives inquired into.--Trent Affair. +--Lord John Russell.--Lord Lyons.--Mr. Seward.--Mason and Slidell +released.--Doubtful Grounds assigned.--Greater Wrongs against us +by Great Britain.--Queen Victoria's Friendship.--Isolation of United +States.--Foreign Aid to Confederates on the Sea.--Details given.-- +So-called Neutrality.--French Attempt to establish an Empire in +Mexico.--Lord Palmerston in 1848, in 1859, in 1861.--Conclusive +Observations. + +ADDENDUM + +ERRATUM + +APPENDICES + + +LIST OF STEEL PORTRAITS. + +THE AUTHOR +ABRAHAM LINCOLN +CHARLES SUMNER +STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS +WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN +JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE +HENRY WINTER DAVIS +THADDEUS STEVENS +BENJAMIN F. WADE +ELIHU B. WASHBURNE +ROBERT C. SCHENCK +WILLIAM D. KELLEY +SAMUEL SHELLABARGER +JUSTIN S. MORRILL +GEORGE S. BOUTWELL +REUBEN E. FENTON +OLIVER P. MORTON +ZACHARIAH CHANDLER +HENRY B. ANTHONY +THOMAS A. HENDRICKS +SIMON CAMERON +JAMES W. GRIMES +JOHN P. HALE +JOHN SHERMAN +WILLIAM WINDOM +JOHN B. HENDERSON +JOHN J. INGALLS +FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN +CARL SCHURZ +JOHN A. LOGAN + +MAP SHOWING THE TERRITORIAL GROWTH OF THE UNITED STATES + + +TWENTY YEARS OF CONGRESS. + +CHAPTER I. + +Original Compromises between the North and the South embodied in +the Constitution.--Early Dissatisfaction with National Boundaries. +--Acquisition of Louisiana from France by President Jefferson.-- +Bonaparte's Action and Motive in ceding Louisiana.--State of +Louisiana admitted to the Union against Opposition in the North.-- +Agitation of the Slavery Question in Connection with the Admission +of Missouri to the Union.--The Two Missouri Compromises of 1820 +and 1821.--Origin and Development of the Abolition Party.--Struggle +over the Right of Petition. + +The compromises on the Slavery question, inserted in the Constitution, +were among the essential conditions upon which the Federal Government +was organized. If the African slave-trade had not been permitted +to continue for twenty years, if it had not been conceded that +three-fifths of the slaves should be counted in the apportionment +of representatives in Congress, if it had not been agreed that +fugitives from service should be returned to their owners, the +Thirteen States would not have been able in 1787 "to form a more +perfect union." These adjustments in the Constitution were effected +after the Congress of the old Confederation had dedicated the entire +North-west Territory to freedom. The ancient commonwealth of +Virginia had, for the good of all, generously and patriotically +surrendered her title to the great country north of the Ohio and +east of the Mississippi, which to-day constitutes five prosperous +and powerful States and a not inconsiderable portion of a sixth. +This was the first territory of which the General Government had +exclusive control, and the prompt prohibition of slavery therein +by the Ordinance of 1787 is an important and significant fact. +The anti-slavery restriction would doubtless have been applied to +the territory south of the Ohio had the power existed to impose +it. The founders of the government not only looked to the speedy +extinction of slavery, but they especially abhorred the idea of a +geographical line, with freedom decreed on one side, and slavery +established on the other. But the territory south of the Ohio +belonged to the Southern States of the Union,--Kentucky to Virginia; +Tennessee to North Carolina; Alabama and Mississippi to Georgia, +with certain co-extensive claims put forth by South Carolina. When +cessions of this Southern territory were made to the General +Government, the States owning it exacted in every case a stipulation +that slavery should not be prohibited. It thus came to pass that +the Ohio River was the dividing-line. North of it freedom was +forever decreed. South of it slavery was firmly established. +Within the limits of the Union as originally formed the slavery +question had therefore been compromised, the common territory +partitioned, and the Republic, half slave, half free, organized +and sent forth upon its mission. + +The Thirteen States whose independence had been acknowledged by +George III., occupied with their outlying territories a vast area, +exceeding in the aggregate eight hundred thousand square miles. +Extended as was this domain, the early statesmen of the Union +discovered that its boundaries were unsatisfactory,--hostile to +our commercial interests in time of peace, and menacing our safety +in time of war. The Mississippi River was our western limit. On +its farther shore, from the Lake of the Woods to the Balize, we +met the flag of Spain. Our southern border was the 31st parallel +of latitude; and the Spanish Floridas, stretching across to the +Mississippi, lay between us and the Gulf of Mexico. We acquired +from Spain the right of deposit for exports and imports at New +Orleans, but the citizens of the Union who lived west of the +Alleganies were discontented and irritated to find a foreign power +practically controlling their trade by intercepting their access +to the sea. One of the great problems imposed upon the founders +of the Union was to remove the burdens and embarrassments which +obstructed the development of the Western States, and thus to render +their inhabitants as loyal by reason of material prosperity as they +already were in patriotic sympathy. The opportunity for relief +came from remote and foreign causes, without our own agency; but +the courageous statesmanship which discerned and grasped the +opportunity, deserved, as it has received, the commemoration of +three generations. The boundaries of the Union were vastly enlarged, +but the geographical change was not greater than the effect produced +upon the political and social condition of the people. The ambitions +developed by the acquisition of new territory led to serious +conflicts of opinion between North and South,--conflicts which +steadily grew in intensity until, by the convulsion of war, slavery +was finally extinguished. + + TERRITORIAL CESSIONS IN AMERICA. + +A great European struggle, which ended twelve years before our +Revolution began, had wrought important changes in the political +control of North America. The Seven Years' War, identical in time +with the French and Indian War in America, was closed in 1763 by +numerous treaties to which every great power in Europe was in some +sense a party. One of the most striking results of these treaties +on this side of the Atlantic was the cession of Florida to Great +Britain by Spain in exchange for the release of Cuba, which the +English and colonial forces under Lord Albemarle had wrested from +Spanish authority the preceding year. England held Florida for +twenty years, when among the disasters brought upon her by our +Revolution was its retrocession to Spain in 1783,--a result which +was accounted by our forefathers a great gain to the new Republic. +Still more striking were the losses of France. Fifty years before, +by the Treaty of Utrecht, France had surrendered to England the +island of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia (then including New Brunswick), +and the Hudson-bay Territory. She now gave up Canada and Cape +Breton, acknowledged the sovereignty of Great Britain in the original +thirteen Colonies as extending to the Mississippi, and, by a separate +treaty, surrendered Louisiana on the west side of the Mississippi, +with New Orleans on the east side, to Spain. Thus, in 1763, French +power disappeared from North American. The last square mile of +the most valuable colonial territory ever possessed by a European +sovereign was lost under the weak and effeminate rule of Louis XV., +a reign not fitted for successful war, but distinguished only, as +one of its historians says, for "easy-mannered joyance, and the +brilliant charm of fashionable and philosophical society." + +The country which France surrendered to Spain was of vast but +indefinite extent. Added to her other North-American colonies, it +gave to Spain control of more than half the continent. She continued +in possession of Louisiana until the year 1800, when, during some +European negotiations, Bonaparte concluded a treaty at San Ildefonso +with Charles IV., by which the entire territory was retroceded to +France. When the First Consul acquired Louisiana, he appeared to +look forward to a career of peace,--an impression greatly strengthened +by the conclusion of the treaty of Amiens the ensuing year. He +added to his prestige as a ruler when he regained from Spain the +American empire which the Bourbons had weakly surrendered thirty- +seven years before, and he expected a large and valuable addition +to the trade and resources of France from the vast colonial +possession. The formal transfer of so great a territory on a +distant continent was necessarily delayed; and, before the Captain- +general of France reached New Orleans in 1803, the Spanish authorities, +still in possession, had become so odious to the inhabitants of +the western section of the Union by their suspension of the right +of deposit at New Orleans, that there was constant danger of an +armed collision. Mr. Ross of Pennsylvania, an able and conservative +statesman, moved in the Senate of the United States that the +government be instructed to seize New Orleans. Gouverneur Morris, +a statesman of the Revolutionary period, then a senator from New +York, seconded Mr. Ross. So intense was the feeling among the +people that a large army of volunteers could have been easily raised +in the Mississippi valley to march against New Orleans; but the +prudence of Mr. Jefferson restrained every movement that might +involve us in a war with Spain, from which nothing was to be gained, +and by which every thing would be risked. + + THE PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA. + +Meanwhile Mr. Robert R. Livingston, our minister at Paris, was +pressing the French Government for concessions touching the free +navigation of the Mississippi and the right of deposit at New +Orleans, and was speaking to the First Consul, as a French historian +observes, in a tone which "arrested his attention, and aroused him +to a sense of the new power that was growing beyond the sea." Mr. +Livingston was re-enforced by Mr. Monroe, sent out by President +Jefferson as a special envoy in the spring of 1803, in order to +effect some adjustment of the irritating questions which were +seriously endangering the relations between France and the United +States. The instructions of Mr. Madison, then secretary of State, +to Mr. Monroe, show that the utmost he expected was to acquire from +France the city of New Orleans and the Floridas, of which he believed +France either then was, or was about to become, the actual owner. +Indeed, the treaty by which France had acquired Louisiana was but +imperfectly understood; and, in the slowness and difficulty of +communication, Mr. Madison could not accurately know the full extent +of the cession made at San Ildefonso. But Mr. Jefferson did not +wait to learn the exact provisions of that treaty. He knew +instinctively that they deeply concerned the United States. He +saw with clear vision that by the commercial disability upon the +western section of the Union its progress would be obstructed, its +already attained prosperity checked; and that possibly its population, +drawn first into discontent with the existing order of things, +might be seduced into new and dangerous alliances. He determined, +therefore, to acquire the control of the left bank of the Mississippi +to its mouth, and by the purchase of the Floridas to give to Georgia +and the Mississippi territory (now constituting the States of +Alabama and Mississippi) unobstructed access to the Gulf. + +But events beyond the ocean were working more rapidly for the +interest of the United States than any influence which the government +itself could exert. Before Mr. Monroe reached France in the spring +of 1803, another war-cloud of portentous magnitude was hanging over +Europe. The treaty of Amiens had proved only a truce. Awkwardly +constructed, misconstrued and violated by both parties, it was +about to be formally broken. Neither of the plenipotentiaries who +signed the treaty was skilled in diplomacy. Joseph Bonaparte acted +for his brother; England was represented by Lord Cornwallis, who +twenty years before had surrendered the British army at Yorktown. +The wits of London described him afterwards as a general who could +neither conduct a war nor conclude a peace. + +Fearing that, in the threatened conflict, England, by her superior +naval force, would deprive him of his newly acquired colonial +empire, and greatly enhance her own prestige by securing all the +American possessions which France had owned prior to 1763, Bonaparte, +by a dash in diplomacy as quick and as brilliant as his tactics on +the field of battle, placed Louisiana beyond the reach of British +power. After returning to St. Cloud from the religious services +of Easter Sunday, April 10, 1803, he called two of his most trusted +advisers, and, in a tone of vehemence and passion, said,-- + +"I know the full value of Louisiana, and have been desirous of +repairing the fault of the French negotiators who lost it in 1763. +A few lines of a treaty have restored it to me, and now I must +expect to lose it. . . . The English wish to take possession of +it, and it is thus they will begin the war. . . . They have already +twenty ships of the line in the Gulf of Mexico. . . . The conquest +of Louisiana would be easy. I have not a moment to lose in putting +it out of their reach. . . . The English have successively taken +from France the Canadas, Cape Breton, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, +and the richest portions of Asia. But they shall not have the +Mississippi, which they covet." + +The discussion went far into the night. The two ministers differed +widely in the advice which they gave the First Consul; one was in +favor of holding Louisiana at all hazards; the other urged its +prudent cession rather than its inevitable loss by war. They both +remained at St. Cloud for the night. At daybreak the minister who +had advised the cession was summoned by Bonaparte to read dispatches +from London, that moment received, which certainly foreshadowed +war, as the English were making military and naval preparations +with extraordinary rapidity. After reading the dispatches, the +First Consul said, + +"Irresolution and deliberation are no longer in season. I renounce +Louisiana. It is not only New Orleans that I will cede, it is the +whole colony without any reservation. I know the value of what I +abandon. It renounce it with the gravest regret. To attempt +obstinately to retain it would be folly. I direct you to negotiate +this affair with the envoy of the United States. Do not even wait +the arrival of Mr. Monroe. Have an interview this very day with +Mr. Livingston. . . . But I require a great deal of money for this +war. I will be moderate. I want fifty millions for Louisiana." + +The minister, who was opposed to the sale, interposed, in a subsequent +interview, some observations "upon what the Germans call the _souls_, +as to whether they could be the subject of a contract or sale." +Bonaparte replied with undisguised sarcasm,-- + +"You are giving me the ideology of the law of nature. But I require +money to make war on the richest nation in the world. Send your +maxims to London. I am sure they will be greatly admired there." + +The First Consul afterwards added, "Perhaps it will be objected +that the Americans will be found too powerful for Europe in two or +three centuries; but my foresight does not embrace such remote +fears. Besides, we may hereafter expect rivalries among the members +of the Union. The confederations, which are called perpetual, only +last till one of the contracting parties finds it in his interest +to break them." + + SUCCESS OF JEFFERSON'S DIPLOMACY. + +Two days after this conversation Mr. Monroe opportunely arrived, +and on the 30th of April the treaty ceding Louisiana to the United +States was formally concluded. Mr. Monroe and Mr. Livingston had +no authority to negotiate for so vast an extent of territory; but +the former was fully possessed of President Jefferson's views, and +felt assured that his instructions would have been ample if the +condition of France had been foreseen when he sailed from America. +Communication with Washington was impossible. Under the most +favorable circumstances, an answer could not be expected in less +then three months. By that time British ships would probably hold +the mouths of the Mississippi, and the flag of St. George be waving +over New Orleans. Monroe and Livingston both realized that hesitation +would be fatal; and they boldly took the responsibility of purchasing +a territory of unknown but prodigious extent, and of pledging the +credit of the government for a sum which, rated by the ability to +pay, was larger than a similar pledge to-day for five hundred +millions of dollars. + +The price agreed upon was eleven million two hundred and fifty +thousand dollars in six per cent United States bonds, the interest +of which was made payable in London, Amsterdam, and Paris, and the +principal at the treasury in Washington in sums of three millions +per annum, beginning fifteen years after the bonds were issued. +In a separate treaty made the same day, the United States agreed +to pay twenty million francs additional, to be applied by France +to the satisfaction of certain claims owed to American citizens. +Thus the total cost of Louisiana was eighty millions of francs, +or, in round numbers, fifteen millions of dollars. + +No difficulty was experienced in putting the United States in +possession of the territory and of its chief emporium, New Orleans. +The French Government had regarded the possession of so much +consequence, that Bernadotte, afterwards King of Sweden, was at +one time gazetted as Captain-general; and, some obstacles supervening, +the eminent General Victor, afterwards Marshal of France and Duke +of Belluno, was named in his stead. But all these plans were +brushed aside by one stroke of Bonaparte's pen; and the United +States, in consequence of favoring circumstances growing out of +European complications, and the bold and competent statesmanship +of Jefferson, obtained a territory larger in area than that which +was wrested from the British crown by the Revolutionary war. + +It seems scarcely credible that the acquisition of Louisiana by +Jefferson was denounced with a bitterness surpassing the partisan +rancor with which later generations have been familiar. No abuse +was too malignant, no epithet too coarse, no imprecation too savage, +to be employed by the assailants of the great philosophic statesman +who laid so broad and deep the foundations of his country's growth +and grandeur. President of a feeble republic, contending for a +prize which was held by the greatest military power of Europe, and +whose possession was coveted by the greatest naval power of the +world, Mr. Jefferson, through his chosen and trusted agents, so +conducted his important negotiation that the ambition of the United +States was successfully interposed between the necessities of the +one and the aggressive designs of the other. Willing to side with +either of these great powers, for the advantage of his own country, +not underrating the dangers of war, yet ready to engage in it for +the control of the great water-way to the Gulf, the President made +the largest conquest ever peacefully achieved, and at a cost so +small that the total sum expended for the entire territory does +not equal the revenue which has since been collected on its soil +in a single month in time of great public peril. The country thus +acquired forms to-day the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, +Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota west of the Mississippi, Colorado +north of the Arkansas, besides the Indian Territory and the +Territories of Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Texas was also included +in the transfer, but the Oregon country was not. The Louisiana +purchase did not extend beyond the main range of the Rocky Mountains, +and our title to that large area which is included in the State of +Oregon and in the Territories of Washington and Idaho rests upon +a different foundation, or, rather, upon a series of claims, each +of which was strong under the law of nations. We claimed it first +by right of original discovery of the Columbia River by an American +navigator in 1792; second, by original exploration in 1805; third, +by original settlement in 1810, by the enterprising company of +which John Jacob Astor was the head; and, lastly and principally, +by the transfer of the Spanish title in 1819, many years after the +Louisiana purchase was accomplished. It is not, however, probable +that we should have been able to maintain our title to Oregon if +we had not secured the intervening country. It was certainly our +purchase of Louisiana that enabled us to secure the Spanish title +to the shores of the Pacific, and without that title we could hardly +have maintained our claim. As against England our title seemed to +us to be perfect, but as against Spain our case was not so strong. +The purchase of Louisiana may therefore be fairly said to have +carried with it and secured to us our possession of Oregon. + +The acquisition of Louisiana brought incalculable wealth, power, +and prestige to the Union, and must always be regarded as the master- +stroke of policy which advanced the United States from a comparatively +feeble nation, lying between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, to +a continental power of assured strength and boundless promise. +The _coup d'état_ of the First Consul was an overwhelming surprise +and disappointment to the English Government. Bonaparte was right +in assuming that prompt action on his part was necessary to save +Louisiana from the hands of the English. Twelve days after the +treaty ceding Louisiana to the United States was signed, the British +ambassador at Paris, Lord Whitworth, demanded his passports. At +Dover he met the French ambassador to England, General Andreossy, +who had likewise demanded his passports. Lord Whitworth loaded +General Andreossy with tokens of esteem, and conducted him to the +ship which was to bear him back to France. According to an eminent +historian, "the two ambassadors parted in the presence of a great +concourse of people, agitated, uneasy, sorrowful. On the eve of +so important a determination, the warlike passion subsided; and +men were seized with a dread of the consequences of a desperate +conflict. At this solemn moment the two nations seemed to bid each +other adieu, not to meet again till after a tremendous war and the +convulsion of the world." + + THE DESIGNS OF ENGLAND FOILED. + +England's acquisition of Louisiana would have proved in the highest +degree embarrassing, if not disastrous, to the Union. At that time +the forts of Spain, transferred to France, and thence to the United +States, were on the east side of the Mississippi, hundreds of miles +from its mouth. If England had seized Louisiana, as Bonaparte +feared, the Floridas, cut off from the other colonies of Spain, +would certainly have fallen into her hands by easy and prompt +negotiation, as they did, a few years later, into the hands of the +United States. England would thus have had her colonies planted +on the three land-sides of the Union, while on the ocean-side her +formidable navy confronted the young republic. No colonial +acquisition ever made by her on any continent has been so profitable +to her commerce, and so strengthening her military position, as +that of Louisiana would have proved. This fact was clearly seen +by Bonaparte when he hastily made the treaty ceding it to the United +States. That England did not at once attempt to seize it, in +disregard of Bonaparte's cession, has been a source of surprise to +many historians. The obvious reason is that she dreaded the +complication of a war in America when she was about to assume so +heavy a burden in the impending European conflict. The inhabitants +of the Union in 1803 were six millions in number, of great energy +and confidence. A large proportion of them were accustomed to the +sea and could send swarms of privateers to prey on British commerce. +Independent citizens would be even more formidable than were the +rebellious colonists in the earlier struggle with the mother country, +and, acting in conjunction with France, could effectively maintain +a contest. Considerations of this nature doubtless induced the +Addington ministry to acquiesce quietly in a treaty whose origin +and whose assured results were in every way distasteful, and even +offensive, to the British Government. + +The extent and boundaries of the territory thus ceded by France +were ill-defined, and, in fact, unknown. The French negotiator +who conferred with Monroe and Livingston, declared a large portion +of the country transferred to be no better known at the time "than +when Columbus landed at the Bahamas." There was no way by which +accurate metes and bounds could be described. This fact disturbed +the upright and conscientious Marbois, who thought that "treaties +of territorial cession should contain a guaranty from the grantor." +He was especially anxious, moreover, that no ambiguous clauses +should be introduced in the treaty. He communicated his troubles +on this point to the First Consul, advising him that it seemed +impossible to construct the treaty so as to free it from obscurity +on the important matter of boundaries. Far from exhibiting any +sympathy with his faithful minister's solicitude on this point, +Bonaparte quietly informed him that, "if an obscurity did not +already exist, it would perhaps be good policy to put one in the +treaty." In the possibilities of the First Consul's future, the +acquisition of Spanish America may have been expected, or at least +dreamed of, by him; and an ill-defined, uncertain boundary for +Louisiana might possibly, in a few years, be turned greatly to his +advantage. + + EXPANSION OF OUR BOUNDARIES. + +There was certainly obscurity enough in the transfer to satisfy +the fullest desire of Bonaparte. France ceded Louisiana to the +United States "with all its rights and appurtenances," as acquired +by the retrocession from Spain under the treaty of San Ildefonso, +Oct. 1, 1800; and by that treaty Spain had "transferred it to France +with the same extent it then had in the hands of Spain, and that +it had when France previously possessed it, and such as it should +be with the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and +other States." This was simply giving to us what Spain had given +to France, and that was only what France had before given to Spain, +--complicated with such treaties as Spain might have made during +the thirty-seven years of her ownership. It was evident, therefore, +from the very hour of the acquisition, that we should have abundant +trouble with our only remaining neighbors in North America, Spain +and Great Britain, in adjusting the boundaries of the vast country +which we had so successfully acquired from France. + +Fortunately for the United States, the patriotic and far-seeing +administration of Mr. Jefferson was as energetic in confirming as +it had been in acquiring our title to the invaluable domain. As +soon as the treaty was received the President called an extra +session of Congress, which assembled on the 17th of October, 1803. +Before the month had expired the treaty was confirmed, and the +President was authorized to take possession of the territory of +Louisiana, and to maintain therein the authority of the United +States. This was not a mere paper warrant for exhibiting a nominal +supremacy by floating our flag, but it gave to the President the +full power to employ the army and navy of the United States and +the militia of the several States to the number of eighty thousand. +It was a wise and energetic measure for the defense of our newly +acquired territory, which in the disturbed condition of Europe, +with all the Great Powers arming from Gibraltar to the Baltic, +might at any moment be invaded or imperiled. The conflict of arms +did not occur until nine years after; and it is a curious and not +unimportant fact, that the most notable defeat of the British troops +in the second war of Independence, as the struggle of 1812 has been +well named, occurred on the soil of the territory for whose protection +the original precaution had been taken by Jefferson. + +With all these preparations for defense, Mr. Jefferson did not wait +to have our title to Louisiana questioned or limited. He set to +work at once to proclaim it throughout the length and breadth of +the territory which had been ceded, and to the treaty of cession +he gave the most liberal construction. According to the President, +Louisiana stretched as far to the northward as the Lake of the +Woods; towards the west as far as the Rio Grande in the lower part, +and, in the upper part, to the main chain of mountains dividing +the waters of the Pacific from the waters of the Atlantic. To +establish our sovereignty to the shores of the Pacific became a +matter of instant solicitude with the watchful and patriotic +President. In the previous session he had obtained from Congress +an appropriation of two millions of dollars "for the purpose of +defraying any extraordinary expenses which may be incurred in the +intercourse between the United States and foreign nations." In +the confidential message which so promptly secured the money, the +President suggested that the object to be accomplished was a better +understanding with the Indian tribes, and the fitting out of an +exploring and scientific expedition across the continent, though +our own domain at the time was terminated on the west by the +Mississippi. It was believed, that, between the lines of the +message, Congress could read that our negotiations with France and +Spain touching the free navigation of the Mississippi might soon +reach a crisis. Hence the prompt appropriation of a sum of money +which for the national treasury of that day was very large. + + LEWIS AND CLARKE EXPEDITION. + +The two men selected to conduct the expedition across the continent, +Meriwether Lewis and William Clarke, were especially fitted for +their arduous task. Both were officers in the army, holding the +rank of captain. Lewis had been private secretary to the President, +and Clarke was brother to the heroic George Rogers Clarke, whose +services were of peculiar value in the Revolutionary struggle. +Before they could complete the preparations for their long and +dangerous journey, the territory to be traversed had been transferred +to the United States, and the expedition at once assumed a significance +and importance little dreamed of when Jefferson first conceived +it. The original design had been a favorite one with Mr. Jefferson +for many years. When he resided at Paris as our minister, before +the Federal Government was organized, he encouraged a similar +expedition, to be fitted out in Kamtchatka, to sail to our western +coast, and thence to come eastward across the continent. This +design was to be executed by the somewhat noted John Ledyard, a +roving and adventurous man from Connecticut, who had accompanied +Captain Cook on his famous voyage to the Pacific, and whom Jefferson +afterwards met in Paris. The necessary authority was obtained from +the Russian Government; but, after Ledyard had reached the borders +of Kamtchatka, he was suddenly recalled, driven with speed day and +night in a closed carriage, on a return journey of several thousand +miles, and set down in Poland, penniless, and utterly broken in +health. This strange action was the offspring of jealousy on the +part of the Empress Catharine, who feared that the energy of the +young and vigorous government of the United States would absorb +the north-west coast of America, upon which the Russian Government +had already set its ambition. + +The success of the Lewis and Clarke expedition aided greatly in +sustaining our title to the Oregon country. The joint leaders of +it became celebrated by their arduous achievement, and were rewarded +accordingly. Lewis was appointed governor of Louisiana territory +in 1807, and held the position until his death in 1809; while Clarke +was for a long period governor of the territory of Missouri, serving +in that capacity when the State was admitted to the Union. But +while the Lewis and Clarke expedition largely increased our knowledge +of the country, and added to the strength of our title, it did not +definitely settle any disputed question. With Spain we had constant +trouble in regard to the boundaries of Louisiana, both on the west +in the direction of Texas, and on the east along the confines of +Florida. She had always been dissatisfied with Bonaparte's transfer +of Louisiana to the United States. If that result could have been +foreseen, the treaty of San Ildefonso would never have been made. +The government of the United States believed that Louisiana, as +held by France, had bordered on the Rio Grande, and that, by the +treaty with Bonaparte, we were entitled to territory in the direction +of Florida as far as the Perdido. In the vexatious war with the +Seminoles, General Jackson did not hesitate to march across the +line, capture Pensacola, and seize the Barancas. The comments, +official and personal, which were made on that rash exploit, led +to controversies and estrangements which affected political parties +for many years after. Jackson's hostility to John Quincy Adams, +his exasperating quarrel with Clay, his implacable hatred for +Calhoun, all had their origin in events connected with the Florida +campaign of 1818. + +To compose the boundary troubles with Spain, a treaty was negotiated +in 1819, which, with many gains, entailed some signal losses upon +the United States. The whole of Florida was ceded by Spain, an +acquisition which proved of great value to us in every point of +view. As Florida had become separated from the other Spanish +colonies by the cession of Louisiana, the government at Madrid +found difficulty in satisfactorily administering its affairs and +guarding its safety. South of the United States, to the Straits +of Magellan, the Spanish flag floated over every foot of the +continent except the Empire of Brazil and some small colonies in +Guiana. The cession of Louisiana to Bonaparte involved the loss +of Florida which was now formally transferred to the United States. +But Spain received more than an equivalent. The whole of Texas +was fairly included in the Louisiana purchase,--if the well-studied +opinion of such eminent statesmen as Clay, John Quincy Adams, Van +Buren, and Benton may be accepted,--and we paid dearly for Florida +by agreeing to retreat from the Rio Grande to the Sabine as our +south-western frontier, thus surrendering Texas to Mexico. The +western boundary of the Louisiana territory was defined as beginning +at the mouth of the Sabine (which is the boundary of the State of +Louisiana to-day), continuing along its western bank to the 32° of +north latitude, thence by a line due north to the Red River, thence +up the Red River to the 100th meridian west from Greenwich, or the +23d west from Washington, thence due north to the Arkansas, thence +following the Arkansas to its source in latitude 42°, and thence +by that parallel to the Pacific Ocean. Should the Arkansas fall +short of the 42°, a due north line to that parallel was to be taken. +The United States solemnly renounced all claim to territories west +or south of the line just mentioned, and Spain renounced all claim +to territory east or north of it. Thus all boundary disputes with +Spain were ended, and peace was secured, though at a great cost; +as events in after years so fully proved. + + LOUISIANA ADMITTED AS A STATE. + +Meanwhile territorial government had been established over a large +section of the country acquired from France; and it was rapidly +peopled by an enterprising emigration, almost wholly from the +Southern States. Louisiana sought to enter the Union in 1811, and +then for the first time occurred an agitation in Congress over the +admission of a slave State. Opposition to it was not, however, +grounded so much upon the existence of slavery as upon the alleged +violation of the Constitution in forming a State from territory +not included in the original government of the Union. Josiah Quincy +of Massachusetts made a violent speech against it, declaring that +if Louisiana were admitted, "the bonds of this Union are virtually +dissolved; that the States which compose it are free from their +moral obligations; and that, as it will be right of all, so it will +be the duty of some, to prepare definitely for a separation, amicably +if they can, violently if they must." Mr. Quincy was disquieted +at the mere thought of extending the Union beyond its original +limits. He had "heard with alarm that six States might grow up +beyond the Mississippi, and that the mouth of the Ohio might be +east of the centre of a contemplated empire." He declared that +"it was not for these men that our fathers fought, not for them +that the Constitution was adopted. Our fathers were not madmen: +they had not taken degrees at the hospital of idiocy." He maintained +with great vehemence that there was "no authority to throw the +rights and liberties of this people into 'hotchpot' with the wild +men of the Missouri, nor with the mixed, though more respectable, +race of Anglo-Hispano-Gallo-Americans who bask on the sands in the +mouth of the Mississippi." Mr. Quincy's sentiments were far more +radical than those held by the mass of Northern or New-England +people, yet there was undoubtedly a strong opposition to the +admission of Louisiana. Many Northern men had opposed the purchase +of the territory from France, believing it to be unconstitutional; +and they dreaded the introduction of senators and representatives +from territory which they considered foreign. Nevertheless the +bill admitting the State passed the House by a vote of two-thirds +of the members. The opposition was wholly from the North, and +largely from New England. The contest was confined to Congress-- +the issue failing to excite popular interest. A majority of the +people, both North and South, were convinced that the ownership of +the mouth of the Mississippi was of inestimable value to the Union, +and that it could not be permanently secured except by admitting +as a State the territory which included and controlled it. This +conclusion was strengthened by the near approach of war with Great +Britain, soon after formally declared. The advantage of a loyal +and devoted population at New Orleans, identified in interest and +in sympathy with the government, was too evident to need argument. +If the weight of reason had not already been on the side of admitting +Louisiana, the necessities of war would have enforced it. + +Six years after Louisiana entered the Union, Missouri applied for +admission as a slave State. A violent agitation at once arose, +continued for two years, and was finally allayed by the famous +compromise of 1820. The outbreak was so sudden, its course so +turbulent, and its subsidence so complete, that for many years it +was regarded as phenomenal in our politics, and its repetition in +the highest degree improbable if not impossible. The "Missouri +question," as it was popularly termed, formally appeared in Congress +in the month of December, 1818; though during the preceding session +petitions for a State government had been received from the +inhabitants of that territory. When the bill proposing to admit +the State came before the House, Mr. James Tallmadege, jun., of +New York, moved to amend it by providing that "the further introduction +of slavery be prohibited in said State of Missouri, and that all +children born in that State after its admission to the Union shall +be free at the age of twenty-five years." The discussion which +followed was able, excited, and even acrimonious. Mr. Clay took +an active part against the amendment, but his great influence was +unavailing in the face of the strong anti-slavery sentiment which +was so suddenly developed in the North. Both branches of Mr. +Tallmadge's amendment were adopted and the bill was passed. In +the Senate the anti-slavery amendment encountered a furious opposition +and was rejected by a large majority. The House refused to recede; +and, amid great excitement in the country and no little temper in +Congress, each branch voted to adhere to its position. Thus for +the time Missouri was kept out of the Union. + +On the second day after the opening of the next Congress, December, +1819, Mr. John Holmes presented a memorial in the House of +Representatives from a convention which had been lately held in +the District of Maine, praying for the admission of said district +into the Union "as a separate and independent State, on an equal +footing with the original States." On the same day, and immediately +after Mr. Holmes had taken his seat, Mr. John Scott, territorial +delegate, brought before the House the memorial presented in the +previous Congress for the admission of Missouri on the same terms +of independence and equality with the old States as prayed for by +Maine. From that hour it was found impossible to consider the +admission of Maine and Missouri separately. Geographically remote, +differing in soil, climate, and products, incapable of competing +with each other in any pursuit, they were thrown into rivalry by +the influence of the one absorbing question of negro slavery. +Southern men were unwilling that Maine should be admitted unless +the enabling Act for Missouri should be passed at the same time, +and Northern men were unwilling that any enabling Act should be +passed for Missouri which did not contain an anti-slavery restriction. +Mr. Clay, then an accepted leader of Southern sentiment,--which in +his later life he ceased to be,--made an earnest, almost fiery, +speech on the question. He declared that before the Maine bill +should be finally acted on, he wanted to know "whether certain +doctrines of an alarming character, with respect to a restriction +on the admission of new States west of the Mississippi, were to be +sustained on this floor." He wanted to know "what conditions +Congress could annex to the admission of a new State; whether, +indeed, there could be a partition of its sovereignty." + + THE FIRST MISSOURI COMPROMISE. + +Despite the eloquence and the great influence of the Speaker, the +Southern representatives were overborne and the House adopted the +anti-slavery restriction. The Senate refused to concur, united +Maine and Missouri in one bill, and passed it with an entirely new +feature, which was proposed by Mr. Jesse B. Thomas, a senator from +Illinois. That feature was simply the provision, since so widely +known as the Missouri Compromise, which forever prohibited slavery +north of 36° 30´ in all the territory acquired from France by the +Louisiana purchase. The House would not consent to admit the two +States in the same bill, but finally agreed to the compromise; and +in the early part of March, 1820, Maine became a member of the +Union without condition. A separate bill was passed, permitting +Missouri to form a constitution preparatory to her admission, +subject to the compromise, which, indeed, formed one section of +the enabling Act. Missouri was thus granted permission to enter +the Union as a slave State. But she was discontented with the +prospect of having free States on three sides,--east, north, and +west. + +Although the Missouri Compromise was thus nominally perfected, and +the agitation apparently ended, the most exciting, and in some +respects the most dangerous, phase of the question was yet to be +reached. After the enabling Act was passed, the Missouri Convention +assembled to frame a constitution for the new State. The inhabitants +of the Territory had become angered by the long delay imposed upon +them, caused, as they believed, by the introduction of a question +which concerned only themselves, and which Congress had no right +to control. In this resentful mood they were led by the extremists +of the convention to insert a provision in the constitution, +declaring that "it shall be the duty of the General Assembly, as +soon as may be, to pass such laws as may be necessary to prevent +free negroes or mulattoes from coming to or settling in this State +under any pretext whatever." As soon as the constitution with this +obnoxious clause was transmitted to Congress by the President, the +excitement broke forth with increased intensity and the lines of +the old controversy were at once re-formed. + +The parliamentary struggle which ensued was bitter beyond precedent; +threats of dissolving the Union were frequent, and apprehension of +an impending calamity was felt throughout the country. The discussion +continued with unabated vigor and ardor until the middle of February, +and the Congress was to terminate on the ensuing fourth of March. +The House had twice refused to pass the bill admitting Missouri, +declaring that the objectionable clause in her organic law was not +only an insult to every State in which colored men were citizens, +but was in flat contradiction of that provision in the Federal +Constitution which declares that "the citizens of each State shall +be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in +the several States." + + THE SECOND MISSOURI COMPROMISE. + +The defeat, apparently final, of the admission of Missouri, created +intense indignation. Southern senators and representatives charged +that they were treated unjustly by the North, and dealt with unfairly +in Congress. In pursuance of the compromise of the year before, +Maine had been admitted and her senators were in their seats. The +organs of Southern opinion accused the North of overreaching the +South in securing, under the name of a compromise, the admission +of Maine, while still retaining the power to exclude Missouri. A +feeling that bad faith had been practiced is sure to create +bitterness, and the accusation of it produces increased bitterness +in return. The North could easily justify itself by argument, but +the statement without argument apparently showed that the South +had been deceived. The course pursued by the senators from Maine, +--John Holmes and John Chandler,--in voting steadily for the +admission of Missouri, tended greatly to check recrimination and +relieve asperity of feeling. Mr. Holmes was a man of ability, of +experience in public affairs, and of eminent distinction at home. +With a rare gift of humor, and with conversational talent almost +unrivaled, he exerted an influence over men in private and social +intercourse which gave him singular power in shaping public questions. +He was an intimate friend and political supporter of Mr. Clay, and +their cordial co-operation at this crisis evoked harmony from chaos, +and brought a happy solution to a question that was troubling every +patriotic heart. They united in a final effort, and through the +instrumentality of a joint committee of seven senators and twenty- +three representatives,--of which Mr. Holmes was chairman on the +part of the Senate, and Mr. Clay on the part of the House,--a second +and final compromise was effected, and the admission of Missouri +secured. This compromise declared that Missouri should be admitted +to the Union upon the fundamental condition that no law should ever +be passed by her Legislature enforcing the objectionable provision +in her constitution, and that by a solemn public act the State +should declare and record her assent to this condition, and transmit +to the President of the United States an authentic copy of the Act. +Missouri accepted the condition promptly but not cheerfully, feeling +that she entered the Union under a severe discipline, and with hard +and humiliating conditions. It was in this compromise, not in the +one of the preceding session, that Mr. Clay was the leading spirit. +Though the first was the more important, and dealt with larger +questions of a more enduring nature, it did not at the time create +so great an impression on the public mind as the second, nor did +its discussion produce so much antagonism between the North and +the South. Thirty years after these events Mr. Clay called attention +to the fact that he had received undeserved credit for the Missouri +Compromise of 1820, which he had supported but not originated. On +the other hand, he had received only the slightest mention for his +agency in the second compromise, which he had really originated +and carried through Congress. The second compromise had passed +out of general recollection before Mr. Clay's death, though it had +made him a Presidential candidate at forty-three years of age. + +The most remarkable fact connected with the excitement over the +Missouri question, which engrossed the country for more than two +years, was the absence of any premonition of its coming. There +had been no severe political struggle in the nation since the +contest between Madison and De Witt Clinton in 1812. Monroe had +been chosen almost without opposition in 1816, and, even while the +Missouri controversy was at its height, he was re-elected in 1820 +by a practically unanimous vote, the North and the South being +equally cordial in supporting him. In the House of Representatives, +where the battle was so fierce, and the combatants were so evenly +divided, Mr. Clay had been chosen speaker with only eight adverse +votes, and these were given by men who acted from personal prejudice, +and not from political difference. But the outbreak indicated, +and indeed heralded, the re-forming of old party lines. The apparent +unanimity only concealed a division that was already fatally +developed. The party of Jefferson by its very success involved +itself in ruin. Its ancient foe, the eminent and honorable party +of Federalists, made but a feeble struggle in 1816, and completely +disappeared from the national political field four years later, +and even from State contests after the notable defeat of Harrison +Gray Otis by William Eustis for governor of Massachusetts in 1823. +But no political organization can live without opposition. The +disappearance of the Federalists was the signal for factional +divisions among their opponents; and the old Republican party, +which had overthrown the administration of John Adams in 1800, +which had laid the embargo, and forced a war with England, was now +nearing its end. It divided into four parts in the Presidential +election of 1824, and with its ancient creed and organization never +re-appeared in a national contest. Jefferson had combined and +indeed largely created its elements. He beheld it everywhere +victorious for a quarter of a century, and he lived to see it +shattered into fragments by the jealousy of its new leaders. The +Democratic and Whig parties were constructed upon the ruins of the +old organizations. In each were to be found representatives of +the Republicanism of Jefferson and the Federalism of Hamilton. +The ambition of both to trace their lineage to the former was a +striking proof of its popular strength. + +The Missouri question marked a distinct era in the political thought +of the country, and made a profound impression on the minds of +patriotic men. Suddenly, without warning, the North and the South, +the free States and the slave States, found themselves arrayed +against each other in violent and absorbing conflict. During the +interval between the adoption of the Federal Constitution and the +admission of Missouri, there had been a great change in the Southern +mind, both as to the moral and the economic aspects of slavery. +This revolution of opinion had been wrought in large degree by the +cotton-plant. When the National Government was organized in 1789, +the annual export of cotton did not exceed three hundred bales. +It was reckoned only among our experimental products. But, stimulated +by the invention of the gin, production increased so rapidly, that, +at the time of Missouri's application for admission to the Union, +cotton-planting was the most remunerative industry in the country. +The export alone exceeded three hundred thousand bales annually. +But this highly profitable culture was in regions so warm that +outdoor labor was unwelcome to the white race. The immediate +consequence was a large advance in the value of slave-labor, and +in the price of slaves. This fact had its quick and decisive +influence, even in those slave-holding States which could not raise +cotton. The inevitable and speedy result was a consolidation of +the political power necessary to protect an interest at once so +vast and so liable to assault. + +It was not unnatural that this condition should lead to a violent +outburst on the slavery question, but it was nevertheless wholly +unexpected. The causes which let to it had not been understood +and analyzed. The older class of statesmen, who had come down from +the period of the Revolution, from the great work of cementing the +Union and framing the Constitution, deplored the agitation, and +viewed the results with the gravest apprehension. The compromise +by a geographical line, dividing the slave States from the free, +was regarded by this class of patriots as full of danger,--a constant +menace to the peace and perpetuity of the Union. To Mr. Jefferson, +still living in vigorous old age, the trouble sounded like an alarm- +bell rung at midnight. While the measure was pending in Congress, +he wrote to a member of the House of Representatives, that "the +Missouri question is the most portentous one which has ever threatened +the Union. In the gloomiest hour of the Revolutionary war I never +had any apprehensions equal to those which I feel from this source." +Men on both sides of the controversy began to realize its significance +and to dread its probable results. They likened the partition of +the country by a geographical line unto the ancient agreement +between Abraham and Lot, where one should go to the right, and the +other to the left, with the certainty of becoming aliens, and the +possibility of becoming enemies. + + THE MISSOURI ADJUSTMENT SATISFACTORY. + +With the settlement of the Missouri question, the anti-slavery +agitation subsided as rapidly as it had arisen. This was a second +surprise to thinking men. The results can, however, be readily +explained. The Northern States felt that they had absolutely +secured to freedom a large territory west and north of Missouri. +The Southern States believed that they had an implied and honorable +understanding,--outside and beyond the explicit letter of the law, +--that new States south of the Missouri line could be admitted with +slavery if they desired. The great political parties then dividing +the country accepted the result and for the next twenty years no +agitation of the slavery question appeared in any political +convention, or affected any considerable body of the people. + +Within that period, however, there grew up a school of anti-slavery +men far more radical and progressive than those who had resisted +the admission of Missouri as a slave State. They formed what was +known as the Abolition party, and they devoted themselves to the +utter destruction of slavery by every instrumentality which they +could lawfully employ. Acutely trained in the political as well +as the ethical principles of the great controversy, they clearly +distinguished between the powers which Congress might and might +not exercise under the limitations of the Constitution. They began, +therefore, by demanding the abolition of slavery in the District +of Columbia, and in all the national forts, arsenals, and dock- +yards, where, without question or cavil, the exclusive jurisdiction +belonged to Congress; they asked that Congress, under its constitutional +authority to regulate commerce between the States, would prohibit +the inter-State slave-trade; and they prayed that our ships sailing +on the high-seas should not be permitted by the government to carry +slaves as part of their cargo, under the free flag of the United +States, and outside the local jurisdiction that held them in bondage. +They denied that a man should aid in executing any law whose +enforcement did violence to his conscience and trampled under foot +the Divine commands. Hence they would not assist in the surrender +and return of fugitive slaves, holding it rather to be their duty +to resist such violation of the natural rights of man by every +peaceful method, and justifying their resistance by the truths +embodied in the Declaration of Independence, and, still more +impressively, by the precepts taught in the New Testament. + +While encountering, on these issues, the active hostility of the +great mass of the people in all sections of the Union, the +Abolitionists challenged the respect of thinking men, and even +compelled the admiration of some of their most pronounced opponents. +The party was small in number, but its membership was distinguished +for intellectual ability, for high character, for pure philanthropy, +for unquailing courage both moral and physical, and for a controversial +talent which has never been excelled in the history of moral reforms. +It would not be practicable to give the names of all who were +conspicuous in this great struggle, but the mention of James G. +Birney, of Benjamin Lundy, of Arthur Tappan, of the brothers Lovejoy, +of Gerrit Smith, of John G. Whittier, of William Lloyd Garrison, +of Wendell Phillips, and of Gamaliel Bailey, will indicate the +class who are entitled to be held in remembrance so long as the +possession of great mental and moral attributes gives enduring and +honorable fame. Nor would the list of bold and powerful agitators +be complete or just if confined to the white race. Among the +colored men--often denied the simplest rights of citizenship in +the States where they resided--were found many who had received +the gift of tongues, orators by nature, who bravely presented the +wrongs and upheld the rights of the oppressed. Among these Frederick +Douglass was especially and richly endowed not only with the strength +but with the graces of speech; and for many years, from the stump +and from the platform, he exerted a wide and beneficent influence +upon popular opinion. + + THE ABOLITION PARTY ORGANIZED. + +In the early days of this agitation, the Abolitionists were a +proscribed and persecuted class, denounced with unsparing severity +by both the great political parties, condemned by many of the +leading churches, libeled in the public press, and maltreated by +furious mobs. In no part of the country did they constitute more +than a handful of the population, but they worked against every +discouragement with a zeal and firmness which bespoke intensity of +moral conviction. They were in large degree recruited from the +society of Friends, who brought to the support of the organization +the same calm and consistent courage which had always distinguished +them in upholding before the world their peculiar tenets of religious +faith. Caring nothing for prejudice, meeting opprobrium with +silence, shaming the authors of violence by meek non-resistance, +relying on moral agencies alone, appealing simply to the reason +and the conscience of men, they arrested the attention of the nation +by arraigning it before the public opinion of the world, and +proclaiming its responsibility to the judgment of God. + +These apostles of universal liberty besieged Congress with memorials +praying for such legislative measures as would carry out their +designs. Failure after failure only served to inspire them with +fresh courage and more vigorous determination. They were met with +the most resolute resistance by representative from the slave- +holding States, who sought to deny them a hearing, and declared +that the mere consideration of their propositions by Congress would +not only justify, but would inevitably precipitate, a dissolution +of the Union. Undaunted by any form of opposition, the Abolitionists +stubbornly maintained their ground, and finally succeeded in creating +a great popular excitement by insisting on the simple right of +petition as inseparable from free government and free citizenship. +On this issue John Quincy Adams, who had entered the House of +Representatives in 1831, two years after his retirement from the +Presidency, waged a memorable warfare. Not fully sympathizing with +the Abolitionists in their measures or their methods, Mr. Adams +maintained that they had the right to be heard. On this incidental +issue he forced the controversy until it enlisted the attention +of the entire country. He finally drove the opponents of free +discussion to seek shelter under the adoption of an odious rule in +the House of Representatives, popularly named the "Atherton gag," +from Mr. Charles G. Atherton, a Democratic representative from New +Hampshire, who reported it to the House in December, 1838. The +rule was originally devised, however, in a caucus of Southern +Democratic members. In the light of the present day, when slavery +no longer exists in the land, when speech is absolutely free, in +and out of Congress, it is hard to believe that during the Presidency +of Mr. Van Buren, and under the speakership of Mr. Polk, the House +of Representatives voted that "every petition, memorial, resolution, +proposition, or paper, touching or relating in any way or to any +extent whatever to slavery or the abolition thereof, shall on +presentation, without any further action thereon, be laid upon the +table, without being debated, printed, or referred." + +The Southern representatives, both Democrats and Whigs, and the +Northern Democrats, sustained this extraordinary resolution, which +became widely known as the 21st Rule of the House. The Northern +Whigs, to their honor be it said, were steadily against it. The +real design of the measure was to take from Mr. Adams the power of +precipitating a discussion on the slavery question, but the most +unskilled should have seen that in this it would fail. It resembled +in its character the re-actionary and tyrannical edicts so frequently +employed in absolute governments, and was unsuited to the temper, +ran counter to the judgment, and proved offensive to the conscience, +of the American people. + +Profoundly opposed as were many citizens to a denial of the right +of petition, very few wished to become identified with the cause +of the Abolitionists. In truth it required no small degree of +moral courage to take position in the ranks of that despised +political sect forty-five years ago. Persecutions of a petty and +social character were almost sure to follow, and not infrequently +grievous wrongs were inflicted, for which, in the absence of a +disposition among the people to see justice done, the law afforded +no redress. Indeed, by an apparent contradiction not difficult to +reconcile, many of those who fought bravely for the right of the +Abolitionists to be heard in Congress by petition, were yet enraged +with them for continually and, as they thought, causelessly, raising +and pressing the issue. They were willing to fight for the right +of the Abolitionists to do a certain thing, and then willing to +fight the Abolitionists for aimlessly and uselessly doing it. The +men who were governed by these complex motives were chiefly Whigs. +They felt that an increase of popular strength to the Abolitionists +must be at the expense of the party which, continuing to make Clay +its idol, was about to make Harrison its candidate. The announcement, +therefore, on the eve of the national contest of 1840, that the +Abolitionists had nominated James G. Birney of Michigan for President, +and Francis J. Le Moyne of Pennsylvania for Vice-President, was +angrily received by the Whigs, and denunciations of the movement +were loud and frequent. The support received by these candidates +was unexpectedly small, and showed little ground, in the judgment +of the Whigs, for the course taken by the Abolitionists. Their +strength was almost wholly confined to New England, Western New +York, and the Western Reserve of Ohio. It was plainly seen, that, +in a large majority of the free States, the Abolitionists had as +yet made no impression on public opinion. + + THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. + +Any less earnest body of men would have been discouraged, but the +Abolition party was composed of devotees possessing the true martyr +spirit, and, instead of being appalled by defeat, they were inspired +with fresh zeal, and incited to new effort. They had not failed +to observe, that, while few were disposed to unite in extreme anti- +slavery measures, there was a growing number whose conscience was +aroused on the general subject of human bondage. The emancipation +of negroes with a view to their settlement in Africa, as advocated +by the Colonization Society, received the support of conservative +opponents of slavery, the sympathy of the Churches, and the patronage +of leading men among the slave-holders of the Border States. The +National Government was repeatedly urged to give its aid to the +scheme; and, during the excitement on the Missouri question, Congress +appropriated $100,000, nominally for the return of Africans who +had been unlawfully landed in the United States after the slave +trade was prohibited, but really as an indirect mode of promoting +the project of colonization. As a scheme for the destruction of +domestic slavery it was ridiculed by the Abolitionists, who in the +end violently opposed it as tending to deaden the public conscience +to the more imperative duty of universal emancipation. The +philanthropic efforts of the Society were abundantly rewarded, +however, by the establishment of the Republic of Liberia, whose +career has been eminently creditable and advantageous to the African +race. + + +CHAPTER II. + +Review of events before 1860 (_continued_).--Early Efforts to +acquire Texas.--Course of President Tyler.--Mr. Calhoun appointed +Secretary of State.--His Successful Management of the Texas Question. +--His Hostility to Mr. Van Buren.--Letters of Mr. Clay and Mr. Van +Buren opposing the Annexation of Texas.--Mr. Clay nominated as the +Whig Candidate for the President in 1844.--Van Buren's Nomination +defeated.--Mr. Polk selected as the Democratic Candidate.--Disquietude +of Mr. Clay.--His Change of Ground.--His Defeat.--Prolonged Rivalry +between Mr. Clay and General Jackson.--Texas formally annexed to +the Union. + +Soon after the failure of the Abolitionists to exhibit popular +strength, the slavery question was forced upon public attention +independently of their efforts, and by causes whose operation and +effect were not distinctly forseen by those who set them in motion. +The Americans who, in a spirit of adventure, migrated to Texas +after that province had revolted from Mexico, became the controlling +power in the young republic, and under the lead of General Sam +Houston, in the month of April, 1836, won a memorable victory over +the Mexican army at San Jacinto. Thenceforward, in differing +degrees of earnestness, the annexation of Texas became a subject +of consideration in the United States, but it was never incorporated +in the creed of either of the great parties until the Presidential +canvass of 1844. Not long after the death of President Harrison +in April, 1841, his successor, John Tyler, had serious disagreements +with the leading Whigs, both in his cabinet and in Congress, +respecting the establishment of a national bank. Mr. Clay led the +attack upon him openly and almost savagely, arraigning him as a +traitor to the principles upon which he had been elected, and +pursuing the quarrel so violently, that in September, five months +after Tyler's accession, every member of his cabinet resigned except +Mr. Webster. He lingered, unwelcome if not distrusted, until July, +1843, for the purpose of conducting the negotiations in regard to +the North-eastern boundary, which he brought to a termination by +the Ashburton Treaty. The new secretary of State, Abel P. Upshur +of Virginia,--who had been at the head of the Navy Department for +a few months,--was a man of strong parts and brilliant attainments, +but not well known outside of his own commonwealth, and subject +therefore to disparagement as the successor of a man so illustrious +as Mr. Webster. He grasped his new duties, however, with the hand +of a master, and actively and avowedly pursued the policy of +acquiring Texas. His efforts were warmly seconded by the President, +whose friends believed with all confidence that this question could +be so presented as to make Mr. Tyler the Democratic candidate in +the approaching Presidential election. What Mr. Upshur's success +might have been in the difficult field of negotiation upon which +he had entered, must be left to conjecture, for his life was suddenly +destroyed by the terrible accident on board the United-States +steamer "Princeton," in February, 1844, but little more than seven +months after he had entered upon his important and engrossing +duties. + + ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT TYLER. + +Mr. Tyler's administration being now fully committed to the scheme +of Texas annexation, the selection of a new secretary of State was +a matter of extreme importance. The President had been finally +separated from all sympathy with the party that elected him, when +Mr. Webster left the cabinet the preceding summer. But he had not +secured the confidence or the support of the Democracy. The members +of that party were willing to fill his offices throughout the +country, and to absorb the honors and emoluments of his administration; +but the leaders of positive influence, men of the grade of Van +Buren, Buchanan, Cass, Dallas, and Silas Wright, held aloof, and +left the government to be guided by Democrats who had less to risk, +and by Whigs of the type of Henry A. Wise of Virginia and Caleb +Cushing of Massachusetts, who had revolted from the rule of Mr. +Clay. It was the sagacity of Wise, rather than the judgment of +Tyler, which indicated the immense advantage of securing Mr. Calhoun +for the head of the cabinet. The great Southern leader was then +in retirement, having resigned from the Senate the preceding year. +By a coincidence worth nothing, Webster, Clay, and Calhoun were +all at that moment absent from the Senate, each having voluntarily +retired. In later life, chastened by political adversity, they +returned to the chamber where, before their advent and since their +departure, there have been no rivals to their fame. + +Naturally, Mr. Calhoun would have been reluctant to take office +under Tyler at any time, and especially for the brief remainder of +an administration which had been continually under the ban of public +opinion, and which had not the slightest prospect of renewal. With +quick observation and keen insight, however, he perceived a great +opportunity to serve the South, and to serve the South was with +him not only a principle, but a passion. He realized, moreover, +that the hour was at hand for an historic revenge which the noblest +of minds might indulge. He saw intuitively that the Texas question +was one of vast importance, with untold possibilities. He saw with +equal clearness that it had never been presented in such manner as +to appeal to the popular judgment, and become an active, aggressive +issue in the struggle for the Presidency. A large section of the +Democratic party had looked favorably upon annexation ever since +1836, but the leaders had dared not to include the scheme in the +avowed designs of party policy. They had omitted it purposely in +making up the issues for the Van Buren campaign of 1840, and, up +to the hour when Mr. Calhoun entered the State Department, the +intention of the managers was to omit it in the contest of 1844 +against Mr. Clay. Mr. Tyler's advocacy of Texas annexation had +injured rather than promoted it in the estimation of the Democratic +party; but when Mr. Calhoun, with his astute management, and his +large influence in the slave-holding States, espoused it, the whole +tenor of Southern opinion was changed, and the Democracy of that +section received a new inspiration. + +Mr. Van Buren, aspiring again to the Presidency, desired to avoid +the Texas issue. Mr. Calhoun determined that he should meet it. +He had every motive for distrusting, opposing, even hating, Van +Buren. The contest between them had been long and unrelenting. +When Van Buren, as secretary of State, was seized with the ambition +to succeed Jackson, he saw Calhoun in the Vice-Presidency, strongly +intrenched as heir-apparent; and he set to work to destroy the +friendship and confidence that existed between him and the President. +The rash course of Jackson in the Seminole campaign of 1818 had +been severely criticised in the cabinet of Monroe, and Mr. Calhoun, +as secretary of War, had talked of a court of inquiry. Nothing, +however, was done and the mere suggestion had been ten years +forgotten, when Jackson entered upon the Presidency, entertaining +the strongest friendship, both personal and political, for Calhoun. +But the damaging fact was unearthed and the jealousy of Jackson +was aroused. Calhoun was driven into a deadly quarrel, resigned +the Vice-Presidency, and went back to South Carolina to engage in +the nullification contest. Van Buren quickly usurped his place in +the regard and confidence of Jackson, and succeeded to the Presidency. +Calhoun, denounced in every paper under the control of the +administration, was threatened with prosecution, and robbed for a +time of the confidence of the Democratic party. By the strangely +and rapidly changing fortunes of politics, it was now in his power +to inflict a just retribution upon Van Bren. He did not neglect +the opportunity. + + SECRETARY CALHOUN'S DIPLOMACY. + +Mr. Calhoun urged the scheme of annexation with intense earnestness. +Taking up the subject where Mr. Upshur had left it, he conducted +the negotiation with zeal and skill. His diplomatic correspondence +was able and exhaustive. It was practically a frank avowal that +Texas must be incorporated in the Union. He feared that European +influence might become dominant in the new republic, and, as a +consequence, that anti-slavery ideas might take root, and thence +injuriously affect the interests, and to some extent the safety, +of the Southern States. In an instruction to William R. King, our +minister at Paris, Mr. Calhoun called his attention to the fact +that England regarded the defeat of annexation "as indispensable +to the abolition of slavery in Texas." He believed that England +was "too sagacious not to see what a fatal blow abolition in Texas +would give to slavery in the United States." Then, contemplating +the effect of the general abolition of slavery, he declared that +"to this continent it would be calamitous beyond description." It +would "destroy in a great measure the cultivation and production +of the great tropical staples, amounting annually in value to nearly +$300,000,000." It is a suggestive commentary on Mr. Calhoun's evil +foreboding, that the great tropical staple of the South has steadily +increased in growth under free labor, and that the development of +Texas never fairly began until slavery was banished from her soil. + +Discussing the right of Texas to independence, in an instruction +to Wilson Shannon, our minister to Mexico, Mr. Calhoun averred that +"Texas had never stood in relation to Mexico as a rebellious province +struggling to obtain independence. The true relation between them +is that of independent members of a federal government, the weaker +of which has successfully resisted the attempts of the stronger to +conquer and subject her to its power." This was applying to the +constitution of Mexico the same construction which he had so long +and so ably demanded for our own. It was, indeed, but a paraphrase +of the State-sovereignty and State-rights theory, with which he +had persistently indoctrinated the Southern mind. Ten years after +Mr. Calhoun was in his grave, the same doctrine, in almost the same +form of expression, became familiar to the country as the Southern +justification for resorting to civil war. + +The prompt result of Mr. Calhoun's efforts was a treaty of annexation +which had been discussed but not concluded under Mr. Upshur. It +was communicated to the Senate by the President on the 12th of +April, 1844. The effect which this treaty produced on the political +fortunes of two leading statesmen, one in each party, was extraordinary. +Prior to its negotiation, the Democrats throughout the Union were +apparently well united in support of Mr. Van Buren as their +Presidential candidate. Mr. Clay was universally accepted by the +Whigs,--his nomination by a national convention being indeed but +a matter of form. Relations of personal courtesy and confidence, +if not of intimate friendship, had always subsisted between Mr. +Clay and Mr. Van Buren during their prolonged public service. It +was now believed that they had come to an understanding, through +the negotiation of friends, to eliminate the Texas question from +the campaign of 1844 by defeating the Tyler-Calhoun treaty, and +agreeing to a general postponement of the subject, on the ground +that immediate annexation would plunge the country into war. Very +soon after the treaty was sent to the Senate by the President, Mr. +Clay published in the "National Intelligencer" his famous Raleigh +letter against annexation. The "Globe" of the same day contained +a more guarded communication from Mr. Van Buren, practically taking +the same ground. Considering the widely different characteristics +of the two men, the letters were singularly alike in argument and +inference. This fact, in connection with the identical time of +publication, strengthened the suspicion, if not the conclusion, +that there was a pre-arranged understanding between the eminent +authors. + +The letter of Mr. Van Buren was fatal to his prospects. He was +caught in the toils prepared by Mr. Calhoun's diplomacy. His +disastrous defeat four years before by General Harrison had not +injured him within the lines of his own party, or shorn him of his +prestige in the nation. He still retained the undiminished confidence +of his old adherents in the North, and a large support from the +Southern Democracy outside of the States in which Mr. Calhoun's +influence was dominant. But the leading Democrats of the South, +now inflamed with the fever of annexation, determined upon Van +Buren's defeat as soon as his letter opposing the acquisition of +Texas appeared. They went to work industriously and skillfully to +compass that end. It was not a light task. The force of New York, +as has been so frequently and so signally demonstrated, is difficult +to overcome in a Democratic National Convention; and New York was +not only unanimously, but enthusiastically, for Mr. Van Buren. +Hitherto New York and the South had been in alliance, and their +joint decrees were the rule of action inside the Democratic party. +They were now separated and hostile, and the trial of strength that +ensued was one of the most interesting political contests ever +witnessed in the country. The Democratic masses had so long followed +Southern lead that they were bewildered by this new and unexpected +development. From the organization of the Federal Government to +that hour, a period of fifty-six years, Mr. Van Buren was the only +Northern man whom the Democracy had supported for the Presidency; +and Mr. Van Buren had been forced upon the party by General Jackson. +His title to his political estate, therefore, came from the South. +It remained strong because his supporters believed that Jackson +was still behind him. One word from the great chief at the Hermitage +would have compelled Mr. Van Buren to retire from the field. But +the name of Jackson was powerful with the Democratic masses. +Against all the deep plots laid for Van Buren's overthrow, he was +still able, when the national convention assembled at Baltimore in +May, 1844, to count a majority of the delegates in favor of his +nomination. + + VAN BUREN AND THE TWO-THIRDS RULE. + +The Texas treaty of annexation was still pending in the Senate with +a decided majority committed against its confirmation, both upon +public and partisan grounds. The Whig senators and the friends of +Van Buren had coalesced for its defeat after their respective chiefs +had pronounced against it. Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky and Colonel +Benton were the leaders under whose joint efforts the work of +Calhoun was to be set at naught. But, in fact, the work of Calhoun +had already been effectually done and he could afford to disregard +the fate of the treaty. He had consolidated the Democratic delegates +from the slave-holding States against Mr. Van Buren, and the decree +had gone forth for his political destruction. Mr. Van Buren, with +the aid of the more populous North, had indeed secured a majority +of the convention, but an instrumentality was at hand to overcome +this apparent advantage. In the two preceding national conventions +of the Democratic party, the rule requiring a two-thirds vote of +all the delegates to make a nomination had been adopted at the +instance of Mr. Van Buren's friends in order to insure his victory. +It was now to be used for his defeat. Forseeing the result, the +same zealous and devoted friends of Mr. Van Buren resisted its +adoption. Romulus M. Sanders of North Carolina introduced the +rule, and was sustained with great vigor by Robert J. Walker of +Mississippi, and George W. Hopkins of Virginia. The leading +opponents of the rule were Marcus Morton of Massachusetts, Nathan +Clifford of Maine, and Daniel S. Dickinson of New York. The +discussion was conducted by Southern men on one side and by Northern +men on the other,--the first division of the kind in the Democratic +party. Slavery was the ominous cause! The South triumphed and +the rule was fastened upon the convention. + +Immediately after this action Mr. Van Buren received a majority of +the votes on the first ballot, and it was not unnaturally charged +that many of those supporting him must have been insincere, inasmuch +as they had the full right, until self-restrained by the two-thirds +rule, to declare him the nominee. But this conclusion does not +necessarily follow. Mr. Van Buren had been nominated in the National +Democratic Conventions of 1835 and 1839 with the two-thirds rule +in operation; and now to force his nomination for a third time by +a mere slender majority was, in the judgment of wise and considerate +party leaders among his own friends, a dangerous experiment. They +instinctively feared to disregard a powerful and aggressive minority +stubbornly demanding that Mr. Van Buren should be subjected to the +same test which his friends had enforced in previous conventions. +Their argument was not satisfactorily answered, the rule was adopted, +and Mr. Van Buren's fate was sealed. + + CALHOUN DEFEATS VAN BUREN. + +The Southern men who insisted upon the rule had the courage to use +it. They had absolute control of more than one-third of the +convention; and, whatever might come, they were determined that +Mr. Van Buren should not be nominated. As the most effective mode +of assailing his strength, they supported a Northern candidate +against him, and gave a large vote for General Cass. This wrought +the intended result. It demoralized the friends of Mr. Van Buren +and prepared the way for a final concentration upon Mr. Polk, which +from the first had been the secret design of the Southern managers. +It was skillfully done, and was the direct result of the Texas +policy which Mr. Calhoun had forced the Democratic party to adopt. +To Mr. Van Buren it was a great blow, and some of his friends were +indisposed to submit to a result which they considered unfair. +For the first time in history of any convention, of either party, +a candidate supported by a majority of the delegates failed to be +nominated. The two-thirds rule, as Colonel Benton declared, had +been originally framed, "not to thwart a majority, but to strengthen +it." But it was remorselessly used to defeat the majority by men +who intended, not only to force a Southern policy on the government, +but to intrust that policy to the hands of a Southern President. +The support of Cass was not sincere, but it served for the moment +to embarrass the friends of Van Buren, to make the triumph of what +Benton called the Texas conspiracy more easy and more sure, and in +the end to lay up wrath against the day of wrath for General Cass +himself. Calhoun's triumph was complete. Politically he had gained +a great victory for the South. Personally he had inflicted upon +Mr. Van Buren a most humiliating defeat, literally destroying him +as a factor in the Democratic party, of which he had so long and +so successfully been the leader. + +The details of Mr. Van Buren's defeat are presented because of its +large influence on the subsequent development of anti-slavery +strength in the North. He was sacrificed because he was opposed +to the immediate annexation of Texas. Had he taken ground in favor +of annexation, he would in all probability have been nominated with +a fair prospect of election; though the general judgment at that +time was that Mr. Clay would have defeated him. The overthrow of +Mr. Van Buren was a crisis in the history of the Democratic party, +and implanted dissensions which rapidly ripened into disaster. +The one leading feature, the forerunner of important political +changes, was the division of delegates on the geographical line of +North and South. Though receiving a clear majority of the entire +convention on the first ballot, Mr. Van Buren had but nine votes +from the slave States; and these votes, singularly enough, came +from the northern side of the line of the Missouri Compromise. +This division in a Democratic National Convention was, in many of +its relations and aspects, more significant than a similar division +in the two Houses of Congress. + +Though cruelly wronged by the convention, as many of his supporters +thought, Mr. Van Buren did not himself show resentment, but +effectively sustained his successful competitor. His confidential +friend, Silas Wright, had refused to go on the ticket with Mr. +Polk, and George M. Dallas was substituted by the quick and competent +management of Mr. Robert J. Walker. The refusal of Mr. Wright led +the Whigs to hope for distraction in the ranks of the New-York +Democracy; but that delusion was soon dispelled by Wright's acceptance +of the nomination for governor, and his entrance into the canvass +with unusual energy and spirit. It was widely believed that +Jackson's great influence with Van Buren was actively exerted in +aid of Polk's election. It would have cruelly embittered the few +remaining days of the venerable ex-president to witness Clay's +triumph, and Van Buren owed so much to Jackson that he could not +be indifferent to Polk's success without showing ingratitude to +the great benefactor who had made him his successor in the Executive +chair. Motives of this kind evidently influenced Mr. Van Buren; +for his course in after years showed how keenly he felt his defeat, +and how unreconciled he was to the men chiefly engaged in compassing +it. The cooler temperament which he inherited from his Dutch +ancestry enabled him to bide his time more patiently than men of +Scotch-Irish blood, like Calhoun; but subsequent events plainly +showed that he was capable of nursing his anger, and of inflicting +a revenge as significant and as fatal as that of which he had been +made the victim,--a revenge which would have been perfect in its +gratification had it included Mr. Calhoun personally, as it did +politically, with General Cass. + +Mr. Clay's letter opposing the annexation of Texas, unlike the +letter of Mr. Van Buren, brought its author strength and prestige +in the section upon which he chiefly relied for support in the +election. He was nominated with unbounded manifestations of +enthusiasm at Baltimore, on the first of May, with no platform +except a brief extract from one of his own letters embraced in a +single resolution, and containing no reference whatever to the +Texas question. His prospects were considered most brilliant, and +his supporters throughout the Union were absolutely confident of +his election. But the nomination of Mr. Polk, four weeks later, +surprised and disquieted Mr. Clay. More quickly than his ardent +and blinded advocates, he perceived the danger to himself which +the candidacy of Mr. Polk inevitably involved; and he at once became +restless and dissatisfied with the drift and tendency of the +campaign. The convention which nominated Mr. Polk took bold ground +for the immediate re-annexation of Texas and re-occupation of +Oregon. This peculiar form of expression was used to indicate that +Texas had already belonged to us under the Louisiana purchase, and +that Oregon had been wholly ours prior to the treaty of joint +occupancy with Great Britain. It further declared, that our title +to the whole of Oregon, up to 54° 40´ north latitude, was "clear +and indisputable"; thus carrying our claim to the borders of the +Russian possessions, and utterly denying and defying the pretension +of Great Britain to the ownership of any territory bordering on +the Pacific. + + FATAL CHANGE IN MR. CLAY'S POSITION. + +By this aggressive policy the Democratic party called forth the +enthusiasm of the people, both North and South, in favor of +territorial acquisition,--always popular with men of Anglo-Saxon +blood, and appealing in an especial manner to the young, the brave, +and the adventurous, in all sections of the country. Mr. Clay, a +man of most generous and daring nature, suddenly discovered that +he was on the timid side of all the prominent questions before the +people,--a position occupied by him for the first time. He had +led public sentiment in urging the war of 1812 against Great Britain; +had served with distinction in negotiating the Treaty of Peace at +Ghent; had forced the country into an early recognition of the +South-American republics at the risk of war with Spain; had fiercely +attacked the Florida Treaty of 1819, for surrendering our rightful +claim to Texas as part of the Louisiana purchase; and had, when +secretary of State, held high ground on the Oregon question in his +correspondence with the British Government. With this splendid +record of fearless policy throughout his long public career, a +defensive position, suddenly thrust upon him by circumstances which +he had not foreseen, betrayed him into anger, and thence naturally +into imprudence. All his expectations had been based upon a contest +with Mr. Van Buren. The issues he anticipated were those of national +bank, of protective tariff, of internal improvements, and the +distribution of the proceeds from the sale of the public lands,-- +on all of which he believed he would have the advantage before the +people. The substitution of Mr. Polk changed the entire character +of the contest, as the sagacious leaders of the Southern Democracy +had foreseen. To extricate himself from the embarrassment into +which he was thrown, Mr. Clay resorted to the dangerous experiment +of modifying the position which he had so recently taken on the +Texas question. Apparently underrating the hostility of the Northern +Whigs to the scheme of annexation, he saw only the disadvantage in +which the Southern Whigs were placed, especially in the Gulf region, +and, in a less degree, in the northern tier of slave-holding States. +Even in Kentucky--which had for years followed Mr. Clay with immense +popular majorities--the contest grew animated and exciting as the +Texas question was pressed. The State was to vote in August; and +the gubernatorial canvass between Judge Owsley, the Whig candidate, +and General William O. Butler, the nominee of the Democrats, was +attracting the attention of the whole nation. This local contest +not only enlisted Mr. Clay's interest, but aroused his deep personal +feeling. In a private letter, since made public, he urged the +editors of the Whig press "to lash Butler" for some political +shortcoming which he pointed out. In a tone of unrestrained anger, +he declared that "we should have a pretty time of it with one of +Jackson's lieutenants at Washington, and another at Frankfort, and +the old man in his dotage at the Hermitage dictating to both." To +lose Kentucky was, for the Whigs, to lose every thing. To reduce +the Whig majority in Mr. Clay's own State would be a great victory +for the Democracy, and to that end the leaders of the party were +straining every nerve. + +Mr. Clay realized that it was his position on the Texas question, +as defined in the Raleigh letter, which was endangering his prestige +in Kentucky. This fact, added to the pressure upon him from every +other slave-holding State, precipitated him into the blunder which +probably cost him his election. A few weeks after the nomination +of Mr. Polk, on the first day of July, 1844, Mr. Clay, while resting +quietly at Ashland, wrote to Stephen Miller of Tuscaloosa what has +since been known as his Alabama letter. It was written to relieve +the Southern Whigs, without anticipation of its effect upon the +fortunes of Northern Whigs. Mr. Clay was surrounded by men of the +South only, breathed their atmosphere, heard their arguments; and, +unmindful of the unrepresented Northern sentiment, he took the +fatal step. He declared, that, "far from having any personal +objection to the annexation of Texas," he "would be glad to see it +annexed, without dishonor, without war, with the common consent of +the Union, and upon just and fair terms." This letter received +the popular designation of Mr. Clay's political "death-warrant," +from the disastrous effect it produced on his prospects in certain +free States where before its appearance he had been considered +irresistibly strong. + + TRIUMPH OF POLK OVER CLAY. + +The immediate and palpable effect of the Alabama letter in the +North was an increase of power and numbers to the Abolitionists. +To Mr. Clay this was its most destructive result. Prior to 1840 +the Abolitionists had been so few and so scattered that they had +not attempted a national organization, or taken any part in the +political contests of the country. In that year, however, they +named James G. Birney as their candidate for the Presidency, and +cast for him only 6,745 votes out of a total of 2,410,778. In 1844 +the Abolitionists again named Mr. Birney as their Presidential +candidate; and, until the appearance of the Alabama letter, the +general impression was that their vote would not be larger than in +1840. Indeed, so long as Mr. Clay held firmly to his opposition +to Texas annexation, the tendency of the Abolitionists was to prefer +him to Mr. Polk. But the moment the letter of surrender appeared +thousands of anti-slavery Whigs who had loyally supported Mr. Clay +went over at once to the Abolitionists. To the popular apprehension, +Mr. Clay had changed his ground, and his new position really left +little difference between himself and his opponent on the absorbing +question of Texas annexation, but it still gave to Mr. Polk all +the advantage of boldness. The latter was outspoken for the +annexation of Texas, and the former, with a few timid qualifications, +declared that he would be glad to see Texas annexed. Besides this, +Mr. Polk's position on the Oregon question afforded some compensation +by proposing to add a large area of free territory to offset the +increase of slave territory in Texas. Under such arguments the +Abolition party grew rapidly and steadily until, at the election, +they polled for Mr. Birney 58,879 votes. This vast increase over +the vote of 1840 was very largely at the expense of the Whig party, +and its specific injury to Mr. Clay is almost a matter of mathematical +demonstration. In New York the vote stood for Polk 237,588, for +Clay 232,482, for Birney, 15,812. The plurality for Mr. Polk was +only 5,106. In 1840 the vote for Mr. Birney in New York was +2,798.* But for the Alabama letter it has always been believed +that Mr. Clay would have received a sufficient number of the Birney +votes to give him a plurality. The election hinged on the result +in New York. One hundred and thirty-eight electoral votes were +necessary to a choice. With New York, Mr. Clay would have had a +total of one hundred and forty-one. Mr. Polk, with New York added +to his vote, received a total of one hundred and seventy, and was +elected President of the United States. + +No contest for the Presidency, either before or since, has been +conducted with such intense energy and such deep feeling. Mr. +Clay's followers were not ordinary political supporters. They had +the profound personal attachment which is looked for only in +hereditary governments, where loyalty becomes a passion, and is +blind and unreasoning in its adherence and its devotion. The +logical complement of such ardent fidelity is an opposition marked +by unscrupulous rancor. This case proved no exception. The love +of Mr. Clay's friends was equaled by the hatred of his foes. The +zeal of his supporters did not surpass the zeal of his opponents. +All the enmities and exasperations which began in the memorable +contest for the Presidency when John Quincy Adams was chosen, and +had grown into great proportions during the long intervening period, +were fought out on the angry field of 1844. Mr. Polk, a moderate +and amiable man, did not represent the acrimonious character of +the controversy. He stood only as the passive representative of +its principles. Behind him was Jackson, aged and infirm in body, +but strong in mind, and unbroken in spirit. With him the struggle +was not only one of principle, but of pride; not merely of judgment, +but of temper; and he communicated to the legions throughout the +country, who regarded him with reverence and gratitude, a full +measure of his own animosity against Clay. In its progress the +struggle absorbed the thought, the action, the passion, of the +whole people. When its result was known, the Whigs regarded the +defeat of Mr. Clay, not only as a calamity of untold magnitude to +the country, but as a personal and profound grief, which touched +the heart as deeply as the understanding. It was Jackson's final +triumph over Clay. The iron-nerved old hero died in seven months +after this crowning gratification of his life. + + GENERAL JACKSON AND MR. CLAY. + +For twenty years these two great, brave men headed the opposing +political forces of the Union. Whoever might be candidates, they +were the actual leaders. John Quincy Adams was more learned than +either; Mr. Webster was stronger in logic and in speech; Calhoun +more acute, refined, and philosophic; Van Buren better skilled in +combining and directing political forces; but to no one of these +was given the sublime attribute of leadership, the faculty of +drawing men unto him. That is natural, not acquired. There was +not in the whole country, during the long period of their rivalry, +a single citizen of intelligence who was indifferent to Clay or to +Jackson. For the one without qualification, against the other +without reservation, was the rule of division from the northernmost +township of New England to the mouths of the Mississippi. Both +leaders had the highest courage; physical and moral, in equal +degree. Clay held the advantage of a rare eloquence; but Jackson +had a splendid military record, which spoke to the hearts of the +people more effectively than words. Members for twenty years of +the same party, they differed slightly, if at all, in political +principles when the contest began; but Jackson enjoyed the prestige +of a more lineal heirship to the creed of Jefferson, Madison, and +Monroe; while Clay, by his imprudence in becoming secretary of +State, incurred not only the odium of the "bargain and sale," but +a share of the general unpopularity which at that time attached to +the name of Adams. It is not in retrospect difficult to measure +the advantages which Jackson possessed in the long contest, and to +see clearly the reasons of his final triumph over the boldest of +leaders, the noblest of foes. Still less is it difficult to see +how largely the personality of the two men entered into the struggle, +and how in the end the effect upon the politics and prosperity of +the country would have been nearly the same had the winner and the +loser exchanged places. In each of them patriotism was a passion. +There never was a moment in their prolonged enmity and their +rancorous contests when a real danger to the country would not have +united them as heartily as in 1812, when Clay in the House and +Jackson on the field co-operated in defending the national honor +against the aggressions of Great Britain. + +The election of Mr. Polk was an unquestionable verdict from the +people in favor of the annexation of Texas. Mr. Clay and Mr. Van +Buren had been able to defeat the treaty negotiated by Mr. Calhoun; +but the popular vote overruled them, and pronounced in favor of +the Democratic position after full and fair hearing. Mr. Tyler +was anxious that the scheme so energetically initiated by him should +be fully accomplished during his term. The short method of joint +resolution was therefore devised by the ever fertile brain of Mr. +Calhoun, and its passage through Congress intrusted to the skilful +management of Robert J. Walker, then a senator from Mississippi, +and already indicated for the portfolio of the Treasury in the new +administration. Mr. Polk was in consultation with Mr. Tyler during +the closing weeks of the latter's administration, and the annexation +by joint resolution had his full concurrence. It was passed in +season to receive the approval of President Tyler on the first day +of March, three days before the eventful administration of Mr. Polk +was installed in power. Its terms were promptly accepted by Texas, +and at the next session of Congress, beginning December, 1845, the +constitution of the new State was approved. Historic interest +attached to the appearance of Sam Houston and Thomas J. Rusk as +the first senators from the great State which they had torn from +Mexico and added to the Union. + +The lapse of forty years and the important events of intervening +history give the opportunity for impartial judgment concerning the +policy of acquiring Texas. We were not guiltless towards Mexico +in originally permitting if not encouraging our citizens to join +in the revolt of one of the States of that Republic. But Texas +had passed definitely and finally beyond the control of Mexico, +and the practical issue was, whether we should incorporate her in +the Union or leave her to drift in uncertain currents--possibly to +form European alliances which we should afterwards be compelled, +in self-defense, to destroy. An astute statesman of that period +summed up the whole case when he declared that it was wiser policy +to annex Texas, and accept the issue of immediate war with Mexico, +than to leave Texas in nominal independence to involve us probably +in ultimate war with England. The entire history of subsequent +events has vindicated the wisdom, the courage, and the statesmanship +with which the Democratic party dealt with this question in 1844. + +[* Total vote cast for James G. Birney, Abolition candidate for +President, in 1840 and in 1844:-- + + 1840. 1844. 1840. 1844. +Connecticut . . . . 179 1,943 New York . . . . 2,798 15,812 +Illinois . . . . . -- 149 Ohio . . . . . . 903 8,050 +Indiana . . . . . . -- 2,106 Pennsylvania . . 343 3,138 +Maine . . . . . . . 194 4,836 Rhode Island . . 42 107 +Massachusetts . . . 1,621 10,860 Vermont . . . . 319 3,954 +Michigan . . . . . 321 3,632 +New Hampshire . . . 126 4,161 6,745 58,879 +New Jersey . . . . 69 131 ] + + +CHAPTER III. + +Review (_continued_).--Triumph of the Democratic Party.--Impending +Troubles with Mexico.--Position of Parties.--Struggle for the +Equality of Free and Slave States.--Character of the Southern +Leaders.--Their Efforts to control the Government.--Conservative +Course of Secretaries Buchanan and Marcy.--Reluctant to engage in +War with Mexico.--The Oregon Question, 54°, 40´, or 49°.--Critical +Relations with the British Government.--Treaty of 1846.--Character +of the Adjustment.--Our Probable Loss by Unwise Policy of the +Democratic Party. + +The annexation of Texas being accomplished, the next step was looked +for with absorbing interest. In the spring of 1845 the Democratic +party stood victor. Its policy had been approved by the people, +its administration was in power. But success had brought heavy +responsibilities, and imposed upon the statesmanship of Mr. Polk +the severest of tasks. Texas came to us with undefined boundaries, +and with a state of war at that moment existing between herself +and Mexico. We had annexed a province that had indeed maintained +a revolt for years against the central government of a neighboring +republic; but its independence had never been conceded, the hope +of its subjugation had never been abandoned. When Congress passed +the joint resolution of annexation, the Mexican minister entered +a formal protest against the proceeding, demanded his passports, +and left the United States. By this course, Mexico placed herself +in an unfriendly, though not necessarily hostile, attitude. The +general apprehension however was that we should drift into war, +and the first message of Mr. Polk aroused the country to the +impending danger. He devoted a large space to the Texas question, +informing Congress that "Mexico had been marshaling and organizing +armies, issuing proclamations, and avowing the intention to make +war on the United States, either by open declaration, or by invading +Texas." He had therefore "deemed it proper, as a precautionary +measure, to order a strong squadron to the coast of Mexico, and to +concentrate an efficient military force on the western frontier of +Texas." Every one could see what this condition of affairs portended, +and there was at once great excitement throughout the country. In +the North, the belief of a large majority of the people was that +the administration intended to precipitate war, not merely to coerce +Mexico into the acknowledgment of the Rio Grande as the boundary +of Texas, but also to acquire further territory for the purpose of +creating additional slave States. As soon as this impression, or +suspicion, got abroad, the effect was an anti-slavery revival which +enlisted the feelings and influenced the political action of many +who had never sympathized with the Abolitionists, and of many who +had steadily opposed them. + +These men came from both the old political parties, but the larger +number from the Whigs. Indeed, during almost the entire period of +the anti-slavery agitation by the Abolitionists, there had existed +a body of men in the Whig ranks who were profoundly impressed with +the evils of slavery, and who yet thought they could be more +influential in checking its progress by remaining in their old +party, and, in many sections of the country, maintaining their +control of it. Of these men, John Quincy Adams stood undeniably +at the head; and with him were associated, in and out of Congress, +Mr. Seward, Mr. Benjamin F. Wade, Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Giddings, Mr. +Thaddeus Stevens, besides a large number of able and resolute men +of less public distinction, but of equal earnestness, in all parts +of the North. Subsequent events have led men to forget that Millard +Fillmore, then a representative from New York, was one of Mr. +Adams's early co-laborers in the anti-slavery cause, and that in +the important debate on the admission of Arkansas, with a constitution +making slavery perpetual, Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts led the +radical free sentiment of New England. A large number of distinguished +Democrats in the North also entertained the strongest anti-slavery +convictions, and were determined, at the risk of separating from +their party associates, to resist the spread of slavery into free +territory. Among the most conspicuous of these were Salmon P. +Chase, John P. Hale, Hannibal Hamlin, Preston King, John M. Niles, +David Wilmot, David K. Cartter, and John Wentworth. They had many +co-laborers and a band of determined and courageous followers. +They were especially strong in the State of New York, and, under +the name of Barnburners, wrought changes which affected the political +history of the entire country. + +The two great parties on the eve of the Mexican war were thus +somewhat similarly situated. In the South all the members of both +were, by the supposed necessity of their situation, upholders of +slavery, though the Democrats were on this question more aggressive, +more truculent, and more menacing, than the Whigs. The Southern +Whigs, under the lead of Mr. Clay, had been taught that slavery +was an evil, to be removed in some practicable way at some distant +period, but not to be interfered with, in the States where it +existed, by outside influence or force. The Democrats, under the +head of Mr. Calhoun, defended the institution of slavery as right +in itself, as scripturally authorized, as essential in the economy +of labor, and as a blessing to both races. In the North both +parties were divided on the question; each had its anti-slavery +wing and its pro-slavery wing, with many local names to distinguish +them. Between the two a relentless controversy began,--a controversy +marked as much by epithet as by argument, and conducted with such +exasperation of feeling as clearly foreshadowed a break of existing +party lines, and the formation of new associations, through which, +in the phrase of that day, "men who thought alike could act +together." + + THE ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY. + +This being the condition of the two great parties which divided +the country, it was evident that the acquisition of territory from +Mexico must lead to an agitation of the slavery question, of which +no man could measure the extent, or foresee the consequences. It +was the old Missouri struggle renewed, with more numerous combatants, +a stronger influence of the press, a mightier enginery of public +opinion. It arose as suddenly as the agitation of 1820, but gave +indications of deeper feeling and more prolonged controversy. The +able and ambitious men who had come into power at the South were +wielding the whole force of the national administration, and they +wielded it with commanding ability and unflinching energy. The +Free-soil sentiment which so largely pervaded the ranks of the +Northern Democracy had no representative in the cabinet, and a man +of pronounced anti-slavery views was as severely proscribed in +Washington as a Roundhead was in London after the coronation of +Charles II. + +The policy of maintaining an equality of slave States with free +States was to be pursued, as it had already been from the foundation +of the government, with unceasing vigilance and untiring energy. +The balancing of forces between the new States added to the Union +had been so skillfully arranged, that for a long period two States +were admitted at nearly the same time,--one from the South, and +one from the North. Thus Kentucky and Vermont, Tennessee and Ohio, +Mississippi and Indiana, Alabama and Illinois, Missouri and Maine, +Arkansas and Michigan, Florida and Iowa, came into the Union in +pairs, not indeed at precisely the same moment in every case, but +always with reference each to the other in the order named. On +the admission of Florida and Iowa, Colonel Benton remarked that +"it seemed strange that two territories so different in age, so +distant from each other, so antagonistic in natural features and +political institutions, should ripen into States at the same time, +and come into the Union by a single Act; but these very antagonisms +--that is, the antagonistic provisions on the subject of slavery-- +made the conjunction, and gave to the two young States an inseparable +admission." During the entire period from the formation of the +Federal Government to the inauguration of Mr. Polk, the only +variation from this twin birth of States--the one free, the other +slave--was in the case of Louisiana, which was admitted in 1812, +with no corresponding State from the North. Of the original Thirteen +States, seven had become free, and six maintained slavery. Of the +fifteen that were added to the Union, prior to the annexation of +Texas, eight were slave, and seven were free; so that, when Mr. +Polk took the oath of office, the Union consisted of twenty-eight +States, equally divided between slave-holding and free. So nice +an adjustment had certainly required constant watchfulness and the +closest calculation of political forces. It was in pursuit of this +adjustment that the admission of Louisiana was secured, as an +evident compensation for the loss which had accrued to the slave- +holding interest in the unequal though voluntary partition of the +Old Thirteen between North and South. + +The more rapid growth of the free States in population made the +contest for the House of Representatives, or for a majority in the +Electoral college, utterly hopeless to the South; but the constitutional +equality of all the States in the Senate enabled the slave interest +to defeat any hostile legislation, and to defeat also any nominations +by the President of men who were offensive to the South by reason +of their anti-slavery character. The courts of the United States, +both supreme and district, throughout the Union, including the +clerks and the marshals who summoned the juries and served the +processes, were therefore filled with men acceptable to the South. +Cabinets were constituted in the same way. Representatives of the +government in foreign countries were necessarily taken from the +class approved by the same power. Mr. Webster, speaking in his +most conservative tone in the famous speech of March 7, 1850, +declared that, from the formation of the Union to that hour, the +South had monopolized three-fourths of the places of honor and +emolument under the Federal Government. It was an accepted fact +that the class interest of slavery, by holding a tie in the Senate, +could defeat any measure or any nomination to which its leaders +might be opposed; and thus, banded together by an absolutely cohesive +political force, they could and did dictate terms. A tie-vote +cannot carry measures, but it can always defeat them; and any +combination of votes that possesses the negative power will in the +end, if it can be firmly held, direct and control the positive +action of the body to which it belongs. A strong minority, so +disciplined that it cannot be divided, will, in the hands of +competent leaders, annoy, distract, and often defeat, the majority +of a parliamentary body. Much more can one absolute half of a +legislative assembly, compactly united, succeed in dividing and +controlling the other half, which has no class interest to consolidate +it, and no tyrannical public opinion behind it, decreeing political +death to any member who doubts or halts in his devotion to one +supreme idea. + + THE POLITICAL LEADERS OF THE SOUTH. + +With one-half of the Senate under the control of the slave-holding +States, and with the Constitution declaring that no amendment to +it should ever destroy the equality of the States in the Senate, +the Southern leaders occupied a commanding position. Those leaders +constituted a remarkable body of men. Having before them the +example of Jefferson, of Madison, and of George Mason in Virginia, +of Nathaniel Macon in North Carolina, and of the Pinckneys and +Rutledges in South Carolina, they gave deep study to the science +of government. They were admirably trained as debaters, and they +became highly skilled in the management of parliamentary bodies. +As a rule, they were liberally educated, many of them graduates of +Northern colleges, a still larger number taking their degrees at +Transylvania in Kentucky, at Chapel Hill in North Carolina, and at +Mr. Jefferson's peculiar but admirable institution in Virginia. +Their secluded life on the plantation gave them leisure for reading +and reflection. They took pride in their libraries, pursued the +law so far as it increased their equipment for a public career, +and devoted themselves to political affairs with an absorbing +ambition. Their domestic relations imparted manners that were +haughty and sometimes offensive; they were quick to take affront, +and they not infrequently brought needless personal disputation +into the discussion of public questions; but they were, almost +without exception, men of high integrity, and they were especially +and jealously careful of the public money. Too often ruinously +lavish in their personal expenditures, they believed in an economical +government, and, throughout the long period of their domination, +they guarded the Treasury with rigid and unceasing vigilance against +every attempt at extravagance, and against every form of corruption. + +Looking into the future, the Southern men took alarm lest the +equality of their section should be lost in the Senate, and their +long control of the Federal Government ended. Even with Texas +added to the Union, this equality was barely maintained, for +Wisconsin was already seeking admission; and the clause in the +articles of annexation providing that four new States might be +carved out of the territory of Texas whenever she asked it, gave +no promise of speedy help to the South. Its operation would, in +any event, be distant, and subject to contingencies which could +not be accurately measured. There was not another foot of territory +south of 36° 30´, save that which was devoted to the Indians by +solemn compact, from which another slave State could be formed. +North of 36° 30´ the Missouri Compromise had dedicated the entire +country to freedom. In extent it was, to the Southern view, +alarmingly great, including at least a million square miles of +territory. Except along its river boundaries it was little known. +Its value was underrated, and a large portion of it was designated +on our maps as the Great American Desert. At the time Texas was +annexed, and for several years afterwards, not a single foot of +that vast area was organized under any form of civil government. +Had the Southern statesmen foreseen the immense wealth, population, +and value of this imperial domain in the five great States and four +Territories into which it is to-day divided, they would have +abandoned the struggle for equality. But the most that was hoped, +even in the North, within any near period, was one State north of +Iowa, one west of Missouri, and one from the Oregon country. The +remainder, in the popular judgment, was divided among mountain +gorges, the arid plains of the middle, and the uninviting region +in the north, which the French _voyaguers_ had classed under the +comprehensive and significant title of _mauvaises terres_. With +only three States anticipated from the great area of the north-west, +it was the evident expectation of the Southern men who then had +control of the government, that, if war with Mexico should ensue, +the result would inevitably be the acquisition of sufficient +territory to form slave States south of the line of the Missouri +Compromise as rapidly as free States could be formed north of it; +and that in this way the ancient equality between North and South +could be maintained. + + OUR RELATIONS WITH MEXICO. + +But the scheme of war did not develop as rapidly as was desired by +the hot advocates of territorial expansion. A show of negotiation +for peace was kept up by dispatching Mr. John Slidell as minister +to Mexico upon the hint that that government might be willing to +renew diplomatic relations. When Mr. Slidell reached the city of +Mexico he found a violent contest raging over the Presidency of +the republic, the principal issue being between the war and anti- +war parties. Mr. Slidell was not received. The Mexican Government +declared, with somewhat of reason and consistency, that they had +been willing to listen to a special envoy who would treat singly +and promptly of the grave questions between the two republics, but +they would not accept a minister plenipotentiary who would sit down +near their government in a leisurely manner, as if friendly relations +existed, and select his own time for negotiation,--urging or +postponing, threatening or temporizing, as the pressure of political +interests in the United States might suggest. Mr. Slidell returned +home; but still the conflict of arms, though so imminent, was not +immediately precipitated. Mr. Polk's cautious and somewhat timid +course represented the resultant between the aggressive Democrat +of the South who was for war regardless of consequences, and the +Free-soil Democrat of the North who was for peace regardless of +consequences; the one feeling sure that war would strengthen the +institution of slavery, the other confident that peace would favor +the growth of freedom. As not infrequently happens in the evolution +of human events, each was mistaken in the final issue. The war, +undertaken for the extension of slavery, led in the end to its +destruction. + +The leading influence in Mr. Polk's cabinet was divided between +Mr. Buchanan, secretary of State, and Mr. Marcy, secretary of War. +Both were men of conservative minds, of acute judgment in political +affairs of long experience in public life; and each was ambitious +for the succession to the Presidency. Neither could afford to +disregard the dominant opinion of the Southern Democracy; still +less could either countenance a reckless policy, which might +seriously embarrass our foreign affairs, and precipitate a dangerous +crisis in our relations with England. These eminent statesmen +quickly perceived that the long-standing issue touching our north- +western boundary, commonly known as the Oregon question, was +surrounded with embarrassments which, by mismanagement, might +rapidly develop into perils of great magnitude in connection with +the impending war with Mexico. + +The Oregon question, which now became associated, if not complicated, +with the Texas question, originated many years before. By our +treaty with Spain in 1819, the southern boundary of our possessions +on the Pacific had been accurately defined. Our northern boundary +was still unadjusted, and had been matter of dispute with Great +Britain ever since we acquired the country. By the treaty of Oct. +20, 1818, the 49th parallel of north latitude was established as +the boundary between the United States and British America, from +the Lake of the Woods to the Stony Mountains, as the Rocky Mountains +were then termed. In the same treaty it was agreed that any country +claimed by either the United States or Great Britain westward of +the Stony Mountains should, with its harbors, bays, and rivers, be +open for the term of ten years to the vessels, citizens, and subjects +of either power. This agreement was entered into solely for the +purpose of preventing disputes pending final settlement, and was +not to be construed to the prejudice of either party. This was +the beginning of the joint occupancy of the Oregon country, England +having with prompt and characteristic enterprise forced her way +across the continent after she had acquired Canada in 1763. +Stimulated by certain alleged discoveries of her navigators on the +north-west coast, Great Britain urged and maintained her title to +a frontage on the Pacific, and made a bold claim to sovereignty, +as far south as the mouth of the Columbia River, nearly, indeed, +to the northern border of California. + + OUR CLAIM TO THE OREGON COUNTRY. + +Nothing had been done towards an adjustment during the ten years +of joint occupancy, and when the term was about to expire, the +arrangement was renewed by special convention in 1827, for an +indefinite period,--each power reserving the right to terminate +the convention by giving twelve-months' notice to the other. The +President, John Quincy Adams, made the briefest possible reference +to the subject in his message to Congress, December, 1827; speaking +of it as a temporary compromise of the respective rights and claims +of Great Britain and the United States to territory westward of +the Rocky Mountains. For many years thereafter, the subject, though +languidly pursued in our diplomatic correspondence, was not alluded +to in a President's message, or discussed in Congress. The +contracting parties rested content with the power to join issue +and try titles at any time by simply giving the required notice. +The subject was also overshadowed by more urgent disputes between +Great Britain and the United States, especially that relating to +the North-eastern boundary, and that touching the suppression of +the African slave-trade. The latter involved the old question of +the right of search. The two governments came to an agreement on +these differences in 1842 by the negotiation of the convention +known as the Ashburton Treaty. In transmitting the treaty to +Congress, President Tyler made, for the first time since the +agreement for a joint occupancy was renewed in 1827, a specific +reference to the Oregon question. He informed Congress, that the +territory of the United States commonly called the Oregon country +was beginning to attract the attention of our fellow-citizens, and +that "the tide of our population, having reclaimed from the wilderness +the more contiguous regions, was preparing to flow over those vast +districts which stretch from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific +Ocean;" that Great Britain "laid claim to a portion of the country +and that the question could not be well included in the recent +treaty without postponing other more pressing matters." He +significantly added, that though the difficulty might not for +several years involve the peace of the two countries, yet he should +urge upon Great Britain the importance of its early settlement. + +As this paragraph was undoubtedly suggested and probably written +by Mr. Webster, it attracted wide attention on both sides of the +Atlantic; and from that moment, in varying degrees of interest and +urgency, the Oregon question became an active political issue. +Before the next annual meeting of Congress, Mr. Upshur had succeeded +Mr. Webster in the State department; and the message of the President +took still more advanced ground respecting Oregon. For political +reasons, there was an obvious desire to keep the action of the +government on this issue well abreast of its aggressive movements +in the matter of acquiring Texas. Emboldened by Mr. Webster's +position of the preceding year, Mr. Upshur, with younger blood, +and with more reason for a demonstrative course, was evidently +disposed to force the discussion of the question with the British +Government. Under his influence and advice, President Tyler +declared, in his message of December, 1843, that "after the most +rigid, and, as far as practicable, unbiased, examination of the +subject, the United States have always contended that their rights +appertain to the entire region of country lying on the Pacific, +and embraced between latitude 42° and 54° 40´." Mr. Edward Everett, +at that time our minister in London, was instructed to present +these views to the British Government. + +Before the President could send another annual message to Congress, +Mr. Calhoun had been for several months at the head of the State +Department, engaged in promoting, with singular skill and ability, +his scheme for the annexation of Texas. With his quick perception, +he discerned that if the policy apparently indicated by Mr. Webster +and aggressively pursued by Mr. Upshur, on the Oregon question, +should be followed, and that issue sharply pressed upon Great +Britain, complications of a most embarrassing nature might arise, +involving in their sweep the plans, already well matured, for +acquiring Texas. In order to avert all danger of that kind, Mr. +Calhoun opened a negotiation with the British minister in Washington, +conducting it himself, for the settlement of the Oregon question; +and at the very moment when the Democratic National Convention +which nominated Mr. Polk was declaring our title to the whole of +Oregon as far as 54° 40´ to be "clear and unquestionable," the +Democratic secretary of State was proposing to Her Majesty's +representative to settle the entire controversy by the adoption of +the 49th parallel as the boundary! + +The negotiation was very nearly completed, and was suspended only +by some dispute in regard to the right of navigating the Columbia +River. It is not improbable that Mr. Calhoun, after disclosing to +the British Government his willingness to accept the 49th parallel +as our northern boundary, was anxious to have the negotiation +temporarily postponed. If the treaty had been concluded at that +time, it would have seriously interfered with the success of Mr. +Polk's candidacy by destroying the prestige of the "Fifty-four +forties," as Colonel Benton termed them. In Mr. Polk's election, +Mr. Calhoun was deeply and indeed doubly interested; first, because +of his earnest desire to defeat Mr. Clay, with whom he was at swords' +points on all public issues; and again, because, having assumed +the responsibility of defeating the nomination of Mr. Van Buren, +he was naturally desirous that his judgment should be vindicated +by the election of the candidate whom his Southern friends had put +forward. Urgently solicitous for the annexation of Texas, those +friends were indifferent to the fate of the Oregon question, though +willing that it should be made a leading issue in the North, where +it was presented with popular effect. The patriotic spirit of the +country was appealed to, and to a considerable extent aroused and +inflamed by the ardent and energetic declaration of our title to +the whole of Oregon. "Fifty-four forty or fight" became a Democratic +watchword; and the Whigs who attempted to argue against the +extravagance or inexpediency of the claim continually lost ground, +and were branded as cowards who were awed into silence by the fear +of British power. All the prejudice against the British Government +which had descended from the Revolution and from the war of 1812 +was successfully evoked by the Democratic party, and they gained +immeasurably by keeping an issue before the people which many of +their leaders knew would be abandoned when the pressure of actual +negotiation should be felt by our government. + + PRESIDENT POLK ON THE OREGON QUESTION. + +Mr. Polk, however, in his Inaugural address, carefully re-examined +the position respecting Oregon which his party had taken in the +national canvass, and quoted part of the phrase used in the platform +put forth by the convention which nominated him. The issue had +been made so broadly, that it must be squarely met, and finally +adjusted. The Democrats in their eagerness had left no road for +honorable retreat, and had cut themselves off from the resources +and convenient postponements of diplomacy. Dangerous as it was to +the new administration to confront the issue, it would have been +still more dangerous to attempt to avoid it. The decisive step, +in the policy to which the administration was committed, was to +give formal notice to Great Britain that the joint occupancy of +the Oregon country under the treaty of 1827 must cease. A certain +degree of moral strength was unexpectedly imparted to the Democratic +position by the fact that the venerable John Quincy Adams was +decidedly in favor of the notice, and ably supported, in a unique +and powerful speech in the House of Representatives, our title to +the country up to 54° 40´. The first convention for joint occupancy +had been negotiated while Mr. Adams was secretary of State, and +the second while he was President; so that, in addition to the +weight of authority with which he always spoke, his words seemed +entitled to special confidence on a question with which he was +necessarily so familiar. His great influence brought many Whigs +to the support of the resolution; and on the 9th of February, 1846, +the House, by the large vote of 163 to 54, declared in favor of +giving the treaty notice to Great Britain. + +The country at once became alarmed by the growing rumors that the +resolution of the House was a direct challenge to Great Britain +for a trial of strength as to the superior title to the Oregon +country, and it was soon apparent that the Senate would proceed +with more circumspection and conservatism. Events were rapidly +tending toward hostilities with Mexico, and the aggrandizement of +territory likely to result from a war with that country was not +viewed with a friendly eye, either by Great Britain or France. +Indeed, the annexation of Texas, which had been accomplished the +preceding year, was known to be distasteful to those governments. +They desired that Texas might remain an independent republic, under +more liberal trade relations than could be secured from the United +States with its steady policy of fostering and advancing its own +manufacturing interests. The directors of the administration saw +therefore more and more clearly that, if a war with Mexico were +impeding, it would be sheer madness to open a quarrel with Great +Britain, and force her into an alliance against us. Mr. Adams and +those who voted with him did not believe that the notice to the +British Government would provoke a war, but that firmness on our +part, in the negotiation which should ensue, would induce England +to yield her pretensions to any part of Oregon; to which Mr. Adams +maintained, with elaboration of argument and demonstration, she +had no shadow of right. + +Mr. Adams was opposed to war with Mexico, and therefore did not +draw his conclusions from the premises laid down by those who were +charged with the policy of the administration. They naturally +argued that a war with Great Britain might end in our losing the +whole of Oregon, without acquiring any territory on our south- +western border. The bare possibility of such a result would defeat +the policy which they were seeking to uphold, and would at the same +time destroy their party. In short, it became apparent that what +might be termed the Texas policy of the administration, and what +might be termed the Oregon policy, could not both be carried out. +It required no prophet to foresee which would be maintained and +which would be abandoned. "Fifty-four forty or fight" had been a +good cry for the political campaign; but, when the fight was to be +with Great Britain, the issue became too serious to be settled by +such international law as is dispensed on the stump. + + COMPROMISE ON THE OREGON QUESTION. + +A very bitter controversy over the question began in the Senate as +soon as the House resolution was received. But from the outset it +was apparent that those who adhered to the 54° 40´ policy, on which +Mr. Polk had been elected, were in a small minority. That minority +was led by General Cass; but its most brilliant advocate in debate +was Edward A. Hannegan, Democratic senator from Indiana, who angrily +reproached his party for playing false to the pledges on which it +had won a victory over the greatest political leader of the country. +He measured the situation accurately, read with discrimination the +motives which underlay the change of policy on the part of the +administration and its Southern supporters, and stated the whole +case in a quick and curt reply to an interruption from a pro-slavery +senator,--"If Oregon were good for the production of sugar and +cotton, it would not have encountered this opposition. Its possession +would have been at once secured." The change in the Democratic +position was greatly aided by the attitude of the Whig senators, +who almost unanimously opposed the resolution of notice to Great +Britain, as passed by the House. Mr. Webster, for the first if +not the only time in his senatorial career, read a carefully prepared +speech, in which he did not argue the question of rightful boundary, +but urged that a settlement on the line of the 49th parallel would +be honorable to both countries, would avert hostile feeling, and +restore amity and harmony. Mr. Berrien of Georgia made an exhaustive +speech, inquiring into the rightfulness of title, and urged the +line of 49°. Mr. Crittenden followed in the same vein, and in a +reply to Senator William Allen of Ohio, chairman of Foreign Affairs, +made a speech abounding in sarcasm and ridicule. The Whigs having +in the campaign taken no part in the boastful demand for 54° 40´, +were not subjected to the humiliation of retracing imprudent steps +and retracting unwise declarations. + +Under the influences at work in the Senate, events developed rapidly. +The House resolution of notice was defeated; and the Senate passed +a substitute of a less aggressive type, in which the House, through +the instrumentality of a conference committee, substantially +concurred. The resolution as finally adopted authorized the +President "at his discretion" to give notice for the termination +of the treaty to Great Britain. The preamble further softened the +action of Congress by declaring that the notice was given in order +that "the attention of the governments of both countries may be +the more earnestly directed to the adoption of all proper measures +for a speedy and amicable adjustment of the differences and disputes +in regard to said territory." + +The Southern Democrats in the House receded from their action, and +the modified resolution was carried by nearly as large a vote as +had been the previous one for decided and peremptory notice. In +short, the great mass of the Southern Democrats in both Houses +precipitately threw the Oregon issue aside. They had not failed +to perceive that the hesitation of the administration in forcing +an issue with Mexico was due to the apprehension of trouble with +Great Britain, and they made haste to promote schemes of territorial +acquisition in the South-West by withdrawing the pretensions so +imprudently put forth in regard to our claims in the North-West. +Only forty-six votes were given in the House against what was termed +a disgraceful surrender. These were almost entirely from Northern +Democrats, though a few Southern Democrats refused to recede. +Among those who thus remained firm were Andrew Johnson, Stephen A. +Douglas, Howell Cobb, Preston King, and Allen G. Thurman. + +The passage of the modified and friendly resolution of notice +dispelled all danger of trouble with Great Britain, and restored +a sense of security in the United States. Immediately after its +adoption, Mr. Buchanan, Secretary of State, under direction of the +President, concluded a treaty with the British minister on the +basis discussed by Mr. Calhoun two years before. The 49th parallel +was agreed upon as the boundary between the two countries, with +certain concessions for a defined period, touching the rights of +the Hudson-bay Company, and the navigation of the Columbia River +by the British. This treaty was promptly confirmed by the Senate, +and the long controversy over the Oregon question was at rest. It +had created a deep and wide-spread excitement in the country, and +came very near precipitating hostilities with Great Britain. There +is no doubt whatever that the English Government would have gone +to war rather than surrender the territory north of the 49th +parallel. This fact had made the winter and early spring of 1846 +one of profound anxiety to all the people of the United States, +and more especially to those who were interested in the large +mercantile marine which then sailed under the American flag. + + UNWISE AGITATION OF THE QUESTION. + +In simple truth, the country was not prepared to go to war with +Great Britain in support of "our clear and unquestionable title" +to the whole of Oregon. With her strong naval force on the Pacific, +and her military force in Australasia, Great Britain could more +readily and more easily take possession of the country in dispute +than could the United States. We had no way of reaching Oregon +except by doubling Cape Horn, and making a dangerous sea-voyage of +many thousand miles. We could communicate across the continent +only by the emigrant trail over rugged mountains and almost trackless +plains. Our railway system was in its infancy in 1846. New-York +City did not have a continuous road to Buffalo. Philadelphia was +not connected with Pittsburg. Baltimore's projected line to the +Ohio had only reached Cumberland, among the eastern foot-hills of +the Alleghanies. The entire Union had but five thousand miles of +railway. There was scarcely a spot on the globe, outside of the +United Kingdom, where we could not have fought England with greater +advantage than on the north-west coast of America at that time. +The war-cry of the Presidential campaign of 1844 was, therefore, +in any event, absurd; and it proved to be mischievous. It is not +improbable, that, if the Oregon question had been allowed to rest +for the time under the provisions of the treaty of 1827, the whole +country would ultimately have fallen into our hands, and the American +flag might to-day be waving over British Columbia. The course of +events and the lapse of time were working steadily to our advantage. +In 1826 Great Britain declined to accept the 49th parallel, but +demanded the Columbia River as the boundary. Twenty years afterwards +she accepted the line previously rejected. American settlers had +forced her back. With the sweep of our emigration and civilization +to the Pacific coast two years after the treaty of 1846, when gold +was discovered in California, the tendency would have been still +more strongly in our favor. Time, as Mr. Calhoun said, "would have +effected every thing for us" if we could only have been patient +and peaceful. + +Taking the question, however, as it stood in 1846, the settlement +must, upon full consideration and review, be adjudged honorable to +both countries. Wise statesmen of that day felt, as wise statesmen +of subsequent years have more and more realized, that a war between +Great Britain and the United States would not only be a terrible +calamity to both nations, but that it would stay the progress of +civilization throughout the world. Future generations would hold +the governing power in both countries guilty of a crime if war +should ever be permitted except upon the failure of every other +arbitrament. The harmless laugh of one political party at the +expense of the other forty years ago, the somewhat awkward receding +from pretensions which could not be maintained by the Executive of +the nation, have passed into oblivion. But a striking and useful +lesson would be lost if it should be forgotten that the country +was brought to the verge of war by the proclamation of a policy +which could not be, and was not intended to be, enforced. It was +originated as a cry to catch votes; and except with the ignorant, +and the few whose judgment was carried away by enthusiasm, it was +from the first thoroughly insincere. If the punishment could have +fallen only upon those who raised the cry, perfect justice would +have been done. But the entire country suffered, and probably +endured a serious and permanent loss, from the false step taken by +men who claimed what they could not defend and did not mean to +defend. + + +The Secretary of State, Mr. Buchanan, gained much credit for his +conduct of the Oregon question, both diplomatically and politically. +His correspondence with Mr. Pakenham, the British minister at +Washington, was conspicuously able. It strengthened Mr. Buchanan +at home, and gave him an enviable reputation in Europe. His +political management of the question was especially adroit. His +party was in sore trouble over the issue, and naturally looked to +him for relief and escape. To extricate the Administration from +the embarrassment caused by its ill-timed and boastful pretensions +to the line of 54° 40´ was a difficult and delicate task. To +accomplish it, Mr. Buchanan had recourse to the original and long +disused habit of asking the Senate's advice in advance of negotiating +the treaty, instead of taking the ordinary but at that time perilous +responsibility of first negotiating the treaty, and then submitting +it to the Senate for approval. As a leading Northern Democrat, +with an established reputation and a promising future, Mr. Buchanan +was instinctively reluctant to take the lead in surrendering the +position which his party had so defiantly maintained during the +canvass for the Presidency in 1844, and which he had, as Secretary +of State, re-affirmed in a diplomatic paper of marked ability. +When the necessity came to retreat, Mr. Buchanan was anxious that +the duty of publicly lowering the colors should not be left to him. +His device, therefore, shifted the burden from his own shoulders, +and placed it on the broader ones of the Senate. + +Political management could not have been more clever. It saved +Mr. Buchanan in large degree from the opprobrium visited on so many +leading Democrats for their precipitate retreat on the Oregon +question, and commended him at the same time to a class of Democrats +who had never before been his supporters. General Cass, in order +to save himself as a senator from the responsibility of surrendering +our claim to 54° 40´, assumed a very warlike attitude, erroneously +supposing that popularity might be gained by the advocacy of a +rupture with England. Mr. Buchanan was wiser. He held the middle +course. He had ably sustained our claim to the whole of Oregon, +and now, in the interest of peace, gracefully yielded to a compromise +which the Senate, after mature deliberation, had advised. His +course saved the administration, not indeed from a mortifying +position, but from a continually increasing embarrassment which +seemed to force upon the country the cruel alternatives of war or +dishonor. + + THE PRESIDENT AND MR. BUCHANAN. + +Mr. Polk was, from some cause, incapable of judging Mr. Buchanan +generously. He seems to have regarded his Secretary of State as +always willing to save himself at the expense of others. He did +not fail to perceive that Mr. Buchanan had come out of the Oregon +trouble with more credit, at least with less loss, than any other +man prominently identified with its agitation and settlement. This +was not pleasing to the President. He had evidently not concealed +his distrust from the outset, and had cumbered his offer of a +cabinet position with conditions which seemed derogatory to the +dignity of Mr. Buchanan,--conditions which a man of spirit might +well have resented. He informed Mr. Buchanan that, as he should +"take no part himself between gentlemen of the Democratic party +who might become aspirants to the Presidency," he desired that "no +member of the cabinet should do so." He indeed expressed himself +to Mr. Buchanan in a manner so peremptory as to be offensive: +"Should any member of my cabinet become a candidate for the Presidency +or Vice-Presidency of the United States, it will be expected on +the happening of such an event that he will retire from the cabinet." +Remembering that Madison, Monroe and John Quincy Adams had each +been nominated for the Presidency while holding the position of +Secretary of State in the cabinet of his predecessor, Mr. Polk was +attaching a new and degrading condition to the incumbency of that +office. + +Mr. Polk did not stop with one exaction. Addressing Mr. Buchanan +as if he were about to become a department clerk, he informed him +that he disapproved "the practice which has sometimes prevailed of +cabinet officers absenting themselves for long periods from the +seat of government," and practically demanded a pledge that Mr. +Buchanan would remain at his post, and be punctual in the discharge +of his official duties. In reading Mr. Polk's letter, the inference +seems natural that he felt under some pressing obligation to tender +to Mr. Buchanan the appointment of secretary of State, but desired +to accompany it with conditions which would subordinate him in the +general conduct of the administration. With a spirit of docility, +if not humility, altogether incomprehensible, Mr. Buchanan "accepted +the position cheerfully and cordially _on the terms on which the +offer was made._" + +It is not surprising that, after agreeing to enter Mr. Polk's +cabinet on these conditions, Mr. Buchanan had abundant reason to +complain afterwards that the President did not treat him with +"delicacy and confidence." On several occasions he was on the +point of resigning his position. He was especially aggrieved that +the President refused to nominate him to the Supreme Bench in 1846 +as the successor of Henry Baldwin. In view of Mr. Buchanan's +career, both before and after that time, it seems strange that he +should have desired the position. It seems stranger still that +Mr. Polk, after refusing to appoint him, should have nominated +George W. Woodward, a Pennsylvania Democrat, who was unacceptable +to Mr. Buchanan. Mr. Polk, however, appreciated the temperament +of Mr. Buchanan, and apparently knew how much he would endure +without resentment. While his presence in the cabinet was evidently +not a source of pleasure to the President, he realized that it +brought character, strength, and power to the administration. Mr. +Buchanan was an older man than Mr. Polk, was superior to him +intellectually, had seen a longer and more varied public service, +and enjoyed a higher personal standing throughout the country. + +The timidity of Mr. Buchanan's nature made him the servant of the +administration when, with boldness, he might have been its master. +Had he chosen to tender his resignation in resentment of his +treatment by Mr. Polk, the administration would have been seriously +embarrassed. There was, at the time, no Northern Democrat of the +same rank to succeed him, except General Cass, and he was ineligible +by reason of his uncompromising attitude on the Oregon question. +Mr. Polk could not call a Southern man to the State Department so +long as Robert J. Walker was at the head of the Treasury. He could +not promote Mr. Marcy from the War Department without increasing +the discontent already dangerously developed in the ranks of the +New-York Democracy. Mr. Buchanan, therefore, held absolute control +of the situation had he chosen to assert himself. This he failed +to do, and continued to lend his aid to an administration whose +policy was destroying him in his own State, and whose patronage +was persistently used to promote the fortunes of his rivals and +his enemies. + +Mr. Polk was by singular fortune placed at the head of one of the +most vigorous and important administrations in the history of the +government. He had not been trained in the higher duties of +statesmanship, and was not personally equal to the weighty +responsibilities which devolved upon him. He was overshadowed by +the ability of at least three members of his cabinet, and was keenly +sensible of their superiority. He had, however, a certain aptitude +for affairs, was industrious, and in personal character above +reproach. Mr. Webster described him with accuracy when he spoke +of him as "respectable but never eminent." + + EARLY CAREER OF JAMES K. POLK. + +When first elected to the House of Representatives in 1824, Mr. +Polk was but twenty-nine years of age. He was re-elected continuously +for fourteen years. He was one of the most pronounced adherents +of Jackson, and joined in the extreme and unreasonable opposition +to the administration of John Quincy Adams. The period of his +service in the House was distinguished by partisanship of a more +bigoted and vindictive type than prevailed at any other time in +the history of that body. He was Speaker during the last Congress +of Jackson's Presidency and during the first under the administration +of Van Buren. When the Whig members forced an inquiry in to the +conduct of Samuel Swartwout, the defaulting collector of customs +for the port of New York,--a case which figured prominently in the +exciting Presidential canvass of 1840,--they would not trust Mr. +Polk with the duty of naming the committee of investigation. The +House itself exercised the power of appointment, to the great +disparagement of the Speaker. + +When Mr. Polk closed his service in the Chair, at the end of the +Twenty-fifth Congress, no Whig member could be found who was willing +to move the customary resolution of thanks,--an act of courtesy +which derives its chief grace by coming from a political opponent. +When the resolution was presented by a Democratic Representative +from the South, it was opposed in debate by prominent Whig members. +Henry A. Wise, who five years later supported Mr. Polk for the +Presidency, desired to have the resolution peremptorily ruled out +on a point of order. Sergeant S. Prentiss, the incomparably +brilliant member from Mississippi, attacked it most violently. +His impassioned invective did not stop short of personal indignity +and insult to Mr. Polk. He denied with emphatic iteration that +the Speaker had been "impartial." On the contrary he had been "the +tool of the Executive, the tool of his party." He analyzed Mr. +Polk's course in the appointment of committees, and with much detail +labored to prove his narrowness, his unfairness, his injustice as +a presiding officer. For one, he said, he was "not wiling to give +to Mr. Polk a certificate of good behaviour, to aid him in his +canvass for the governorship of Tennessee, for which he is known +to be a candidate." He believed "this vote of thanks was to be +used as so much capital, on which to do political business," and +he declared with much vehemence that he "was not disposed to furnish +it." + +The opprobrious language of Prentiss did not wound Mr. Polk so +seriously as did the vote of the House on the resolution of thanks. +The Whigs, as a party, resisted its adoption. The Democrats could +not even bring the House to a vote upon the resolution without the +use of the _previous question_, and this, as a witty observer +remarked, was about as humiliating as to be compelled to call the +_previous question_ on resolutions of respect for a deceased member. +When the demand was made for "the main question to be put," the +Whigs, apparently eager to force the issue to the bitter end, called +for the _ayes_ and _noes_. John Quincy Adams, who headed the roll, +led off in the negative, and was sustained by such able and +conservative members as John Bell from Mr. Polk's own State, McKennan +of Pennsylvania, Evans of Maine, Corwin of Ohio, Menifee from the +Ashland district in Kentucky, and William Cost Johnson of Maryland. +The vote stood 92 to 75. Mr. Polk had been chosen Speaker by a +majority of thirteen. The Whigs had thus practically consolidated +their party against a vote of courtesy to the presiding officer of +the House. + +Mr. Polk's situation was in the highest degree embarrassing, but +he behaved with admirable coolness and self-possession. He returned +his thanks to the "majority of the House," which had adopted the +resolution, significantly emphasizing the word "majority." He said +he regarded the vote just given "as of infinitely more value than +the common, matter-of-course, customary resolution which, in the +courtesy usually prevailing in parliamentary bodies, is passed at +the close of their deliberations." His reference "to the courtesy +usually prevailing in parliamentary bodies" was made, as an eye- +witness relates, with "telling accent, and with a manner that was +very disconcerting to the Whigs." His address was scrupulously +confined to "the majority of the House," and to the end Mr. Polk +exhibited, as was said at the time, "a magnificent contempt for +the insulting discourtesy of the Whigs." + + EARLY CAREER OF JAMES K. POLK. + +The incident was made very prominent in the ensuing canvass in +Tennessee, where Mr. Polk won a signal victory, and was installed +as governor. The Democrats treated the action of the House as a +deliberate insult, not merely to the Speaker, but to his State, +and not only to his State, but to the venerable ex-president, whose +residence at the Hermitage, in the judgment of his devoted followers, +made Tennessee illustrious and almost sacred ground. Jackson +himself was roused to intense indignation, and, though beyond +threescore and ten, was active and unceasing in his efforts to +insure a victory to Mr. Polk. The contest, though local in its +essential character, attracted observation and interest far beyond +the borders of the State. + +The political importance of Mr. Polk was enhanced by the proscriptive +course of his opponents in the House of Representatives. The +refusal to join in the resolution of thanks operated in a manner +quite contrary to the expectations of the Whigs, and was indeed +effectively turned against them. The generous instincts of the +people condemned an attempt to destroy the honorable fame of a +public man by what they considered to be an act of spiteful +persecution. It was the opinion of John Bell, who of all men had +the best opportunity for impartial judgment in the premises, that +the vote of himself and his fellow Whigs on the resolution was an +indirect but potential cause of Mr. Polk's nomination and election +to the Presidency. It gave him prominence as a friend of Jackson, +and made him available as a candidate against Van Buren for the +Democratic nomination. The opponents of the latter instinctively +knew that it would be dangerous to defeat him with any one who did +not stand well with Van Buren's powerful patron. The events of +1839 and 1844 in the life of Mr. Polk have therefore an interesting +relation to each other. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Review (_continued_).--Relations with Mexico.--General Taylor +marches his Army to the Rio Grande.--First Encounter with the +Mexican Army.--Excitement in the United States.--Congress declares +War against Mexico.--Ill Temper of the Whigs.--Defeat of the +Democrats in the Congressional Elections of 1846.--Policy of Mr. +Polk in Regard to Acquisition of Territory from Mexico.--Three- +Million Bill.--The Famous Anti-slavery Proviso moved by David +Wilmot.--John Quincy Adams.--His Public Service.--Robert C. Winthrop +chosen Speaker.--Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.--Presidential Election +of 1848.--Effort of the Administration to make a Democratic Hero +out of the Mexican War.--Thomas H. Benton for Lieutenant-General. +--Bill defeated.--Nomination of General Taylor for the Presidency +by the Whigs.--Nomination of General Cass by the Democratic Party. +--Van Buren refuses to support him.--Democratic Bolt in New York. +--Buffalo Convention and the Organization of the Free-soil Party. +--Nomination of Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams.--Mr. Clay's +Discontent.--Mr. Webster's Speech at Marshfield.--General Taylor +elected.--The Barnburners of New York.--Character and Public Services +of Mr. Van Buren. + +By a suggestive coincidence, the practical abandonment of the line +of 54° 40´ by the administration was contemporaneous with the +outbreak of the Mexican war. The modified resolution of notice to +Great Britain was finally passed in both branches of Congress on +the 23d of April, and on the succeeding day the first blood was +shed in that contest between the two Republics which was destined +to work such important results in the future and fortunes of both. + +The army of occupation in Texas, commanded by General Zachary +Taylor, had, during the preceding winter, been moving westward with +the view of encamping in the valley of the Rio Grande. On the 28th +of March General Tyler took up his position on the banks of the +river, opposite Matamoros, and strengthened himself by the erection +field-works. General Ampudia, in command of the Mexican army +stationed at Matamoros, was highly excited by the arrival of the +American army, and on the 12th of April notified General Taylor to +break up his camp within twenty-four hours, and to retire beyond +the Nueces River. In the event of his failure to comply with these +demands, Ampudia announced that "arms, and arms alone, must decide +the question." According to the persistent claim of the Mexican +Government, the Nueces River was the western boundary of Texas; +and the territory between that river and the Rio Grande--a breadth +of one hundred and fifty miles on the coast--was held by Mexico to +be a part of her domain, and General Taylor consequently an invader +of her soil. No reply was made to Ampudia; and on the 24th of +April General Arista, who had succeeded to the command of the +Mexican army, advised General Taylor that "he considered hostilities +commenced, and should prosecute them." + + BEGINNING OF MEXICAN WAR. + +Directly after this notification was received, General Taylor +dispatched a party of dragoons, sixty-three in number, officers +and men, up the valley of the Rio Grande, to ascertain whether the +Mexicans had crossed the river. They encountered a force much +larger than their own, and after a short engagement, in which some +seventeen were killed and wounded, the Americans were surrounded, +and compelled to surrender. When intelligence of this affair +reached the United States, the war-spirit rose high among the +people. "Our country has been invaded," and "American blood spilled +on American soil," were the cries heard on every side. In the very +height of this first excitement, without waiting to know whether +the Mexican Government would avow or disavow the hostile act, +President Polk, on the 11th of May, sent a most aggressive message +to Congress, "invoking its prompt action to recognize the existence +of war, and to place at the disposition of the Executive the means +of prosecuting the contest with vigor, and thus hastening the +restoration of peace." As soon as the message was read in the +House, a bill was introduced authorizing the President to call out +a force of fifty thousand men, and giving him all the requisite +power to organize, arm, and equip them. The preamble declared that +"war existed by the act of Mexico," and this gave rise to an animated +and somewhat angry discussion. The Whigs felt that they were placed +in an embarrassing attitude. They must either vote for what they +did not believe, or, by voting against the bill, incur the odium +which always attaches to the party that fails by a hair's-breadth +to come to the defense of the country when war is imminent. + +Prominent Whigs believed, that, as an historical and geographical +fact, the river Nueces was the western boundary of Texas, and that +the President, by assuming the responsibility of sending an army +of occupation into the country west of that river, pending negotiations +with Mexico, had taken a hostile and indefensible step. But all +agreed that it was too late to consider any thing except the honor +of the country, now that actual hostilities had begun. The position +of the Whigs was as clearly defined by their speakers as was +practicable in the brief space allowed for discussion of the war +bill. Against the protest of many, it was forced to a vote, after +a two hours' debate. The administration expected the declaration +to be unanimous; but there were fourteen members of the House who +accepted the responsibility of defying the war feeling of the +country by voting "no"--an act which required no small degree of +moral courage and personal independence. John Quincy Adams headed +the list. The other gentlemen were all Northern Whigs, or pronounced +Free-Soilers. + +The Senate considered the bill on the ensuing day, and passed it +after a very able debate, in which Mr. Calhoun bore a leading part. +He earnestly deprecated the necessity of the war, though accused +by Benton of plotting to bring it on. Forty senators voted for +it, and but two against it,--Thomas Clayton of Delaware and John +Davis of Massachusetts. Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky and Mr. Upham +of Vermont, when their names were called, responded, "Ay, except +the preamble." The bill was promptly approved by the President, +and on the 13th of May, 1846, the two Republics were declared to +be at war. In the South and West, from the beginning, the war was +popular. In the North and East it was unpopular. The gallant +bearing of our army, however, changed in large degree the feeling +in sections where the war had been opposed. No finer body of men +ever enlisted in an heroic enterprise than those who volunteered +to bear the flag in Mexico. They were young, ardent, enthusiastic, +brave almost to recklessness, with a fervor of devotion to their +country's honor. The march of Taylor from the Rio Grande, ending +with the unexpected victory against superior numbers at Buena Vista, +kept the country in a state of excitement and elation, and in the +succeeding year elevated him to the Presidency. Not less splendid +in its succession of victories was the march of Scott from Vera +Cruz to the city of Mexico, where he closed his triumphal journey +by taking possession of the capital, and enabling his government +to dictate terms of peace. + + DEMOCRATIC DEFEAT IN 1846. + +For the first and only time in our political history, an administration +conducting a war victorious at every step, steadily lost ground in +the country. The House of Representatives which declared war on +the 11th of May, 1846, was Democratic by a large majority. The +House, elected in the ensuing autumn, amid the resounding acclamations +of Taylor's memorable victory at Monterey, had a decided Whig +majority. This political reverse was due to three causes,--the +enactment of the tariff of 1846, which offended the manufacturing +interest of the country; the receding of the administration on the +Oregon question, which embarrassed the position and wounded the +pride of the Northern Democrats; and the wide-spread apprehension +that the war was undertaken for the purpose of extending and +perpetuating slavery. The almost unanimous Southern vote for the +hasty surrender of the line of 54° 40´, on which so much had been +staked in the Presidential campaign, gave the Whigs an advantage +in the popular canvass. The contrast between the boldness with +which the Polk administration had marched our army upon the territory +claimed by Mexico, and the prudence with which it had retreated +from a contest with Great Britain, after all our antecedent boasting, +exposed the Democrats to merciless ridicule. Clever speakers who +were numerous in the Whig party at that day did not fail to see +and seize their advantage. + +The Mexican war had scarcely begun when the President justified +the popular suspicion by making known to Congress that one of its +objects was to be the acquisition of territory beyond the Rio +Grande. Perhaps it would be fairer to say that he expected such +acquisition to be one of its results. He ably vindicated the policy +of marching a military force into the territory between the Nueces +and the Rio Grande, by the fact that he was memorialized to do so +by the still existing Congress of Texas, on the urgent plea that +Mexico was preparing to move upon the territory with a view to its +recapture. In this Congress of Texas, the same body that completed +the annexation, there were representatives from the territory in +dispute beyond the Nueces; and the President felt that they were +in an eminent degree entitled to the protection of our government. +Events were so hurried that in three months from the formal +declaration of war, and before any victory of decisive significance +had been achieved, the President sent a special message to Congress, +in which he suggested that "the chief obstacle to be surmounted in +securing peace would be the adjustment of a boundary that would +prove satisfactory and convenient to both republics." He admitted +that we ought to pay a fair equivalent for any concessions which +might be made by Mexico, and asked that a sum of money should be +placed in his hands to be paid to Mexico immediately upon the +ratification of a treaty of peace. As a precedent for this unusual +request, the President cited the example of Mr. Jefferson in asking +and receiving from Congress, in 1803, a special appropriation of +money, to be expended at his discretion. As soon as the reading +of the message was concluded, Mr. McKay of North Carolina, chairman +of the committee of ways and means, introduced a bill, without +preamble or explanation, directing that two millions of dollars be +appropriated, to be "applied under the direction of the President +to any extraordinary expenses which may be incurred in our foreign +intercourse." The war was not referred to, Mexico was not named, +and the simple phraseology of the Jefferson Act of 1803 was repeated +word for word. + +A very animated debate followed, in which Northern men took the +lead. Mr. Robert C. Winthrop spoke of the administration with +unwonted harshness, declaring that "it and its friends had thought +fit, during the present session, to frame more than one of these +important measures, so as to leave their opponents in a false +position whichever way they voted." . . . He "could not and would +not vote for this bill as it now stood. . . . It was a vote of +unlimited confidence in an administration in which, he was sorry +to say, there was very little confidence to be placed." Mr. John +Quincy Adams differed from Mr. Winthrop, and could not refrain from +a pardonable thrust at that gentleman for his previous vote that +"war existed by act of Mexico." He differed from his colleague, +Mr. Adams demurely affirmed, with a regret equal to that with which +he had differed from him on the bill by which war was declared. +He should not vote for this bill in any form, but suggested that +it be so amended as to specify expressly that the money is granted +for the purpose of negotiating peace with Mexico. + + THE WILMOT PROVISO. + +The bill was promptly modified in accordance with the desires of +Mr. Adams, and at the moment when its passage seemed secure it was +arrested by an amendment of momentous character, submitted by a +young member from Pennsylvania. David Wilmot represented a district +which had always given Democratic majorities, and was himself an +intense partisan of that political school. He was a man of strong +_physique_ and strong common sense; of phlegmatic temperament, +without any pretension to genius; a sensible speaker, with no claim +to eloquence or oratory. But he had courage, determination, and +honesty. He believed the time had come to arrest the progress and +extension of slavery. He knew that the two-million bill was urged +by the President because he wished to use the money to promote the +acquisition of territory, and he determined then and there to make +a stand in favor of free soil. He thereupon, on the 8th of August, +1846, moved a _proviso_ to the two-million bill, declaring it to +be "an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any +territory from Mexico, that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude +shall ever exist therein." + +Mr. Wilmot was in the first session of his first Congress, was but +thirty-three years of age, and up to that moment had not been known +beyond his district. His amendment made his name familiar at once +throughout the length and breadth of the Republic. No question +had arisen since the slavery agitation of 1820 that was so elaborately +debated. The Wilmot Proviso absorbed the attention of Congress +for a longer time than the Missouri Compromise: it produced a wider +and deeper excitement in the country, and it threatened a more +serious danger to the peace and integrity of the Union. The +consecration of the territory of the United States to freedom became +from that day a rallying cry for every shade of anti-slavery +sentiment. If it did not go as far as the Abolitionists in their +extreme and uncompromising faith might demand, it yet took a long +step forward, and afforded the ground on which the battle of the +giants was to be waged, and possibly decided. The feeling in all +sections became intense on the issue thus presented, and it proved +a sword which cleft asunder political associations that had been +close and intimate for a lifetime. Both the old parties were +largely represented on each side of the question. The Northern +Whigs, at the outset, generally sustained the proviso, and the +Northern Democrats divided, with the majority against it. In the +slave States both parties were against it, only two men south of +Mason and Dixon's line voting for free soil,--John M. Clayton of +Delaware in the Senate, and Henry Grider of Kentucky in the House. +Mr. Grider re-entered Congress as a Republican after the war. +Among the conspicuous Whigs who voted for the proviso were Joseph +R. Ingersoll and James Pollock of Pennsylvania, Washington Hunt of +New York, Robert C. Winthrop of Massachusetts, Robert C. Schenck +of Ohio, and Truman Smith of Connecticut. Among the Democrats were +Hannibal Hamlin, and all his colleagues from Maine, Simon Cameron +of Pennsylvania, Preston King of New York, John Wentworth of +Illinois, Allen G. Thurman of Ohio, and Robert McClelland of +Michigan, afterwards Secretary of the Interior under President +Pierce. + +Mr. Webster voted for the proviso, but with gloomy apprehensions. +He could "see little of the future, and that little gave him no +satisfaction." He spoke with portentous gravity, and arrested the +attention of the country by the solemnity of his closing words: +"All I can scan is contention, strife, and agitation. The future +is full of difficulties and full of dangers. We appear to be +rushing on perils headlong, and with our eyes all open." There +was a singular disagreement between the speech and the vote of Mr. +Webster. The speech indicated his real position. His vote was in +deference to the opinion of Massachusetts. The most conspicuous +Northern Whigs who voted against the proviso were Alexander Ramsey +of Pennsylvania, since the distinguished Republican senator from +Minnesota, and Secretary of War under President Hayes; and Samuel +F. Vinton of Ohio, one of the oldest and ablest representatives in +Congress. + +The House attached the proviso to the two-million bill, and thus +defeated it for the session. The Democratic Senate took it up on +the day fixed for final adjournment. The majority were not willing +to accept the appropriation with the anti-slavery condition upon +it, and John Davis of Massachusetts, fearing if the bill went back +to the House the proviso might on reconsideration be defeated, +deliberately held the floor until the session expired. In the next +session the two-million bill, increased to three millions, was +passed without the proviso, the administration being strong enough, +with the persuasions of its patronage, to defeat the anti-slavery +amendment in both branches. + +During the proceedings on the three-million bill, an interesting +and instructive incident occurred. The venerable John Quincy Adams +appeared in the House for the first time during the session, on +the 13th of February (1847), having been detained by a very severe +illness. As he passed inside the door the entire House voluntarily +rose, business was suspended, and Mr. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee +(afterwards President of the United States), addressing the Chair, +said, that in compliance with the understanding with which he +selected a seat at the beginning of the session, he now tendered +it to the venerable member from Massachusetts, and congratulated +him on being spared to return to the House. Mr. Adams, enfeebled +by disease, tremulous with age, returned his thanks, regretting +that he had not "voice to respond to the congratulations of his +friends for the honor which had been done him." Among those who +paid this unusual, indeed unprecedented, mark of respect to a fellow- +member, were many from the South, who within a few years had voted +to censure Mr. Adams, and had endeavored in every way to heap +obloquy upon him for his persistent course in presenting anti- +slavery petitions. Spontaneous in impulse, momentary in duration, +simple in form, it was yet one of the most striking tributes ever +paid to moral dignity and lofty character. + + PUBLIC LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. + +Mr. Adams was nearing the end of his illustrious life, and a year +later was stricken down in the seat which had been so graciously +tendered him. His career was in many respects remarkable. He had +been minister to five different European courts, senator of the +United States, appointed to the Supreme Bench, had been eight years +Secretary of State, and four years President. His opportunities +were great, his advantages rare, his natural abilities strong. To +those he added a high standard of morality, and a love and endurance +of labor possessed by few. But it may fairly be doubted whether, +if his Presidency had closed his public life, his fame would have +attracted special observation. He would scarcely have ranked above +Monroe, and would have borne no comparison with Madison. In the +Senate he had made no impression. His service abroad was one of +industrious routine. His career as Secretary of State was not +specially distinguished. The only two treaties of marked importance +that were negotiated during his incumbency, were carried, on test +questions, by the Cabinet against his judgment. His dispatches +have been little quoted as precedents. His diplomatic discussions +were not triumphs. Indeed, he was not felicitous with his pen, +and suffers by contrast with some who preceded him and many who +followed him in that office. But in his sixty-fifth year, when +the public life of the most favored draws to a close, the noble +and shining career of Mr. Adams began. He entered the House of +Representatives in 1831, and for the remainder of his life, a period +of seventeen years, he was the one grand figure in that assembly. +His warfare against those who would suppress free speech, his heroic +contest in favor of the right of the humblest to petition for +redress of grievances, are among the memorable events in the +parliamentary history of the United States. The amplitude of his +knowledge, his industry, his unflagging zeal, his biting sarcasm, +his power to sting and destroy without himself showing passion, +made a combination of qualities as rare as it was formidable. His +previous career had been one of eminent respectability, to be coldly +admired and forgotten. His service in the House gave him a name +as enduring as the Republic whose history he adorned. + +In breadth and thoroughness of learning, Mr. Adams surpassed all +his contemporaries in public life. His essays, orations, and +addresses were surprisingly numerous, and upon a great variety of +subjects. It cannot be said, however, that he contributed any +thing to the permanent literature of the country. Nor, in a true +estimate of his extraordinary career in Congress, can it be asserted +that he attained the first rank as a parliamentary debater. It +must be borne in mind that much of his fame in the House of +Representatives was derived from the nature of the one question +with which he became so conspicuously identified. It was in large +degree the moral courage of his position which first fixed the +attention of the country and then attracted its admiration. The +men with whom he had exciting scenes in regard to the "right of +petition" and its cognate issues were in no case the leading +statesmen of the day. Wise, Bynum, Dromgoole, Pinckney, Lewis, +Thomas F. Marshall, and the other Southern representatives with +whom Mr. Adams came in conflict, were ready and brilliant men, but +were far below the first rank of debaters. Indeed, with few +exceptions, the really eminent debaters were in the Senate during +the period of Mr. Adams's service in the House. Mr. Clay, Mr. +Webster, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Benton, Mr. Hayne, Mr. Silas Wright, Mr. +Crittenden, Mr. Ewing, Mr. Watkins Leigh, Mr. Rives, Mr. Choate, +Mr. John M. Clayton, Mr. Berrien, were an altogether higher and +abler class of men than those with whom Mr. Adams had his frequent +wrangles in the House. The weapons which he so successfully employed +against the young "fire-eaters" would have proved pointless and +valueless in a contest with any one of the eminent men who in that +long period gave character to the Senate. + +The only time Mr. Adams ever crossed swords in the House with a +man of commanding power was in the famous discussion of January, +1836, with George Evans of Maine. Mr. Adams had made a covert but +angry attack on Mr. Webster for his opposition to the Fortification +Bill in the preceding Congress, when President Jackson was making +such energetic demonstrations of his readiness to go to war with +France. To the surprise of his best friends, Mr. Adams warmly +sustained Jackson in his belligerent correspondence with the +government of Louis Philippe. His position probably cost him a +seat in the United States Senate for which he was then a candidate. +Mr. Webster preferred John Davis, who had the preceding year beaten +Mr. Adams in the contest for governor of Massachusetts. These +circumstances were believed at the time to be the inciting cause +for the assault on Mr. Webster. The duty of replying devolved on +Mr. Evans. The debate attracted general attention, and the victory +of Mr. Evans was everywhere recognized. The _Globe_ for the Twenty- +fourth Congress contains a full report of both speeches. The +stirring events of forty years have not destroyed their interest +or their freshness. The superior strength, the higher order of +eloquence, the greater mastery of the art of debate, will be found +in the speech of Mr. Evans. + + GEORGE EVANS AS A DEBATER. + +As a parliamentary debater, using that term in its true signification +and with its proper limitations, George Evans is entitled to high +rank. He entered the House in 1829, at thirty-two years of age, +and served until 1841, when he was transferred to the Senate. He +retired from that body in 1847. Upon entering the Senate, he was +complimented with a distinction never before or since conferred on +a new member. He was placed at the head of the Committee on Finance, +taking rank above the long list of prominent Whigs, who then composed +the majority in the chamber. The tenacity with which the rights +of seniority are usually maintained by senators enhances the value +of the compliment to Mr. Evans. Mr. Clay, who had been serving as +chairman of the committee, declined in his favor with the remark +that "Mr. Evans knew more about the finances than any other public +man in the United States." The ability and skill displayed by Mr. +Evans in carrying the tariff bill of 1842 through the Senate, fully +justified the high encomiums bestowed by Mr. Clay. The opposition +which he led four years after to the tariff bill of 1846 gave Mr. +Evans still higher reputation, though the measure was unexpectedly +carried by the casting vote of the Vice-President. + +When Mr. Evans's term of service drew near to its close, Mr. Webster +paid him the extraordinary commendation of saying in the Senate +that "his retirement would be a serious loss to the government and +the country." He pronounced the speech just then delivered by Mr. +Evans, on the finances, to be "incomparable." The "senator from +Maine," continued Mr. Webster, "has devoted himself especially to +studying and comprehending the revenue and finances of the country, +and he understand that subject as well as any gentleman connected +with the government since the days of Gallatin and Crawford,--nay, +as well as either of those gentlemen understood it." This was the +highest praise from the highest source! Of all who have represented +New England in the Senate, Mr. Evans, as a debater, is entitled to +rank next to Mr. Webster! + + +The next Congress met in December, 1847. Besides the venerable ex- +president, there were two future Presidents among its members-- +Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Mr. Robert C. Winthrop was +chosen Speaker. He was nominated in the Whig caucus over Samuel +F. Vinton of Ohio, because he had voted for the Wilmot Proviso, +and Mr. Vinton against it.* Mr. Vinton was senior in age and long +senior in service to Mr. Winthrop. Mr. Vinton had entered the +House in 1823 and Mr. Winthrop in 1840. Mr. Vinton had moreover +been selected as the Whig candidate for Speaker in the preceding +Congress, when that party was in minority. The decision against +him now created no little feeling in Whig circles, especially in +the West where he was widely known and highly esteemed. But, while +Mr. Winthrop was rewarded by this nomination for his vote in favor +of the Wilmot Proviso, the more pronounced anti-slavery men were +hostile to him. In the end he owed his election to timely aid from +Southern Whigs. This fact, no doubt, had its effect on Mr. Winthrop's +mind, and with other influences tended to separate him rapidly and +conclusively from the anti-slavery wing of the Whig party. + +It would, however, be unjust to Mr. Winthrop not to recognize that +the chief reason for his selection as Speaker was his pre-eminent +fitness for the important post. He was a young man, and, other +conditions being equal, young men have been uniformly preferred +for the arduous duties of the Chair. From the organization of the +government the speakers, at the time of their first election, have +been under forty-five years of age,--many, indeed, under forty. +In only four instances have men been selected beyond the age of +fifty. Mr. Clay when first chosen was but thirty-four, Mr. Polk +thirty-nine, Mr. John Bell thirty-seven, Mr. Howell Cobb thirty- +three, and Mr. Robert M. T. Hunter, the youngest man ever elected +Speaker, was but thirty. Mr. Winthrop was thirty-eight. He was +bred to the law in the office of Mr. Webster, but at twenty-five +years of age entered political life as a member of the Massachusetts +House of Representatives. He was soon after promoted to the +speakership of that body, where he earned so valuable a reputation +as a presiding officer that some of his decisions have been quoted +as precedents in the National House, and have been incorporated in +permanent works on Parliamentary Law. He was chosen in Congress +when he was but thirty, and was in his fifth term in the House when +he was advanced to the Speakership. As an orator he was always +graceful and effective, but never took high rank in the House as +a debater. His early life gave promise of a long public career in +Massachusetts as the successor of the older Whig leaders who were +passing off the stage. He followed Mr. Webster in the Senate for +a brief period, when the latter became Secretary of State under +Mr. Fillmore. His conservative tendencies on the Slavery question, +however, were not in harmony with the demands of public opinion in +Massachusetts, and in 1851 he was defeated for the governorship by +George S. Boutwell, and for the senatorship by Charles Sumner. +Mr. Winthrop's political career closed when he was forty-two years +of age. + + WHIGS ABANDON THE WILMOT PROVISO. + +The events of the year 1847 had persuaded the Whig leaders that, +if they persisted in the policy embodied in the Wilmot Proviso, +they would surrender all power to control the ensuing Presidential +election. By clever management and the avoidance of issues which +involved the slavery question, they felt reasonably sure of the +votes of Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee, +with a probability of securing Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida. +To throw these States away by an anti-slavery crusade was to accept +inevitable defeat, and disband the Whig party. Mr. Winthrop was +therefore representing the prevailing wishes of Northern Whigs when +he used his influence to restrain rather than promote the development +of the anti-slavery policy which had been initiated with such vigor. +The result of this change was soon visible. In the preceding House, +with a large Democratic majority, the Wilmot Proviso had been +adopted. In the Whig House, over which Mr. Winthrop presided, it +was found impossible to repeat the vote during the preparations +for the national contest then impending. The treaty of Guadalupe +Hidalgo, by which we acquired a vast territory from Mexico, was +ratified by the Senate, and the House voted the fifteen millions +demanded by it without adding a restriction of any kind on the +subject of slavery. Every acre of the nine hundred thousand square +miles was free territory while under the rule of Mexico, and the +Commissioners of that government were extremely anxious that the +United States should give a guaranty that its character in this +respect should not be changed. They urged that to see slavery +recognized upon soil once owned by Mexico would be so abhorrent to +that government as it would be to the United States to see the +Spanish Inquisition established upon it. Mr. Nicholas F. Trist, +the American commissioner, gave a reply which a free Republic reads +with increasing amazement. He declared that if the territory +proposed to be ceded "were increased tenfold in value, and, in +addition to that, covered a foot thick with pure gold, on the single +condition that slavery should be forever excluded," he would not +"entertain the offer for a moment, nor even think of sending it to +his government. No American President would dare to submit such +a treaty to the Senate." + +With this suppression, if not indeed re-action, of the popular +feeling in the North, on the subject of slavery, the two great +parties approached the Presidential election of 1848. Each was +under peculiar embarrassment in the selection of a candidate, and +the presentation of the principles on which support was to be asked. +The anomaly presented in the Congressional election of 1846, where +an administration conducting a successful war was defeated before +the people, promised to be repeated. The Democratic party had +precipitated the war, had organized the military force that prosecuted +it, had controlled its immense patronage, and had brought it to a +victorious conclusion, yet had gained no political strength in the +country. The two gallant soldiers who had so largely shared, if +indeed they had not absorbed, its glory, were Whigs, and both were +in ill-humor with the administration. After the battle of Buena +Vista, Taylor's victorious progress had been checked and his army +crippled by orders from Washington, which reduced his force, and +turned the Regulars over to Scott. Scott ended his brilliant +campaign in a flagrant quarrel with the Secretary of War, and was +summoned home peremptorily with the prospect of a court-martial. +He was ordered to leave General William O. Butler, a Democratic +general, in command of the army in the city of Mexico after resistance +had ceased. + + DEMOCRATIC OFFICERS IN MEXICAN WAR. + +The administration had obviously endeavored from the first to create +a Democratic hero out of the war. Authorized to appoint a large +number of officers in the increased military force, raised directly +by the United States, an unjust discrimination was made in favor +of Democrats. Thus William O. Butler, John A. Quitman, and Gideon +J. Pillow, prominent Democratic leaders in their respective States, +were appointed Major-generals directly from civil life. Joseph +Lane, James Shields, Franklin Pierce, George Cadwalader, Caleb +Cushing, Enos D. Hopping, and Sterling Price, were selected for +the high rank of Brigadier-general. Not one Whig was included, +and not one of the Democratic appointees had seen service in the +field, or possessed the slightest pretension to military education. +Such able graduates of West Point as Henry Clay, jun., and William +R. McKee, were compelled to seek service through State appointments +in volunteer regiments, while Albert Sidney Johnston, subsequently +proved to be one of the ablest commanders ever sent from the Military +Academy, could not obtain a commission from the General Government. +In the war between Mexico and Texas, by which the latter had secured +its independence, Johnston had held high command, and was perhaps +the best equipped soldier, both by education and service, to be +found in the entire country outside the regular army at the time +of the Mexican war. General Taylor urged the President to give +Johnston command of one of the ten new regiments. Johnston took +no part in politics; but his eminent brother, Josiah Stoddard +Johnston, long a senator from Louisiana, was Mr. Clay's most intimate +friend in public life, and General Taylor's letter was not even +answered. The places were wanted for adherents of the administration, +and Tibbatts of Kentucky, Jere Clemens of Alabama, Milledge L. +Bonham of South Carolina, Seymour of Connecticut, and men of that +grade,--eminent in civil life, active partisans, but with no military +training,--were preferred to the most experienced soldiers. This +fact disfigures the energetic record of Mr. Marcy as secretary of +War, and was eminently discreditable to the President and all his +advisers. + +Perhaps the most inexcusable blunder of the administration was the +attempt to take Thomas H. Benton from the Senate, where he was +honored, eminent, and useful, make him Lieutenant-general, and send +him out to Mexico to supersede both Scott and Taylor in command of +the army. The bill to enable this to be done actually passed the +House. When under discussion in that branch, a prominent Democratic +member from Ohio declared, as one reason for passing the bill, that +two of the generals are opposed politically to the Democratic party, +and "by their own acts or those of their friends are candidates +for the Presidency." The evident basis of this argument was, that +the Mexican war being a Democratic venture, no Whig had the right +to profit by it. The bill was fortunately stopped in the Senate, +though that body at the time had a Democratic majority. The measure +was killed by one convincing speech from Mr. Badger of North +Carolina. The senators knew Colonel Benton's temper and temperament, +and understood how completely unfitted he was for military command, +and how his appointment would demoralize and practically destroy +the army. To the end of his life, however, Colonel Benton himself +believed a serious mistake had been made. He had been commissioned +colonel in the war of 1812, but though of unquestioned bravery, +and deeply read in military science, it had never been his fortune +to engage in battle, or to see the face of an enemy. Yet in the +autobiographical sketch which precedes his "Thirty Years' View," +he complacently assured himself that his appointment as Lieutenant- +general over Scott and Taylor "could not have wounded professional +honor," as at the time of his retiring from the army he "ranked +all those who have since reached its head." + + WHIG OPPOSITION TO GENERAL TAYLOR. + +But all the efforts to make a Democratic hero out of the war failed. +The line-officers appointed from civil life behaved gallantly. +The volunteers under their command were exceptionally excellent,-- +almost competent themselves to the conduct of a campaign. The +political generals who vaulted from law-offices into the command +of brigades and divisions were furnished by the War Department with +staff-officers carefully chosen from the best educated and most +skillful of the regular army. All would not suffice, however, to +displace Taylor and Scott from the post of chief heroes. "Old +Rough and Ready," as Taylor was called by his troops, became a +popular favorite of irresistible strength, and in the Whig convention +of 1848 was chosen over Mr. Clay as the standard-bearer of his +party. He was placed before the people on his record as a soldier, +unhampered by the political declarations which make up the modern +platform. Mr. Clay had expected the nomination, and General Scott +had offered to run on the same ticket as Vice-President; but against +the constantly rising tide of Taylor's popularity both ordinary +and extraordinary political combinations gave way. Even the Kentucky +delegation divided,--in accordance with Mr. Crittenden's judgment, +though not by his advice. To the overwhelming chagrin and +mortification of Mr. Clay, a man unknown in political circles was +preferred as the candidate of the party of which he felt himself +to have been the creator. Mr. Clay was enraged by the result, and +never became reconciled to it. Though he gave in the end a quiet +vote at the polls for Taylor, he stubbornly refused during the +campaign to open his lips or write a word in favor of his election. +Mr. Webster, though without the keen personal disappointment of +Mr. Clay, was equally discontented with the nomination. He had +spoken in a semi-public way for several months previous to the +convention, of the folly of nominating "a swearing, swaggering, +frontier colonel" for the Presidency,--an allusion to General +Taylor, which was scandalously unjust, and which was contradicted +by his whole life. When Taylor was finally nominated, Mr. Webster +resented the selection as an indignity to the statesmen of the Whig +party. His only ray of comfort was the defeat of Abbott Lawrence +for the Vice-Presidency by Millard Fillmore. Mr. Lawrence was a +man of wealth, the most prominent manufacturer at the time in the +country, of high personal character, and of wide political influence. +He was the leading Taylor-Whig in New England, and his course had +given offense to Mr. Webster to such an extent indeed, that on a +public occasion, after the Presidential election, he referred to +Mr. Lawrence in an unfriendly and discourteous manner. + +The situation became still further complicated. The Whigs believed +they had avoided the responsibility of positive declaration on +either side of the issue embodied in the Wilmot Proviso, by selecting +a military hero as their candidate. In the phrase of the day, he +could make a "Star and Stripe" canvass, with fair chance of success, +on both sides of Mason and Dixon's line. There was loss to be +incurred by either course. The Whig managers saw plainly that an +anti-slavery policy would give almost the entire South to the +Democrats, and a pro-slavery policy would rend the Whig party +throughout the North. They wisely concluded, if the canvass were +merely a game to win votes, that the non-committal plan was the +safe one. But this evasive course was not wholly successful. +There was a considerable body of men in New England, and especially +in Massachusetts, known as "Conscience Whigs," who had deep +convictions on the subject of slavery, and refused to support +General Taylor. Conspicuous among these were Henry Wilson, E. +Rockwood Hoar, and Charles Francis Adams. A defection of the same +kind among the Whigs of New York was prevented by the active +influence of Mr. Seward, but it developed rapidly in the northern +section of Ohio. Throughout the country the Whigs began to fear +that a mistake had been made, and that the old leaders had been +thrown overboard without due thought of the consequences. Mr. +Clay's private correspondence exhibited unmistakable gratification +at this aspect of affairs, for he felt assured that the influential +Whigs who were now organizing against Taylor would have supported +him as cordially as they had done in 1844. + +These troubles in the Whig ranks tended, of course, to encourage +the Democrats, and to give them for a time great promise of success. +The selection of their own candidate, however, had not been unattended +with difficulty and dissension. Mr. Polk was from the first out +of the question,--verifying the Scripture that those who draw the +sword shall perish by the sword. The war inaugurated by him had +been completely successful; "a glorious peace," as it was termed, +had been conquered; a vast addition to our territory had been +accomplished. Yet by common consent, in which Mr. Polk had gracefully +concurred in advance, it was admitted that he was not available +for re-election. He had sown the dragon's teeth, and the armed +men who sprang forth wrested his sceptre from him. But it would +not be candid to ascribe his disability solely to events connected +with the war. He had pursued the most unwise course in dealing +with the New-York Democracy, and had for himself hopelessly divided +the party. He made the great blunder of not recognizing the strength +and leadership of Van Buren and Silas Wright. He had been led to +distrust them, had always felt aggrieved that Wright refused to +run on his ticket as Vice-President, and was annoyed by the fact +that, as candidate for governor, Wright received several thousand +votes more than the electoral ticket which represented his own +fortunes. This fact came to him in a manner which deeply impressed +it upon his memory. At that time, before railroad or telegraph +had hastened the transmission of news beyond the Alleghanies, Mr. +Polk in his Tennessee home was in an agony of doubt as to the result +in New York. The first intelligence that reached him announced +the certain victory of Wright, but left the electoral ticket +undecided, with very unpleasant rumors of his own defeat. When at +last the returns showed that he had a plurality of five thousand +in New York, and was chosen President, it did not suffice to remove +the deep impressions of those few days in which, either in the +gloom of defeat or in the torture of suspense, he feared that he +had been betrayed by the Barnburners of New York as a revenge for +Van Buren's overthrow at Baltimore. As matter of fact the suspicion +was absolutely groundless. The contest for governor between Silas +Wright and Millard Fillmore called out intense feeling, and the +former had the advantage of personal popularity over the latter +just as Mr. Clay had over Mr. Polk. Mr. Wright's plurality was +but five thousand greater than Mr. Polk's, and this only proved +that among half a million voters there may have been twenty-five +hundred who preferred Mr. Clay for President and Mr. Wright for +governor. + + PRESIDENT POLK AND MR. VAN BUREN. + +But there was no manifestation of feeling or apparent withholding +of confidence on the part of Mr. Polk when the result was finally +proclaimed. On the contrary he offered the Treasury Department to +Mr. Wright, feeling assured in advance, as the uncharitable thought, +that Wright could not leave the governorship to accept it. When +the office was declined, Mr. Polk again wrote Mr. Wright, asking +his advice as to the New-York member of the cabinet. Mr. Wright +submitted the names of three men from whom wise choice could be +made,--Benjamin F. Butler, who had been attorney-general under +President Jackson; John A. Dix, then recently chosen to the United- +States Senate; and Azariah C. Flagg, eminent in the party, and +especially distinguished for his administration of financial trust. +Mr. Polk, under other and adverse influence, saw fit to disregard +Mr. Wright's counsel, and selected William L. Marcy, who was hostile +to Wright, and distrusted by Van Buren, for Secretary of War. From +that moment the fate of Mr. Polk as candidate for re-election was +sealed. The cause might seem inadequate, but the effect was +undeniable. The Democratic party at the outbreak of the civil war, +sixteen years afterwards, had not wholly recovered from the divisions +and strifes which sprung from the disregard of Mr. Van Buren's +wishes at that crisis. No appointment to Mr. Polk's cabinet could +have been more distasteful than that of Mr. Marcy. He had lost +the State during Mr. Van Buren's Presidency in the contest for the +governorship against Mr. Seward in 1838, and thus laid the foundation, +as Mr. Van Buren believed, for his own disastrous defeat in 1840. +The disputes which arose from Marcy's appointment in the cabinet +led to Wright's defeat for re-election in 1846, when John Young, +the Whig candidate, was chosen governor of New York. To three men +in the cabinet the friends of Mr. Wright ascribed the Democratic +overthrow,--Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Robert J. Walker, and Mr. Marcy,-- +each anxious for the Presidency, and each feeling that Mr. Wright +was in his way. Mr. Wright died suddenly the year after his defeat, +and it was supposed for a time that harmony in the New-York Democracy +might be restored over his grave. But his friends survived, and +their grief was the measure of their resentment. + +The course of events which disabled Mr. Polk as a candidate proved +equally decisive against all the members of his cabinet; and by +the process of exclusion rather than by an enthusiastic desire +among the people, and still less among the leaders, General Cass +was selected by the Democratic Convention as candidate for the +Presidency, and William O. Butler of Kentucky for the Vice-Presidency. +The Democracy of New York, in consequence of the divisions arising +under the governorship of Mr. Wright, sent two full delegations to +the convention, bearing credentials from separate organizations. +The friends of Mr. Marcy bore the name of Hunkers; the followers +of Mr. Wright ranged themselves under the title of Barnburners,-- +distinctions which had prevailed for some years in New York. It +was in fact the old division on the annexation of Texas, and now +represented the pro-slavery and the anti-slavery wing of the +Democratic party. The National Convention sought in vain to bridge +the difficulty by admitting both delegations, giving to them united +the right to cast the vote of the State. But the Barnburners +declined thus to compromise a principle. On a question of bread, +the half-loaf is preferable to starvation, but when political honor +and deep personal feeling are involved, so material an adjustment +is not practicable. The Barnburners retired from the convention, +disclaimed all responsibility for its conclusions, and proceeded +in due time to organize against the ticket of Cass and Butler. +The Hunkers, left in the convention as the sole representatives of +the New-York Democracy, were startled at the situation and declined +to vote. They were anxious that the nomination of Cass should not +appear to be forced on the Barnburners by the rival faction. It +thus happened that New York, which for twenty years under the +skillful leadership of Mr. Van Buren had dictated the course of +the Democracy, was now so shorn of influence through the factions +engendered by his defeat, that a Presidential nomination was made, +not only without her lead, but without her aid or participation. + + CASS BOLTED BY VAN BUREN'S FRIENDS. + +The Democratic candidate was a man of high character. He had served +creditably in the early part of the war of 1812, had been governor +of Michigan Territory from 1813 to 1831, had been five years +Secretary of War under General Jackson, and had gone to France as +minister in 1836. He remained at the court of Louis Philippe, +where he received eminent consideration, for six years. When he +returned to this country in 1842, at sixty years of age, he +undoubtedly intended to re-enter political life. He landed at +Boston, and was received with enthusiasm by the New-England Democrats, +especially of that class who had not been in special favor during +the long rule of Jackson and his successor. Popular ovations were +arranged for him as he journeyed westward, and, by the time he +reached his home in Detroit, General Cass was publicly recognized +as a candidate for the Presidency. These facts did not escape the +jealous and watchful eye of Mr. Van Buren. He was aggrieved by +the course of General Cass, feeling assured that its direct effect +would be to injure himself, and not to promote the political fortunes +of the General. But the rivalry continued to develop. Cass remained +in the field, a persistent candidate for nomination, and in the +end proved to be, perhaps, the most powerful factor in the combination +which secured the triumph of Polk. He had deeply wounded Mr. Van +Buren, and, as the latter thought, causelessly and cruelly. He +had disregarded a personal and political friendship of thirty years' +duration, and had sundered ties which life was too short to re- +unite. Cass had gained no victory. He had only defeated old +friends, and the hour of retribution was at hand. + +When the delegation of Barnburners withdrew from the Baltimore +Convention of 1848, they were obviously acting in harmony with Mr. +Van Buren's wishes. Had they been admitted, according to their +peremptory demand, as the sole delegation from New York, they could +have defeated Cass in the convention, and forced the nomination of +some new man unconnected with the grievances and enmities of 1844. +But when the demand of the Barnburners was denied, and they were +asked to make common cause with the assassins of Wright, as James +S. Wadsworth had denominated the Hunkers, the indignantly shook +the dust of the city from off their feet, returned to New York, +and forthwith called a Democratic convention to meet at Utica on +the 22d of June. + +Before the time arrived for the Utica Convention to assemble, the +anti-slavery revolt was widely extended, and was, apparently, no +less against Taylor than against Cass. There was agitation in many +States, and the Barnburners found that by uniting with the opposition +against both the old parties, a most effective combination could +be made. It was certain to profit them in New York, and it promised +the special revenge which they desired in the defeat of Cass. The +various local and State movements were merged in one great convention, +which met at Buffalo on the 9th of August, with imposing demonstrations. +Many of those composing it had held high rank in the old parties. +Salmon P. Chase of Ohio was selected as president. The convention +represented a genuine anti-slavery sentiment, and amid excitement +and enthusiasm Martin Van Buren was nominated for President, and +Charles Francis Adams for Vice-President. The Barnburners, the +anti-slavery Whigs, and the old Abolitionists, co-operated with +apparent harmony under the general name of the Free-soil party; +and the impression with many when the convention adjourned was, +that Mr. Van Buren would have a plurality over both Cass and Taylor +in the State of New York. The management of the popular canvass +was intrusted to Democratic partisans of the Silas Wright school, +and this fact had a significant and unexpected influence upon the +minds of anti-slavery Whigs. + +In the first flush of the excitement, the supporters of the regular +Democratic nominee were not alarmed. They argued, not illogically, +that the Free-soil ticket would draw more largely from the Whigs +than from the Democrats, and thus very probably injure Taylor more +than Cass. But in a few weeks this hope was dispelled. The Whigs +of the country had been engaged for a long period in an earnest +political warfare against Mr. Van Buren. In New York the contest +had been personal and acrimonious to the last degree, and ordinary +human nature could hardly be expected the bury at once the grievances +and resentments of a generation. Nor did the Whigs confide in the +sincerity of Mr. Van Buren's anti-slavery conversion. His repentance +was late, and even the most charitable suspected that his desire +to punish Cass had entered largely into the motives which suddenly +aroused him to the evils of slavery after forty years of quiet +acquiescence in all the demands of the South. Mr. Seward, who +possessed the unbounded confidence of the anti-slavery men of New +York, led a most earnest canvass in favor of General Taylor, and +was especially successful in influencing Whigs against Van Buren. +In this he was aided by the organizing skill of Thurlow Weed, and +by the editorial power of Horace Greeley. Perhaps in no other +National election did three men so completely control the result. +They gave the vote of New York to General Taylor, and made him +President of the United States. + + MR. WEBSTER'S MARSHFIELD SPEECH. + +At an opportune moment for the success of the Whigs, Mr. Webster +decided to support General Taylor. He thoroughly distrusted Cass, +--not in point of integrity, but of discretion and sound judgment +as a statesman. He had rebuked Cass severely in a diplomatic +correspondence touching the Treaty of Washington, when he was +Secretary of State and Cass minister to France. The impression +then derived had convinced him that the Democratic candidate was +not the man whom a Whig could desire to see in the Presidential +chair. In Mr. Van Buren's anti-slavery professions, Mr. Webster +had no confidence. He said pleasantly, but significantly, that +"if he and Mr. Van Buren should meet under the Free-soil flag, the +latter with his accustomed good-nature would laugh." He added, +with a touch of characteristic humor, "that the leader of the Free- +spoil party suddenly becoming the leader of the Free-soil party is +a joke to shake his sides and mine." Distrusting him sincerely on +the anti-slavery issue, Mr. Webster showed that on every other +question Mr. Van Buren was throughly objectionable to the Whigs. + +The Marshfield speech, as this effort was popularly known at the +time, had great influence with the Northern Whigs. Mr. Webster +did not conceal his belief that General Taylor's nomination was +"one not fit to be made," but by the clearest of logic he demonstrated +that he was infinitely to be preferred to either of his competitors. +Mr. Webster at that time had the confidence of the anti-slavery +Whigs in a large degree; he had voted for the Wilmot Proviso, and +his public course had been that of a just and conservative expositor +of their advanced opinion. From the day of the Marshfield speech, +the belief was general that Van Buren would draw far more largely +from the Democrats than from the Whigs; that his candidacy would +give the State of New York to Taylor, and thus elect him President. +The loss of Whig votes was not distasteful to Mr. Van Buren after +the prospect of his securing the electors of New York had vanished. +Had he drawn in equal proportion from the two parties, his candidacy +would have had no effect. It would have neutralized itself, and +left the contest between Cass and Taylor as though he had not +entered the race. By a rule of influence, whose working is obvious, +the tenacity of the Democratic adherents of Van Buren increased as +the Whigs withdrew. The contest between Cass and Van Buren finally +became in New York, in very large degree, a struggle between +Democratic factions, in which the anti-slavery profession was an +instrumentality to be temporarily used, and not a principle to be +permanently upheld. As the Whigs left Van Buren, the Democrats +left Cass, and the end of the canvass gave a full measure of +satisfaction, not only to the supporters of Taylor, but to the +followers of Van Buren, who polled a larger vote for him than was +given to Cass. New York, as in 1844, decided the contest. The +friends of Van Buren had not simply beaten Cass at the polls, they +had discredited him as a party leader. In the pithy phrase of John +Van Buren, they had exposed him to the country as the candidate +"powerful for mischief, powerless for good." + +The total vote of New York was, for Taylor, 218,603; for Cass, +114,318; for Van Buren, 120,510. The canvass for the governorship +was scarcely less exciting than that for the Presidency. Hamilton +Fish was the Whig candidate; John A. Dix, then a senator of the +United States, ran as the representative of Mr. Van Buren's Free- +soil party; while the eminent Chancellor Walworth, who had recently +lost his judicial position, was nominated as a supporter of Cass +by the Regular Democracy. Mr. Fish had been candidate for Lieutenant- +governor two years before on the Whig ticket with John Young, and +was defeated because of his outspoken views against the Anti-Renters. +Those radical agitators instinctively knew that the descendant of +Stuyvesant would support the inherited rights of the Van Rensselaers, +and therefore defeated Mr. Fish while they elected the Whig candidates +for other offices. Mr. Fish now had his abundant reward in receiving +as large a vote as General Taylor, and securing nearly one hundred +thousand plurality over the Van Buren candidate, while he in turn +received a small plurality over the representative of General Cass. + +The result of the two contests left the Van Buren wing, or the +Barnburners, in majority over the Hunkers, and gave them an advantage +in future contests for supremacy, inside the party. Truthful +history will hold this to have been the chief object of the struggle +with many who vowed allegiance at Buffalo to an anti-slavery creed +strong enough to satisfy Joshua R. Giddings and Charles Sumner. +With Cass defeated, and the Marcy wing of the party severely +disciplined, the great mass of the Van Buren host of 1848 were +ready to disavow their political escapade at Buffalo. Dean Richmond, +Samuel J. Tilden, John Van Buren, C. C. Cambreleng, and Sanford E. +Church, forgot their anti-slavery professions, reunited with the +old party, and vowed afresh their fidelity to every principle +against which they had so earnestly protested. Mr. Van Buren +himself went with them, and to the end of his life maintained a +consistent pro-slavery record, which, throughout a long public +career was varied only by the insincere professions which he found +it necessary to make in order to be revenged on Cass. But it would +be unjust to include in this condemnation all the New-York Democrats +who went into the Buffalo movement. Many were honest and earnest, +and in after life followed the principles which they had then +professed. Chief among these may be reckoned Preston King, who +exerted a powerful influence in the anti-slavery advances of after +years, and James S. Wadsworth, who gave his name, and generously +of his wealth, to the cause, and finally sealed his devotion with +his blood on the battle-field of the Wilderness. + + CHARACTER OF MR. VAN BUREN. + +Mr. Van Buren spent the remainder of his life in dignified retirement +--surviving until his eightieth year, in 1862. In point of mere +intellectual force, he must rank below the really eminent men with +whom he was so long associated in public life. But he was able, +industrious, and, in political management, clever beyond any man +who has thus far appeared in American politics. He had extraordinary +tact in commending himself to the favor and confidence of the +people. Succeeding to political primacy in New York on the death +of De Witt Clinton in 1828, he held absolute control of his party +for twenty years, and was finally overthrown by causes whose origin +was beyond the limits of his personal influence. He stood on the +dividing-line between the mere politician and the statesman,-- +perfect in the arts of the one, possessing largely the comprehensive +power of the other. His active career began in 1812, and ended in +1848. During the intervening period he had served in the Legislature +of New York, had been a member of the Constitutional Convention of +1820, had been attorney-general of the State, and had been chosen +its governor. In the national field he had been senator of the +United States, Secretary of State, minister to England, Vice- +President, and President. No other man in the country has held so +many great places. He filled them all with competency and with +power, but marred his illustrious record by the political episode +of 1848, in which, though he may have had some justification for +revenge on unfaithful associates in his old party, he had none for +his lack of fidelity to new friends, and for his abandonment of a +sacred principle which he had pledged himself to uphold. + +[* NOTE.--An error of statement occurs on page 72, Volume I, in +regard to the action of the Whig caucus for Speaker in December, +1847. Mr. Winthrop was chosen after Mr. Vinton had declined, and +was warmly supported by Mr. Vinton. The error came from an +incorrect account of the caucus in a newspaper of that time.] + + +CHAPTER V. + +Review (_continued_).--Contrast between General Taylor and General +Cass.--The Cabinet of President Taylor.--Political Condition of +the Country.--Effect produced by the Discovery of Gold in California. +--Convening of Thirty-first Congress.--Election of Howell Cobb as +Speaker.--President Taylor's Message.--His Recommendations Distasteful +to the South.--Illustrious Membership of the Senate.--Mr. Clay and +the Taylor Administration.--Mr. Calhoun's Last Speech in the Senate. +--His Death.--His Character and Public Services.--Mr. Webster's +7th of March Speech.--Its Effect upon the Public and upon Mr. +Webster.--Mr. Clay's Committee of Thirteen.--The Omnibus Bill.-- +Conflict with General Taylor's Administration.--Death of the +President.--Mr. Fillmore reverses Taylor's Policy and supports the +Compromise Measures.--Defeat of Compromise Bill.--Passage of the +Measures separately.--Memorable Session of Congress.--Whig and +Democratic Parties sustain the Compromise Measures.--National +Conventions.--Whigs nominate Winfield Scott over Fillmore.--Mr. +Clay supports Fillmore.--Mr. Webster's Friends.--Democrats nominate +Franklin Pierce.--Character of the Campaign.--Overwhelming Defeat +of Scott.--Destruction of the Whig Party.--Death of Mr. Clay.-- +Death of Mr. Webster.--Their Public Characters and Services +compared. + +With the election of General Taylor, the various issues of the +slavery question were left undecided and unchanged. Indeed, the +progress of the canvass had presented a political anomaly. General +Cass was born in New England of Puritan stock. All his mature life +had been spent in the free North-West. He was a lawyer, a statesman, +always a civilian, except for a single year in the volunteer service +of 1812. General Taylor was born in Virginia, was reared in +Kentucky, was a soldier by profession from his earliest years of +manhood, had passed all his life in the South, was a resident of +Louisiana, engaged in planting, and was the owner of a large number +of slaves. Yet in the face of these facts General Cass ran as the +distinctively pro-slavery candidate, and General Taylor received +three-fourths of the votes of New England, and was supported +throughout the North by the anti-slavery Whigs, who accepted William +H. Seward as a leader and Horace Greeley as an exponent. But his +contradiction was apparent, not real. It was soon found that the +confidence of the Northern men who voted for Taylor had not been +misplaced. + + CABINET OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR. + +As his inauguration approached, the anxiety in regard to his public +policy grew almost painfully intense throughout the country. There +had never been a cabinet organized in which so deep an interest +was felt,--an interest which did not attach so much to the persons +who might compose it as to the side--pro-slavery or anti-slavery-- +to which the balance might incline. When the names were announced, +it was found that four were from the south side of Mason and Dixon's +line, and three from the north side. But a review of the political +character of the members showed that the decided weight of influence +was with the North. John M. Clayton of Delaware, Secretary of +State, nominally from the South, had voted for the Wilmot Proviso, +and had defended his action with commanding ability. William M. +Meredith of Pennsylvania was one of the ablest lawyers of the +country, a scholar, a wit, an orator; his training had not, however, +fitted him for the Treasury Department to which he was called. +Thomas Ewing of Ohio, selected to organize the Department of the +Interior, just then authorized by law, was a man of intellectual +power, a lawyer of the first rank, possessing a stainless character, +great moral courage, unbending will, an incisive style, both with +tongue and pen, and a breadth of reading and wealth of information +never surpassed by any public man in America. Jacob Collamer of +Vermont, Postmaster-general, was an able, wise, just, and firm man, +stern in principle, conservative in action. The Attorney-general +was Reverdy Johnson of Maryland, an ardent Whig partisan, distinguished +in his profession, born and living in a slave State, but firmly +devoted to the Union, as in later life he abundantly proved. The +pronounced Southern sentiment, as represented by Toombs and Stephens, +had but two representatives in the cabinet,--George W. Crawford of +Georgia (nephew of the eminent William H. Crawford), Secretary of +War; and William Ballard Preston of Virginia, Secretary of the +Navy,--able and upright men, but less distinguished than their +associates. + +The country was in an expectant and restless condition. The pro- +slavery leaders, who had counted upon large political gain to their +section by the acquisition of territory from Mexico, were somewhat +discouraged, and began to fear that the South had sown, and that +the North would reap. They had hoped to establish their right by +positive legislation to enter all the territories with slave +property. If they should fail in this, they believed with all +confidence, and had good reason at the time for their faith, that +they would be able to carry the line of 36° 30´ to the Pacific by +an extension of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and that in this +way the political strength of their section would be vastly enhanced. +But not long after the signing of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, +an event happened which put to naught the anticipations of Southern +statesmen. Gold was discovered in California late in the autumn +of 1848, and by one of those marvels of emigration which the Anglo- +Saxon race have more than once achieved, the Pacific slope was +immediately filled with a hardy, resolute, intelligent population. +In less than a year they organized a State government, adopted a +constitution in which slavery was forever prohibited, and were +ready by the close of 1849 to apply for admission to the Union. +The inhabitants had no powers of civil government conferred by +Congress; the only authority exercised by the United States being +that of Colonel Bennett Riley of the regular army, who had been +placed in command immediately after the Treaty of Peace by President +Polk, and who was left undisturbed by President Taylor. + +Congress convened on the first Monday of December, 1849, amid deep +feeling, rapidly growing into excitement throughout the country. +For three weeks the House was unable to organize by the choice of +a speaker. The Democratic candidate was Howell Cobb; the Whig +candidate, Robert C. Winthrop. The contest was finally settled on +the sixty-third ballot, in accordance with a previous agreement +that a plurality should elect. Mr. Cobb received one hundred and +two votes; Mr. Winthrop ninety-nine, with twenty votes scattering, +principally anti-slavery Whigs and Free-Soilers. It was the first +time that such a step had been taken; and its constitutionality +was so doubtful, that after the ballot, a resolution declaring Mr. +Cobb to be speaker was adopted by general concurrence on a yea and +nay vote. + +The message of the President was immediately transmitted, and proved +a tower of strength to the friends of the Union, and a heavy blow +to the secession element, which was rampant in Congress. The +President recommended that California, with her constitution, +already known to be anti-slavery, be promptly admitted to the Union. +He also suggested that New Mexico, already better protected in +property, life, liberty, and religion than she had ever been before, +be quietly left under her existing military government until she +should form a State constitution, and apply for admission,--an +event deemed probable in the very near future. That accomplished, +as he added in a special message a few days later, the claims of +Texas to a portion of New Mexico could be judicially determined, +which could not be done while New Mexico remained a territory, +organized or unorganized. These recommendations were intensely +distasteful to the South, and grew to be correspondingly popular +in the North. The sectional feeling rapidly developed and the +agitation in Congress communicated itself to the entire country. + + THE UNITED STATES SENATE IN 1850. + +The character and eminence of the men who took part in the discussion +gave it an intense, almost dramatic interest. Mr. Clay in his +seventy-third year was again in the Senate by the unanimous vote +of the Kentucky Legislature, in the belief that his patriotic +influence was needed in the impending crisis. Webster and Cass, +natives of the same New-England State, Benton and Calhoun, natives +of the Carolinas, all born the same year and now approaching +threescore and ten, represented in their own persons almost every +phase of the impending contest. Stephen A. Douglas had entered +the preceding Congress at the early age of thirty-four, and the +ardent young Irish soldier, James Shields, was now his colleague. +Jefferson Davis had come from Mississippi with the brilliant record +of his achievements in the Mexican war, already ambitious to succeed +Mr. Calhoun as the leader of the extreme South, but foiled in his +Disunion schemes by his eloquent but erratic colleague, Henry S. +Foote. William H. Seward of New York was for the first time taking +position under the National Government, at the age of forty-nine, +and Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, five years younger, was beginning his +political career as the colleague of Thomas Corwin. John Bell was +still honorably serving Tennessee, and John McPherson Berrien was +still honoring Georgia by his service. The amiable and excellent +William R. King, who had entered the Senate when Alabama was admitted +in 1819, and who was Colonel Benton's senior in service by two +years when he resigned in 1844 to accept the French mission, now +returned, and remained until he was chosen Vice-President in 1852. +Hannibal Hamlin had entered the preceding year, and was still +leading a bitter fight on the slavery question against a formidable +element in his own party headed at home by Nathan Clifford and +represented in the Senate by his colleague, James W. Bradbury. +John P. Hale, a New-Hampshire Democrat whom Franklin Pierce had +attempted to discipline because as representative in Congress he +had opposed the annexation of Texas, had beaten Pierce before the +people, defied the Democratic party, and was promoted to the Senate +an outspoken Free-Soiler. Willie P. Mangum and George E. Badger, +able, graceful, experienced statesmen, represented the steadfast +Union sentiment of the "Old North State" Whigs; while Andrew P. +Butler, impulsive and generous, learned and able, embodied all the +heresies of the South-Carolina Nullifiers. James M. Mason, who +seemed to court the hatred of the North, and Robert M. T. Hunter, +who had the cordial respect of all sections, spoke for Virginia. +Pierre Soulé came from Louisiana, eloquent even in a language he +could not pronounce, but better fitted by temperament for the +turbulence of a revolutionary assembly in his native land than for +the decorous conservatism of the American Senate. Sam Houston was +present from Texas, with a history full of adventure and singular +fortune, while his colleague, Thomas J. Rusk, was daily increasing +a reputation which had already marked him in the judgment of Mr. +Webster as first among the younger statesmen of the South. Dodge +of Wisconsin and Dodge of Iowa, father and son, represented the +Democracy of the remotest outposts in the North-West, and, most +striking of all, William M. Gwin and John C. Frémont, men of Southern +birth and pro-slavery training, stood at the door of the Senate +with the constitution of California in their hands to demand her +admission to the Union as a free State. At no time before or since +in the history of the Senate has its membership been so illustrious, +its weight of character and ability so great. The period marked +the meeting and dividing line between two generations of statesmen. +The eminent men who had succeeded the leaders of the Revolutionary +era were passing away, but the most brilliant of their number were +still lingering, unabated in natural force, resplendent in personal +fame. Their successors in public responsibility, if not their +equals in public regard and confidence, were already upon the stage +preparing for, and destined to act in, the bloodiest and most +memorable of civil struggles. + +Mr. Clay had re-entered the Senate with no cordial feelings toward +President Taylor's administration. The events of the preceding +year were too fresh, the wounds too deep, to be readily forgotten +or quickly healed. But he desired no quarrel and was incapable of +showing petty resentment. His mind was intent on harmonizing the +serious differences between North and South, and he believed the +President's plan would fall short and fail. He desired, in the +same spirit of compromise which had been so distinguishing a mark +of his statesmanship in former crises, to secure "an amicable +arrangement of _all_ questions in controversy between the free and +slave States growing out of the subject of slavery." He was so +accustomed to lead, that the senators involuntarily waited for him +to open the discussion and point the way. He as naturally accepted +the responsibility, and in January (1850) began by submitting a +series of resolutions reciting the measures which were necessary +for the pacification of all strife in the country. These resolutions +embraced the admission of California; governments for the territory +acquired from Mexico without prohibition or permission of slavery; +adjustment of the disputed boundary of Texas and the allowance of +ten millions of dollars to that State for the payment of her debt; +the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia; more +effectual provision for the restitution of fugitive slaves. + + DEATH OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. + +It was on these resolutions that Mr. Calhoun prepared his last +formal speech. He attempted to deliver it in the Senate on the +4th of March, but was so weak that he requested Mr. Mason of Virginia +to read it for him. On two or three subsequent occasions Mr. +Calhoun made brief extempore remarks showing each time a gradual +decay of strength. He died on the last day of March. Most touching +and appreciative eulogies were delivered by Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster, +after his death had been announced by his colleague, Judge Butler. +Mr. Clay spoke of his "transcendent talents," of his "clear, concise, +compact logic," of his "felicity in generalization surpassed by no +one." He intimated that he would have been glad to see Mr. Calhoun +succeed Mr. Monroe in the Presidency in 1820. Mr. Webster, who +always measured his words, spoke of him as "a man of undoubted +genius and commanding talent, of unspotted integrity, of unimpeached +honor." Mr. Calhoun had been driven by his controversies with +Jackson into a position where he was deprived of popular strength +in the free States. But this very fact enhanced his power with +the South, and increased his hold upon his own people. To the +majority of the people in the slave-holding States he was as an +inspired leader for more than twenty years. He taught the philosophy +and supplied the arguments to the ambitious generation of public +men who came after him, and who were prepared, as he was not, to +force the issue to the arbitrament of arms. Deplorable as was the +end to which his teachings led, he could not have acquired the +influence he wielded over millions of men unless he had been gifted +with acute intellect, distinguished by moral excellence, and inspired +by the sincerest belief in the righteousness of his cause. History +will adjudge him to have been single-hearted and honest in his +political creed. It will equally adjudge him to have been wrong +in his theory of the Federal Government, and dead to the awakened +sentiment of Christendom in his views concerning the enslavement +of man. + +Mr. Calhoun's published works show the extent of his participation +in the national councils. They exhibit his zeal, the intensity of +his convictions, and at the same time the clearness and strength +of his logic. His premises once admitted, it is difficult to resist +the force of his conclusions. Mr. Webster assailed his premises, +and in their debate of February 16, 1833, defeated him, as another +senator remarked, "by the acuteness of his definitions,"--thus +meeting Mr. Calhoun on his own ground. The war and its results +have in large degree remanded the theories of Mr. Calhoun to the +past, but no intelligent student of the institutions of the United +States can afford to neglect his elaborate, conscientious, able +discussions. Taken with Mr. Webster's works they exhibit the most +complete examination, the most comprehensive analysis of the often +tortuous and ill-defined line which separates the powers of the +National Government from the functions which properly belong to +the States. Mr. Calhoun's public service may be regarded as +continuous from 1810, when he was elected to Congress at twenty- +eight years of age, till his death,--a period of forty years. He +took his seat in the House in December, 1811, and was placed by +the speaker, Mr. Clay (with whom he was then in accord), on the +Committee of Foreign Affairs. He was earnest and influential in +supporting the war policy of the Madison administration, and gained +so rapidly in public estimation that six years later he was appointed +secretary of War by President Monroe. Thenceforward his career +was illustrious. As Vice-President, as secretary of State, above +all as senator from South Carolina, he gained lasting renown. His +life was eminently pure, his career exceptional, his fame established +beyond the reach of calumny, beyond the power of detraction. + + MR. WEBSTER'S 7TH OF MARCH SPEECH. + +Continuing the discussion invited by Mr. Clay's resolutions, Mr. +Webster delivered, on the 7th of March, the memorable speech which +cost him the loss of so many of his staunch and lifelong friends. +The anti-slavery Whigs of the North, who, as the discussion went +on, had waited to be vindicated by the commanding argument of Mr. +Webster, were dismayed and cast down by his unexpected utterance. +Instead of arraigning the propagandists of slavery, he arraigned +its opponents. Instead of indicting the Disunionists of the South, +the poured out his wrath upon the Abolitionists of the North. He +maintained that the North had unduly exaggerated the dangers of +slavery extension at this crisis. California was coming in as a +free State. Texas, north of 36° 30´, if her boundary should extend +so far, had been declared free in the articles of annexation. In +the mountainous and sterile character of New Mexico and Utah he +found a stronger prohibition of slavery than in any possible +ordinance, enactment, or proviso placed on the statute-book by +Congress. He would not, therefore, "re-enact the Law of God." He +would not force a quarrel with the South when nothing was to be +gained. He would not irritate or causelessly wound the feelings +of those who were just beginning to realize that they had lost in +the issue put at stake in the Mexican war. The speech undoubtedly +had great influence in the North, and caused many anti-slavery men +to turn back. But on the other hand, it embittered thousands who +pressed forward with sturdy principle and with a quickened zeal, +not unmixed with resentment and a sense of betrayal. In many parts +of the country, and especially in the Middle and Southern States, +the speech was received with enthusiastic approval. But in New +England, the loss of whose good opinion could not be compensated +to Mr. Webster by the applause of a world outside, he never regained +his hold upon the popular affection. New friends came to him, but +they did not supply the place of the old friends, who for a lifetime +had stood by him with unswerving principle and with ever-increasing +pride. + +Excitement and passion do not, however, always issue decrees and +pronounce judgments of absolute right. In the zeal of that hour, +Northern anti-slavery opinion failed to appreciate the influence +which wrought so powerfully on the mind of Mr. Webster. He belonged +with those who could remember the first President, who personally +knew much of the hardships and sorrows of the Revolutionary period, +who were born to poverty and reared in privation. To these, the +formation of the Federal Government had come as a gift from Heaven, +and they had heard from the lips of the living Washington in his +farewell words, that "the Union is the edifice of our real +independence, the support of our tranquillity at home, our peace +abroad, our prosperity, our safety, and of the very liberty which +we so highly prize, that for this Union we should cherish a cordial, +habitual, immovable attachment, and should discountenance whatever +may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned." +Mr. Webster had in his own lifetime seen the thirteen colonies grow +into thirty powerful States. He had seen three millions of people, +enfeebled and impoverished by a long struggle, increased eightfold +in number, surrounded by all the comforts, charms, and securities +of life. All this spoke to him of the Union and of its priceless +blessings. He now heard its advantages discussed, its perpetuity +doubted, its existence threatened. A convention of slave-holding +States had been called, to meet at Nashville, for the purpose of +considering the possible separation of the sections. Mr. Webster +felt that a generation had been born who were undervaluing their +inheritance, and who might, by temerity, destroy it. Under motives +inspired by these surroundings, he spoke for the preservation of +the Union. He believed it to be seriously endangered. His +apprehensions were ridiculed by many who, ten years after Mr. +Webster was in his grave, saw for the first time how real and how +terrible were the perils upon which those apprehensions were +founded. + +When the hour of actual conflict came, every patriot realized that +a great magazine of strength for the Union was stored in the +teachings of Mr. Webster. For thirty years preceding the Nullification +troubles in South Carolina, the government had been administered +on the States'-rights theory, in which the power of the nation was +subordinated, and its capacity to subdue the revolt of seceding +States was dangerously weakened. His speech in reply to Hayne in +1830 was like an amendment to the Constitution. It corrected +traditions, changed convictions, revolutionized conclusions. It +gave to the friends of the Union the abundant logic which established +the right and the power of the government to preserve itself. A +fame so lofty, a work so grand, cannot be marred by one mistake, +if mistake it be conceded. The thoughtful reconsideration of his +severest critics must allow that Mr. Webster saw before him a +divided duty, and that he chose the part which in his patriotic +judgment was demanded by the supreme danger of the hour. + +Mr. Clay's resolutions were referred to a special committee of +thirteen, of which he was made chairman. They reported a bill +embracing the principal objects contemplated in his original speech. +The discussion on this composite measure was earnest and prolonged, +and between certain senators became exasperating. The Administration, +through its newspapers, through the declarations of its Cabinet +minsters, through the unreserved expressions of President Taylor +himself, showed persistent hostility to Mr. Clay's Omnibus Bill, +as it was derisively and offensively called. Mr. Clay, in turn, +did not conceal his hostility to the mode of adjustment proposed +in the messages of the President, and defended his own with vigor +and eloquence. Reciting the measures demanded for a fair and +lasting settlement, he said there were five wounds, bleeding and +threatening the body politic, all needing to be healed, while the +President proposed to heal but one. He described the wounds, +numbering them carefully on his fingers as he spoke. Colonel +Benton, who was vindictively opposed to the Omnibus Bill, made +sport of the five gaping wounds, and believed that Mr. Clay would +have found more wounds if he had had more fingers. This strife +naturally grew more and more severe, making for a time a somewhat +serious division among the Democrats, and rending the Whig party +asunder, one section following Mr. Clay with great zeal, the other +adhering with tenacity to the administration. + + DEATH OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR. + +The quarrel was growing fiercer day by day, and involving all shades +of political opinion, when it was suddenly arrested by the death +of General Taylor on the 9th of July (1850). This sad event gave +the opportunity for the success of the Compromise measures. Had +General Taylor lived, their defeat was assured. As a Southern man, +coming from a Gulf State, personally interested in the institution +of slavery, he had a vantage-ground in the struggle which a Northern +President could never attain. He had, moreover, the courage and +the intelligence to uphold his principles, even in a controversy +with Mr. Clay. His ignorance of political and civil affairs has +been grossly exaggerated. Without taking part in politics, he had +been a close observer of events, and his prolonged services at +frontier posts had afforded the leisure and enforced the taste for +reading. He knew not only the public measures, but the public men +of his time closely and appreciatively. He surprised a member of +his cabinet on a certain occasion, by objecting to a proposed +appointment on the ground that the man designated had voted for +Benton's expunging resolution at the close of Jackson's administration, +--an offense which the President would not condone. The seven +members of his cabinet, actively engaged in politics all their +lives, had forgotten an important fact which the President +instinctively remembered. + +Long before General Taylor's death it was known that Mr. Fillmore +did not sympathize with the policy of the administration. He had +been among the most advanced of anti-slavery Whigs during his +service in the House of Representatives, and was placed on the +Taylor ticket as a conciliatory candidate, to hold to their allegiance +that large class of Whigs who resented the nomination of a Louisiana +slave-holder. But from the day he was sworn in as Vice-President +his antipathy to Mr. Seward began to develop. With the conceded +ability of the latter, and with his constant opportunity on the +floor of the Senate, where he won laurels from the day of his +entrance, Mr. Fillmore felt that he would himself be subordinated +and lost in the crowd of followers if he coincided with Seward. +Older in years, long senior to Mr. Seward in the national service, +he apparently could not endure to see himself displaced by a more +brilliant and more capable leader. The two men, therefore, gradually +separated; Mr. Fillmore using what influence he possessed as Vice- +President in favor of Mr. Clay's plan of compromise, while Mr. +Seward became the Northern leader of the Administration Whigs,--a +remarkable if not unprecedented advance for a senator in the first +session of his service. + +In succeeding to the Presidency, Mr. Fillmore naturally gave the +full influence of his administration to the Compromise. To signalize +his position, he appointed Mr. Webster secretary of State, and +placed Mr. Corwin of Ohio at the head of the Treasury. Mr. Corwin, +with a strong anti-slavery record, had been recently drifting in +the opposite direction, and his appointment was significant. It +was too late, however, to save the Omnibus Bill as a whole. The +Taylor administration had damaged it too seriously to permit an +effectual revival in its favor. It was finally destroyed the last +week in July by striking out in detail every provision except the +bill for the organization of the Territory of Utah. After the Utah +bill had been enacted, separate bills followed;--for the admission +of California; for the organization of New Mexico, with the same +condition respecting slavery which had been applied to Utah; for +the adjustment of the Texas boundary, and the payment to that State +of ten millions indemnity; for the more effectual recovery of +fugitive slaves; for the abolition of the slave trade in the District +of Columbia. Congress thus enacted separately the bills which it +refused to enact together, and the policy outlined by Mr. Clay at +the beginning of the session had triumphed. Several Southern +senators joined Jefferson Davis in strenuous resistance to the +admission of California with the boundaries prescribed. After +seeking ineffectually to make the line of 36° 30´ the southern +limit of the State, they attempted with equal lack of success +to enter a solemn protest on the journal of the Senate against +the wrong done to the slave-holding States in giving the +entire Pacific coast to freedom. It was a last and hopeless movement +of the Southern Hotspurs. The protest, at first discredited, was +speedily forgotten, and California entered the Union after ten +months of angry controversy, with slavery forever excluded from +her imperial domain. + + THE FINALITY OF THE COMPROMISE. + +The session had been in all respects important and memorable. In +the judgment of many it had been critical, and the dangers attending +its action were increased by the death of General Taylor. The +South would endure from him what they would resent and possibly +resist if imposed by an anti-slavery Whig from the North. This +fact had, doubtless, great influence in shaping the policy of Mr. +Fillmore, both as Vice-President and President. The events of the +session marred and made the reputation of many. Four senators +especially, of the younger class, had laid the foundation of their +prominence in the struggles of after years,--Mr. Seward as an anti- +slavery Whig, Mr. Chase as a Free-Soiler, previously of Democratic +affiliations, Mr. Jefferson Davis as a Southern Democrat, and Mr. +Douglas as a Northern Democrat. Calhoun was dead. Clay and Webster +and Cass and Benton were near the end of their illustrious careers. +New men were thenceforth to guide the policy of the Republic, and +among the new men in a Senate of exceptional ability these four +attained the largest fame, secured the strongest constituencies, +and exerted the widest influence. + +Both political parties began at once to take ground in favor of +the Compromise measures as a final and complete adjustment of the +slavery question. The Southern Whigs under Mr. Clay's lead eagerly +assumed that conclusion. Mr. Fillmore, having approved all the +bills separately which taken together formed the Compromise, was +of course strongly in favor of regarding these measures as a +finality. Mr. Webster took the same view, though from a bill he +had prepared before he left the Senate for the rendition of fugitive +slaves, guaranteeing jury-trial to the fugitive, it is hardly +conceivable that he would have voted for the harsh measure that +was enacted. Mr. Corwin to the surprise of his friends had passed +over from the most radical to the ultra-conservative side on the +slavery question, and it was his change, in addition to that of +Mr. Webster, which had given so brilliant an opportunity to Mr. +Seward as the leader of the Northern Whigs. Mr. Corwin was +irretrievably injured by a course so flatly in contradiction of +his previous action. He lost the support and largely forfeited +the confidence of the Ohio Whigs, who in 1848 had looked upon him +as a possible if not probable candidate for the Presidency. + +But against this surrender to the Compromise measures of 1850, the +Whigs who followed Seward and Wade and Thaddeus Stevens and Fessenden +were earnest and active. Stevens was then a member of the House +and had waged bitter war against the measures. Wade and Fessenden +had not yet entered the Senate, but were powerful leaders in their +respective States. These men had not given up the creed which +demanded an anti-slavery restriction on every inch of soil owned +by the United States. They viewed with abhorrence the legislation +which had placed freedom and slavery on the same plane in the +Territories of Utah and New Mexico. They believed that Texas had +been paid for a baseless claim ten millions of dollars, one-half +of which, as a sharp critic declared, was hush-money, the other +half blood-money. They regarded the cruel law for the return of +fugitive slaves as an abomination in the sight of God and man. In +their judgment it violated every principle of right. It allowed +the personal liberty of a man to be peremptorily decided by a United- +States commissioner, acting with absolute power and without appeal. +For a claim exceeding twenty dollars in value, every citizen has +the right to a trial by jury; but by this law the body, the life, +the very soul of a man, possibly a free-born citizen, might be +consigned to perpetual enslavement on the fallible judgment of a +single official. An apparently slight, yet especially odious +feature of the law which served in large degree to render it +inoperative was that the United-States commissioner, in the event +of his remanding the alleged fugitive to slavery, received a fee +of ten dollars, and, if he adjudged him to be free, received only +five dollars. + +It soon became evident that with the Whigs divided and the Democrats +compactly united upon the finality of the Compromise, the latter +would have the advantage in the ensuing Presidential election. +The tendency would naturally be to consolidate the slave-holding +States in support of the Democratic candidates, because that party +had a large, well-organized force throughout the North cherishing +the same principles, co-operating for the same candidates, and +controlling many, if not a majority, of the free States. The +Southern Whigs, equally earnest with the Democrats for the Compromise, +were constantly injured at home by the outspoken anti-slavery +principles of leading Northern Whigs. Just at that point of time +and from the cause indicated began the formation of parties divided +on the geographical line between North and South. But this result +was as yet only foreshadowed, not developed. Both the old parties +held their national conventions as usual, in 1852, with every State +represented in both by full delegations. There were peculiar +troubles in each. In the Democratic convention the dissensions +had been in large part inherited, and had reference more to persons +than to principles, more to the candidate than to the platform. +While something of the same trouble was visible in the Whig ranks, +the chief source of contention and of party weakness was found in +the irreconcilable difference of principle between all the Southern +Whigs and a large number of the Northern Whigs. In the South they +were unanimous in support of the Compromise. In the North they +were divided. + + DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION. + +The Democratic National Convention met in Baltimore on the first +day of June, 1852. General Cass, though he had reached his seventieth +year, was again in the field. Mr. Buchanan, then sixty-one years +of age, was the candidate next in strength, and Stephen A. Douglas +was third. Douglas was but thirty-nine years old, the youngest +man ever formally presented for the Presidency by a State delegation +in a National convention. Governor Marcy was fourth in the order +of strength. There were scattering votes for other candidates, +but these four were seriously and hopefully urged by their respective +supporters. Marcy was in many respects the fittest man to be +nominated, but the fear was that the old dissensions of the New- +York Democracy, now seemingly healed, would open afresh if the +chief of one of the clans should be imposed on the other. Douglas +was injured by his partial committal to what was known as the +doctrine of "manifest destiny,"--the indefinite acquisition of +territory southward, especially in the direction of the West Indies. +Cass was too old. Buchanan lacked personal popularity; and, while +he had the Pennsylvania delegation in his favor, a host of enemies +from that State, outside the convention, warred against him most +bitterly. No one of these eminent men could secure two-thirds of +the delegates as required by the iron rule, and on the forty-ninth +ballot Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, who had been among the +"scattering" on several preceding votes, was unanimously nominated. +The suggestion of Pierce's name was not so spontaneous and sudden +as it was made to appear. The precise condition of affairs was +discerned before the convention met, and some sagacious and far- +seeing men, among whom the late Caleb Cushing was one, and General +Benjamin F. Butler another, had canvassed the merits of Pierce +before the convention met. They saw that from his record in Congress +he would be entirely acceptable to the South, and at the opportune +moment their plans were perfected and Pierce was nominated with a +great show of enthusiasm. William R. King of Alabama was selected +to run as Vice-President. + +General Pierce had many qualities that rendered him a strong +candidate. He had served with credit if not distinction both in +the House and the Senate. He was elected to the House in 1832, +when he was but twenty-eight years of age, and resigned his seat +in the Senate in 1842. In the ten years which intervened before +his nomination for the Presidency, he had devoted himself to the +law with brilliant success, leaving it only for his short service +in the Mexican war. He was still a young man when he was preferred +to all the prominent statesmen of his party as a Presidential +candidate. He was remarkably attractive in personal appearance, +prepossessing in manner, ready and even eloquent as a public speaker, +fluent and graceful in conversation. He presented thus a rare +combination of the qualities which attach friends and win popular +support. + +The platform of principles enunciated by the convention was just +what the South desired and demanded. The entire interest centred +in the slavery question. Indeed, the declarations upon other issues +were not listened to by the delegates, and were scarcely read by +the public. Without a dissenting voice the convention resolved +that "all efforts of the Abolitionists or others to induce Congress +to interfere with questions of slavery or to take incipient steps +in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming +and dangerous consequences." The Compromise measures, including +the fugitive-slave law, which was specially named, were most heartily +indorsed, and were regarded as an adjustment of the whole controversy. +By way of indicting how full, complete, and final the settlement +was, the convention with unrestrained enthusiasm declared that "the +Democratic party will resist all attempts at renewing, in Congress +or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever +shape or color the attempts may be made." Among the men who joined +in these declarations were not a few who had supported Van Buren +and Adams in the canvass of 1848. One of the prominent officers +of the convention was the author of many of the most extreme anti- +slavery declarations put forth at Buffalo. + + WHIG NATIONAL CONVENTION. + +The Whigs met at Baltimore a fortnight after the Democratic convention +had adjourned. The slavery question, upon which the Democrats of +all shades had so cordially coalesced, was to the Whigs a dividing +sword. Mr. Fillmore was a candidate, supported with almost entire +unanimity by the Southern Whigs. Mr. Webster was a candidate, and +though in his fear for the Union he had sacrificed more than any +other man for the South, he could secure no Southern support. +General Scott was a candidate, and though born and reared in +Virginia, he was supported by anti-slavery Whigs of every shade in +the North, against the two men of Northern birth and Northern +associations. On the first ballot, Fillmore received 133 votes, +Scott 131, Webster 23. Fillmore received every Southern vote, +except one from Virginia given to Scott by John Minor Botts. Scott +received every Northern vote except twenty-nine given to Webster, +and sixteen given to Fillmore. The friends of Mr. Webster, and +Mr. Webster himself, were pained and mortified by the result. +Rufus Choate was at the head of the Massachusetts delegation, and +eloquently, even passionately, pleaded with the Southern men to +support Mr. Webster on a single ballot. But the Southern men +stubbornly adhered to Fillmore, and were in turn enraged because +the twenty-nine votes thrown away, as they said, on Mr. Webster, +would at once renominate the President in whose cabinet Mr. Webster +was at that moment serving as Premier. This threefold contest had +been well developed before the convention assembled, and one feature +of special bitterness had been added to it by a letter from Mr. +Clay, who was on his death-bed in Washington. He urged his friends +to support Mr. Fillmore. This was regarded by many as a lack of +generosity on Mr. Clay's part, after the warm support which Mr. +Webster had given him in his contest with Mr. Polk in 1844. But +there had been for years an absence of cordiality between these +Whig leaders, and many who were familiar with both declared that +Mr. Clay had never forgiven Mr. Webster for remaining in Tyler's +cabinet after the resignation of the other Whig members. Mr. +Webster's association with Tyler had undoubtedly given to the +President a measure of protection against the hot wrath of Mr. Clay +in the memorable contest of 1841-2, and by natural reaction had +impaired the force of Mr. Clay's attack. And now ten years after +the event its memory rose to influence the Presidential nomination +of 1852. + +Another explanation is more in consonance with Mr. Clay's magnanimity +of character. He was extremely anxious that an outspoken friend +of the Compromise should be nominated. He knew when he wrote his +letter that the Democrats would pledge themselves to the finality +of the Compromise, and he knew the Southern Whigs would be overwhelmed +if there should be halting or hesitation on this issue either in +their candidate or in their platform. He felt, as the responsible +author of the Compromise, that he was himself on trial, and it +would be a peculiar mortification if the party which he had led so +long should fail to sustain him in this final crisis of his public +life. He had been sufficiently humiliated by Taylor's triumph over +him in the convention of 1848. It would be an absolutely intolerable +rebuke if in 1852 Taylor's policy should be preferred to his own +by a Whig national convention. Taylor, indeed, was in his grave, +but his old military compatriot, Scott, was a candidate for the +Presidency, and the anti-Compromise Whigs under Seward's lead were +rallying to his support. Mr. Clay believed that Fillmore, with +the force of the national administration in his hands, could defeat +General Scott, and that Mr. Webster's candidacy was a needless +division of friends. Hence he sustained Fillmore, not from hostility +to Webster, but as the sure and only means of securing an indorsement +of the Compromise measures, and of doing justice to a Northern +President who had risked every thing in support of Mr. Clay's +policy. + +The contest was long and earnest. Mr. Webster's friends, offended +by what they considered the ingratitude of Southern Whigs, persistently +refused to go over to Fillmore, though by so doing they could at +any moment secure his nomination. They cared nothing for Fillmore's +lead in votes, obtained as they thought in large degree from the +use of patronage. They scouted it as an argument not fit to be +addressed to the friends of Mr. Webster. Such considerations +belonged only to men of the lower grades, struggling in the dirty +pools of political strife, and were not to be applied to a statesman +of Mr. Webster's rank and character. They felt, moreover, that +all the popularity which Fillmore had secured in the South, and to +a certain degree with the conservative and commercial classes of +the whole country, had come from Mr. Webster's presence and pre- +eminent service in his cabinet. In short, Mr. Webster's supporters +felt that Mr. Fillmore, so far from earning their respect and +deserving their applause, was merely strutting in borrowed plumage, +and deriving all his strength from their own illustrious chief. +This jealousy was of course stimulated with consummate art and tact +by the supporters of Scott. They expressed, as they really +entertained, the highest admiration for Webster, and no less frankly +made known their dislike, if not their contempt, for Fillmore. +Webster, as they pointed out, was supported by the voice of his +own great State. Massachusetts had sent a delegation composed of +her best men, with the most brilliant orator of the nation, to +plead their cause at the bar of the convention. In contrast with +this, Fillmore had no support from New York. The Whigs of that +State had sent a delegation to impeach him before the nation for +faithlessness to principle, and to demand that votes of other States +should not impose on New York a recreant son to confound and destroy +the party. + + NOMINATION OF GENERAL SCOTT. + +From this attrition and conflict the natural result was Scott's +triumph. It was not reached, however, until the fifty-third ballot +and until the fifth day of the convention. It was brought about +by the votes of some Fillmore delegates, both in the North and the +South, who felt that the long contest should be ended. The gossip +of the day--with perhaps a shadow of foundation--was, that in the +councils of an inner and governing circle of delegates it was +finally agreed that the North might have the candidate, and the +South should have the platform, and that thus a bold fight could +be made in both sections. William A. Graham of North Carolina, +formerly a senator in Congress from that State, subsequently its +governor, and at the time secretary of the Navy in Mr. Fillmore's +cabinet, was nominated for Vice-President, as a wise concession to +the defeated party. The platform adopted was strongly Southern, +and this fact served to confirm in the minds of many the existence +of the suspected agreement for the division of honors between North +and South. The convention resolved that the Compromise measures, +including the fugitive-slave law (specially designated after the +example of the Democratic convention), "are received and acquiesced +in by the Whig party of the United States as a settlement in +principle and in substance of the dangerous and exciting questions +which they embrace." They further declared that this position was +"essential to the nationality of the Whig party and the integrity +of the Union." Alexander H. Stephens has stated that this resolution +was shown to him by Mr. Webster before the convention assembled, +and while Mr. Choate was his guest. The inference apparently +intended was that Mr. Choate carried it to the convention as the +expression of the Northern Whigs, who believed in the Compromise +measures. The agreement--if one existed--that this resolution +should be adopted, did not involve all the Northern Whigs. Sturdy +resistance was made by many, and the final vote disclosed a powerful +minority opposed to the resolution. + +For the first few weeks of the canvass the Whigs had strong hope +of success. The name of General Scott evoked much enthusiasm, and +his splendid military reputation, acquired in two wars, was favorably +contrasted with that of General Pierce, who was one of President +Polk's political brigadiers. But these indications were the bubbles +and froth that floated on the surface. The personal characteristics +of the candidates were lost sight of in the face of the great issues +involved. The people soon perceived that if there was indeed merit +in the Compromise measures, it would be wise to intrust them to +the keeping of the party that was unreservedly--North and South-- +in favor of upholding and enforcing them. On this point there was +absolutely no division in the Democratic ranks. In New York the +friends of Marcy and the political heirs of Wright cordially +harmonized in favor of the Compromise. Mr. Van Buren returned to +Tammany Hall as fresh and buoyant as if his allegiance had never +been broken; and in a great convocation of the Democracy, the +prodigal was welcomed, Pierce's nomination applauded, the platform +cheered, the anti-slavery creed forsworn, the Whig party roundly +abused, and word sent forth to the uttermost parts of the Union +that the Empire State had resumed her place at the head of the +Democratic line. + +The Whigs soon found to their dismay that the platform and the +candidate were inseparable. They could not make a canvass upon +the one in the South and upon the other in the North. General +Scott had indeed heartily assented to all the principles proclaimed +at the convention, but so long as Horace Greeley was eulogizing +him in the "Tribune," and Seward supporting him on the stump, it +was idle to present him as an acceptable candidate to slave-holding +Whigs in the South. Supporting the candidate and spitting on the +platform became the expressive if inelegant watchword of many +Northern Whigs, but for every Whig vote which this phrase kept to +his party allegiance in the free States, it drove two over to the +Democracy in the slave States. Moreover, spitting on the platform, +however effective as an indication of contempt, would not satisfy +the conscience or the prejudices of large numbers of Whigs who +voted directly for the candidates of the Free-soil party, John P. +Hale of New Hampshire for President, and George W. Julian of Indiana +for Vice-President. + + DEFEAT OF THE WHIG PARTY. + +Weakened by personal strife, hopelessly divided on questions of +principle, the Whig party was led to the slaughter. Carrying in +1840 every State but seven for Harrison, failing to elect Mr. Clay +in 1844 only by the loss of New York, triumphantly installing Taylor +in 1848, the Whigs were astounded to find that their candidate had +been successful in but four States of the Union, and that twenty- +seven States had by large majorities pronounced for General Pierce. +Massachusetts and Vermont in the North, Kentucky and Tennessee in +the South, had alone remained true to the Whig standard. All the +other Whig States that had stood staunch and strong in the fierce +contests of the past now gave way. Connecticut and Rhode Island, +which never but once failed either Federalist or Whig from the +foundation of the government, now voted for a pro-slavery States'- +rights Democrat. Delaware, which never in a single instance voted +for the Democratic candidate except when Monroe had no opposition +in 1820; which had fought against Jefferson and Madison; which had +stood firmly against Jackson and Van Buren and Polk and Cass when +the Bayards were Whigs and co-operated with the Claytons, now +swelled the general acclaim for Pierce. Of 296 electors Pierce +received 254 and General Scott only 42. The wide sweep of the +Democratic victory was a surprise to both sides, though for several +weeks before the election the defeat of Scott was anticipated. He +received no support from Mr. Fillmore's administration, was indeed +secretly betrayed by it everywhere, and quite openly by its officials +in the Southern States. He did not receive the strength of his +party, and the strength of his party would have been insufficient +to elect him. But overwhelming as was the defeat, it did not +necessarily involve destruction. The Whigs had been beaten almost +as badly when Clay ran against Jackson in 1832, and yet the party +had rallied to four earnest contests and to two signal victories. +The Democracy, now so triumphant, had been disastrously beaten in +the contest of 1840, but in the next election had regained strength +enough to defeat Mr. Clay. The precedents, therefore, permitted +the Whigs to be of good cheer and bade them wait the issues of the +future. They were not, however, consoled by the philosophy of +defeat, and were disposed to gloomy anticipations. + + MR. CLAY AND MR. WEBSTER COMPARED. + +As if to emphasize the disaster to the Whigs, Mr. Clay and Mr. +Webster both died during the canvass; Mr. Clay in June, a few days +after Scott's nomination, Mr. Webster in October, a few days before +his defeat. They had both lived long enough to see the work of +their political life imperiled if not destroyed. They had held +the same relation to the Whigs that the elder Adams and Hamilton +had held to the Federalists, that Jefferson and Madison had held +to the Republicans. Comparison between them could not be fairly +made, their inherent qualities and personal characteristics differed +so widely. Each was superior to the other in certain traits, and +in our public annals thus far each stands unequaled in his sphere. +Their points of contrast were salient and numerous. Mr. Clay was +born in Virginia. Mr. Webster was born in New England. Mr. Clay +was a devoted follower of Jefferson. Mr. Webster was bred in the +school of Hamilton. Mr. Clay was an earnest advocate of the second +war with Great Britain. Mr. Webster was its steady opponent. Mr. +Clay supported Madison in 1812 with great energy. Mr. Webster +threw all his strength for De Witt Clinton. Mr. Clay was from the +first deeply imbued with the doctrine of protection. Mr. Webster +entered public life as a pronounced free-trader. They were not +members of the same political organization until after the destruction +of the old Federal party to which Mr. Webster belonged, and the +hopeless divisions of the old Republican party to which Mr. Clay +belonged. They gradually harmonized towards the close of Monroe's +second term, and became firmly united under the administration of +John Quincy Adams. Modern political designations had their origin +in the Presidential election of 1824. The candidates all belonged +to the party of Jefferson, which had been called Democratic- +Republican. In the new divisions, the followers of Jackson took +the name of Democrats: the supporters of Adams called themselves +National Republicans. They had thus divided the old name, each +claiming the inheritance. The unpopularity of Mr. Adams's +administration had destroyed the prospects of the National-Republican +party, and the name was soon displaced by the new and more acceptable +title of Whig. To the joint efforts of Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster +more than to all others the formation of the Whig party was due. +It was not, however, in Mr. Webster's nature to become a partisan +chief. Mr. Clay on the other hand was naturally and inevitably a +leader. In all the discussions of the Senate in which constitutional +questions were involved, Mr. Clay instinctively deferred to Mr. +Webster. In the parliamentary debates which concerned the position +of parties and the fate of measures, which enchained the Senate +and led captive the people, Mr. Clay was _facile princeps_. Mr. +Webster argued the principle. Mr. Clay embodied it in a statute. +Mr. Webster's speeches are still read with interest and studied +with profit. Mr. Clay's speeches swayed listening senates and +moved multitudes, but reading them is a disappointment. Between +the two the difference is much the same as that between Burke and +Charles James Fox. Fox was the parliamentary debater of England, +the consummate leader of his party. His speeches, always listened +to and cheered by a crowded House of Commons, perished with their +delivery. Burke could never command a body of followers, but his +parliamentary orations form brilliant and permanent chapters in +the political literature of two continents. + +While Mr. Webster's name is so honorably perpetuated by his elaborate +and masterly discussion of great principles in the Senate, he did +not connect himself with a single historic measure. While Mr. +Clay's speeches remain unread, his memory is lastingly identified +with issues that are still vital and powerful. He advanced the +doctrine of protection to the stately dignity of the American +system. Discarding theories and overthrowing the dogma of strict +construction, he committed the General Government irrevocably to +internal improvements. Condemning the worthless system of paper +money imposed upon the people by irresponsible State banks, he +stood firmly for a national currency, and he foreshadowed if he +did not reach the paper money which is based to-day on the credit +and the strength of the government. + +Mr. Clay possessed extraordinary sagacity in public affairs, seeing +and foreseeing where others were blinded by ignorance or prejudice. +He was a statesman by intuition, finding a remedy before others +could discover the disease. His contemporaries appreciated his +rare endowments. On the day of his first entrance into the House +of Representatives he was chosen Speaker, though but thirty-four +years of age. This was all the more remarkable because the House +was filled with men of recognized ability, who had been long in +the public service. It was rendered still more striking by the +fact that Mr. Clay was from the far West, from one of the only two +States whose frontiers reached the Mississippi. In the entire +House there were only fifteen members from the Western side of the +Alleghanies. He was re-elected Speaker in every Congress so long +as he served as representative. He entered the Senate at thirty, +and died a member of it in his seventy-sixth year. He began his +career in that body during the Presidency of Jefferson in 1806, +and closed it under the Presidency of Fillmore in 1852. Other +senators have served a longer time than Mr. Clay, but he alone at +periods so widely separated. Other men have excelled him in specific +powers, but in the rare combination of qualities which constitute +at once the matchless leader of party and the statesman of consummate +ability and inexhaustible resource, he has never been surpassed by +any man speaking the English tongue. + +[NOTE.--The Committee of Thirteen, to which reference is made on +p. 94, and which attained such extraordinary importance at the +time, was originally suggested by Senator Foote of Mississippi. +His first proposition was somewhat novel from its distinct recognition +of the sectional character of the issues involved. He proposed +that the committee be chosen by ballot, that six members of it +should be taken from the free States and six members from the slave +States, and that the twelve thus chosen should select a thirteenth +member who should be chairman of the committee. All propositions +touching any of the questions at issue between the North and the +South were to be referred to this committee with the view of securing +a general and comprehensive compromise. The subject was debated +for several weeks. Mr. Foote submitted his proposition on the 25th +of February, 1850, and it was not adopted until the 18th of April. +The committee was chosen on the 19th. Mr. Clay had objected to +the open avowal of a division of the committee on the line of North +and South, and the proposition was so modified as to simply provide +for a committee of thirteen to be chosen by ballot,--the chairman +to be first selected, and the other twelve members on a second +ballot. The change of the resolution was one of form only; for, +when the Senate came to select the members, they adhered to the +plan originally suggested by Mr. Foote. Mr. Clay was made chairman, +which had been the design from the first, and then six senators +were taken from the free States and six from the slave States,-- +the first, if not the only, time this mode of appointment was +adopted. The membership of the committee was highly distinguished. +From the free States the Senate selected Mr. Webster, General Cass, +Mr. Dickinson of New York, Mr. Bright of Indiana, Mr. Phelps of +Vermont, and Mr. Cooper of Pennsylvania. From the slave States, +Mr. King of Alabama, Mr. Mason of Virginia, Mr. Downs of Louisiana, +Mr. Mangum of North Carolina, Mr. Bell of Tennessee, and Mr. Berrien +of Georgia. The twelve were equally divided between the Whigs and +the Democrats, so that, with Mr. Clay as chairman, the Whigs had +the majority in numbers as they had the overwhelming superiority +in weight and ability. The composition of the committee was +remarkable when it is remembered that the Democrats had a majority +of ten in the Senate.] + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Review (_continued_).--The Strength of the Democratic Party in +1853.--Popular Strength not so great as Electoral Strength.--The +New President's Pledge not to re-open the Slavery Question.--How +he failed to maintain that Pledge.--The North-west Territory.--Anti- +slavery Restriction of the Missouri Compromise.--Movement to repeal +it by Mr. Clay's Successor in the Senate.--Mr. Douglas adopts the +policy of repealing the Restriction.--It is made an Administration +Measure and carried through Congress.--Colonel Benton's Position. +--Anti-slavery Excitement developed in the Country.--Destruction +of the Whig Party.--New Political Alliances.--American Party.--Know- +Nothings.--Origin and Growth of the Republican Party.--Pro-slavery +Development in the South.--Contest for the Possession of Kansas.-- +Prolonged Struggle.--Disunion Tendencies developing in the South. +--Election of N. P. Banks to the Speakership of the House.--The +Presidential Election of 1856.--Buchanan.--Frémont.--Fillmore.-- +The Slavery Question the Absorbing Issue.--Triumph of Buchanan.-- +Dred Scott Decision.--Mr. Lincoln's Version of it.--Chief Justice +Taney. + +The Democratic party, seeing their old Whig rival prostrate, +naturally concluded that a long lease of power was granted them. +The victory of Pierce was so complete that his supporters could +not with closest scrutiny descry an opponent worthy of the slightest +consideration. If the leaders of that party, however, had deigned +to look below the surface, they would have learned a fact which, +if not disquieting, was at least serious and significant. This +fact was contained in the popular vote, which told an entirely +different story from that disclosed by the Presidential electors. +From the people Pierce received a total of 1,601,274 votes, Scott +1,386,580, Hale 155,825. It will be noted that, while receiving +only one-sixth as many electoral votes as Pierce, Scott received +more than five-sixths as many votes at the polls. Adding the vote +of Hale, it will be observed that out of a total exceeding three +millions, Pierce's absolute majority was but 58,896. Thoughtful +men, wise in the administration of government, skilled in the +management of parties, would have found in these figures food for +reflection and abundant reason for hoisting cautionary signals +along the shores of the political sea. The Democratic leaders were +not, however, disturbed by facts or figures, but were rather made +stronger in the confidence of their own strength. They beheld the +country prosperous in all its material interests, and they saw the +mass of the people content in both sections with the settlement of +the slavery question. Since the Compromise measures were enacted +in 1850, and especially since the two political parties had pledged +themselves in 1852 to accept those measures as a finality, the +slavery agitation had to a very large extent subsided. Disturbance +was not indeed infrequently caused by the summary arrest of fugitive +slaves in various parts of the North, under the stringent and harsh +provisions of the new law on that subject. But though these +peculiarly odious transactions exerted a deeper influence on public +opinion than the Democratic leaders imagined, they were local and +apparently under control. There was no national disquietude on +the vexed question of slavery when Franklin Pierce was installed +as President. + +In his Inaugural address General Pierce pledged himself with evident +zeal to the upholding of the Compromise measures and to the rigid +enforcement of the laws. There is no doubt that a large majority +of the people of the United States--North and South--were satisfied +with the situation and bade God-speed to the popular President +whose administration opened so auspiciously. The year 1853 was +politically as quiet as Monroe's era of good feeling, and when +Congress came together in its closing month, the President dwelt +impressively upon the dangers we had passed and upon the blessings +that were in store for us. In tones of solemnity he declared that +when "the grave shall have closed over all who are now endeavoring +to meet the obligations of duty, the year 1850 will be recurred to +as a period of anxious apprehension." With high praise of the +Compromise legislation of that year he said "it had given renewed +vigor to our institutions and restored a sense of repose and security +to the public mind." Evidently remembering the pledge given by +the convention which nominated him "to resist all attempts at +renewing the agitation of the slavery question in or out of Congress," +the President gave emphatic assurance that this "repose" should +suffer no shock during his term if he "had the power to avert it." +These words were addressed to Congress on the fifth day of December, +1853, and it would be uncandid to deny that even in the North they +were heartily approved by a large majority of the people,--perhaps +by a majority in every State. + + OMINOUS MOVEMENT IN CONGRESS. + +In precisely one month from the delivery of these words by the +President an ominous movement was made in Congress. Notwithstanding +all the vows of fealty to the Compromise of 1850, the pro-slavery +leaders of the South were not contented with the aspect of affairs. +The result of the Mexican war had deeply disappointed them. Its +most striking political effect thus far was the addition to the +Union of a large and imposing free State on the Pacific,--an empire +indeed in prospective wealth and power. In the battle between free +institutions and slave institutions, California represented a strong +flank movement threatening destruction to slavery. Her vote in +the Senate gave a majority of two to the free States. The equality +of the sections had been steadily maintained in the Senate since +the admission of Louisiana in 1812. The break now was ominous; +the claim of equality had been disregarded; the superstition which +upheld it was dispelled, and the defenders of slavery could see +only a long procession of free States marching from the North-West +to re-enforce a power already irresistibly strong. From what +quarter of the Union could this anti-slavery aggression be offset? +By what process could its growth be checked? Texas might, if she +chose to ask for her own partition, re-enforce the slave-power in +the Senate by four new States, as guaranteed in the articles of +annexation. But the very majesty of her dimensions protested +against dismemberment. Texas was as large as France, and from the +Sabine to the Rio Grande there was not a cotton-planter or a cattle- +herder who did not have this fact before his eyes to inflame his +pride and guide his vote against parting with a single square mile +of her magnificent domain. New Mexico and Utah were mountainous +and arid, inviting only the miner and the grazier and offering no +inducement for the labor of the slave. The right guaranteed to +these territories in the Compromise of 1850 to come in as slave +States was, therefore, as Mr. Webster had maintained, a concession +of form and not of substance to the South. Seeing slavery thus +hemmed in on all sides by nature as well as law, and sincerely +believing that in such a position its final extinction was but a +question of time, the Southern leaders determined to break the +bonds that bound them. From their own point of reasoning they were +correct. To stand still was certain though slow destruction to +slavery. To move was indeed hazardous, but it gave them a chance +to re-establish their equality in the administration of the +government, and for this they determined to risk every thing. + +To the westward and north-westward of Missouri and Iowa lay a vast +territory which in 1854 was not only unsettled but had no form of +civil government whatever. It stretched from the north line of +Arkansas to the border of British America,--twelve and a half +degrees of latitude,--and westward over great plains and across +mountain ranges till it reached the confines of Utah and Oregon. +It was the unorganized remainder of the territory of Louisiana, +acquired from France in 1803, and in extent was ten times as large +as the combined area of New York and Pennsylvania. By the Missouri +Compromise every square mile of this domain had been honorably +devoted to freedom. At the period named Indian tribes roamed at +will throughout its whole extent and lighted their camp-fires on +the very borders of Missouri and Iowa. Herds of buffalo grazed +undisturbed on lands which to-day constitute the sites of large +cities. Fort Leavenworth was a far-western outpost, Council Bluffs +was on the frontier of civilization, and Omaha had not been named. +Adventurous merchants passed over the plains to the South-West with +long caravans, engaged in the Santa-Fé trade, and towards the North- +West, hunters, trappers, and a few hardy emigrants penetrated the +"Platte country," and through mountain passes pointed out by the +trail of the Indian and the buffalo had in many instances safely +crossed to Oregon. The tide of emigration which had filled Iowa +and Wisconsin, and which by the gold excitement of California had +for a time been drawn to the Pacific slope, now set again more +strongly then ever to the Mississippi valley, demanding and needing +new lands for settlement and cultivation. To answer this requirement +a movement was made during the closing weeks of Mr. Fillmore's +administration to establish the territory of Nebraska. A bill to +that effect was passed by a two-thirds vote in the House. The +slight opposition that was made came from the South, but its +significance was not perceived. When the bill reached the Senate +Mr. Douglas, as chairman of the committee on territories, promptly +reported it, and made an apparently sincere effort to pass it. He +did not succeed. Every senator from the slave-holding States, +except those from Missouri,--which was locally interested in having +the territory organized,--voted against it;--and the measure, +antagonizing other business in which Northern senators were more +immediately interested, was laid upon the table two days before +President Pierce was inaugurated. The bill had fully recognized +the binding force of the Missouri Compromise, and if it had passed, +there could have been no pretense for the introduction of slavery +in the territory of Nebraska. + + REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. + +Directly after the assurance so impressively given by the President +that the "repose" of the country on the slavery question "should +suffer no shock during his administration," the bill to organize +the Territory of Nebraska was again introduced in the Senate. The +motive for its defeat the preceding session was soon made apparent. +Mr. Archibald Dixon of Kentucky, the last Whig governor of that +State, had been chosen to succeed Mr. Clay in the Senate. But he +did not succeed to Mr. Clay's political principles. He belonged +to a class of men that had been recently and rapidly growing in +the South,--men avowedly and aggressively pro-slavery. Mr. Dixon +was the first to strike an open blow against the Missouri Compromise. +Mr. Clay had been honorably identified with the pacific work of +1820, and throughout his life believed that it had been effectual +in allaying the strife which in his judgment had endangered the +Union. It was an alarming fact that his own successor in the Senate +--less than two years after Mr. Clay's death--was the first to +assail his work and to re-open a controversy which was not to cease +till a continent was drenched in blood. Mr. Dixon made no concealment +of his motive and his purpose, declaring that he wished the +restriction removed because he was a pro-slavery man. He gave +notice early in January, 1854, that when the bill to organize the +Territory of Nebraska should come before the Senate, he would move +that "the Missouri Compromise be repealed, and that the citizens +of the several States shall be at liberty to take and hold their +slaves within any of the Territories." It was very soon found that +this was not a capricious movement by Mr. Dixon alone, but that +behind him there was a settled determination on the part of the +pro-slavery men to break down the ancient barrier and to remove +the honored landmark of 1820. + +The Senate had a large Democratic majority, and there was probably +not one among them all who had not in the Presidential contest of +1852 publicly and solemnly vowed that the Compromise measures of +1850 were a final settlement of the slavery question, not in any +event, nor upon any pretext, to be disturbed. It was specially +embarrassing and perilous for Northern senators to violate pledges +so recently made, so frequently repeated. It much resembled the +breaking of a personal promise, and seemed to the mass of people +in the free State to be a gross breach of national honor. To escape +the sharp edge of condemnation, sure to follow such a transaction, +a pretense was put forth that the Compromise of 1820 was in conflict +with the Compromise of 1850, and that it was necessary to repeal +the former in order that the doctrine of non-intervention with +slavery in the Territories should become the recognized policy for +all the public domain of the United States. Mr. Douglas was the +first to adopt this construction. Indeed, to him may fairly be +ascribed the credit or the discredit of inventing it. He had a +strong hold on the South, and in his Congressional life had steadily +voted on the pro-slavery side of all public questions. But he +instinctively foresaw that his political future would be endangered +by advocating the repeal of the Missouri Compromise on the basis +and for the reason announced by Mr. Dixon. Hence the resort to +the doctrine of non-intervention under which the South should get +all they wished by having the right to carry their slaves into the +territory, and the North could be conciliated by the presentation +of another final settlement of all issues which threatened the +perpetuity of the Union. + +Instead of the single Territory of Nebraska, Mr. Douglas reported +a measure to organize both Kansas and Nebraska; and in one of the +sections of the bill the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was declared +to be inoperative and void, because "inconsistent with the principle +of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the States and +Territories as recognized by the Compromise measures of 1850." +The bill further declared that "its true intent and meaning was +not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, and not to +exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people perfectly free to +regulate their domestic institutions in their own way." The North +was fairly stunned by the proposition made by Mr. Douglas. Had he +proposed to abolish the Constitution itself the surprise could +scarcely have been greater. The acting generation had grown to +manhood with profound respect and even reverence for the Missouri +Compromise, and had come to regard it almost as sacredly as though +it were part of the organic law of the Republic. If a Southern +man talked of its repeal it was regarded as the mere bravado of an +extremist. But now a Northern senator of remarkable ability, a +party leader, a candidate for the Presidency, had reported the +measure, and made it a test of Democratic faith, of administration +fealty. The contest that followed was severe and prolonged. The +bill was before Congress for a period of four months, and was +finally forced through to the utter destruction of good faith +between the sections. More than forty Democratic representatives +from the North flatly defied party discipline and voted against +the repeal. The Democratic representatives from the slave States +were consolidated in its favor, with the exception of John Millson, +an able member from Virginia, and the venerable Thomas H. Benton +of Missouri. + + REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. + +After Colonel Benton's thirty years' service in the Senate had +terminated, the city of St. Louis sent him to the House in the autumn +of 1852. He had entered the Senate when Missouri came into the +Union as the result of the Compromise of 1820. He had remained +there until after the Compromise of 1850 was adopted. He denounced +the proceeding of Douglas with unsparing severity, and gave his +best efforts, but in vain, to defeat the bill. He pointed out the +fact that the original Compromise had been forced upon the North +by the South, and that the present proposition to repeal it had +been initiated "without a memorial, without a petition, without a +request from any human being. It was simply and only a contrivance +of political leaders, who were using the institution of slavery as +a weapon, and rushing the country forward to excitements and +conflicts in which there was no profit to either section, and +possibly great harm to both." Colonel Benton belonged to a class +of Southern Democrats who were passing away,--of whom he, indeed, +was the last in conspicuous stature. He represented the Democracy +of Andrew Jackson and of Nathaniel Macon,--not the Democracy of +Mr. Calhoun. He placed the value of the Union above the value of +slavery, and was a relentless foe to all who plotted against the +integrity of the government. But his day was past, his power was +broken, his influence was gone. Even in his own State he had been +beaten, and David R. Atchison installed as leader of the Democratic +party. His efforts were vain, his protest unheard; and amid the +sorrow and gloom of thinking men, and the riotous rejoicings of +those who could not measure the evil of their work, the Douglas +Bill was passed. On the thirtieth of May, 1854, the wise and +patriotic Compromise of March 6, 1820, was declared to be at an +end, and the advocates and the opponents of slavery were invited +to a trial of strength on the public domain of the United States. + +No previous anti-slavery excitement bore any comparison with that +which spread over the North as the discussion progressed, and +especially after the bill became a law. It did not merely call +forth opposition; it produced almost a frenzy of wrath on the part +of thousands and tens of thousands in both the old parties, who +had never before taken any part whatever in anti-slavery agitation. +So conservative a statesman as Edward Everett, who had succeeded +John Davis as senator from Massachusetts, pointed out the fallacy +not to say the falsehood of the plea that the Compromise measures +of 1850 required or involved this legislation. This plea was an +afterthought, a pretense, contradicted by the discussion of 1850 +in its entire length and breadth. In the North, conservative men +felt that no compromise could acquire weight or sanction or +sacredness, if one that had stood for a whole generation could be +brushed aside by partisan caprice or by the demands of sectional +necessity. The popular fury was further stimulated by the fact +that from the territory included in the Louisiana purchase, three +slave States had been added to the Union, and as yet only one free +State; and that the solemn guaranty securing all the domain north +of 36° 30´ was now to be trodden under foot when its operation was +likely to prove hostile to slavery and favorable to freedom. From +the beginning of the government the slave-holding interest had +secured the advantage in the number of States formed from territory +added to the original Union. The South had Louisiana, Arkansas, +and Missouri out of the purchase from France in 1803, Florida from +the purchase from Spain in 1819, and Texas, with its possibility +of being divided into four additional States, from the annexation +of 1845. The North had only Iowa from the Louisiana purchase and +California from the territory ceded by Mexico. The North would +not stop to consider its prospective advantages in the territory +yet to be settled, while the South could see nothing else. The +South realized that although it had secured five States and the +North only two, Southern territory was exhausted, while the creation +of free States in the North-West had just begun. Stripped of all +the disguises with which it was surrounded by the specious cry of +non-intervention by Congress, the majority in the North came to +see that it was in reality nothing but a struggle between the slave +States and the free States, growing more and more intense and more +and more dangerous day by day. + + REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. + +The most striking result in the political field, produced by the +repeal of the Missouri Compromise, was the utter destruction of +the Whig party. Had the Southern Whigs in Congress maintained the +sacredness of the work of 1820, the party throughout the country +would have been able to make a sturdy contest, notwithstanding the +crushing defeat of Scott two years before. Not improbably in the +peculiar state of public opinion, the Whigs, by maintaining the +Compromise, might have been able to carry the Presidential election +of 1856. But with the exception of John Bell in the Senate and +seven members of the House, the entire Whig party of the South +joined the Democrats in repealing the Compromise. Of these seven, +Emerson Etheridge of Tennessee and Theodore G. Hunt of Louisiana +deserve especial and honorable mention for the courage with which +they maintained their position. But when John M. Clayton of +Delaware, who had voted to prohibit slavery in all the Territories, +now voted to strike down the only legal barrier to its extension; +when Badger of North Carolina, who had been the very soul of +conservatism, now joined in the wild cry of the pro-slavery Democrats; +when James Alfred Pearce of Maryland and James C. Jones of Tennessee +united with Jefferson Davis, the Whig party of the South ceased to +exist. Indeed, before this final blow large numbers of Southern +Whigs had gone over to the Democracy. Toombs and Stephens and +Judah P. Benjamin had been among the foremost supporters of Pierce, +and had been specially influential in consolidating the South in +his favor. But the great body of Whigs both in the South and in +the North did not lose hope of a strong re-organization of their +old party until the destruction of the Missouri Compromise had been +effected. That was seen and felt by all to be the end. + +Thenceforward new alliances were rapidly formed. In the South +those Whigs who, though still unwilling to profess an anti-slavery +creed, would not unite with the Democrats, were re-organized under +the name of the American party, with Humphrey Marshall, Henry Winter +Davis, Horace Maynard, and men of that class, for leaders. This +party was founded on proscription of foreigners, and with special +hostility to the Roman-Catholic Church. It had a fitful and feverish +success, and in 1845-5, under the name of _Know-Nothings_, enrolled +tens of thousands in secret lodges. But its creed was narrow, its +principles were illiberal, and its methods of procedure boyish and +undignified. The great body of thinking men in the North saw that +the real contest impending was against slavery and not against +naturalization laws and ecclesiastical dogmas. The Know-Nothings, +therefore, speedily disappeared, and a new party sprang into +existence composed of anti-slavery Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats. +The latter infused into the ranks of the new organization a spirit +and an energy which Whig traditions could never inspire. The same +name was not at once adopted in all the free States in 1854, but +by the ensuing year there was a general recognition throughout the +North that all who intended to make a serious fight against the +pro-slavery Democracy would unite under the flag of the Republican +party. In its very first effort, without compact organization, +without discipline, it rallied the anti-slavery sentiment so +successfully as to carry nearly all the free States and to secure +a plurality of the members of the House of Representatives. The +indignation of the people knew no bounds. Old political landmarks +disappeared, and party prejudices of three generations were swept +aside in a day. With such success in the outset, the Republicans +prepared for a vigorous struggle in the approaching Presidential +election. + +The anti-slavery development of the North was not more intense than +the pro-slavery development of the South. Every other issue was +merged in the one absorbing demand by Southern slave-holders for +what they sincerely believed to be their rights in the Territories. +It was not viewed on either side as an ordinary political contest. +It was felt to be a question not of expediency but of morality, +not of policy but of honor. It did not merely enlist men. Women +took large part in the agitation. It did not end with absorbing +the laity. The clergy were as profoundly concerned. The power of +the Church on both sides of the dividing-line was used with great +effect in shaping public opinion and directing political action. +The Missouri Compromise was repealed in May. Before the end of +the year a large majority of the people of the North and a large +majority of the people of the South were distinctly arrayed against +each other on a question which touched the interest, the pride, +the conscience, and the religion of all who were concerned in the +controversy. Had either side been insincere there would have been +voluntary yielding or enforced adjustment. But each felt itself +to be altogether in the right and its opponent altogether in the +wrong. Thus they stood confronting each other at the close of the +year 1854. + +It was soon perceived by all, as the sagacious had seen from the +first, that the Missouri Compromise had not been repealed merely +to exhibit unity in the scope of the United-States statutes respecting +slavery in the Territories. This was the euphuistic plea of those +Northern senators and representatives who had given dire offense +to their constituents by voting for it. It was the clever artifice +of Douglas which suggested that construction. It was a deception, +and it was contradicted and exposed by the logic of argument in +the North and by the logic of action in the South. No double- +dealing was attempted by the Southern men. They understood the +question perfectly and left the apologies and explanations to +Northern men, who were hard pressed by anti-slavery constituents. +Southern men knew that the repeal of the Missouri Compromise gave +them a privilege which they had not before enjoyed,--the privilege +of settling with their slaves on the rich plains and in the fertile +valleys that stretched westward from the Missouri River. In +maintaining this privilege, they felt sure of aid from the Executive +of the United States, and they had the fullest confidence that in +any legal controversy the Federal judiciary would be on their side. + + THE SOUTHERN STRUGGLE FOR KANSAS. + +Thus panoplied they made a desperate contest for the possession of +Kansas. They had found that all the crops grown in Missouri by +slave labor could be as profitably cultivated in Kansas. Securing +Kansas, they would gain more than the mere material advantage of +an enlarged field for slave labor. New Mexico at that time included +all of Arizona; Utah included all of Nevada; Kansas, as organized, +absorbed a large part of what is now Colorado, stretched along the +eastern and northern boundary of New Mexico, and, crossing the +Rocky Mountains, reached the confines of Utah. If Kansas could be +made a slave State it would control New Mexico and Utah, and the +South could again be placed in a position of political equality if +not of command. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise had shown +them for the first time that they could absolutely consolidate the +Southern vote in Congress in defense of slavery, regardless of +differences on all other issues. But this power was of no avail, +unless they could regain their equality in the Senate which had +been lost by what they considered the mishap of California's +admission. While Clay and Benton were in the Senate with their +old reverence for the Union and their desire for the ultimate +extinction of slavery, California could neither be kept out nor +divided on the line of 36° 30´. But the new South, the South of +Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens, of Robert Toombs and +Judah P. Benjamin, of James M. Mason and John C. Breckinridge, had +made new advances, was inspired by new ambitions, and was determined +upon the consolidation of sectional power. The one supreme need +was another slave State. If this could be acquired they felt +assured that so long as the Union should exist no free State could +be admitted without the corresponding admission of another slave +State. They would perhaps have been disappointed. Possibly they +did not give sufficient heed to the influences which were steadily +working against slavery in such States as Delaware and Maryland, +threatening desertion in the rear, while the defenders of slavery +were battling at the front. They argued, however, and not unnaturally, +that prejudice can hold a long contest with principle, and that in +the general uprising of the South the tendency of all their old +allies would be to remain firm. They reckoned that States with +few slaves would continue to stand for Southern institutions as +stubbornly as States with many slaves. In all the States of the +South emancipation had been made difficult, and free negroes were +tolerated, if at all, with great reluctance and with constant +protest. + +The struggle for Kansas was therefore to be maintained and possession +secured at all hazards. Although, as the Southern leaders realized, +the free States had flanked them by the admission of California +with an anti-slavery constitution, the Southern acquisition of +Kansas would pierce the very centre of the army of freedom, and +would enable the South thenceforth to dictate terms to the North. +Instead of the line of 36° 30´, upon which they had so frequently +offered to compromise, as a permanent continental division, they +would have carried the northern boundary of slave territory to the +40th parallel of latitude and even beyond. They slave States in +pursuing this policy were directed by men who had other designs +than those which lay on the surface. Since the struggle of 1850 +the dissolution of the Union had been in the minds of many Southern +leaders, and, as the older class of statesmen passed away, this +design grew and strengthened until it became a fixed policy. They +felt that when the time came to strike, it was of the first importance +that they should have support and popular strength beyond the +Mississippi. California, they were confident, could be carried in +their interest, if they could but plant supporting colonies between +the Missouri and the Sierras. The Democratic party was dominant +in the State, and the Democracy was of the type personated by +William M. Gwin. Both her senators voted for the repeal of the +Missouri Compromise, and stood by the extremists of the South as +steadily as if California bordered on the Gulf of Mexico. Dissolution +of the Union on the scale thus projected would, as the authors of +the scheme persuaded themselves, be certain of success. From the +Mississippi to the Missouri they would carry the new confederacy +to the southern line of Iowa. From the Missouri to the line of +Utah they would have the 40th degree of latitude; from Utah westward +they would have the 42d parallel, leaving the line of Oregon as +the southern boundary of the United States on the Pacific. + + THE SOUTHERN STRUGGLE FOR KANSAS. + +This policy was not absolute but alternative. If the slave-holders +could maintain their supremacy in the Union, they would prefer to +remain. If they were to be outvoted and, as they thought, outraged +by free-State majorities, then they would break up the government +and form a confederacy of their own. To make such a confederacy +effective, they must not take from the Union a relatively small +section, but must divide it from ocean to ocean. They could not +acquire a majority of the total population, but they aimed to secure +by far the larger share of the vast domain comprised in the United +States. The design was audacious, but from the stand-point of the +men who were committed to it, it was not illogical. Their entire +industrial system was founded upon an institution which was bitterly +opposed in the free States. They could see no way, and they no +longer desired to see a way, by which they might rid themselves of +the servile labor which was at once their strength and their +weakness. To abandon the institution was to sacrifice four thousand +millions of property specially protected by law. It was for the +existing generation of the governing class in the South to vote +themselves into bankruptcy and penury. Far beyond this, it was in +their judgment to blight their land with ignorance and indolence, +to be followed by crime and anarchy. Their point of view was so +radically different from that held by a large number of Northern +people that it left no common ground for action,--scarcely, indeed, +an opportunity for reasoning together. In the South they saw and +felt their danger, and they determined at all hazards to defend +themselves against policies which involved the total destruction +of their social and industrial fabric. They were not mere malcontents. +They were not pretenders. They did not aim at small things. They +had ability and they had courage. They had determined upon mastery +within the Union, or a Continental Empire outside of it. + +While the South had thus resolved to acquire control of the large +Territory of Kansas, the North had equally resolved to save it to +freedom. The strife that ensued upon the fertile plains beyond +the Missouri might almost be regarded as the opening battle of the +civil war. The proximity of a slave State gave to the South an +obvious advantage at the beginning of the contest. Many of the +Northern emigrants were from New England, and the distance they +were compelled to travel exceeded two thousand miles. There were +no railroads across Iowa, none across Missouri. But despite all +impediments and all discouragements, the free-State emigrants, +stimulated by anti-slavery societies organized for the purpose, +far outnumbered those from the slave States. Had the vexed question +in the Territory been left to actual settlers it would have been +at once decided adversely to slavery. But the neighboring inhabitants +of Missouri, as the first election approached, invaded the Territory +in large numbers, and, with boisterous disturbance and threats of +violence, seized the polls, fraudulently elected a pro-slavery +Legislature, and chose one of their leaders named Whitfield as +delegate to Congress. Over six thousand votes were polled, of +which some eight hundred only were cast by actual settlers. There +were about three thousand legal voters in the Territory. The total +population was somewhat in excess of eight thousand, and there were +between two and three hundred slaves. The governor of the Territory, +Andrew H. Reeder, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, tried faithfully +and earnestly to arrest the progress of fraud and violence; but he +was removed by President Pierce, and Wilson Shannon of Ohio was +sent out in his stead. The free-State settlers, defrauded at the +regular election, organized an independent movement and chose +Governor Reeder their delegate to Congress to contest the seat of +Whitfield. These events, rapidly following each other, caused +great indignation throughout the country, in the midst of which +the Thirty-fourth Congress assembled in December, 1855. After a +prolonged struggle, Nathaniel P. Banks was chosen Speaker over +William Aiken. It was a significant circumstance, noted at the +time, that the successful candidate came from Massachusetts, and +the defeated one from South Carolina. It was a still more ominous +fact that Banks was chosen by votes wholly from the free States, +and that every vote from the slave States was given to Mr. Aiken, +except that of Mr. Cullen of Delaware, and that of Henry Winter +Davis of Maryland, who declined to vote for either candidate. It +was the first instance in the history of the government in which +a candidate for Speaker had been chosen without support from both +sections. It was a distinctive victory of the free States over +the consolidated power of the slave States. It marked an epoch. + + CANVASS FOR THE PRESIDENCY. + +The year 1856 opened with this critical, this unprecedented condition +of affairs. In all classes there was deep excitement. With +thoughtful men, both North and South, there was serious solicitude. +The country approached the strife of another Presidential election +with the consciences of men thoroughly aroused, with their passions +profoundly stirred. Three parties were coming into the field, and +it seemed impossible that any candidate could secure the approval +of a majority of the voters in the Union. In the Democratic ranks +there was angry contention. President Pierce, who had risked every +thing for the South, and had received unmeasured obloquy in the +North, was naturally anxious that his administration should be +approved by his own party. With all the patronage at his command, +he vigorously sought a renomination. But the party desired victory, +and they feared a contest which involved an approval of the +President's recreancy to solemn pledges voluntarily given. He had +been inaugurated with the applause and confidence of a nation. He +was sustained in the end by a helpless faction of a disorganized +party. + +The distinguished secretary of State suffered with the President. +Mr. Marcy had personally disapproved the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise, but he made no opposition, and the people held him +equally if not doubly guilty. It was said at the time that New- +York friends urged him to save his high reputation by resigning +his seat in the cabinet. But he remained, in the delusive hope +that he should receive credit for the evil he might prevent. He +was pertinently reminded that the evil he might prevent would never +be known, whereas the evil to which he consented would be read of +all men. New York had hopelessly revolted from Democratic control, +and Mr. Marcy's name was not presented as a Presidential candidate, +though he was at that time the ablest statesman of the Democratic +party. Mr. Douglas was also unavailable. He had gained great +popularity in the South by his course in repealing the Missouri +Compromise, but he had been visited with signal condemnation in +the North. His own State, always Democratic, which had stood firmly +for the party even in the overthrow of 1840, had now failed to +sustain him,--had, indeed, pointedly rebuked him by choosing an +opposition Legislature and sending Lyman Trumbull, then an anti- +slavery Republican, as his colleague in the Senate. General Cass +was seventy-four years old, and he was under the same condemnation +with Pierce and Marcy and Douglas. He had voted to repeal the +Missouri Compromise, and Michigan, which had never before faltered +in his support, now turned against him and embittered his declining +years by an expression of popular disapproval, which could not have +been more emphatic. + +The candidates urged for the nomination were all from the North. +By a tacit but general understanding, the South repressed the +ambition of its leaders and refused to present any one of the +prominent statesmen from that section. Southern men designed to +put the North to a test, and they wished to give Northern Democrats +every possible advantage in waging a waging a warfare in which the +fruits of victory were to be wholly enjoyed by the South. If they +had wished it, they could have nominated a Southern candidate who +was at that moment far stronger than any other man in the Democratic +party. General Sam Houston had a personal history as romantic as +that of an ancient crusader. He was a native of Virginia, a +representative in Congress from Tennessee, and Governor of that +State before he was thirty-five. He was the intimate and trusted +friend of Jackson. Having resigned his governorship on account of +domestic trouble, he fled from civilized life, joined the Indians +of the Western plains, roved with them for years, adopted their +habits, and was made chief of a tribe. Returning to association +with white men, he emigrated to Texas and led the revolt against +Mexico, fought battles and was victorious, organized a new republic +and was made its President. Then he turned to his native land, +bearing in his hand the gift of a great dominion. Once more under +the Union flag, he sat in the Capitol as a senator of the United +States from Texas. At threescore years he was still in the full +vigor of life. Always a member of the Democratic party he was a +devoted adherent of the Union, and his love for it had but increased +in exile. He stood by Mr. Clay against the Southern Democrats in +the angry contest of 1850, declaring that "if the Union must be +dismembered" he "prayed God that its ruins might be the monument +of his own grave." He "desired no epitaph to tell that he survived +it." Against the madness of repealing the Missouri Compromise he +entered a protest and a warning. He notified his Southern friends +that the dissolution of the Union might be involved in the dangerous +step. He alone, of the Southern Democrats in the Senate, voted +against the mischievous measure. When three thousand clergymen of +New England sent their remonstrance against the repeal, they were +fiercely attacked and denounced by Douglas and by senators from +the South. Houston vindicated their right to speak and did battle +for them with a warmth and zeal which specially commended him to +Northern sympathy. All these facts combined--his romantic history, +his unflinching steadiness of purpose, his unswerving devotion to +the Union--would have made him an irresistibly strong candidate +had he been presented. But the very sources of his strength were +the sources of his weakness. His nomination would have been a +rebuke to every man who had voted for the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise, and, rather than submit to that, the Southern Democrats, +and Northern Democrats like Pierce and Douglas and Cass, would +accept defeat. Victory with Houston would be their condemnation. +But in rejecting him they lost in large degree the opportunity to +recover the strength and popularity and power of the Democratic +party which had all been forfeited by the maladministration of +Pierce. + + NOMINATION OF JAMES BUCHANAN. + +With Houston impracticable, other Southern candidates purposely +withheld, and all the Northern candidates in Congress or of the +administration disabled, the necessity of the situation pointed to +one man. The Democratic managers in whose hands the power lay were +not long in descrying him. Mr. Buchanan had gone to England as +minister directly after the inauguration of Pierce. He had been +absent from the country during all the troubles and the blunders +of the Democracy, and never before was an _alibi_ so potential in +acquitting a man of actual or imputed guilt. He had been a candidate +for the Presidency ever since 1844, but had not shown much strength. +He was originally a Federalist. He was somewhat cold in temperament +and austere in manners, but of upright character and blameless +life. He lacked the affability of Cass, the gracious heartiness +of Pierce, the bluff cordiality of Douglas. But he was a man of +ability, and had held high rank as a senator and as secretary of +State. Above all he had never given a vote offensive to the South. +Indeed, his Virginia friend, Henry A. Wise, boasted that his record +was as spotless as that of Calhoun. + +Buchanan's hour had come. He was a necessity to the South, a +necessity to his party; and against the combined force of all the +ambitious men who sought the place, he was nominated. But he had +a severe struggle. President Pierce and Senator Douglas each made +a persistent effort. On the first ballot Buchanan received 135 +votes, Pierce 122, Douglas 33. Through sixteen ballots the contest +was stubbornly maintained, Buchanan gaining steadily but slowly. +Pierce was at last withdrawn, and the convention gave Buchanan 168, +Douglas 121. No further resistance was made, and, amid acclamation +and rejoicing, Buchanan was declared to be the unanimous choice of +the convention. Major John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, a young +man of popularity and promise, was nominated for the Vice- +Presidency. + +Before the nomination of Buchanan and Breckinridge another Presidential +ticket had been placed in the field. The pro-slavery section of +the American party and the ghastly remnant of the Whigs had presented +Mr. Fillmore for the Presidency, and had associated with him Andrew +Jackson Donelson of Tennessee as candidate for the Vice-Presidency. +On the engrossing question of the day Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Fillmore +did not represent antagonistic ideas, and between them there could +be no contest to arouse enthusiasm or even to enlist interest in +the North. The movement for Fillmore afforded a convenient shelter +for that large class of men who had not yet made up their minds as +to the real issue of slavery extension or slavery prohibition. + +The Republican party had meanwhile been organizing and consolidating. +During the years 1854 and 1855 it had acquired control of the +governments in a majority of the free States, and it promptly called +a national convention to meet in Philadelphia in June, 1856. The +Democracy saw at once that a new and dangerous opponent was in the +field,--an opponent that stood upon principle and shunned expediency, +that brought to its standard a great host of young men, and that +won to its service a very large proportion of the talent, the +courage, and the eloquence of the North. The convention met for +a purpose and it spoke boldly. It accepted the issue as presented +by the men of the South, and it offered no compromise. In its +ranks were all shades of anti-slavery opinion,--the patient +Abolitionist, the Free-Soiler of the Buffalo platform, the Democrats +who had supported the Wilmot Proviso, the Whigs who had followed +Seward. + + NOMINATION OF JOHN C. FRÉMONT. + +There was no strife about candidates. Mr. Seward was the recognized +head of the party, but he did not desire the nomination. He agreed +with his faithful mentor, Thurlow Weed, that his time had not come, +and that his sphere of duty was still in the Senate. Salmon P. +Chase was Governor of Ohio, waiting re-election to the Senate, and, +like Seward, not anxious for a nomination where election was regarded +as improbable if not impossible. The more conservative and timid +section of the party advocated the nomination of Judge McLean of +the Supreme Court, who for many years had enjoyed a shadowy mention +for the Presidency in Whig journals of a certain type. But Judge +McLean was old and the Republican party was young. He belonged to +the past, the party was looking to the future. It demanded a more +energetic and attractive candidate, and John C. Frémont was chosen +on the first ballot. He was forty-three years of age, with a +creditable record in the Regular Army, and wide fame as a scientific +explorer in the Western mountain ranges, then the _terra incognita_ +of the continent. He was a native of South Carolina, and had +married the brilliant and accomplished daughter of Colonel Benton. +Always a member of the Democratic party, he was so closely identified +with the early settlement of California that he was elected one of +her first senators. To the tinge of romance in his history were +added the attractions of a winning address and an auspicious name. + +The movement in his behalf had been quietly and effectively organized +for several months preceding the convention. It had been essentially +aided if not indeed originated by the elder Francis P. Blair, who +had the skill derived from long experience in political management. +Mr. Blair was a devoted friend of Benton, had been intimate with +Jackson, and intensely hostile to Calhoun. As editor of the _Globe_, +he had exercised wide influence during the Presidential terms of +Jackson and Van Buren, but when Polk was inaugurated he was supplanted +in administration confidence by Thomas Ritchie of the State-rights' +school, who was brought from Virginia to found another paper. Mr. +Blair was a firm Union man, and, though he had never formally +withdrawn from the Democratic party, he was now ready to leave it +because of the Disunion tendencies of its Southern leaders. He +was a valuable friend to Frémont, and gave to him the full advantage +of his experience and his sagacity. + +William L. Dayton of New Jersey, who had served with distinction +in the Senate, was selected for the Vice-Presidency. His principal +competitor in the only ballot which was taken was Abraham Lincoln +of Illinois. This was the first time that Mr. Lincoln was +conspicuously named outside of his own State. He had been a member +of the Thirtieth Congress, 1847-9, but being a modest man he had +so little forced himself into notice that when his name was proposed +for Vice-President, inquiries as to who he was were heard from all +parts of the convention. + +The principles enunciated by the Democratic and Republican parties +on the slavery question formed the only subject for discussion +during the canvass in the free States. From the beginning no doubt +was expressed that Mr. Buchanan would find the South practically +consolidated in his favor. Electoral tickets for Frémont were not +presented in the slave States, and Fillmore's support in that +section was weakened by his obvious inability to carry any of the +free States. The canvass, therefore, rapidly narrowed to a contest +between Buchanan and Frémont in the North. The Republican Convention +had declared it to be "both the right and imperative duty of Congress +to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics of barbarism,-- +polygamy and slavery." The Democratic Convention had presented a +very elaborate and exhaustive series of resolutions touching the +slavery question. They indorsed the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise, and recognized the "right of the people of all the +territories to form a constitution with or without domestic slavery." +The resolution was artfully constructed. Read in one way it gave +to the people of the Territories the right to determine the question +for themselves. It thus upheld the doctrine of "popular sovereignty" +which Mr. Douglas had announced as the very spirit of the Act +organizing Kansas and Nebraska. A closer analysis of the Democratic +declaration, however, showed that this "popular sovereignty" was +not to be exercised until the people of the Territory were sufficiently +numerous to form a State constitution and apply for admission to +the Union, and that meanwhile in all the Territories the slave- +holder had the right to settle and to be protected in the possession +of his peculiar species of property. In fine, the Republicans +declared in plain terms that slavery should by positive law of the +nation be excluded from the Territories. The Democrats flatly +opposed the doctrine of Congressional prohibition, but left a margin +for doubt as to the true construction of the Constitution, and of +the Act repealing the Missouri Compromise, thus enabling their +partisans to present one issue in the North, and another in the +South. + +The Democratic candidate in his letter of acceptance did not seek +to resolve the mystery of the platform, but left the question just +as he found it in the resolutions of the convention. The result +was that Northern people supported Mr. Buchanan in the belief, so +energetically urged by Mr. Douglas, that the people of the Territories +had the right to determine the slavery question for themselves at +any time. The Southern people supported Mr. Buchanan in the full +faith that slavery was to be protected in the Territories until a +State government should be formed and admission to the Union secured. +The Democratic doctrine of the North and the Democratic doctrine +of the South were, therefore, in logic and in fact, irreconcilably +hostile. By the one, slavery could never enter a Territory unless +the inhabitants thereof desired and approved it. By the other +slavery had a foot-hold in the Territories under the Constitution +of the United States, and could not be dislodged or disturbed by +the inhabitants of a Territory even though ninety-nine out of every +hundred were opposed to it. In the Territorial Legislatures laws +might be passed to protect slavery but not to exclude it. From +such contradictory constructions in the same party, conflicts were +certain to arise. + + MR. BUCHANAN ELECTED PRESIDENT. + +The Democrats of the North sought, not unsuccessfully, to avoid +the slavery question altogether. They urged other considerations +upon popular attention. Mr. Buchanan was presented as a National +candidate, supported by troops of friends in every State of the +Union. Frémont was denounced as a sectional candidate, whose +election by Northern votes on an anti-slavery platform would dissolve +the Union. This incessant cry exerted a wide influence in the +North and was especially powerful in commercial circles. But in +spite of it, Frémont gained rapidly in the free States. The +condition of affairs in Kansas imparted to his supporters a desperate +energy, based on principle and roused to anger. An elaborate and +exciting speech on the "Crime against Kansas," by Senator Sumner, +was followed by an assault from Preston S. Brooks, a member of the +House from South Carolina, which seriously injured Mr. Sumner, and +sensibly increased the exasperation of the North. When a resolution +of the House to expel Brooks was under consideration, he boasted +that "a blow struck by him then would be followed by a revolution." +This but added fuel to a Northern flame already burning to white- +heat. Votes by tens of thousands declared that they did not desire +a Union which was held together by the forbearance or permission +of any man or body of men, and they welcomed a test of any character +that should determine the supremacy of the Constitution and the +strength of the government. + +The canvass grew in animation and earnestness to the end, the +Republicans gaining strength before the people of the North every +day. But Buchanan's election was not a surprise. Indeed, it had +been generally expected. He received the electoral votes of every +Southern State except Maryland, which pronounced for Fillmore. In +the North, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, and California +voted for Buchanan. The other eleven free States, beginning with +Maine and ending with Iowa, declared for Frémont. The popular vote +was for Buchanan 1,838,169, Frémont 1,341,264, Fillmore 874,534. +With the people, therefore, Mr. Buchanan was in a minority, the +combined opposition outnumbering his vote by nearly four hundred +thousand. + +The Republicans, far from being discouraged, felt and acted as men +who had won the battle. Indeed, the moral triumph was theirs, and +they believed that the actual victory at the polls was only postponed. +The Democrats were mortified and astounded by the large popular +vote against them. The loss of New York and Ohio, the narrow escape +from defeat in Pennsylvania, the rebuke of Michigan to their veteran +leader General Cass, intensified by the choice of Chandler as his +successor in the Senate, the absolute consolidation of New England +against them, all tended to humiliate and discourage the party. +They had lost ten States which General Pierce had carried in 1852, +and they had a watchful, determined foe in the field, eager for +another trial of strength. The issue was made, the lines of battles +were drawn. Freedom or slavery in the Territories was to be fought +to the end, without flinching, and without compromise. + +Mr. Buchanan came to the Presidency under very different auspices +from those which had attended the inauguration of President Pierce. +The intervening four years had written important chapters in the +history of the slavery contest. In 1853 there was no organized +opposition that could command even a respectable minority in a +single State. In 1857 a party distinctly and unequivocally pledged +to resist the extension of slavery into free territory had control +of eleven free States and was hotly contesting the possession of +the others. The distinct and avowed marshalling of a solid North +against a solid South had begun, and the result of the Presidential +election of 1856 settled nothing except that a mightier struggle +was in the future. + + DECISION IN THE CASE OF DRED SCOTT. + +After Buchanan's inauguration events developed rapidly. The +Democrats had carried the House, and therefore had control of every +department of the government. The effort to force slavery upon +Kansas was resumed with increased zeal. Strafford's policy of +"thorough" was not more resolute or more absolute than that now +adopted by the Southern leaders with a new lease of power confirmed +to them by the result of the election. The Supreme Court came to +their aid, and, not long after the new administration was installed, +delivered their famous decision in the Dred Scott case. This case +involved the freedom of a single family that had been held as +slaves, but it gave occasion to the Court for an exhaustive treatment +of the political question which was engrossing public attention. +The conclusion of the best legal minds of the country was that the +opinion of the Court went far beyond the real question at issue, +and that many of its most important points were to be regarded as +_obiter dicta_. The Court declared that the Act of Congress +prohibiting slavery in the Territories north of 36° 30´ was +unconstitutional and void. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise +was therefore approved by the highest judicial tribunal. Not only +was the repeal approved, its re-enactment was forbidden. No matter +how large a majority might be returned to Congress in favor of +again setting up the old landmark which had stood in peace and in +honor for thirty-four years, with the sanction of all departments +of the government, the Supreme Court had issued an edict that it +could not be done. The Court had declared that slavery was as much +entitled to protection on the national domain as any other species +of property, and that it was unconstitutional for Congress to decree +freedom for a Territory of the United States. The pro-slavery +interest had apparently won a great triumph. They naturally claimed +that the whole question was settled in their favor. But in fact +the decision of the Court had only rendered the contest more intense +and more bitter. It was received throughout the North with scorn +and indignation. It entered at once into the political discussions +of the people, and remained there until, with all other issues on +the slavery question, it was remanded to the arbitrament of war. + +Five of the judges--an absolute majority of the court--were Southern +men, and had always been partisan Democrats of the State-rights' +school. People at once remembered that every other class of lawyers +in the South had for thirty years been rigidly excluded from the +bench. John J. Crittenden had been nominated and rejected by a +Democratic Senate. George E. Badger of North Carolina had shared +the same fate. They were followers of Clay, and not to be trusted +by the new South in any exigency where the interests of slavery +and the perpetuity of the Union should come in conflict. Instead, +therefore, of strengthening the Democratic party, the whole effect +of the Dred Scott decision was to develop a more determined type +of anti-slavery agitation. This tendency was promoted by the lucid +and exhaustive opinion of Benjamin R. Curtis, one of the two +dissenting judges. Judge Curtis was not a Republican. He had been +a Whig of the most conservative type, appointed to the bench by +President Fillmore through the influence of Mr. Webster and the +advice of Rufus Choate. In legal learning, and in dignity and +purity of character, he was unsurpassed. His opinion became, +therefore, of inestimable value to the cause of freedom. It +represented the well-settled conclusion of the most learned jurists, +was in harmony with the enlightened conscience of the North, and +gave a powerful rallying-cry to the opponents of slavery. It upheld +with unanswerable arguments the absolute right of Congress to +prohibit slavery in all the Territories of the Union. Every judge +delivered his views separately, but the dissenting opinion of Judge +McLean, as well as of the six who sustained the views of the Chief +Justice, arrested but a small share of public attention. The +argument for the South had been made by the venerable and learned +Chief Justice. The argument for the North had been made by Justice +Curtis. Perhaps in the whole history of judicial decisions no two +opinions were ever so widely read by the mass of people outside +the legal profession. + + DECISION IN THE CASE OF DRED SCOTT. + +It was popularly believed that the whole case was made up in order +to afford an opportunity for the political opinions delivered by +the Court. This was an extreme view not justified by the facts. +But in the judgment of many conservative men there was a delay in +rendering the decision which had its origin in motives that should +not have influenced a judicial tribunal. The purport and scope of +the decision were undoubtedly known to President Pierce before the +end of his term, and Mr. Buchanan imprudently announced in his +Inaugural address that "the point of time when the people of a +Territory can decide the question of slavery for themselves" will +"be speedily and finally settled by the Supreme Court, before whom +it is now pending." How Mr. Buchanan could know, or how he was +entitled to know, that a question not directly or necessarily +involved in a case pending before the Supreme Court "would be +speedily and finally settled" became a subject of popular inquiry. +Anti-slavery speakers and anti-slavery papers indulged in severe +criticism both of Mr. Buchanan and the Court, declaring that the +independence of the co-ordinate branches of the government was +dangerously invaded when the Executive was privately advised of a +judicial decision in advance of its delivery by the Court. William +Pitt Fessenden, who always spoke with precision and never with +passion, asserted in the Senate that the Court, after hearing the +argument, had reserved its judgment until the Presidential election +was decided. He avowed his belief that Mr. Buchanan would have +been defeated if the decision had not been withheld, and that in +the event of Frémont's election "we should never have heard of a +doctrine so utterly at variance with all truth, so utterly destitute +of all legal logic, so founded on error, and so unsupported by any +thing resembling argument." + +Mr. Lincoln, whose singular powers were beginning to be appreciated, +severely attacked the decision in a public speech in Illinois, not +merely for its doctrine, but for the mode in which the decision +had been brought about, and the obvious political intent of the +judges. He showed how the Kansas-Nebraska Act left the people of +the Territories perfectly free to settle the slavery question for +themselves, "subject only to the Constitution of the United States!" +That qualification he said was "the exactly fitted niche for the +Dred Scott decision to come in and declare the perfect freedom to +be no freedom at all." He then gave a humorous illustration by +asking in homely but telling phrase, "if we saw a lot of framed +timbers gotten out at different times and places by different +workmen,--Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James,--and if we saw +these timbers joined together and exactly make the frame of a house, +with tenons and mortises all fitting, what is the conclusion? We +find it impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and +Roger and James all understood one another from the beginning, and +all worked upon a common plan before the first blow was struck." +This quaint mode of arraigning the two President, the Chief Justice +and Senator Douglas, was extraordinarily effective with the masses. +In a single paragraph, humorously expressed, he had framed an +indictment against four men upon which he lived to secure a conviction +before the jury of the American people. + +The decision was rendered especially odious throughout the North +by the use of certain unfortunate expressions which in the heat of +the hour were somewhat distorted by the anti-slavery press, and +made to appear unwarrantably offensive. But there was no +misrepresentation and no misunderstanding of the essential position +of the Court on the political question. It was unmistakably held +that ownership in slaves was as much entitled to protection under +the Constitution in the Territories of the United States as any +other species of property, and that Congress possessed no power +over the subject except the power to legislate in aid of slavery. +The decision was at war with the practice and traditions of the +government from its foundation, and set aside the matured convictions +of two generations of conservative statesmen from the South as well +as from the North. It proved injurious to the Court, which +thenceforward was assailed most bitterly in the North and defended +with intemperate zeal in the South. Personally upright and honorable +as the judges were individually known to be, there was a conviction +in the minds of a majority of Northern people, that on all issues +affecting the institution of slavery they were unable to deliver +a just judgment; that an Abolitionist was, in their sight, the +chief of sinners, deserving to be suppressed by law; that the anti- +slavery agitation was conducted, according to their belief, by two +classes,--fanatics and knaves,--both of whom should be promptly +dealt with; the fanatics in strait-jackets and the knaves at the +cart's tail. + +Chief Justice Taney, who delivered the opinion which proved so +obnoxious throughout the North, was not only a man of great +attainments, but was singularly pure and upright in his life and +conversation. Had his personal character been less exalted, or +his legal learning less eminent, there would have been less surprise +and less indignation. But the same qualities which rendered his +judgment of apparent value to the South, called out intense hostility +in the North. The lapse of years, however, cools the passions and +tempers the judgment. It has brought many anti-slavery men to see +that an unmerited share of the obloquy properly attaching to the +decision has been visited on the Chief Justice, and that it was +unfair to place him under such condemnation, while two associate +Justices in the North, Grier and Nelson, joined in the decision +without incurring special censure, and lived in honor and veneration +to the end of their judicial careers. While, therefore, time has +in no degree abated Northern hostility to the Dred Scott decision, +it has thrown a more generous light upon the character and action +of the eminent Chief Justice who pronounced it. More allowance is +made for the excitement and for what he believed to be the exigency +of the hour, for the sentiments in which he had been educated, for +the force of association, and for his genuine belief that he was +doing a valuable work towards the preservation of the Union. His +views were held by millions of people around him, and he was swept +along by a current which with so many had proved irresistible. +Coming to the Bench from Jackson's Cabinet, fresh from the angry +controversies of that partisan era, he had proved a most acceptable +and impartial judge, earning renown and escaping censure until he +dealt directly with the question of slavery. Whatever harm he may +have done in that decision was speedily overruled by war, and the +country can now contemplate a venerable jurist, in robes that were +never soiled by corruption, leading a long life of labor and +sacrifice, and achieving a fame in his profession second only to +that of Marshall. + + + CHIEF JUSTICE TANEY AND MR. SUMNER. + +The aversion with which the extreme anti-slavery men regarded Chief +Justice Taney was strikingly exhibited during the session of Congress +following his death. The customary mark of respect in providing +a marble bust of the deceased to be placed in the Supreme Court +room was ordered by the House without comment or objection. In +the Senate the bill was regularly reported from the Judiciary +Committee by the chairman, Mr. Trumbull of Illinois, who was at +that time a recognized leader in the Republican party. The +proposition to pay respect to the memory of the judge who had +pronounced the Dred Scott decision was at once savagely attacked +by Mr. Sumner. Mr. Trumbull in reply warmly defended the character +of the Chief Justice, declaring that he "had added reputation to +the Judiciary of the United States throughout the world, and that +he was not to be hooted down by exclamations about an emancipated +country. Suppose he did make a wrong decision. No man is infallible. +He was a great, learned, able judge." + +Mr. Sumner rejoined with much temper. He said that "Taney would +be hooted down the pages of history, and that an emancipated country +would fix upon his name the stigma it deserved. He had administered +justice wickedly, had degraded the Judiciary, and had degraded the +age." Mr. Wilson followed Mr. Sumner in a somewhat impassioned +speech, denouncing the Dred Scott decision "as the greatest crime +in the judicial annals of the Republic," and declaring it to be +"the abhorrence, the scoff, the jeer, of the patriotic hearts of +America." Mr. Reverdy Johnson answered Mr. Sumner with spirit, +and pronounced an eloquent eulogium upon Judge Taney. He said, +"the senator from Massachusetts will be happy if his name shall +stand as high upon the historic page as that of the learned judge +who is now no more." Mr. Johnson directed attention to the fact +that, whether wrong or right, the Dred Scott decision was one in +which a majority of the Supreme Court had concurred, and therefore +no special odium should be attached to the name of the venerable +Chief Justice. Mr. Johnson believed the decision to be right, and +felt that his opinion on a question of law was at least entitled +to as much respect as that of either of the senators from Massachusetts, +"one of whom did not pretend to be a lawyer at all, while the other +was a lawyer for only a few months." He proceeded to vindicate +the historical accuracy of the Chief Justice, and answered Mr. +Sumner with that amplitude and readiness which Mr. Johnson displayed +in every discussion involving legal questions. + +Mr. Sumner's protest was vigorously seconded by Mr. Hale of New +Hampshire and Mr. Wade of Ohio. The former said that a monument +to Taney "would give the lie to all that had been said by the +friends of justice, liberty, and down-trodden humanity," respecting +the iniquity of the Dred Scott decision. Mr. Wade violently opposed +the proposition. He avowed his belief that the "Dred Scott case +was got up to give judicial sanction to the enormous iniquity that +prevailed in every branch of our government at that period." He +declared that "the greater you make Judge Taney's legal acumen the +more you dishonor his memory by showing that he sinned against +light and knowledge." He insisted that the people of Ohio, whose +opinion he professed to represent, "would pay two thousand dollars +to hang the late Chief Justice in effigy rather than one thousand +dollars for a bust to commemorate his merits." + +Mr. McDougall of California spoke in favor of the bill, and commented +on the rudeness of Mr. Sumner's speech. Mr. Carlile of West Virginia +spoke very effectively in praise of the Chief Justice. If the +decision was harsh, he said, no one was justified in attributing +it to the personal feelings or desires of the Chief Justice. It +was the law he was expounding, and he did it ably and conscientiously. +Mr. Sumner concluded the debate by a reply to Reverdy Johnson. He +said that, in listening to the senator from Maryland, he was +"reminded of a character, known to the Roman Church, who always +figures at the canonization of a saint as the _Devil's advocate_." +He added that, if he could help it, "Taney should never be recognized +as a saint by any vote of Congress." The incidents of the debate +and the names of the participants are given as affording a good +illustration of the tone and temper of the times. It was made +evident that the opponents of the bill, under Mr. Sumner's lead, +would not permit it to come to a vote. It was therefore abandoned +on the 23d of February, 1865. + + HONORS TO TWO CHIEF JUSTICES. + +Nine years after these proceedings, in January, 1874, the name of +another Chief Justice, who had died during the recess, came before +Congress for honor and commemoration. The Senate was still controlled +by a large Republican majority, though many changes had taken place. +All the senators who had spoken in the previous debate were gone, +except Mr. Sumner, who had meanwhile been chosen for his fourth +term, and Mr. Wilson, who had been elevated to the Vice-Presidency. +Mr. Howe of Wisconsin, a more radical Republican than Mr. Trumbull, +reported from the Judiciary Committee a bill originally proposed +by Senator Stevenson of Kentucky, paying the same tribute of respect +to Roger Brooke Taney and Salmon Portland Chase. The bill was +passed without debate and with the unanimous consent of the Senate. + +Mr. Taney was appointed Chief Justice in 1836, when in his sixtieth +year. He presided over the court until his death in October, 1864, +a period of twenty-eight years. The Dred Scott decision received +no respect after Mr. Lincoln became President, and, without reversal +by the court, was utterly disregarded. When Mr. Chase became Chief +Justice, colored persons were admitted to practice in the courts +of the United States. When President Lincoln, in 1861, authorized +the denial of the writ of _habeas corpus_ to persons arrested on +a charge of treason, Chief Justice Taney delivered an opinion in +the case of John Merryman, denying the President's power to suspend +the writ, declaring that Congress only was competent to do it. +The Executive Department paid no attention to the decision, and +Congress, at the ensuing session, added its sanction to the +suspension. The Chief Justice, though loyal to the Union, was not +in sympathy with the policy or the measures of Mr. Lincoln's +administration. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Review (_continued_).--Continuance of the Struggle for Kansas.-- +List of Governors.--Robert J. Walker appointed Governor by President +Buchanan.--His Failure.--The Lecompton Constitution fraudulently +adopted.--Its Character.--Is transmitted to Congress by President +Buchanan.--He recommends the Admission of Kansas under its Provisions. +--Pronounces Kansas a Slave State.--Gives Full Scope and Effect to +the Dred Scott Decision.--Senator Douglas refuses to sustain the +Lecompton Iniquity.--His Political Embarrassment.--Breaks with the +Administration.--Value of his Influence against Slavery in Kansas. +--Lecompton Bill passes the Senate.--Could not be forced through +the House.--The English Bill substituted and passed.--Kansas spurns +the Bribe.--Douglas regains his Popularity with Northern Democrats. +--Illinois Republicans bitterly hostile to him.--Abraham Lincoln +nominated to contest the Re-election of Douglas to the Senate.-- +Lincoln challenges Douglas to a Public Discussion.--Character of +Each as a Debater.--They meet Seven Times in Debate.--Douglas re- +elected.--Southern Senators arraign Douglas.--His Defiant Answer. +--Danger of Sectional Division in the Democratic Party. + +The Dred Scott decision, in connection with the Democratic triumph +in the national election, had a marked effect upon the struggle +for Kansas. The pro-slavery men felt fresh courage for the work, +as they found themselves assured of support from the administration, +and upheld by the dogmas of the Supreme Court. The Territory thus +far had been one continued scene of disorder and violence. For +obvious reasons, the administration of President Pierce had selected +its governors from the North, and each, in succession, failed to +placate the men who were bent on making Kansas a slave State. +Andrew H. Reeder, Wilson Shannon, John W. Geary, had, each in turn, +tried, and each in turn failed. Mr. Buchanan now selected Robert +J. Walker for the difficult task. Mr. Walker was a Southern man +in all his relations, though by birth a Pennsylvanian. He had held +high stations, and possessed great ability. It was believed that +he, if any one, could govern the Territory in the interest of the +South, and, at the same time, retain a decent degree of respect +and confidence in the North. As an effective aid to this policy, +Frederick P. Stanton, who had acquired an honorable reputation as +representative in Congress from Tennessee, was sent out as secretary +of the Territory. + + THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION. + +Governor Walker failed. He could do much, but he could not placate +an element that was implacable. Contrary to his desires, and +against his authority, a convention, called by the fraudulent +Legislature, and meeting at Lecompton, submitted a pro-slavery +constitution to the people, preparatory to asking the admission of +Kansas as a State. The people were not permitted to vote for or +against the constitution, but were narrowed to the choice of taking +the constitution with slavery or the constitution without slavery. +If the decision should be adverse to slavery, there were still some +provisions in the constitution, not submitted to popular decision, +which would postpone the operation of the free clause. The whole +contrivance was fraudulent, wicked, and in retrospect incredible. +Naturally the Free-state men refused to have any thing to do with +the scandalous device, intended to deceive and betray them. The +constitution with slavery was, therefore, adopted by an almost +unanimous vote of those who were not citizens of Kansas. Many +thousands of votes were returned which were never cast at all, +either by citizens of Kansas or marauders from Missouri. It is +not possible, without using language that would seem immoderate, +to describe the enormity of the whole transaction. The constitution +no more represented the will or the wishes of the people of Kansas +than of the people of Ohio or Vermont. + +Shameful and shameless as was the entire procedure, it was approved +by Mr. Buchanan. The Lecompton Constitution was transmitted to +Congress, accompanied by a message from the President recommending +the prompt admission of the State. He treated the anti-slavery +population of Kansas as in rebellion against lawful authority, +recognized the invaders from Missouri as rightfully entitled to +form a constitution for the State, and declared that "Kansas is at +this moment (Feb. 2, 1858) as much a slave State as Georgia or +South Carolina." The Dred Scott decision occupied a prominent +place in this extraordinary message and received the most liberal +interpretation in favor of slavery. The President declared that +"it has been solemnly adjudged by the highest judicial tribunal +known to our laws that slavery exists in Kansas by virtue of the +Constitution of the United States." This was giving the fullest +scope to the extreme and revolting doctrine put forward by the +advocates of slavery, and, had it been made effective respecting +the Territories, there are many reasons for believing that a still +more offensive step might have been taken respecting the anti- +slavery action of the States. + +The attempt to admit Kansas, under the Lecompton Constitution, +proved disastrous to the Democratic party. The first decided break +was that of Senator Douglas. He refused to sustain the iniquity. +He had gone far with the pro-slavery men, but he refused to take +this step. He had borne great burdens in their interest, but this +was the additional pound that broke the back of his endurance. +When the Dred Scott decision was delivered, Mr. Douglas had applauded +it, and, as Mr. Lincoln charged, had assented to it before it was +pronounced. With his talent for political device, he had doubtless +contrived some argument or fallacy by which he could reconcile that +judicial edict with his doctrine of "popular sovereignty," and thus +maintain his standing with the Northern Democracy without losing +his hold on the South. But events traveled too rapidly for him. +The pro-slavery men were so eager for the possession of Kansas that +they could not adjust their measures to the needs of Mr. Douglas's +political situation. They looked at the question from one point, +Mr. Douglas from another. They saw that if Kansas could be forced +into the Union with the Lecompton Constitution they would gain a +slave State. Mr. Douglas saw that if he should aid in that political +crime he would lose Illinois. It was more important to the South +to secure Kansas as a slave State than to carry Illinois for Mr. +Douglas. It was more important for Mr. Douglas to hold Illinois +for himself than to give the control of Kansas to the South. +Indeed, his Northern friends had been for some time persuaded that +his only escape from the dangerous embarrassments surrounding him +was in the admission of Kansas as a free State. If the Missouri +Compromise had not been repealed, a free State was assured. If +Kansas should become a slave State in consequence of that repeal, +it would, in the excited condition of the popular mind, crush +Douglas in the North, and bring his political career to a discreditable +end. + +Mr. Douglas had come, therefore, to the parting of the ways. He +realized that he was rushing on political destruction, and that, +if he supported the vulgar swindle perpetrated at Lecompton, he +would be repudiated by the great State which had exalted him and +almost idolized him as a political leader. He determined, therefore, +to take a bold stand against the administration on this issue. It +was an important event, not only to himself, but to his party; not +only to his party, but to the country. Rarely, in our history, +has the action of a single person been attended by a public interest +as universal; by applause so hearty in the North, by denunciation +so bitter in the South. In the debate which followed, Douglas +exhibited great power. He had a tortuous record to defend, but he +defended it with extraordinary ability and adroitness. From time +to time, during the progress of the contest, he was on the point +of yielding to some compromise which would have destroyed the +heroism and value of his position. But he was sustained by the +strong will of others when he himself wavered--appalled, as he +often was, by the sacrifice he was making of the Southern support, +for which he had labored so long, and endured so much. + + SENATOR BRODERICK'S DEATH. + +Senator Broderick of California imparted largely of his own courage +and enthusiasm to Douglas at the critical juncture, and perhaps +saved him from a surrender of his proud position. Throughout the +entire contest Broderick showed remarkable vigor and determination. +Considering the defects of his intellectual training in early life, +he displayed unusual power as a political leader and public speaker. +He was a native of Washington, born of Irish parents, and was +brought up to the trade of a stone-mason. He went to California +among the pioneers of 1849, and soon after took part in the fierce +political contests of the Pacific coast. Though a Democrat, he +instinctively took the Northern side against the arrogant domination +of the Southern wing of the party, led by William H. Gwin. Broderick +was elected to the United States Senate as Gwin's colleague in +1856, and at once joined Douglas in opposition to the Lecompton +policy of the administration. His position aroused fierce hostility +on the part of the Democratic leaders of California. The contest +grew so bitter in the autumn of 1859, when Broderick was canvassing +his State, as to lead to a duel with Judge Terry, a prominent +Democrat of Southern birth. Broderick was killed at the first +fire. The excitement was greater in the country than ever attended +a duel, except when Hamilton fell at the hands of Burr in 1804. +The Graves and Cilley duel of 1838, with its fatal ending, affected +the whole nation, but not so profoundly as did the death of Broderick. +The oration of Senator Baker, delivered in San Francisco at the +funeral, so stirred the people that violence was feared. The bloody +tragedy influenced political parties, and contributed in no small +degree to Lincoln's triumph in California the ensuing year. + +In the peculiar position in which Douglas was placed, still +maintaining his membership of the Democratic party while opposing +the administration on the Lecompton question, he naturally resorted +to arguments which were not always of a character to enlist the +approval of men conscientiously opposed to slavery. The effect of +the arguments, however, was invaluable to those who were resisting +the imposition of slavery upon Kansas against the wish of a majority +of her people, and Republicans could be content with the end without +justifying the means. Douglas frankly avowed that he did not care +whether slavery was voted up or voted down, but he demanded that +an honest, untrammeled ballot should be secured to the citizens of +the Territory. Without the aid of Douglas, the "Crime against +Kansas," so eloquently depicted by Mr. Sumner, would have been +complete. With his aid, it was prevented. + +The Lecompton Bill passed the Senate by a vote of 33 to 25. Besides +Broderick, Douglas carried with him only two Democratic senators, +--Stuart of Michigan, and Pugh of Ohio. The two remaining members +of the old Whig party from the South, who had been wandering as +political orphans since the disastrous defeat of 1852,--Bell of +Tennessee, and Crittenden of Kentucky,--honored themselves and the +ancient Whig traditions by voting against the bill. In view of +the events of the preceding four years, it was a significant +spectacle in the Senate when Douglas voted steadily with Seward +and Sumner and Fessenden and Wade against the political associations +of a lifetime. It meant, to the far-seeing, more than a temporary +estrangement, and it foretold results in the political field more +important than any which had been developed since the foundation +of the Republican party. + +The resistance to the Lecompton Bill in the House was unconquerable. +The Administration could not, with all its power and patronage, +enforce its passage. Anxious to avert the mortification of an +absolute and unqualified defeat, the supporters of the scheme +changed their ground, and offered a new measure, moved by Mr. +William H. English of Indiana, submitting the entire constitution +to a vote of the people. If adopted, the constitution carried with +it a generous land grant to the new State. If rejected, the +alternative was not only the withdrawal of the land grant, but +indefinite postponement of the whole question of admission. It +was simply a bribe, cunningly and unscrupulously contrived, to +induce the people of Kansas to accept a pro-slavery constitution. +It was not so outrageous as it would have been to force the +constitution upon the people without allowing them to vote upon it +at all, and it gave a shadow of excuse to certain Democrats, who +did not wish to separate from their party, for returning to the +ranks. The bill was at last forced through the House by 112 votes +to 103. Twelve Democrats, to their honor be it said, refused to +yield. Douglas held all his political associates from Illinois, +while the President failed to consolidate the Democrats from +Pennsylvania. John Hickman and Henry Chapman honorably and +tenaciously held their ground to the last against every phase of +the outrage. In New York, John B. Haskin and Horace F. Clarke +refused to yield, though great efforts were made to induce them to +support the administration. The Senate promptly concurred in the +English proposition. + + LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION REJECTED. + +But Kansas would not sell her birthright for a mess of pottage. +She had fought too long for freedom to be bribed to the support of +slavery. She had at last a free vote, and rejected the Lecompton +Constitution, land grant and all, by a majority of more than ten +thousand. The struggle was over. The pro-slavery men were defeated. +The North was victorious. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise +had not brought profit or honor to those who planned it. It had +only produced strife, anger, heart-burning, hatred. It had added +many drops to the cup of bitterness between North and South, and +had filled it to overflowing. It produced evil only, and that +continually. The repeal, in the judgment of the North, was a great +conspiracy against human freedom. In the Southern States it was +viewed as an honest effort to recover rights of which they had been +unjustly deprived. Each section held with firmness to its own +belief, and the four years of agitation had separated them so widely +that a return to fraternal feeling seemed impossible. Confidence, +the plant of slowest growth, had been destroyed. Who could restore +it to life and strength? + +Douglas had, in large degree, redeemed himself in the North from +the obloquy to which he had been subjected since the repeal of the +Missouri Compromise. The victory for free Kansas was perhaps to +an undue extent ascribed to him. The completeness of that victory +was everywhere recognized, and the lawless intruders who had worked +so hard to inflict slavery on the new Territory gradually withdrew. +In the South, Douglas was covered with maledictions. But for his +influence, Southern men felt that Kansas would have been admitted +with a pro-slavery constitution, and the senatorial equality of +the South firmly re-established. Northern Republicans, outside of +Illinois, were in a forgiving frame of mind toward Douglas; and he +had undoubtedly regained a very large share of his old popularity. +But Illinois Republicans were less amiable towards him. They would +not forget that he had broken down an anti-slavery barrier which +had been reared with toil and sanctified by time. He had not, as +they alleged, turned back from any test exacted by the South, until +he had reached the point where another step forward involved +political death to himself. They would not credit his hostility +to the Lecompton Constitution to any nobler motive than the instinct +of self-preservation. This was a harsh judgment, and yet a most +natural one. It inspired the Republicans of Illinois, and they +prepared to contest the return of Douglas to the Senate by formally +nominating Abraham Lincoln as an opposing candidate. + +The contest that ensued was memorable. Douglas had an herculean +task before him. The Republican party was young, strong, united, +conscious of its power, popular, growing. The Democratic party +was rent with faction, and the Administration was irrevocably +opposed to the return of Douglas to the Senate. He entered the +field, therefore, with a powerful opponent in front, and with +defection and betrayal in the rear. He was everywhere known as a +debater of singular skill. His mind was fertile in resources. He +was master of logic. No man perceived more quickly than he the +strength or the weakness of an argument, and no one excelled him +in the use of sophistry and fallacy. Where he could not elucidate +a point to his own advantage, he would fatally becloud it for his +opponent. In that peculiar style of debate, which, in its intensity, +resembles a physical contest, he had no equal. He spoke with +extraordinary readiness. There was no halting in his phrase. He +used good English, terse, vigorous, pointed. He disregarded the +adornments of rhetoric,--rarely used a simile. He was utterly +destitute of humor, and had slight appreciation of wit. He never +cited historical precedents except from the domain of American +politics. Inside that field his knowledge was comprehensive, +minute, critical. Beyond it his learning was limited. He was not +a reader. His recreations were not in literature. In the whole +range of his voluminous speaking it would be difficult to find +either a line of poetry or a classical allusion. But he was by +nature an orator; and by long practice a debater. He could lead +a crowd almost irresistibly to his own conclusions. He could, if +he wished, incite a mob to desperate deeds. He was, in short, an +able, audacious, almost unconquerable opponent in public discussion. + + LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS AS DEBATERS. + +It would have been impossible to find any man of the same type able +to meet him before the people of Illinois. Whoever attempted it +would probably have been destroyed in the first encounter. But +the man who was chosen to meet him, who challenged him to the +combat, was radically different in every phase of character. +Scarcely could two men be more unlike, in mental and moral +constitutions, than Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. Mr. +Lincoln was calm and philosophic. He loved the truth for the +truth's sake. He would not argue from a false premise, or be +deceived himself or deceive others by a false conclusion. He had +pondered deeply on the issues which aroused him to action. He had +given anxious thought to the problems of free government, and to +the destiny of the Republic. He had for himself marked out a path +of duty, and he walked in it fearlessly. His mental processes were +slower but more profound than those of Douglas. He did not seek +to say merely the thing which was best for that day's debate, but +the thing which would stand the test of time and square itself with +eternal justice. He wished nothing to appear white unless it was +white. His logic was severe and faultless. He did not resort to +fallacy, and could detect it in his opponent, and expose it with +merciless directness. He had an abounding sense of humor, and +always employed it in illustration of his argument,--never for the +mere sake of provoking merriment. In this respect he had the +wonderful aptness of Franklin. He often taught a great truth with +the felicitous brevity of an AEsop fable. His words did not flow +in an impetuous torrent as did those of Douglas, but they were +always well chosen, deliberate, and conclusive. + +Thus fitted for the contest, these men proceeded to a discussion +which at the time was so interesting so as to enchain the attention +of the nation,--in its immediate effect so striking as to affect +the organization of parties, in its subsequent effect so powerful +as to change the fate of millions. Mr. Lincoln had opened his own +canvass by a carefully prepared speech in which, after quoting the +maxim that a house divided against itself cannot stand, he uttered +these weighty words: "I believe this government cannot endure +permanently half slave, half free. I do not expect the Union to +be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect +it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all +the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the farther +spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the +belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its +advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful +in all the States, old as well as new, north as well as south." + +Mr. Lincoln had been warned by intimate friends to whom he had +communicated the contents of his speech, in advance of its delivery, +that he was treading on dangerous ground, that he would be +misrepresented as a disunionist, and that he might fatally damage +the Republican party by making its existence synonymous with a +destruction of the government. But he was persistent. It was +borne into his mind that he was announcing a great truth, and that +he would be wronging his own conscience, and to the extent of his +influence injuring his country, by withholding it, or in any degree +qualifying its declaration. If there was a disposition to avoid +the true significance of the contest with the South, he would not +be a party to it. He believed he could discern the scope and read +the destiny of the impending sectional controversy. He was sure +he could see far beyond the present, and hear the voice of the +future. He would not close the book; he would not shut his eyes; +he would not stop his ears. He avowed his faith, and stood firmly +to his creed. + +Mr. Douglas naturally, indeed inevitably, made his first and leading +speech against these averments of Mr. Lincoln. He had returned to +Illinois, after the adjournment of Congress, with a disturbed and +restless mind. He had one great ambition,--to re-instate himself +as a leader of the national Democracy, and, as incidental and +necessary to that end, to carry Illinois against Mr. Lincoln. The +issue embodied in Mr. Lincoln's speech afforded him the occasion +which he had coveted. His quick eye discerned an opportunity to +exclude from the canvass the disagreeable features in his own +political career by arraigning Mr. Lincoln as an enemy of the Union +and as an advocate of an internecine conflict in which the free +States and the slave States should wrestle in deadly encounter. +Douglas presented his indictment artfully and with singular force. +The two speeches were in all respects characteristic. Each had +made a strong presentation of his case, but the superior candor +and directness of Mr. Lincoln had made a deep impression on the +popular mind. + + THE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE. + +In the seven public debates which were held as the result of these +preliminary speeches, the questions at issue were elaborately and +exhaustively treated. The friends of each naturally claimed the +victory for their own champion. The speeches were listened to by +tens of thousands of eager auditors; but absorbing, indeed +unprecedented, as was the interest, the vast throngs behaved with +moderation and decorum. The discussion from beginning to end was +an amplification of the position which each had taken at the outset. +The arguments were held close to the subject, relating solely to +the slavery question, and not even incidentally referring to any +other political issue. Protection, free trade, internal improvements, +the sub-treasury, all the issues, in short, which had divided +parties for a long series of years, and on which both speakers +entertained very decided views, were omitted from the discussion. +The public mind saw but one issue; every thing else was irrelevant. +At the first meeting, Douglas addressed a series of questions to +Mr. Lincoln, skillfully prepared and well adapted to entrap him in +contradictions, or commit him to such extreme doctrine as would +ruin his canvass. Mr. Lincoln's answers at the second meeting, +held at Freeport, were both frank and adroit. Douglas had failed +to gain a point by his resort to the Socratic mode of argument. +He had indeed only given Mr. Lincoln an opportunity to exhibit both +his candor and his skill. After he had answered, he assumed the +offensive, and addressed a series of questions to Mr. Douglas which +were constructed with the design of forcing the latter to an +unmistakable declaration of his creed. Douglas had been a party +to the duplex construction of the Cincinnati platform of 1856, in +which the people of the South had been comforted with the doctrine +that slavery was protected in the Territories by the Constitution +against the authority of Congress and against the power of the +Territorial citizens, until the period should be reached, when, +under an enabling act to form a constitution for a State government, +the majority might decide the question of slavery. Of this doctrine +Mr. Breckinridge was the Southern representative, and he had for +that very reason been associated with Mr. Buchanan on the Presidential +ticket. On the other hand, the North was consoled, it would not +be unfair to say cajoled, with the doctrine of popular sovereignty +as defined by Mr. Douglas; and this gave to the people of the +Territories the absolute right to settle the question of slavery +for themselves at any time. The doctrine had, however, been utterly +destroyed by the Dred Scott decision, and, to the confusion of all +lines of division and distinction, Mr. Douglas had approved the +opinion of the Supreme Court. + +Douglas had little trouble in making answer in an _ad captandum_ +manner to all Mr. Lincoln's questions save one. The crucial test +was applied when Mr. Lincoln asked him "if the people of a Territory +can, in any lawful way, against the wishes of any citizen of the +United States, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the +formation of a State constitution?" In the first debate, when +Douglas had the opening, he had, in the popular judgment, rather +worsted Mr. Lincoln. His greater familiarity with the arts if not +the tricks of the stump had given him an advantage. But now Mr. +Lincoln had the opening, and he threw Mr. Douglas upon the defensive +by the question which reached the very marrow of the controversy. +Mr. Lincoln had measured the force of his question, and saw the +dilemma in which it would place Douglas. Before the meeting he +said, in private, that "Douglas could not answer that question in +such way as to be elected both Senator and President. He might so +answer it as to carry Illinois, but, in doing so, he would +irretrievably injure his standing with the Southern Democracy." +Douglas quickly realized his own embarrassment. He could not, in +the face of the Supreme-Court decision, declare that the people of +the Territory could exclude slavery by direct enactment. To admit, +on the other hand, that slavery was fastened upon the Territories, +--past all hope of resistance or protest on the part of a majority +of the citizens--would be to concede the victory to Mr. Lincoln +without further struggle. Between these impossible roads Douglas +sought a third. He answered that, regardless of the decision of +the Supreme Court, "the people of a Territory have the lawful means +to introduce or exclude slavery as they choose, for the reason that +slavery cannot exist unless supported by local police regulations. +Those police regulations can only be established by the local +legislature; and, if the people are opposed to slavery, they will, +by unfriendly legislation, effectually prevent the introduction." + +This was a lame, illogical, evasive answer; but it was put forth +by Douglas with an air of sincerity and urged in a tone of defiant +confidence. It gave to his supporters a plausible answer. But +Mr. Lincoln's analysis of the position was thorough, his ridicule +of it effective. Douglas's invention for destroying a right under +the Constitution by a police regulation was admirably exposed, and +his new theory that a thing "may be lawfully driven away from a +place where it has a lawful right to go" was keenly reviewed by +Mr. Lincoln. The debate of that day was the important one of the +series. Mr. Lincoln had secured an advantage in the national +relations of the contest which he held to the end. At the same +time Douglas had escaped a danger which threatened his destruction +in the State canvass, and secured his return to the Senate. As to +the respective merits of the contestants, it would be idle to expect +an agreement among contemporary partisans. But a careful reading +of the discussion a quarter of a century after it was held will +convince the impartial that in principle, in candor, in the enduring +force of logic, Mr. Lincoln had the advantage. It is due to fairness +to add that probably not another man in the country, with the +disabilities surrounding his position, could have maintained himself +so ably, so fearlessly, so effectively, as Douglas. + + BUCHANAN'S OPPOSITION TO DOUGLAS. + +Douglas was aided in his canvass by the undisguised opposition of +the administration. The hostility of President Buchanan and his +Southern supporters was the best possible proof to the people of +Illinois that Douglas was representing a doctrine which was not +relished by the pro-slavery party. The courage with which he fought +the administration gave an air of heroism to his canvass and prestige +to his position. It secured to him thousands of votes that would +otherwise have gone to Mr. Lincoln. For every vote which the +administration was able to withhold from Douglas, it added five to +his supporters. The result of the contest was, that, while Douglas +was enabled to secure a majority of eight in the Legislature in +consequence of an apportionment that was favorable to his side, +Mr. Lincoln received a plurality of four thousand in the popular +vote. In a certain sense, therefore, each had won a victory, and +each had incurred defeat. But the victory of Douglas and the means +by which it was won proved to be his destruction in the wider field +of his ambition. Mr. Lincoln's victory and defeat combined in the +end to promote his political fortunes, and to open to him the +illustrious career which followed. + +This debate was not a mere incident in American politics. It marked +an era. Its influence and effect were co-extensive with the +Republic. It introduced a new and distinct phase in the controversy +that was engrossing all minds. The position of Douglas separated +him from the Southern Democracy, and this, of itself, was a fact +of great significance. The South saw that the ablest leader of +the Northern Democracy had been compelled, in order to save himself +at home, to abjure the very doctrine on which the safety of slave +institutions depended. The propositions enunciated by Douglas in +answer to the questions of Mr. Lincoln, in the Freeport debate, +were as distasteful to the Southern mind as the position of Mr. +Lincoln himself. Lincoln advocated a positive inhibition of slavery +by the General Government. Mr. Douglas proposed to submit Southern +rights under the Constitution to the decision of the first mob or +rabble that might get possession of a Territorial legislature, and +pass a police regulation hostile to slavery. Against this construction +of the Constitution the South protested, and the protest carried +with it implacable hostility to Douglas. + +The separation of the Democratic party into warring factions was, +therefore, inevitable. The line of division was the same on which +the Republican party had been founded. It was the North against +the South, the South against the North. The great mass of Northern +Democrats began to consolidate in support of Douglas as determinedly +as the mass of Northern Whigs had followed Seward. The Southern +Democrats began, at the same time, to organize their States against +Douglas. Until his break from the regular ranks in his opposition +to the Lecompton Constitution, Douglas had enjoyed boundless +popularity with his party in the South. In every slave State, +there was still a small number of his old supporters who remained +true to him. But the great host had left him. He could not be +trusted. He had failed to stand by the extreme faith; he had +refused to respond to its last requirement. Even at the risk of +permanently dissevering the Democratic party, the Southern leaders +resolved to destroy Douglas. + +To this end, in the session of Congress following the debate with +Mr. Lincoln, the Democratic senators laid down, in a series of +resolutions, the true exposition of the creed of their party. +Douglas was not personally referred to, but the resolutions were +aimed so pointedly at what they regarded his heretical opinions, +that his name might as well have been incorporated. The resolutions +were adopted during the absence of Douglas from the Senate, on a +health-seeking tour, after his laborious canvass. With only the +dissenting vote of Mr. Pugh of Ohio among the Democrats, it was +declared that "neither Congress nor a territorial legislature, +whether by direct legislation, or legislation of an indirect or +unfriendly character, possesses the power to impair the right of +any citizen of the United States to take his slave property into +the common Territories, and there hold and enjoy the same while +the territorial condition exists." Not satisfied with this utter +destruction of the whole doctrine of popular sovereignty, the +Democratic senators gave one more turn to the wrench, by declaring +that if "the territorial government should fail or refuse to provide +adequate protection to the rights of the slave-holder, it will be +the duty of Congress to supply such deficiency." The doctrine thus +laid down by the Democratic senators was, in plain terms, that the +territorial legislature might protect slavery, but could not prohibit +it; and that even the Congress of the United States could only +intervene on the side of bondage, and never on the side of freedom. + + DOUGLAS AND THE SOUTHERN DEMOCRACY. + +Anxious as Douglas was to be re-established in full relations with +his party, he had not failed to see the obstacles in his way. He +now realized that a desperate fight was to be made against him; +that he was to be humiliated and driven from the Democratic ranks. +The creed laid down by the Southern senators was such as no man +could indorse without forfeiting his political life in free States. +Douglas did not propose to rush on self-destruction to oblige the +Democracy of the slave States; nor was he of the type of men who, +when the right cheek is smitten, will meekly turn the other for a +second blow. When his Democratic associates in the Senate proceeded +to read him out of the party, they apparently failed to see that +they were reading the Northern Democracy out with him. Jefferson +Davis and Judah P. Benjamin might construct resolutions adapted to +the latitude of the Gulf, and dragoon them through the Senate, with +aid and pressure from Buchanan's administration; but Douglas +commanded the votes of the Northern Democracy, and to the edict of +a pro-slavery caucus he defiantly opposed the solid millions who +followed his lead in the free States. + +Without wrangling over the resolutions in the Senate, Douglas made +answer to the whole series in a public letter of June 22, 1859, in +which he said that "if it shall become the policy of the Democratic +party to repudiate their time-honored principles, and interpolate +such new issues as the revival of the African slave-trade, or the +doctrine that the Constitution carries slavery into the Territories +beyond the power of the people to legally control it as other +property," he would not "accept a nomination for the Presidency if +tendered him." The aggressiveness of Southern opinion on the +slavery question was thus shown by Douglas in a negative or indirect +view. It is a remarkable fact, that, in still another letter, +Douglas argued quite elaborately against the revival of the African +slave-trade, which he believed to be among the designs of the most +advanced class of pro-slavery advocates. So acute a statesman as +Douglas could not fail to see, that, at every step of his controversy +with Southern Democrats, he was justifying the philosophy of Lincoln +when he maintained that the country was to become wholly free, or +wholly under the control of the slave power. + +The controversy thus precipitated between Douglas and the South +threatened the disruption of the Democratic party. That was an +event of very serious significance. It would bring the conflict +of sections still nearer by sundering a tie which had for so long +a period bound together vast numbers from the North and the South +in common sympathy and fraternal co-operation. Even those who were +most opposed to the Democratic party beheld its peril with a certain +feeling of regret not unmixed with apprehension. The Whig party +had been destroyed; and its Northern and Southern members, who, +but a few years before, had worked harmoniously for Harrison, for +Clay, for Taylor, were now enrolled in rival and hostile organizations. +A similar dissolution of the Democratic party would sweep away the +only common basis of political action still existing for men of +the free States and men of the slave States. The separation of +the Methodist church into Northern and Southern organizations, a +few years before, had been regarded by Mr. Webster as a portent of +evil for the Union. The division of the Democratic party would be +still more ominous. The possibility of such an event showed how +deeply the slavery question had affected all ranks,--social, +religious, and political. It showed, too, how the spirit of Calhoun +now inspired the party in whose councils the slightest word of +Jackson had once been law. This change, beginning with the defeat +of Van Buren in 1844, was at first slow; but it had afterwards +moved so rapidly and so far, that men in the North, who wished to +remain in the ranks of the Democracy, were compelled to trample on +the principles, and surrender the prejudices, of a lifetime. +Efforts to harmonize proved futile. In Congress the breach was +continually widening. + + FACTIONS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. + +The situation was cause of solicitude, and even grief, with thousands +to whom the old party was peculiarly endeared. The traditions of +Jefferson, of Madison, of Jackson, were devoutly treasured; and +the splendid achievements of the American Democracy were recounted +with the pride which attaches to an honorable family inheritance. +The fact was recalled that the Republic had grown to its imperial +dimensions under Democratic statesmanship. It was remembered that +Louisiana had been acquired from France, Florida from Spain, the +independent Republic of Texas annexed, and California, with its +vast dependencies, and its myriad millions of treasure, ceded by +Mexico, all under Democratic administrations, and in spite of the +resistance of their opponents. That a party whose history was +inwoven with the glory of the Republic should now come to its end +in a quarrel over the status of the negro, in a region where his +labor was not wanted, was, to many of its members, as incomprehensible +as it was sorrowful and exasperating. They protested, but they +could not prevent. Anger was aroused, and men refused to listen +to reason. They were borne along, they knew not whither or by what +force. Time might have restored the party to harmony, but at the +very height of the factional contest the representatives of both +sections were hurried forward to the National Convention of 1860, +with principle subordinated to passion, with judgment displaced by +a desire for revenge. + +[NOTE.--The following are the questions, referred to on p. 147, +which were propounded to Mr. Douglas by Mr. Lincoln in their debate +at Freeport. The popular interest was centred in the second +question. + +_First_, If the people of Kansas shall, by means entirely +unobjectionable in all other respects, adopt a State Constitution, +and ask admission into the Union under it before they have the +requisite number of inhabitants, according to the English bill-- +some ninety-three thousand--will you vote to admit them? + +_Second_, Can the people of a United-States Territory, in any lawful +way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude +slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a State +Constitution? + +_Third_, If the Supreme Court of the United States shall decide +that States cannot exclude slavery from their limits, are you in +favor or acquiescing in, adopting, and following such decision as +a rule of political action? + +_Fourth_, Are you in favor of acquiring additional territory, in +disregard of how such acquisition may affect the nation on the +slavery question?] + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Excited Condition of the South.--The John Brown Raid at Harper's +Ferry.--Character of Brown.--Governor Wise.--Hot Temper.--Course +of Republicans in Regard to John Brown.--Misunderstanding of the +Two Sections.--Assembling of the Charleston Convention.--Position +of Douglas and his Friends.--Imperious Demands of Southern Democrats. +--Caleb Cushing selected for Chairman of the Convention.--The South +has Control of the Committee on Resolutions.--Resistance of the +Douglas Delegates.--They defeat the Report of the Committee.-- +Delegates from Seven Southern States withdraw.--Convention unable +to make a Nomination.--Adjourns to Baltimore.--Convention divides. +--Nomination of both Douglas and Breckinridge.--Constitutional +Union Convention.--Nomination of Bell and Everett.--The Chicago +Convention.--Its Membership and Character.--Mr. Seward's Position. +--His Disabilities.--Work of his Friends, Thurlow Weed and William +M. Evarts.--Opposition of Horace Greeley.--Objections from Doubtful +States.--Various Candidates.--Nomination of Lincoln and Hamlin.-- +Four Presidential Tickets in the Field.--Animated Canvass.--The +Long Struggle over.--The South defeated.--Election of Lincoln.-- +Political Revolution of 1860 complete. + +The South was unnaturally and unjustifiably excited. The people +of the slave States could not see the situation accurately, but, +like a man with disordered nerves, they exaggerated every thing. +Their sense of proportion seemed to be destroyed, so that they +could no longer perceive the intrinsic relation which one incident +had to another. In this condition of mind, when the most ordinary +events were misapprehended and mismeasured, they were startled and +alarmed by an occurrence of extraordinary and exceptional character. +On the quiet morning of October, 1859, with no warning whatever to +the inhabitants, the United-States arsenal, at Harper's Ferry, +Virginia, was found to be in the possession of an invading mob. +The town was besieged, many of its citizens made prisoners, telegraph +wires cut, railway-trains stopped by a force which the people, as +they were aroused from sleep, had no means of estimating. A +resisting body was soon organized, militia came in from the +surrounding country, regular troops were hurried up from Washington. +By the opening of the second day, a force of fifteen hundred men +surrounded the arsenal, and, when the insurgents surrendered, it +was found that there had been but twenty-two in all. Four were +still alive, including their leader, John Brown. + + JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY. + +Brown was a man of singular courage, perseverance, and zeal, but +was entirely misguided and misinformed. He had conceived the +utterly impracticable scheme of liberating the slaves of the South +by calling on them to rise, putting arms in their hands, and aiding +them to gain their freedom. He had borne a very conspicuous and +courageous part in the Kansas struggles, and had been a terror to +the slave-holders on the Missouri border. His bravery was of a +rare type. He had no sense of fear. Governor Wise stated that +during the fight, while Brown held the arsenal, with one of his +sons lying dead beside him, another gasping with a mortal wound, +he felt the pulse of the dying boy, used his own musket, and coolly +commanded his men, all amid a shower of bullets from the attacking +force. While of sound mind on most subjects, Brown had evidently +lost his mental balance on the one topic of slavery. His scheme +miscarried the moment its execution was attempted, as any one not +blinded by fanaticism could have from the first foreseen. + +The matter was taken up in hot wrath by the South, with Governor +Wise in the lead. The design was not known to or approved by any +body of men in the North; but an investigation was moved in the +Senate, by Mr. Mason of Virginia, with the evident view of fixing +the responsibility on the Northern people, or, at least, upon the +Republican party. These men affected to see in John Brown, and +his handful of followers, only the advance guard of another irruption +of Goths and Vandals from the North, bent on inciting servile +insurrection, on plunder, pillage, and devastation. Mr. Mason's +committee found no sentiment in the North justifying Brown, but +the irritating and offensive course of the Virginia senator called +forth a great deal of defiant anti-slavery expression which, in +his judgment, was tantamount to treason. Brown was tried and +executed. He would not permit the plea of unsound mind to be made +on his behalf, and to the end he behaved with that calm courage +which always attracts respect and admiration. Much was made of +the deliverance of the South, from a great peril, and every thing +indicated that the John Brown episode was to be drawn into the +political campaign as an indictment against anti-slavery men. It +was loudly charged by the South, and by their partisans throughout +the North, that such insurrections were the legitimate outgrowth +of Republican teaching, and that the national safety demanded the +defeat and dissolution of the Republican party. Thus challenged, +the Republican party did not stand on the defensive. Many of its +members openly expressed their pity for the zealot, whose rashness +had led him to indefensible deeds and thence to the scaffold. On +the day of his execution, bells were tolled in many Northern towns +--not in approval of what Brown had done, but from compassion for +the fate of an old man whose mind had become distempered by suffering, +and by morbid reflection on the suffering of others; from a feeling +that his sentence, in view of this fact, was severe; and lastly, +and more markedly, as a Northern rebuke to the attempt on the part +of the South to make a political issue from an occurrence which +was as unforeseen and exceptional as it was deplorable. + +The fear and agitation in the South were not feigned but real. +Instead of injuring the Republican party, this very fact increased +its strength in the North. The terror of the South at the bare +prospect of a negro insurrection led many who had not before studied +the slavery question to give serious heed to this phase of it. +The least reflection led men to see that a domestic institution +must be very undesirable which could keep an entire community of +brave men in dread of some indefinable tragedy. Mobs and riots of +much greater magnitude than the John Brown uprising had frequently +occurred in the free States, and they were put down by the firm +authority of law, without the dread hand of a spectre behind which +might in a moment light the horizon with the conflagration of homes, +and subject wives and daughters to a fate of nameless horror. +Instead, therefore, of arresting the spread of Republican principles, +the mad scheme of John Brown tended to develop and strengthen them. +The conviction grew rapidly that if slavery could produce such +alarm and such demoralization in a strong State like Virginia, +inhabited by a race of white men whose courage was never surpassed, +it was not an institution to be encouraged, but that its growth +should be prohibited in the new communities where its weakening +and baleful influence was not yet felt. + +Sentiment of this kind could not be properly comprehended in the +South. It was honestly misrepresented by some, willfully misrepresented +by others. All construed it into a belief, on the part of a large +proportion of the Northern people, that John Brown was entirely +justifiable. His wild invasion of the South, they apprehended, +would be repeated as opportunity offered on a larger scale and with +more deadly purpose. This opinion was stimulated and developed +for political ends by many whose intelligence should have led them +to more enlightened views. False charges being constantly repeated +and plied with incessant zeal, the most radical misconception became +fixed in the Southern mind. It was idle for the Republican party +to declare that their aim was only to prevent the extension of +slavery to free territory, and that they were pledged not to +interfere with its existence in the States. Such distinctions were +not accepted by the Southern people. Their leaders had taught them +that the one necessarily involved the other, and that a man who +was in favor of the Wilmot Proviso was as bitter an enemy to the +South as one who incited a servile insurrection. These views were +unceasingly pressed upon the South by the Northern Democracy, who, +in their zeal to defeat the Republicans at home, did not scruple +to misrepresent their aims in the most reckless manner. They were +constantly misleading the public opinion of the slave States, until +at last the South recognized no difference between the creed of +Seward and the creed of Gerrit Smith, and held Lincoln responsible +for all the views and expressions of William Lloyd Garrison and +Wendell Phillips. The calling of a National Republican Convention +was to their disordered imagination a threat of destruction. The +success of its candidates would, in their view, be just cause for +resistance outside the pale of the Constitution. + + + MEETING OF CHARLESTON CONVENTION. + +It was at the height of this overwrought condition of the Southern +mind, that the National Convention of the Democratic party met at +Charleston on the 23d of April, 1860. The convention had been +assembled in South Carolina, as the most discontented and extreme +of Southern States, in order to signify that the Democracy could +harmonize on her soil, and speak peace to the nation through the +voice which had so often spoken peace before. But the Northern +Democrats failed to comprehend their Southern allies. In their +anxiety to impress the slave-holders with the depth and malignity +of Northern anti-slavery feeling, they had unwittingly implicated +themselves as accessories to the crime they charged on others. If +they were, in fact, the friends to the South which they so loudly +proclaimed themselves to be, now was the time to show their faith +by their works. The Southern delegates had come to the convention +in a truculent spirit,--as men who felt that they were enduring +wrongs which must then and there be righted. They had a grievance +for which they demanded redress, as a preliminary step to further +conference. They wanted no evasion, they would accept no delay. +The Northern delegates begged for the nomination of Douglas as the +certain method of defeating the Republicans, and asked that they +might not be borne down by a platform which they could not carry +in the North. The Southern delegates demanded a platform which +should embody the Constitutional rights of the slave-holder, and +they would not qualify or conceal their requirements. If the North +would sustain those rights, all would be well. If the North would +not sustain them, it was of infinite moment to the South to be +promptly and definitely advised of the fact. The Southern delegates +were not presenting a particular man as candidate. On that point +they would be liberal and conciliatory. But they were fighting +for a principle, and would not surrender it or compromise it. + +The supporters of Douglas from the North saw that they would be +utterly destroyed at home if they consented to the extreme Southern +demand. Their destruction would be equally sure even with Douglas +as their candidate if the platform should announce principles which +he had been controverting ever since his revolt against the Lecompton +bill. For the first time in the history of national Democratic +conventions the Northern delegates refused to submit to the exactions +of the South. Hitherto platforms had been constructed just as +Southern men dictated. Candidates had been taken as their preference +directed. But now the Northern men, pressed by the rising tide of +Republicanism in every free State, demanded some ground on which +they could stand and make a contest at home. + + PROCEEDINGS OF CHARLESTON CONVENTION. + +Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts was chosen President of the Convention. +The political career of Mr. Cushing had not been distinguished for +steady adherence to party. He was elected to Congress in 1834, as +representative from the Essex district in Massachusetts. He was +at that time a zealous member of the Whig party, and was active on +the Northern or anti-slavery side in the discussions relating to +the "right of petition." He served in the House for eight years. +After the triumph of Harrison in 1840, Mr. Cushing evidently aspired +to be a party leader. In the quarrel which ensued between President +Tyler and Mr. Clay, he saw an opportunity to gratify his ambition +by adhering to the administration. This brought him into very +close relations with Mr. Webster, who remained in Tyler's Cabinet +after his colleagues retired, and threw him at the same time into +rank antagonism with Mr. Clay, to whose political fortunes he had +previously been devoted. In view of the retirement of Mr. Webster +from the State Department in 1843, President Tyler nominated Mr. +Cushing for Secretary of the Treasury, but the Whig senators, +appreciating his power and influence in that important position, +procured his rejection. Some Democratic votes from the South were +secured against him because of his course in the House of +Representatives. The President then nominated him as Commissioner +to China, and he was promptly confirmed. Oriental diplomatists +never encountered a minister better fitted to meet them with their +own weapons. + +Upon his return home, Mr. Cushing found that Mr. Webster had resumed +his place as the leader of the Northern Whigs. Mr. Clay had +meanwhile been defeated for the Presidency, his followers were +discouraged, the administration of Mr. Polk was in power. Mr. +Cushing at once joined the Democracy, and was made a Brigadier- +General in the army raised for the war with Mexico. From that time +onward he became a partisan of the extreme State-rights school of +the Southern Democracy, and was appropriately selected for Attorney- +General by President Pierce in 1853. In conjunction with Jefferson +Davis, he was considered to be the guiding and controlling force +in the administration. His thorough education, his remarkable +attainments, his eminence in the law, his ability as an advocate, +rendered his active co-operation of great value to the pro-slavery +Democrats of the South. He was naturally selected for the important +and difficult duty of presiding over the convention whose deliberations +were to affect the interests of the Government, and possibly the +fate of the Union. + +It was soon evident that the South would have every advantage in +the convention which an intelligent and skillful administration of +parliamentary law could afford. Without showing unfairness, the +presiding officer, especially in a large and boisterous assembly, +can impart confidence and strength to the side with which he may +sympathize. But, apart from any power to be derived from having +the chairman of the convention, the South had a more palpable +advantage from the mode in which the standing committees must, +according to precedent, be constituted. As one member must be +taken from each State, the Southern men obtained the control of +all the committees, from the fact that the delegates from California +and Oregon steadily voted with them. There were thirty-three States +in the Union in 1860,--eighteen free and fifteen slave-holding. +California and Oregon, uniting with the South, gave to that section +seventeen, and left to the North but sixteen on all the committees. +The Democratic delegates from the Pacific States assumed a weighty +responsibility in thus giving to the Disunionists of the South +preliminary control of the convention, by permitting them to shape +authoritatively all the business to be submitted. It left the real +majority of the convention in the attitude of a protesting minority. +The Southern majority of one on the committees was fatal to Democratic +success. In a still more important aspect its influence was in +the highest degree prejudicial to the Union of the States. + +Constituted in the manner just indicated, the Committee on Resolutions +promptly and unanimously agreed on every article of the Democratic +creed, except that relating to slavery. Here they divided, stubbornly +and irreconcilably. The fifteen slave States, re-enforced by +California and Oregon, gave to the Southern interest a majority of +one vote on the committee. The other free States, sixteen in all, +were hostile to the extreme Southern demands, and reported a +resolution, which they were willing to accept. The South required +an explicit assertion of the right of citizens to settle in the +Territories with their slaves,--a right not "to be destroyed or +impaired by Congressional or Territorial legislation." They required +the further declaration that it is the duty of the Federal Government, +when necessary, to protect slavery "in the Territories, and wherever +else its constitutional authority extends." This was in substance, +and almost identically in language, the extreme creed put forth by +the Southern Democratic senators in the winter of 1858-59, after +the "popular sovereignty" campaign of Douglas against Lincoln. It +was the most advanced ground ever taken by the statesmen of the +South, and its authorship was generally ascribed to Judah F. +Benjamin, senator from Louisiana. Its introduction in the Charleston +platform was intended apparently as an insult to Douglas. The +evident purpose was to lay down doctrines and prescribe tests which +Douglas could not accept, and thus to exclude him, not only from +candidacy, but from further participation in the councils of the +party. + + QUARREL OF DEMOCRATIC FACTIONS. + +The courage of the Northern Democrats was more conspicuously shown +in their resistance to these demands than in the declarations which +they desired to substitute. They quietly abandoned all their +assertions in regard to popular sovereignty, refrained from any +protest against the doctrine that the Constitution carried slavery +as far as its jurisdiction extended, and contented themselves with +a resolution that "inasmuch as differences of opinion exist in the +Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the powers of a +Territorial Legislature, and as to the powers and duties of Congress +under the Constitution of the United States over the institution +of slavery within the Territories, the Democratic party will abide +by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States upon +questions of Constitutional law." This was perhaps the best device +practicable at the time; and had it been adopted with Douglas as +the candidate, and a united Democracy supporting him, it is not +improbable that a successful campaign might have been made. But +it was a makeshift, uncandid, unfair, cunningly contrived to evade +the full responsibility of the situation. It was a temporizing +expedient, and did not frankly meet the question which was engaging +the thoughts of the people. Had it succeeded, nothing would have +been settled. Every thing would have been postponed, and the crisis +would have inevitably recurred. So far as the Supreme Court could +determine the questions at issue, it had already been done in the +Dred Scott decision; and that decision, so far from being final, +was a part of the current controversy. There was, therefore, +neither logic nor principle in the proposition of the Douglas +minority. The Southern delegates keenly realized this fact, and +refused to accept the compromise. They could not endure the thought +of being placed in a position which was not only evasive, but might +be deemed cowardly. They were brave men, and wished to meet the +question bravely. They knew that the Republicans in their forthcoming +convention would explicitly demand the prohibition of slavery in +the Territories. To hesitate or falter in making an equally explicit +assertion of their own faith would subject them to fatal assault +from their slave-holding constituencies. + +The Douglas men would not yield. They were enraged by the domineering +course of the Southern Democrats. They could not comprehend why +they should higgle about the language of the platform when they +could carry the slave States on the one form of expression as well +as the other. In the North it was impossible for the Democrats to +succeed with the Southern platform, but in the South it was, in +their judgment, entirely easy to carry the Douglas platform. From +the committee the contest was transferred to the convention, and +there the Douglas men were in a majority. They did not hesitate +to use their strength, and by a vote of 165 to 138 they substituted +the minority platform for that of the majority. It was skillfully +accomplished under the lead of Henry B. Payne of Ohio and Benjamin +Samuels of Iowa. The total vote of the convention was 303,--the +number of Presidential electors; and every vote had been cast on +the test question. The South voted solidly in the negative, and +was aided by the vote of California and Oregon, and a few scattering +delegates from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The other fourteen +States of the North voted unanimously on the side of Douglas, and +gave him a majority of twenty-seven. + +The Northern victory brought with it a defeat. A large number of +the Southern delegates, though fairly and honorably outvoted, +refused to abide by the decision. Seven States--Louisiana, Alabama, +South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas--withdrew +from the convention, and organized a separate assemblage, presided +over by Senator James A. Bayard of Delaware. By this defection +the Douglas men were left in absolute control of the convention. +But the friends of Douglas fatally obstructed his program by +consenting to the two-thirds rule, so worded as to required that +proportion of a full convention to secure a nomination. The first +vote disclosed the full strength of Douglas to be 152. He required +202 to be declared the nominee. After an indefinite number of +ballots, it was found impossible to make a nomination; and on the +3d of May the convention adjourned to meet in Baltimore on the 18th +of June. In the intervening weeks it was hoped that a more harmonious +spirit would return to the party. But the expectation was vain. +The differences were more pronounced than ever when the convention +re-assembled, and, all efforts to find a common basis of action +having failed, the convention divided. The Southern delegates with +California and Oregon, and with some scattering members from other +States, among whom were Caleb Cushing and Benjamin F. Butler of +Massachusetts, nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for +President, and Joseph Lane of Oregon for Vice-President. The +Northern convention, with a few scattering votes from the South, +nominated Stephen A. Douglas for President, and Herschel V. Johnson +of Georgia for Vice-President. Of the seventeen States that made +up the Breckinridge convention, it was deemed probable that he +could carry all. Of the sixteen that voted for Douglas, it was +difficult to name one in which with a divided party he could be +sure of victory. United in support of either candidate, the party +could have made a formidable contest, stronger in the North with +Douglas, stronger in the South with Breckinridge. Had the Democracy +presented Douglas and Breckinridge as their National nominees, they +would have combined all the elements of strength in their party. +But passion and prejudice prevented. The South was implacable +toward Douglas, and deliberately resolved to accept defeat rather +than secure a victory under his lead. + + DISRUPTION OF THE DEMOCRACY. + +The disruption of the Democracy was undoubtedly hastened by the +political events which had occurred since the adjournment at +Charleston. An organization, styling itself the Constitutional- +Union Party, representing the successors of the Old Whigs and +Americans, had met in Baltimore, and nominated John Bell of Tennessee +for President, and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for Vice-President. +The strength of the party was in the South. In the slave States +it formed the only opposition to the Democratic party, and was as +firm in defense of the rights of the slave-holder as its rival. +Its members had not been so ready to repeal the Missouri Compromise +as the Democrats, and they were unrelenting in their hostility to +Douglas, and severe in their exposure of his dogma of popular +sovereignty. They had effectively aided in bringing both the +doctrine and its author into disrepute in the South, and, if the +Democrats had ventured to nominate Douglas, they had their weapons +ready for vigorous warfare against him. + +With a Southern slave-holder like Mr. Bell at the head of the +ticket, and a Northern man of Mr. Everett's well-known conservatism +associated with him, the Constitutional-Union Party was in a position +to make a strong canvass against Douglas in the South. It was this +fact which, on the re-assembling of the Democratic convention at +Baltimore, had increased the hostility of the South to Douglas, +and made their leaders firm in their resolution not to accept him. +Had the Union party nominated a Northern man instead of Mr. Bell +for President, the case might have been different for Douglas; but +the Southern Democrats feared that their party would be endangered +in half the slave States if they should present Douglas as a +candidate against a native Southerner and slave-holder of Bell's +character and standing. If they were to be beaten in the contest +for the Presidency, they were determined to retain, if possible, +the control of their States, and not to risk their seats in the +Senate and the House in a desperate struggle for Douglas. It would +be poor recompense to them to recover certain Northern States from +the Republicans, if at the same time, and by co-ordinate causes, +an equal number of Southern States should be carried by Bell, and +the destiny of the South be committed to a conservative party, +which would abandon threats and cultivate harmony. Bell's nomination +had, therefore, proved the final argument against the acceptance +of Douglas by the Southern Democracy. + +Meanwhile, between the adjournment of the Democratic convention at +Charleston, and its re-assembling at Baltimore, the Republicans +had held their national convention at Chicago. It was a representative +meeting of the active and able men of both the old parties in the +North, who had come together on the one overshadowing issue of the +hour. Differing widely on many other questions, inheriting their +creeds from antagonistic organizations of the past, they thought +alike on the one subject of putting a stop to the extension of +slavery. Those who wished to go farther were restrained, and an +absolute control of opinion and action was commanded on this one +line. In the entire history of party conventions, not one can be +found so characteristic, so earnest, so determined to do the wisest +thing, so little governed by personal consideration, so entirely +devoted to one absorbing idea. It was made up in great part of +young men, though there were gray-haired veterans in sufficient +number to temper action with discretion. A large proportion of +the delegates were afterwards prominent in public life. At least +sixty of them, till then unknown beyond their districts, were sent +to Congress. Many became governors of their States, and in other +ways received marks of popular favor. It was essentially a convention +of the free States--undisguisedly sectional in the political +nomenclature of the day. The invitation was general, but, in the +larger portion of the South, no one could be found who would risk +his life by attending as a delegate. Nevertheless, there were +delegates present from the five slave States which bordered on the +free States, besides a partial and irregular representation from +Texas. + + REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION. + +The anti-slavery character of the assemblage was typified by the +selection of David Wilmot for temporary chairman, and its conservative +side by the choice of an old Webster Whig, in the person of George +Ashmun of Massachusetts, for permanent president. This tendency +to interweave the radical and conservative elements, and, where +practicable, those of Whig with those of Democratic antecedents, +was seen in many delegations. John A. Andrew and George S. Boutwell +came from Massachusetts, William M. Evarts and Preston King from +New York, Thaddeus Stevens and Andrew H. Reeder from Pennsylvania, +Thomas Corwin and Joshua R. Giddings from Ohio, David Davis and N. +B. Judd from Illinois. Outside of the regular delegations, there +were great crowds of earnest men in Chicago, all from the free +States. The number in attendance was reckoned by tens of thousands. +Considering the restricted facilities for travel at that time, the +multitude was surprising and significant. The whole mass was +inspired with energy, and believed, without shadow of doubt, that +they had come to witness the nomination of the next President of +the United States. Confidence of strength is as potential an +element in a political canvass as in a military campaign, and never +was a more defiant sense of power exhibited than by the Chicago +convention of 1860 and by the vast throng which surrounded its +meetings. Such a feeling is contagious, and it spread from that +centre until it enveloped the free States. + +The impression in the country, for a year preceding the convention, +was that Mr. Seward would be nominated. As the time drew nigh, +however, symptoms of dissent appeared in quarters where it had not +been expected. New parties are proverbially free from faction and +jealousy. Personal antagonisms, which come with years, had not +then been developed in the Republican ranks. It was not primarily +a desire to promote the cause of other candidates which led to the +questioning of Mr. Seward's availability, nor was there any +withholding of generous recognition and appreciation of all that +he had done for Republican principles. His high character was +gladly acknowledged, his eminent ability conceded, the magnitude +and unselfishness of his work were everywhere praised. Without +his aid, the party could not have been organized. But for his wise +leadership, it would have been wrecked in the first years of its +existence. He was wholly devoted to its principles. He had staked +every thing upon its success. + +Mr. Seward had, however, some weak points as a candidate. A large +proportion of the Republicans had been connected with the American +organization, and still cherished some of its principles. Mr. +Seward had been the determined foe of that party. In battling for +the rights of the negro, he deemed it unwise and inconsistent to +increase the disabilities of the foreign-born citizen. His influence, +more than that of any other man, had broken down the proscriptive +creed of the American party, and turned its members into the +Republican ranks. But many of them came reluctantly, and in a +complaining mood against Mr. Seward. This led political managers +to fear that Mr. Seward would lose votes which another candidate +might secure. Others though that the radicalism of Mr. Seward +would make him weak, where a more conservative representative of +Republican principles might be strong. He had been at the forefront +of the battle for twelve years in the Senate, and every extreme +thing he had said was remembered to his injury. He had preached +the doctrine of an "irrepressible conflict" between the forces of +slavery and the forces of freedom, and timid men dreaded such a +trial as his nomination would presage. The South had made continuous +assault on this speech, and on the particular phrase which +distinguished it, and had impressed many Northern men with the +belief that Mr. Seward had gone too far. In short, he had been +too conspicuous, and too many men had conceived predilections +against him. + +When the convention assembled, notwithstanding all adverse influences, +Mr. Seward was still the leading and most formidable candidate. +His case was in strong and skillful hands. Mr. Thurlow Weed, who +had been his lifelong confidential friend, presented his claims, +before the formal assembling of the convention, with infinite tact. +Mr. Weed, though unable to make a public speech, was the most +persuasive of men in private conversation. He was quiet, gentle, +and deferential in manner. He grasped a subject with a giant's +strength, presented its strong points, and marshaled its details +with extraordinary power. Whatever Mr. Weed might lack was more +than supplied by the eloquent tongue of William M. Evarts. Seldom +if ever in the whole field of political oratory have the speeches +of Mr. Evarts at Chicago been equaled. Even those who most decidedly +differed from him followed him from one delegation to another +allured by the charm of his words. He pleaded for the Republic, +for the party that could save it, for the great statesman who had +founded the party, and knew where and how to lead it. He spoke as +one friend for another, and the great career of Mr. Seward was +never so illumined as by the brilliant painting of Mr. Evarts. + + REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION. + +With all the potential efforts and influences in his behalf, Mr. +Seward was confronted with obstacles which were insuperable. He +was seriously injured by the open defection of Horace Greeley. +Not able, or even desirous, to appear on the New-York delegation, +Mr. Greeley sat in the convention as a representative from Oregon. +The old firm of Seward, Weed, and Greeley, according to his own +humorous expression, had been dissolved by the withdrawal of the +junior partner; and a bitter dissension had in fact existed for +six years without public knowledge. With his great influence in +the agricultural regions of the country, Mr. Greeley was enabled +to turn a strong current of popular feeling against the eminent +senator from New York. Mr. Seward sustained further injury by the +action of the States which were regarded as politically doubtful. +Pennsylvania and Indiana took part against him. Henry S. Lane had +just been nominated for governor of Indiana, with Oliver P. Morton +--not then known beyond his State--for lieutenant-governor. It +was understood that Lane would be sent to the Senate if the +Republicans should carry the State, and that Morton, whose strength +of character was known and appreciated at home, would become +governor. Both candidates, having each a personal stake in the +contest, united in declaring that the nomination of Mr. Seward +meant a Democratic victory in Indiana. Andrew G. Curtin, who had +been nominated for governor of Pennsylvania, gave the same testimony +respecting that State; and his judgment was sustained by his faithful +friend and adviser, Alexander K. McClure. Delegates from other +States, where the contest was close, sympathized with the views of +Pennsylvania and Indiana, and there was a rapid and formidable +combination against Mr. Seward. The reformer and his creed rarely +triumph at the same time, and the fate of Mr. Seward was about to +add one more illustration of this truth. + +But if not Mr. Seward, who? The Blairs and Horace Greeley answered, +"Edward Bates of Missouri,"--an old Whig, a lawyer of ability, a +gentleman of character. Though still in vigorous life, he had sat +in the convention which framed the constitution of Missouri in +1820. He had revered the Compromise of that year, and had joined +the Republicans in resentment of its repeal. Ohio, in a half- +hearted manner, presented Salmon P. Chase, who, with great ability +and spotless fame, lacked the elements of personal popularity. +Pennsylvania, with an imposing delegation, named Simon Cameron; +New Jersey desired William L. Dayton; Vermont wanted Jacob Collamer; +and delegates here and there suggested Judge McLean or Benjamin +F. Wade. The popular candidate of 1856, John C. Frémont, had +forbidden the use of his name. + +Illinois had a candidate. He was held back with sound discretion, +and at the opportune moment presented with great enthusiasm. Ever +since the discussion with Douglas, Mr. Lincoln had occupied a +prominent place before the public; but there had been little mention +of his name for the Presidency. His friends at home had apparently +hoped to nominate him for Vice-President on the ticket with Mr. +Seward. But as the proofs of hostility to Seward multiplied, +speculation was busy as to the man who could be taken in his stead. +At the moment when doubts of Seward's success were most prevalent, +and when excitement in regard to the nomination was deepest, the +Republicans of Illinois met in State convention. It was but a few +days in advance of the assembling of the National convention. By +a spontaneous movement they nominated Mr. Lincoln for President. +It was a surprise to the convention that did it. The man who +created the great outburst for Mr. Lincoln in that Illinois +assemblage, who interpreted the feelings of delegates to themselves, +was Richard J. Oglesby, a speaker of force and eloquence, afterward +honorably prominent and popular in military and civil life. He +was seconded with unanimity, and with boisterous demonstrations of +applause. The whole State was instantly alive and ablaze for +Lincoln. A delegation competent for its work was sent to the +convention. David Davis, O. H. Browning, Burton C. Cook, Gustavus +Koerner, and their associates, met no abler body of men in a +convention remarkable for its ability. They succeeded in the +difficult task assigned to them. They did not in their canvass +present Mr. Lincoln as a rival to Mr. Seward, but rather as an +admirer and friend. The votes which were given to Mr. Lincoln on +the first ballot were, in large part, from delegations that could +not be induced in any event to vote for Mr. Seward. The presentation +of Mr. Lincoln's name kept these delegates from going to a candidate +less acceptable to the immediate friends of Mr. Seward. No management +could have been more skillful, no tact more admirable. The result +attested the vigor and wisdom of those who had Mr. Lincoln's fortunes +in charge. + +Mr. Seward's support, however, after all the assaults made upon +it, was still very formidable. On the first ballot he received +175˝ votes, while Mr. Lincoln received but 102. Delegates to the +number of 190 divided their votes between Bates, Chase, Cameron, +Dayton, McLean, and Collamer. They held the balance of power, and +on the second ballot it was disclosed that the mass of them favored +Mr. Lincoln as against Mr. Seward. The latter gained but nine +votes, carrying his total up to 184˝, while Mr. Lincoln received +181. On the third ballot, Mr. Lincoln was nominated by general +consent. + + NOMINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + +It is one of the contradictions not infrequently exhibited in the +movement of partisan bodies, that Mr. Seward was defeated because +of his radical expressions on the slavery questions, while Mr. +Lincoln was chosen in spite of expressions far more radical than +those of Mr. Seward. The "irrepressible conflict" announced by +Mr. Seward at Rochester did not go so far as Mr. Lincoln's declaration +at Springfield, that "the Union could not exist half slave, half +free." Neither Mr. Seward nor Mr. Lincoln contemplated the +destruction of the government, and yet thousands had been made to +believe that Mr. Seward made the existence of the Union depend on +the abolition of slavery. Mr Lincoln had announced the same doctrine +in advance of Mr. Seward, with a directness and bluntness which +could not be found in the more polished phrase of the New-York +senator. Despite these facts, a large number of delegates from +doubtful States--delegates who held the control of the convention +--supported Mr. Lincoln, on the distinct ground that the anti- +slavery sentiment which they represented was not sufficiently +radical to support the author of the speech in which had been +proclaimed the doctrine of an "irrepressible conflict" between +freedom and slavery. + +In a final analysis of the causes and forces which nominated Mr. +Lincoln, great weight must be given to the influence which came +from the place where the convention was held, and from the sympathy +and pressure of the surrounding crowd. Illinois Republicans, from +Cairo to the Wisconsin line, were present in uncounted thousands. +The power of the mob in controlling public opinion is immeasurable. +In monarchical governments it has dethroned kings, and in republics +it dictates candidates. Had the conditions been changed and the +National convention of the Republicans assembled in Albany, it is +scarcely to be doubted that Mr. Seward would have been nominated. +It is quite certain that Mr. Lincoln would not have been nominated. +The great achievement at Chicago was the nomination of Mr. Lincoln +without offending the supporters of Seward. This happy result +secured victory for the party in the national contest. No wounds +were inflicted, no hatreds planted, no harmonies disturbed. The +devotion to the cause was so sincere and so dominant, that the +personal ambitions of a lifetime were subordinated in an instant +upon the demand of the popular tribunal whose decision was final. +The discipline of defeat was endured with grace, and self-abnegation +was accepted as the supreme duty of the hour. + +A wise selection was made for Vice-President. Hannibal Hamlin +belonged originally to the school of Democrats who supported Jackson, +and who took Silas Wright as their model. After the repeal of the +Missouri Compromise he separated himself from his old associates, +and proved to be a powerful factor in the formation of the Republican +party. His candidacy for Governor of Maine, in 1856, broke down +the Democratic party in that State, and gave a great impulse to +the Republican campaign throughout the country. In strong common +sense, in sagacity and sound judgment, in rugged integrity of +character, Mr. Hamlin has had no superior among public men. It is +generally fortunate for a political party if the nominee for Vice- +President does not prove a source of weakness in the popular canvass. +Mr. Hamlin proved a source of strength, and the imparted confidence +and courage to the great movement against the Democratic party. + +In the four Presidential tickets in the field, every shade of +political opinion was represented, but only two of the candidates +embodied positive policies. Mr. Lincoln was in favor of prohibiting +the extension of slavery by law. Mr. Breckinridge was in favor of +protecting its extension by law. No issue could have been more +pronounced than the one thus presented. Mr. Douglas desired to +evade it, and advocated his doctrine of non-intervention which was +full of contradictions, and was in any event offensive to the anti- +slavery conscience. It permitted what was considered a grievous +moral wrong to be upheld, if a majority of white men would vote in +favor of upholding it. Mr. Bell desired to avoid the one question +that was in the popular mind, and to lead the people away from +every issue except the abstract one of preserving the Union. By +what means the Union could be preserved against the efforts of +Southern secessionists, Mr. Bell's party did not explain. The +popular apprehension was that Mr. Bell would concede all they asked, +and insure the preservation of the Union by yielding to the demands +of the only body of men who threatened to destroy it. + + ELECTION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + +As the canvass grew animated, and the questions at issue were +elaborately discussed before the people, the conviction became +general that the supporters of Breckinridge contemplated the +destruction of the government. This was not simply the belief of +the Republicans. It was quite as general among the supporters of +Douglas and the supporters of Bell. In an earlier stage of the +anti-slavery contest, this fact would have created great alarm in +the Northern States, but now the people would not yield to such a +fear. They were not only inspired by the principles they upheld, +but there was a general desire to test the question thus presented. +If a President, constitutionally elected, could not be inaugurated, +it was better then and there to ascertain the fact than to postpone +the issue by an evasion or a surrender. The Republicans were +constantly strengthened by recruits from the Douglas ranks. Many +of the friends of Douglas had become enraged by the course of the +Southern Democrats, and now joined the Republicans, in order to +force the issue upon the men who had been so domineering and +offensive in the Charleston and Baltimore conventions. Mr. Lincoln +gained steadily and derived great strength from the division of +his opponents. But their union could not have defeated him. In +New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, but one electoral ticket +was presented against Mr. Lincoln, his opponents having coalesced +in a joint effort to defeat him. In New Jersey, the "Fusion" +ticket, as the combination was termed, was made up of three Douglas, +two Bell, and two Breckinridge representatives. Owing to the fact +that some of the supporters of Douglas refused to vote for the +Breckinridge and Bell candidates, Mr. Lincoln received four electoral +votes in New Jersey, though, in the aggregate popular vote, the +majority was against him. In California and Oregon he received +pluralities. In every other free State he had an absolute majority. +Breckinridge carried every slave State except four,--Virginia, +Kentucky, and Tennessee voting for Bell, and Missouri voting for +Douglas. + +The long political struggle was over. A more serious one was about +to begin. For the first time in the history of the government, +the South was defeated in a Presidential election where an issue +affecting the slavery question was involved. There had been grave +conflicts before, sometimes followed by compromise, oftener by +victory for the South. But the election of 1860 was the culmination +of a contest which was foreshadowed by the Louisiana question of +1812; which became active and angry over the admission of Missouri; +which was revived by the annexation of Texas, and still further +inflamed by the Mexican war; which was partially allayed by the +compromises of 1850; which was precipitated for final settlement +by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, by the consequent struggle +for mastery in Kansas, and by the aggressive intervention of the +Supreme Court in the case of Dred Scott. These are the events +which led, often slowly, but always with directness, to the political +revolution of 1860. The contest was inevitable, and the men whose +influence developed and encouraged it may charitably be regarded +as the blind agents of fate. But if personal responsibility for +prematurely forcing the conflict belongs to any body of men, it +attaches to those who, in 1854, broke down the adjustments of 1820 +and of 1850. If the compromises of those years could not be +maintained, the North believed that all compromise was impossible; +and they prepared for the struggle which this fact foreshadowed. +They had come to believe that the house divided against itself +could not stand; that the Republic half slave, half free, could +not endure. They accepted as their leader the man who proclaimed +these truths. The peaceful revolution was complete when Abraham +Lincoln was chosen President of the United States. + + +In the closing and more embittered period of the political struggle +over the question of Slavery, public opinion in the South grew +narrow, intolerant, and cruel. The mass of the Southern people +refused to see any thing in the anti-slavery movement except +fanaticism; they classed Abolitionists with the worst of malefactors; +they endeavored to shut out by the criminal code and by personal +violence the enlightened and progressive sentiment of the world. +Their success in arousing the prejudice and unifying the action of +the people in fifteen States against the surging opinion of +Christendom is without parallel. Philanthropic movements elsewhere +were regarded with jealousy and distrust. Southern statesmen of +the highest rank looked upon British emancipation in the West Indies +as designedly hostile to the prosperity and safety of their own +section, and as a plot for the ultimate destruction of the Republic. +Each year the hatred against the North deepened, and the boundary +between the free States and the slave States was becoming as marked +as a line of fire. The South would see no way of dealing with +Slavery except to strengthen and fortify it at every point. Its +extinction they would not contemplate. Even a suggestion for its +amelioration was regarded as dangerous to the safety of the State +and to the sacredness of the family. + + BRITISH SUPPORT OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. + +Southern opinion had not always been of this type. It had changed +with the increase in the number of slaves, and with the increased +profit from their labor. Before the Revolutionary war, Virginia +had earnestly petitioned George III. to prohibit the importation +of slaves from Africa, and the answer of His Majesty was a peremptory +instruction to the Royal Governor at Williamsburg, "not to assent +to any law of the Colonial Legislature by which the importation of +slaves should in any respect be prohibited or obstructed." Anti- +slavery opinion was developed in a far greater degree in the American +Colonies than in the mother country. When the Convention of 1787 +inserted in the Federal Constitution a clause giving to Congress +the power to abolish the slave-trade after the year 1808, they took +a step far in advance of European opinion. A society was formed +in London, in the year 1787, for the suppression of the slave-trade. +Although it was organized under the auspices of the distinguished +philanthropists, William Clarkson and Granville Sharp, it had at +the time as little influence upon the popular opinion of England +as the early efforts of William Lloyd Garrison and the Society for +the Abolition of Domestic Slavery had upon the public opinion of +the United States. It was not until 1791 that Mr. Wilberforce +introduced in Parliament his first bill for the suppression of the +slave-trade, and though he had the enlightened sympathy of Mr. +Pitt, the eminent premier did not dare to make it a ministerial +measure. The bill was rejected by a large vote. It was not until +fifteen years later that the conscience of England won a victory +over the organized capital engaged in the infamous traffic. It +was the young and struggling Republic in America that led the way, +and she led the way under the counsel and direction of Southern +statesmen. American slave-holders were urging the abolition of +the traffic while London merchants were using every effort to +continue it, and while Bristol, the very headquarters of the trade, +was represented in Parliament by Edmund Burke. Even among the +literary men of England,--if Boswell's gossip may be trusted,--Dr. +Johnson was peculiar in his hatred of the infamy--a hatred which +is obsequious biographer mollifies to an "unfavorable notion," and +officiously ascribes to "prejudice and imperfect or false information." +The anti-slavery work of England was originally inspired from +America, and the action of the British Parliament was really so +directed as to make the prohibition of the slave-trade correspond +in time with that prescribed in the Federal Constitution. The +American wits and critics of that day did not fail to note the +significance of the date, and to appreciate the statesmanship and +philosophy which led the British Parliament to terminate the trade +at the precise moment when the American Congress closed the market. + +The slaves in the United States numbered about seven hundred thousand +when Washington's administration was organized. They had increased +to four millions when Lincoln was chosen President. Their number +in 1860 was less in proportion to the white population than it was +in 1789. The immigration of whites had changed the ratio. But +the more marked and important change had been in the value of slave +labor. In 1789 the slaves produced little or no surplus, and in +many States were regarded as a burden. In 1860 they produced a +surplus of at least three hundred millions of dollars. The power +of agricultural production in the Southern States had apparently +no limit. If the institution of Slavery could be rendered secure, +the dominant minds of the South saw political power and boundless +wealth within their grasp. They saw that they could control the +product and regulate the price of a staple in constant demand among +every people on the globe. The investment of the South in slaves +represented a capital of two thousand millions of dollars, reckoned +only upon the salable value of the chattel. Estimated by its +capacity to produce wealth, the institution of Slavery represented +to the white population of the South a sum vastly in excess of two +thousand millions. Without slave-labor, the cotton, rice, and +sugar lands were, in the view of Southern men, absolutely valueless. +With the labor of the slave, they could produce three hundred +millions a year in excess of the food required for the population. +Three hundred millions a year represented a remunerative interest +on a capital of five thousand millions of dollars. In the history +of the world there has perhaps never been so vast an amount of +productive capital firmly consolidated under one power, subject to +the ultimate control and direction of so small a number of men. + + THE SOUTH AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. + +With such extraordinary results attained, the natural desire of +slave-holders was to strive for development and expansion. They +had in the South more land than could be cultivated by the slaves +they then owned, or by their natural increase within any calculable +period. So great was the excess of land that, at the time Texas +was annexed, Senator Ashley of Arkansas declared that his State +alone could, with the requisite labor, produce a larger cotton-crop +than had ever been grown in the whole country. In the minds of +the extreme men of the South the remedy was to be found in re- +opening the African slave-trade. So considerate and withal so +conservative a man as Alexander H. Stephens recognized the situation. +When he retired from public service, at the close of the Thirty- +sixth Congress, in 1859, he delivered an address to his constituents, +which was in effect a full review of the Slavery question. He told +them plainly that they could not keep up the race with the North +in the occupation of new territory "unless they could get more +Africans." He did not avowedly advocate the re-opening of the +slave-trade, but the logic of his speech plainly pointed to that +end. + +John Forsythe of Alabama, an aggressive leader of the most radical +pro-slavery type, carried the argument beyond the point where the +prudence of Mr. Stephens permitted him to go. In recounting the +triumphs of the South, he avowed that one stronghold remained to +be carried, "the abrogation of the prohibition of the slave-trade." +So eminent a man as William L. Yancey formally proposed in a Southern +commercial convention, in 1858, that the South should demand the +repeal of the laws "declaring the slave-trade to be piracy;" and +Governor Adams of South Carolina pronounced those laws to be "a +fraud upon the slave-holders of the South." The Governor of +Mississippi went still farther, and exhibited a confidence in the +scheme which was startling. He believed that "the North would not +refuse so just a demand if the South should unitedly ask it." +Jefferson Davis did not join in the movement, but expressed a hearty +contempt for those "who prate of the inhumanity and sinfulness of +the slave-trade." + +Quotations of this character might be indefinitely multiplied. +The leaders of public opinion in the Cotton States were generally +tending in the same direction, and, in the language of Jefferson +Davis, were basing their conclusion on "the interest of the South, +and not on the interest of the African." Newspapers and literary +reviews in the Gulf States were seconding and enforcing the position +of their public men, and were gradually but surely leading the mind +of the South to a formal demand for the privilege of importing +Africans. A speaker in the Democratic National Convention at +Charleston, personally engaged in the domestic slave-trade, frankly +declared that the traffic in native Africans would be far more +humane. The thirty thousand slaves annually taken from the border +States to the cotton-belt represented so great an aggregation of +misery, that the men engaged in conducting it were, even by the +better class of slave-holders, regarded with abhorrence, and spoken +of as infamous. + +It is worthy of observation that the re-opening of the African +slave-trade was not proposed in the South until after the Dred +Scott decision. This affords a measure of the importance which +pro-slavery statesmen attached to the position of the Supreme Court. +In the light of these facts, the repeated protests of Senator +Douglas "against such schemes as the re-opening of the African +slave-trade" were full of significance; nor could any development +of Southern opinion have vindicated more completely the truth +proclaimed by Mr. Lincoln, that the country was destined to become +wholly anti-slavery or wholly pro-slavery. The financial interest +at stake in the fate of the institution was so vast, that Southern +men felt impelled to seek every possible safeguard against the +innumerable dangers which surrounded it. The revival of the African +slave-trade was the last suggestion for its protection, and was +the immediate precursor of its destruction. + + +In reckoning the wealth-producing power of the Southern States, +the field of slave labor has been confined to the cotton-belt. In +the more northern of the slave-holding States, free labor was more +profitable, and hence the interest in Slavery was not so vital or +so enduring as in the extreme South. There can be little doubt +that the slave States of the border would have abolished the +institution at an early period except for the fact that their slaves +became a steady and valuable source of labor-supply for the increased +demand which came from the constantly expanding area of cotton. +But his did not create so palpable or so pressing an interest as +was felt in the Gulf States, and the resentment caused by the +election of Lincoln was proportionately less. The border States +would perhaps have quietly accepted the result, however distasteful, +except for the influence brought upon them from the extreme South, +where the maintenance of Slavery was deemed vital to prosperity +and to safety. + +In the passions aroused by the agitation over slavery, Southern +men failed to see (what in cooler moments they could readily +perceive) that the existence of the Union and the guaranties of +the Constitution were the shield and safeguard of the South. The +long contest they had been waging with the anti-slavery men of the +free States had blinded Southern zealots to the essential strength +of their position so long as their States continued to be members +of the Federal Union. But for the constant presence of national +power, and its constant exercise under the provisions of the +Constitution, the South would have had no protection against the +anti-slavery assaults of the civilized world. Abolitionists from +the very beginning of their energetic crusade against slavery had +seen the Constitution standing in their way, and with the unsparing +severity of their logic had denounced it as "a league with hell +and a covenant with death." The men who were directing public +opinion in the South were trying to persuade themselves, and had +actually persuaded many of their followers, that the election of +Lincoln was the overthrow of the Constitution, and that their safety +in the Union was at an end. They frightened the people by Lincoln's +declaration that the Republic could not exist half slave, half +free. They would not hear his own lucid and candid explanation of +his meaning, but chose rather to accept the most extreme construction +which the pro-slavery literature and the excited harangues of a +Presidential canvass had given to Mr. Lincoln's language. + + SOUTHERN CONFIDENCE IN SECESSION. + +The confidence of Southern men in their power to achieve whatever +end they should propose was unbounded. They apparently did not +stop to contemplate the effect upon slavery which a reckless course +on their part might produce. Having been schooled to the utmost +conservatism in affairs of government, they suddenly became rash +and adventurous. They were apparently ready to put every thing to +hazard, professing to believe that nothing could be as fatal as to +remain under what they termed the "Government of Lincoln." They +believed they could maintain themselves against physical force, +but they took no heed of a stronger power which was sure to work +against them. They disregarded the enlightened philanthropy and +the awakened conscience which had abolished slavery in every other +Republic of America, which had thrown the protection of law over +the helpless millions of India, which had moved even the Russian +Autocracy to consider the enfranchisement of the serf. They would +not realize that the contest they were rashly inviting was not +alone with the anti-slavery men of the free States, not alone with +the spirit of loyalty to the Republic, but that it carried with it +a challenge to the progress of civilization, and was a fight against +the nineteenth century. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +The Tariff Question in its Relation to the Political Revolution of +1860.--A Century's Experience as to Best Mode of levying Duties.-- +Original Course of Federal Government in Regard to Revenue.--First +Tariff Act.--The Objects defined in a Preamble.--Constitutional +Power to adopt Protective Measure.--Character of Early Discussions. +--The Illustrious Men who participated.--Mr. Madison the Leader.-- +The War Tariff of 1812.--Its High Duties.--The Tariff of 1816.-- +Interesting Debate upon its Provisions.--Clay, Webster, and Calhoun +take part.--Business Depression throughout the Country.--Continues +until the Enactment of the Tariff of 1824.--Protective Character +of that Tariff.--Still Higher Duties levied by the Tariff of 1828. +--Southern Resistance to the Protective Principle.--Mr. Calhoun +leads the Nullification Movement in South Carolina.--Compromise +effected on the Tariff Question.--Financial Depression follows.-- +Panic of 1837.--Protective Tariff passed in 1842.--Free-trade +Principles triumph with the Election of President Polk.--Tariff of +1846.--Prosperous Condition of the Country.--Differences of Opinion +as to the Causes.--Surplus Revenue.--Plethoric Condition of the +Treasury.--Enactment of the Tariff of 1857.--Both Parties support +it in Congress.--Duties lower than at Any Time since the War of +1812.--Panic of 1857.--Dispute as to its causes.--Protective and +Free-trade Theories as presented by their Advocates.--Connection +of the Tariff with the Election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency. +--General Review. + +The Slavery question was not the only one which developed into a +chronic controversy between certain elements of Northern opinion +and certain elements of Southern opinion. A review of the sectional +struggle would be incomplete if it did not embrace a narrative of +those differences on the tariff which at times led to serious +disturbance, and, on one memorable occasion, to an actual threat +of resistance to the authority of the government. The division +upon the tariff was never so accurately defined by geographical +lines as was the division upon slavery; but the aggressive elements +on each side of both questions finally coalesced in the same States, +North and South. Massachusetts and South Carolina marched in the +vanguard of both controversies; and the States which respectively +followed on the tariff issue were, in large part, the same which +followed on the slavery question, on both sides of Mason and Dixon's +line. Anti-slavery zeal and a tariff for protection went hand in +hand in New England, while pro-slavery principles became nearly +identical with free-trade in the Cotton States. If the rule had +its exception, it was in localities where the strong pressure of +special interest was operating, as in the case of the sugar-planter +of Louisiana, who was willing to concede generous protection to +the cotton-spinner of Lowell if he could thereby secure an equally +strong protection, in his own field of enterprise, against the +pressing competition of the island of Cuba. + + PROTECTION AND FREE-TRADE SECTIONAL. + +The general rule, after years of experimental legislation, resolved +itself into protection in the one section and free-trade in the +other. And this was not an unnatural distinction. Zeal against +slavery was necessarily accompanied by an appreciation of the +dignity of free labor; and free labor was more generously remunerated +under the stimulus of protective laws. The same considerations +produced a directly opposite conclusion in the South, where those +interest in slave labor could not afford to build up a class of +free laborers with high wages and independent opinions. The question +was indeed one of the kind not infrequently occurring in the +adjustment of public policies where the same cause is continually +producing different and apparently contradictory effects when the +field of its operation is changed. + +The issues growing out of the subject of the tariff were, however, +in many respects entirely distinct from the slavery question. The +one involved the highest moral considerations, the other was governed +solely by expediency. Whether one man could hold property in +another was a question which took deep hold of the consciences of +men, and was either right or wrong in itself. But whether the rate +of duty upon a foreign import should be increased or lowered was +a question to be settled solely by business and financial +considerations. Slavery in the United States, as long experience +had proved, could be most profitably employed in the cultivation +of cotton. The cost of its production, in the judgment of those +engaged in it, was increased by the operation of a tariff, whereas +its price, being determined by the markets of the world, derived +no benefit from protective duties. The clothing of the slave, the +harness for the horses and mules, the ploughs, the rope, the bagging, +the iron ties, were all, they contended, increased in price to the +planter without any corresponding advance in the market value of +the product. In the beginning of the controversy it was expected +that the manufacture of cotton would grow up side by side with its +production, and that thus the community which produced the fibre +would share in the profit of the fabric. During this period the +representatives from the Cotton States favored high duties; but as +time wore on, and it became evident that slave-labor was not adapted +to the factory, and that it was undesirable if not impossible to +introduce free white labor with remunerative wages side by side +with unpaid slave-labor, the leading minds of the South were turned +against the manufacturing interest, and desired to legislate solely +in aid of the agricultural interest. + +It was this change in the South that produced the irritating +discussions in Congress,--discussions always resulting in sectional +bitterness and sometimes threatening the public safety. The tariff +question has in fact been more frequently and more elaborately +debated than any other issue since the foundation of the Federal +Government. The present generation is more familiar with questions +relating to slavery, to war, to reconstruction; but as these +disappear by permanent adjustment the tariff returns, and is eagerly +seized upon by both sides to the controversy. More than any other +issue, it represents the enduring and persistent line of division +between the two parties which in a generic sense have always existed +in the United States;--the party of strict construction and the +party of liberal construction, the party of State Rights and the +party of National Supremacy, the party of stinted revenue and +restricted expenditure, and the party of generous income with its +wise application to public improvement; the part, in short, of +Jefferson as against the party of Hamilton, the party of Jackson +as against that of Clay, the party of Buchanan and Douglas as +against that of Lincoln and Seward. Taxes, whether direct or +indirect, always interest the mass of mankind, and the differences +of the systems by which they shall be levied and collected will +always present an absorbing political issue. Public attention may +be temporarily engrossed by some exigent subject of controversy, +but the tariff alone steadily and persistently recurs for agitation, +and for what is termed settlement. Thus far in our history, +settlement has only been the basis of new agitation, and each +successive agitation leads again to new settlement. + + EXPERIENCE IN TARIFF LEGISLATION. + +After the experience of nearly a century on the absorbing question +of the best mode of levying duties on imports, the divergence of +opinion is as wide and as pronounced as when the subject first +engaged the attention of the Federal Government. Theories on the +side of high duties and theories on the side of low duties are +maintained with just as great vigor as in 1789. In no question of +a material or financial character has there been so much interest +displayed as in this. On a question of sentiment and of sympathy +like that of slavery, feeling is inevitable; but it has been matter +of surprise that the adjustment of a scale of duties on importations +of foreign merchandise should be accompanied, as it often has been, +by displays of excitement often amounting to passion. + +The cause is readily apprehended when it is remembered that the +tariff question is always presented as one not merely affecting +the general prosperity, but as specifically involving the question +of bread to the millions who are intrusted with the suffrage. The +industrial classes study the question closely; and, in many of the +manufacturing establishments of the country, the man who is working +for day wages will be found as keenly alive to the effect of a +change in the protective duty as the stockholder whose dividends +are to be affected. Thus capital and labor coalesce in favor of +high duties to protect the manufacturer, and, united, they form a +political force which has been engaged in an economic battle from +the foundation of the government. Sometimes they have suffered +signal defeat, and sometimes they have gained signal victories. + +The landmarks which have been left in a century of discussion and +of legislative experiment deserve a brief reference for a better +understanding of the subject to-day. Our financial experience has +been practically as extended as that of the older nations of Europe. +When the Republic was organized, Political Economy as understood +in the modern sense was in its elementary stage, and indeed could +hardly be called a science. Systems of taxation were everywhere +crude and ruthless, and were in large degree fashioned after the +Oriental practice of mulcting the man who will pay the most and +resist the least. Adam Smith had published his "Enquiry into the +Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" in the year of the +Declaration of Independence. Between that time and the formation +of the Federal Government his views had exerted no perceptible +influence on the financial system of England. British industries +were protected by the most stringent enactments of Parliament, and +England was the determined enemy not only of free trade but of fair +trade. The emancipated Colonies found therefore in the mother +country the most resolute foe to their manufacturing and commercial +progress. American statesmen exhibited wisdom, moderation, and +foresight in overcoming the obstacles to the material prosperity +of the new Republic. + +When the administration of Washington was organized in 1789, the +government which he represented did not command a single dollar of +revenue. They inherited a mountain of debt from the Revolutionary +struggle, they had no credit, and the only representative of value +which they controlled was the vast body of public land in the North- +west Territory. But this was unavailable as a resource for present +needs, and called for expenditure in the extensive surveys which +were a prerequisite to sale and settlement. In addition therefore +to every other form of poverty, the new government was burdened in +the manner so expressively described as _land poor_, which implies +the ownership of a large extent of real estate constantly calling +for heavy outlay, and yielding no revenue. The Federal Government +had one crying need, one imperative demand,--money! + +An immediate system of taxation was therefore required, and the +newly organized Congress lost no time in proceeding to the +consideration of ways and means. As soon as a quorum of each branch +of Congress was found to be present, the House gave its attention +to the pressing demand for money. They did not even wait for the +inauguration of President Washington, but began nearly a month +before that important event to prepare a revenue bill which might, +at the earliest moment, be ready for the Executive approval. Duties +on imports obviously afforded the readiest resource, and Congress +devoted itself with assiduous industry to the consideration of that +form of revenue. With the exception of an essential law directing +the form of oath to be taken by the Federal officers, the tariff +Act was the first passed by the new government. It was enacted +indeed two months in advance of the law creating a Treasury +Department, and providing for a Secretary thereof. The need of +money was indeed so urgent that provision was made for raising it +by duties on imports before the appointment of a single officer of +the Cabinet was authorized. Even a Secretary of State, whose first +duty it was to announce the organization of the government to +foreign nations, was not nominated for a full month after the Act +imposing duties had been passed. + + THE TARIFF ENACTED BY FIRST CONGRESS. + +All the issues involved in the new Act were elaborately and +intelligently debated. The first Congress contained a large +proportion of the men who had just before been engaged in framing +the Federal Constitution, and who were therefore fresh from the +councils which had carefully considered and accurately measured +the force of every provision of that great charter of government. +It is therefore a fact of lasting importance that the first tariff +law enacted under the Federal Government set forth its object in +the most succinct and explicit language. It opened, after the +excellent fashion of that day, with a stately preamble beginning +with the emphatic "whereas," and declaring that "it is necessary +for the support of government, for the discharge of the debts of +the United States, _and for the encouragement and protection of +manufactures_, that duties be laid on imported goods, wares, and +merchandise." Among the men who agreed to that declaration were +some of the most eminent in our history. James Madison, then young +enough to add junior to his name, was the most conspicuous; and +associated with him were Richard Henry Lee, Theodorick Bland, +Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Rufus King, George Clymer, Oliver +Ellsworth, Elias Boudinot, Fisher Ames, Elbridge Gerry, Roger +Sherman, Jonathan Trumbull, Lambert Cadwalader, Thomas Fitzsimons, +the two Muhlenbergs, Thomas Tudor Tucker, Hugh Williamson, Abraham +Baldwin, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, and many other leading men, both +from the North and the South. + +It is a circumstance of curious interest that nearly, if not quite, +all the arguments used by the supporters and opponents of a protective +system were presented at that time and with a directness and ability +which have not been surpassed in any subsequent discussion. The +"_ad valorem_" system of levying duties was maintained against +"specific" rates in almost the same language employed in the +discussions of recent years. The "infant manufactures," the need +of the "fostering care of the government" for the protection of +"home industry," the advantages derived from "diversified pursuits," +the competition of "cheap labor in Europe," were all rehearsed with +a familiarity and ease which implied their previous and constant +use in the legislative halls of the different States before the +power to levy imposts was remitted to the jurisdiction of Congress. +A picture of the industrial condition of the country at that day +can be inferred from the tariff bill first passed; and the manufactures +that were deemed worthy of encouragement are clearly outlined in +the debate. Mr. Clymer of Pennsylvania asked for a protective duty +on steel, stating that a furnace in Philadelphia "had produced +three hundred tons in two years, and with a little encouragement +would supply enough for the consumption of the whole Union." The +Pennsylvania members at the same time strenuously opposed a duty +on coal which they wished to import as cheaply as possible to aid +in the development of their iron ores. The manufacture of glass +had been started in Maryland, and the members from that State +secured a duty on the foreign article after considerable discussion, +and with the significant reservation, in deference to popular +habits, that "black quart-bottles" should be admitted free. + +Mr. Madison opposed a tax on cordage, and "questioned the propriety +of raising the price of any article that entered materially into +the structure of vessels," making in effect the same argument on +that subject which has been repeated without improvement so frequently +in later years. Indigo and tobacco, two special products of the +South, were protected by prohibitory duties, while the raising of +cotton was encouraged by a duty of three cents per pound on the +imported article. Mr. Burke of South Carolina said the culture of +cotton was contemplated on a large scale in the South, "if good +seed could be procured." The manufacture of iron, wool, leather, +paper, already in some degree developed, was stimulated by the +bill. The fisheries were aided by a bounty on every barrel caught; +and the navigation interest received a remarkable encouragement by +providing that "a discount of ten per cent on all duties imposed +by this Act shall be allowed on such goods, wares, and merchandise +as shall be imported in vessels built in the United States, and +wholly the property of a citizen or citizens thereof." The bill +throughout was an American measure, designed to promote American +interests; and as a first step in a wide field of legislation, it +was characterized in an eminent degree by wisdom, by moderation, +and by a keen insight into the immediate and the distant future of +the country. The ability which framed the Constitution was not +greater than that displayed by the first generation of American +statesmen who were called to legislate under its generous provisions +and its wise restrictions. + +These great statesmen proceeded in the light of facts which taught +them that, though politically separated from the mother country, +we were still in many ways dependent upon her, in as large a degree +as when we were Colonies, subject to her will and governed for her +advantage. The younger Pitt boasted that he had conquered the +Colonies as commercial dependencies, contributing more absolutely +and in larger degree to England's prosperity than before the +political connection was severed. He treated the States, after +the close of the peace of 1783, with a haughty assumption of +superiority, if not indeed with contempt--not even condescending +to accredit a diplomatic representative to the country, though John +Adams was in London as Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary +from the United States. English laws of protection under the Pitt +administration were steadily framed against the development of +manufactures and navigation in America, and the tendency when the +Federal Constitution was adopted had been, in the planting States +especially, towards a species of commercial dependence which was +enabling England to absorb our trade. + + TARIFF ACT APPROVED BY WASHINGTON. + +The first tariff Act was therefore in a certain sense a second +Declaration of Independence; and by a coincidence which could not +have been more striking or more significant, it was approved by +President Washington on the fourth day of July, 1789. Slow as were +the modes of communicating intelligence in those days, this Act of +Congress did, in a suggestive way, arouse the attention of both +continents. The words of the preamble were ominous. The duties +levied were exceedingly moderate, scarcely any of them above fifteen +per cent, the majority not higher than ten. But the beginning was +made; and the English manufacturers and carriers saw that the power +to levy ten per cent. could at any time levy a hundred per cent. +if the interest of the new government should demand it. The separate +States had indeed possessed the power to levy imposts, but they +had never exercised it in any comprehensive manner, and had usually +adapted the rate of duty to English trade rather than to the +protection of manufacturing interests at home. The action of the +Federal Government was a new departure, of portentous magnitude, +and was so recognized at home and abroad. + +It was not the percentage which aroused and disturbed England. It +was the power to levy the duty at all. In his famous speech on +American taxation in the House of Commons fifteen years before, +Mr. Burke asserted that it was "not the weight of the duty, but +the weight of the preamble, which the Americans were unable and +unwilling to bear." The tax actually imposed was not oppressive, +but the preamble implied the power to levy upon the Colonies whatever +tax the British Government might deem expedient, and this led to +resistance and to revolution. The force of the preamble was now +turned against Great Britain. She saw that the extent to which +the principle of protective duties might be carried was entirely +a matter of discretion with the young Republic whose people had +lately been her subjects and might now become her rivals. The +principle of protecting the manufactures and encouraging the +navigation of America had been distinctly proclaimed in the first +law enacted by the new government, and was thus made in a suggestive +and emphatic sense the very corner-stone of the republican edifice +which the patriots of the Revolution were aiming to construct. + +The opinions of Mr. Madison as thus shown in the first legislation +by Congress are the more significant from the fact that he belonged +in the Jeffersonian school, believed in the strictest construction +of granted power, was a zealous Republican in the partisan divisions +of the day, and was always opposed to the more liberal, or, as he +would regard them, the more latitudinarian views of the Federal +party. In regard to the protection and encouragement of manufactures +there seemed to be no radical difference between parties in the +early period of the government. On that issue, to quote a phrase +used on another occasion, "they were all Federalists and all +Republicans." Mr. Hamilton's celebrated report on Manufactures, +submitted in answer to a request from the House of Representatives +of December, 1790, sustained and elaborated the views on which +Congress had already acted, and brought the whole influence of the +Executive Department to the support of a Protective Tariff. Up to +that period no minister of finance among the oldest and most advanced +countries of Europe had so ably discussed the principles on which +national prosperity was based. The report has long been familiar +to students of political economy, and has had, like all Mr. Hamilton's +work, a remarkable value and a singular application in the developments +of subsequent years. + + MR. HAMILTON'S PROTECTION VIEWS. + +Mr. Hamilton sustained the plan of encouraging home manufactures +by protective duties, even to the point in some instances of making +those "duties equivalent to prohibition." He did not contemplate +a prohibitive duty as the means of encouraging a manufacture not +already domesticated, but declared it "only fit to be employed when +a manufacture has made such a progress, and is in so many hands, +as to insure a due competition and an adequate supply on reasonable +terms." This argument did not seem to follow the beaten path which +leads to the protection of "infant manufactures," but rather aimed +to secure the home market for the strong and well-developed +enterprises. Mr. Hamilton did not turn back from the consequences +which his argument involved. He perceived its logical conclusions +and frankly accepted them. He considered "the monopoly of the +domestic market to its own manufacturers as the reigning policy of +manufacturing nations," and declared that "a similar policy on the +part of the United States in every proper instance was dictated by +the principles of distributive justice, certainly by the duty of +endeavoring to secure to their own citizens a reciprocity of +advantages." He avowed his belief that "the internal competition +which takes place, soon does away with every thing like monopoly, +and by degrees reduces the price of the article to the _minimum_ +of a reasonable profit on the capital employed. This accords with +the reason of the thing and with experience." He contended that +"a reduction has in several instances immediately succeeded the +establishment of domestic manufacture." But even if this result +should not follow, he maintained that "in a national view a temporary +enhancement of price must always be well compensated by a permanent +reduction of it." The doctrine of protection, even with the enlarged +experience of subsequent years, has never been more succinctly or +more felicitously stated. + +Objections to the enforcement of the "protective" principle founded +on a lack of constitutional power were summarily dismissed by Mr. +Hamilton as "having no good foundation." He had been a member of +the convention that formed the Constitution, and had given attention +beyond any other member to the clauses relating to the collection +and appropriation of revenue. He said the "power to raise money" +as embodied in the Constitution "is plenary and indefinite," and +"the objects for which it may be appropriated are no less comprehensive +than the payment of the public debts, the providing for the common +defense and the _general welfare_." He gives the widest scope to +the phrase "general welfare," and declares that "it is of necessity +left to the discretion of the national Legislature to pronounce +upon the objects which concern the general welfare, and for which +under that description an appropriation of money is requisite and +proper." Mr. Hamilton elaborates his argument on this head with +consummate power, and declares that "the only qualification" to +the power of appropriation under the phrase "general welfare" is +that the purpose for which the money is applied shall "be _general_, +and not _local_, its operation extending in fact throughout the +Union, and not being confined to a particular spot." The limitations +and hypercritical objections to the powers conferred by the +Constitution, both in the raising and appropriating of money, +originated in large part after the authors of that great charter +had passed away, and have been uniformly stimulated by class +interests which were not developed when the organic law was enacted. + +Some details of Mr. Hamilton's report are especially interesting +in view of the subsequent development of manufacturing enterprises. +"Iron works" he represents as "greatly increasing in the United +States," and so great is the demand that "iron furnished before +the Revolution at an average of sixty-four dollars per ton" was +then sold at "eighty." Nails and spikes, made in large part by +boys, needed further "protection," as 1,800,000 pounds had been +imported the previous year. Iron was wholly made by "charcoal," +but there were several mines of "fossil coal" already "worked in +Virginia," and "a copious supply of it would be of great value to +the iron industry." Respecting "cotton" Mr. Hamilton attached far +more consideration to its manufacture than to its culture. He +distrusted the quality of that grown at home because so far from +the equator, and he wished the new factories in Rhode Island and +Massachusetts to have the best article at the cheapest possible +rate. To this end the repeal of the three-cent duty on cotton +levied the preceding year was "indispensable." He argued that "not +being, like hemp, an universal production of the country, cotton +affords less assurance of an adequate internal supply." If the +duty levied on glass should not prove sufficient inducement to its +manufacture, he would stimulate it "by a direct bounty." + +Mr. Hamilton's conceptions of an enlarged plan of "protection" +included not only "prohibitive duties," but when necessary a system +of "bounties and premiums" in addition. He was earnestly opposed +to "a capitation-tax," and declared such levies as an income-tax +to be "unavoidably hurtful to industry." Indirect taxes were +obviously preferred by him whenever they were practicable. Indeed +upon any other system of taxation he believed it would prove +impossible for the Republic of 1790 to endure the burden imposed +upon the public treasury by the funding of the debt of the Revolution. +More promptly than any other financier of that century he saw that +ten dollars could be more easily collected by indirect tax than +one dollar by direct levy, and that he could thus avoid those +burdensome exactions from the people which had proved so onerous +in Europe, and which had just aided in precipitating France into +bloody revolution. + + THE WAR TARIFF ENACTED IN 1812. + +Important and radical additions to the revenue system promptly +followed Mr. Hamilton's recommendations. From that time onward, +for a period of more than twenty years, additional tariff laws were +passed by each succeeding Congress, modifying and generally increasing +the rate of duties first imposed, and adding many new articles to +the dutiable list. When the war of 1812 was reached, a great but +temporary change was made in the tariff laws by increasing the +entire list of duties one hundred per cent.--simply doubling the +rate in every case. Not content with this sweeping and wholesale +increase of duty, the law provided an additional ten per cent. upon +all goods imported in foreign vessels, besides collecting an +additional tonnage-tax of one dollar and a half per ton on the +vessel. Of course this was war-legislation, and the Act was to +expire within one year after a treaty of peace should be concluded +with Great Britain. With the experience of recent days before him, +the reader does not need to be reminded that, under the stimulus +of this extraordinary rate of duties, manufactures rapidly developed +throughout the country. Importations from England being absolutely +stopped by reason of the war, and in large part excluded from other +countries by high duties, the American market was for the first +time left substantially, or in large degree, to the American +manufacturers. + +With all the disadvantages which so sudden and so extreme a policy +imposed on the people, the progress for the four years of these +extravagant and exceptional duties was very rapid, and undoubtedly +exerted a lasting influence on the industrial interests of the +United States. But the policy was not one which commanded general +support. Other interests came forward in opposition. New England +was radically hostile to high duties, for the reason that they +seriously interfered with the shipping and commercial interest in +which her people were largely engaged. The natural result moreover +was a sharp re-action, in which the protective principle suffered. +Soon after the Treaty of Ghent was signed, movements were made for +a reduction of duties, and the famous tariff of 1816 was the result. + +In examining the debates on that important Act, it is worthy of +notice that Mr. Clay, from an extreme Western State, was urging a +high rate of duties on cotton fabrics, while his chief opponent +was Daniel Webster, then a representative from Massachusetts. An +additional and still stranger feature of the debate is found when +Mr. Calhoun, co-operating with Mr. Clay, replied to Mr. Webster's +free-trade speech in an elaborate defense of the doctrine of +protection to our manufactures. + +Mr. Calhoun spoke with enthusiasm, and gave an interesting _résumé_ +of the condition of the country as affected by the war with Great +Britain. He believed that the vital deficiency in our financial +condition was the lack of manufactures, and to supply that deficiency +he was willing to extend the protecting arm of the government. +"When our manufactures are grown to a certain perfection, as they +soon will be under the fostering care of the government, we shall +no longer experience these evils. The farmer will find a ready +market for his surplus products, and, what is almost of equal +consequence, a certain and cheap supply for all his wants. His +prosperity will diffuse itself through every class in the community." +Not satisfied with this unqualified support of the protective +system, Mr. Calhoun supplemented it by declaring that "to give +perfection to this state of things, it will be necessary to add as +soon as possible a system of internal improvements." Mr. Webster's +opposition to protection was based on the fact that it tended to +depress commerce and curtail the profits of the carrying-trade. + +The tariff of 1816 was termed "moderately protective," but even in +that form it encountered the opposition of the commercial interest. +It was followed in the country by severe depression in all departments +of trade, not because the duties were not in themselves sufficiently +high, but from the fact that it followed the war tariff, and the +change was so great as to produce not only a re-action but a +revolution in the financial condition of the country. All forces +of industry languished. Bankruptcy was wide-spread, and the distress +between 1817 and 1824 was perhaps deeper and more general than at +any other period of our history. There was no immigration of +foreigners, and consequently no wealth from that source. There +was no market for agricultural products, and the people were +therefore unable to indulge in liberal expenditure. Their small +savings could be more profitably invested in foreign than in domestic +goods, and hence American manufactures received little patronage. +The traditions of that period, as given by the generation that +lived through it, are sorrowful and depressing. The sacrifice of +great landed estates, worth many millions could they have been +preserved for the heirs of the next generation, was a common feature +in the general distress and desolation. The continuance of this +condition of affairs had no small influence on the subsequent +division of parties. It naturally led to a change in the financial +system, and in 1824 a tariff Act was passed, materially enlarging +the scope of the Act of 1816. + + THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF OF 1824. + +The Act of 1824 was avowedly protective in its character and was +adopted through the influence of Mr. Clay, then Speaker of the +House of Representatives. His most efficient ally on the floor +was Mr. Buchanan of Pennsylvania who exerted himself vigorously in +aid of the measure. Mr. Webster again appeared in the debate, +arguing against the "obsolete and exploded notion of protection," +and carrying with him nearly the whole vote of Massachusetts in +opposition. Mr. Clay was enabled to carry the entire Kentucky +delegation for the high protective tariff, and Mr. Calhoun's views +having meanwhile undergone a radical change, South Carolina was +found to be unanimous in opposition, and cordially co-operating +with Massachusetts in support of free-trade. The effect of that +tariff was undoubtedly favorable to the general prosperity, and +during the administration of John Quincy Adams every material +interest of the country improved. The result was that the supporters +of the protective system, congratulating themselves upon the effect +of the work of 1824, proceeded in 1828 to levy still higher duties. +They applied the doctrine of protection to the raw materials of +the country, the wool, the hemp, and all unmanufactured articles +which by any possibility could meet with damaging competition from +abroad. + +It was indeed an era of high duties, of which, strange as it may +seem to the modern reader, Silas Wright of New York and James +Buchanan of Pennsylvania appeared as the most strenuous defenders, +and were personally opposed in debate by John Davis of Massachusetts +and Peleg Sprague of Maine. To add to the entanglement of public +opinion, Mr. Webster passed over to the side of ultra-protection +and voted for the bill, finding himself in company with Martin Van +Buren of New York, and Thomas H. Benton of Missouri. It was an +extraordinary commingling of political elements, in which it is +difficult to find a line of partition logically consistent either +with geographical or political divisions. Mr. Webster carried with +him not more than two or three votes of the Massachusetts delegation. +His colleague in the Senate, Nathaniel Silsbee, voted against him, +and in the House such personal adherents as Edward Everett and +Isaac C. Bates recorded themselves in the negative. There was a +great deal of what in modern phase would be called "fencing for +position" in the votes on this test question of the day. The names +of no less than five gentlemen who were afterwards Presidents of +the United States were recorded in the yeas and nays on the passage +of the bill in the two Houses,--Mr. Van Buren, General Harrison, +John Tyler, in the Senate, and Mr. Polk and Mr. Buchanan in the +House. + +There was a general feeling that the Act of 1828 marked a crisis +in the history of tariff discussion, and that it would in some way +lead to important results in the fate of political parties and +political leaders. Mr. Calhoun was this year elected Vice-President +of the United States, with General Jackson as President, and Mr. +Van Buren was transferred from the Senate to the State Department +as the head of Jackson's cabinet. When by his address and tact he +had turned the mind of the President against Calhoun as his successor, +and fully ingratiated himself in executive favor, the quarrel began +which is elsewhere detailed at sufficient length. In this controversy, +purely personal at the outset, springing from the clashing ambitions +of two aspiring men, the tariff of 1828, especially with the vote +of Mr. Van Buren in favor of it, was made to play an important +part. The quarrel rapidly culminated in Mr. Calhoun's resignation +of the Vice-Presidency, his leadership of the Nullification contest +in South Carolina, and his re-election to the Senate of the United +States some time before the expiration of the Vice-Presidential +term for which he had been chosen. The result was a reduction of +duties, first by the Act of July, 1832, and secondly by Mr. Clay's +famous compromise Act of March 2, 1833, in which it was provided +that by a sliding-scale all the duties in excess of twenty per +cent. should be abolished within a period of ten years. It was +this Act which for the time calmed excitement in the South, brought +Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Clay into kindly relations, and somewhat +separated Mr. Webster and Mr. Clay,--at least producing one of +those periods of estrangement which, throughout their public career, +alternated with the cordial friendship they really entertained for +each other. + + THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF OF 1842. + +During the operation of this Act,--which was really an abandonment +of the protective principle,--the financial crisis of 1837 came +upon the country, and a period of distress ensued, almost equal to +that which preceded the enactment of the tariff of 1824. Many +persons, still in active business, recall with something of horror +the hardships and privations which were endured throughout the +country from 1837 to 1842. The long-continued depression produced +the revolution against the Democratic party which ended in the +overthrow of Mr. Van Buren and the election of General Harrison as +President of the United States in 1840. The Whig Congress that +came into power at the same time, proceeded to enact the law +popularly known as the tariff of 1842, which was strongly protective +in its character though not so extreme as the Act of 1828. The +vote in favor of the bill was not exclusively Whig, as some of the +Northern Democrats voted for it and some of the Southern Whigs +against it. Conspicuous among the former were Mr. Buchanan of +Pennsylvania and Mr. Wright of New York, who maintained a consistency +with their vote for the tariff of 1828. Conspicuous among Southern +Whigs against it were Berrien of Georgia, Clayton of Delaware, +Mangum of North Carolina, Merrick of Maryland, and Rives of Virginia. +The two men who above all others deserve honor for successful +management of the bill were George Evans, the brilliant and +accomplished senator from Maine, and Thomas M. T. McKennan, for +many years an able, upright, and popular representative from +Pennsylvania. John Quincy Adams, in a public speech delivered in +1843 in the town of Mr. McKennan's residence, ascribed to that +gentleman the chief credit of carrying the Protective Tariff Bill +through the House of Representatives. The vote showed, as all +tariff bills before had, and as all since have shown, that the +local interest of the constituency determines in large measure the +vote of the representative; that planting sections grow more and +more towards free-trade and manufacturing sections more and more +towards protection. + +The friends of home industry have always referred with satisfaction +to the effect of the tariff of 1842 as an explicit and undeniable +proof of the value of protection. It raised the country from a +slough of despond to happiness, cheerfulness, confidence. It +imparted to all sections a degree of prosperity which they had not +known since the repeal of the tariff of 1828. The most suggestive +proof of its strength and popularity was found in the contest of +1844 between Mr. Polk and Mr. Clay, where the Democrats in the +critical Northern States assumed the advocacy of the tariff of 1842 +as loudly as the supporters of Mr. Clay. Other issues overshadowed +the tariff, which was really considered to be settled, and a +President and Congress were chosen without any distinct knowledge +on the part of their constituents as to what their action might be +upon this question. The popular mind had been engrossed with the +annexation of Texas and with the dawn of the free-soil excitement; +hence protection and free-trade were in many States scarcely debated +from lack of interest, and, in the States where interest prevailed, +both parties took substantially the same side. + +A deception had however been practiced in the manufacturing States +of the North, and when the administration of Mr. Polk was installed, +the friends of protection were startled by the appointment of a +determined opponent of the tariff of 1842, as Secretary of the +Treasury. Robert J. Walker was a senator from Mississippi when +the Act was passed, and was bitterly opposed to it. He was a man +of great originality, somewhat speculative in his views, and willing +to experiment on questions of revenue to the point of rashness. +He was not a believer in the doctrine of protection, was persuaded +that protective duties bore unjustly and severely upon the planting +section with which he was identified; and he came to his office +determined to overthrow the tariff Act, which he had been unable +to defeat in the Senate. Mr. Walker was excessively ambitious to +make his term in the Treasury an era in the history of the country. +He had a difficult task before him,--one from which a conservative +man would have shrunk. The tariff was undoubtedly producing a +valuable revenue; and, as the administration of Mr. Polk was about +to engage in war, revenue was what they most needed. Being about +to enter upon a war, every dictate of prudence suggested that +aggressive issues should not be multiplied in the country. But +Mr. Walker was not Secretary of War or Secretary of State, and he +was unwilling to sit quietly down and collect the revenue under a +tariff imposed by a Whig Congress, against which he had voted, +while Buchanan in directing our foreign relations, and Marcy in +conducting a successful war, would far outstrip him in public +observation and in acquiring the elements of popularity adapted to +the ambition which all three alike shared. + +Mr. Walker made an elaborate report on the question of revenue, +and attacked the tariff of 1842 in a manner which might well be +termed savage. He arraigned the manufacturers as enjoying unfair +advantages,--advantages held, as he endeavored to demonstrate, at +the expense and to the detriment of the agriculturist, the mechanic, +the merchant, the ship-owner, the sailor, and indeed of almost +every industrial class. In reading Mr. Walker's report a third of +a century after it was made, one might imagine that the supporters +of the tariff of 1842 were engaged in a conspiracy to commit fraud, +and that the manufacturers who profited by its duties were guilty +of some crime against the people. But extreme as were his declarations +and difficult as were the obstructions in his path, he was able to +carry his point. Mr. Buchanan, the head of the Cabinet, had voted +for the tariff of 1842, and Mr. Dallas, the Vice-President, had +steadily and ably upheld the doctrine of protection when a member +of the Senate. It was the position of Buchanan and Dallas on the +tariff that won the October election of 1844 for Francis R. Shunk +for governor of Pennsylvania, and thus assured the election of Mr. +Polk. The administration of which Buchanan and Dallas were such +conspicuous and influential members could not forswear protection +and inflict a free-trade tariff on Pennsylvania, without apparent +dishonor and the abandonment of that State to the Whigs. It was +therefore regarded not only as impracticable but as politically +impossible. + + THE FREE-TRADE TARIFF OF 1846. + +It was soon ascertained however that Mr. Polk sympathized with Mr. +Walker, and Mr. Buchanan was silenced and overridden. The free- +trade tariff of 1846 was passed; and Mr. Dallas, who had been +nominated because of his record as a protectionist, was subjected +to the humiliation of giving his casting vote as Vice-President in +favor of a tariff which was execrated in Pennsylvania, and which +was honestly believed to be inimical in the highest degree to the +interest of the American manufacturer and the American mechanic. +The Act had no small influence in the overthrow of the Polk +administration at the elections for the next ensuing Congress, and +in the defeat of General Cass for the Presidency in 1848. As +senator from Michigan, General Cass had voted for the bill, influenced +thereto by his Southern associates, for whom he always did so much, +and from whom he always received so little. Pennsylvania was at +that time really a Democratic State, but she punished General Cass +for his free-trade course by giving her electoral vote to Taylor. +If she had given it to Cass he would have been chosen President. + +It was in connection with the tariff agitation of 1846 that Simon +Cameron originally obtained his strong hold upon the popular sympathy +and support of Pennsylvania. He was a Democrat; had long been +confidential adviser to Mr. Buchanan, and had supported Mr. Polk. +But he was a believer in the doctrine of protection; and as he had +aided in carrying Pennsylvania by declaring himself a friend to +the tariff of 1842, he maintained his faith. When the Polk +administration was organized, a vacancy was created in the Senate +by Mr. Buchanan's appointment as Secretary of State. George W. +Woodward was the regular nominee of the Democratic party for the +place. But Cameron bolted, and with the aid of Whig votes was +chosen senator. He resisted the passage of the tariff of 1846, +stood firmly and consistently for the industrial interests of his +State, cultivated an alliance with the Whigs in the Senate, and by +their aid thwarted all the attempts of the Polk administration to +interfere with his plans and purposes in Pennsylvania. The President +endeavored to heal Judge Woodward's wounds by placing him on the +bench of the Supreme Court as the successor of the eminent Henry +Baldwin. Cameron induced the Whigs to reject him, and then forced +the administration to nominate Robert C. Grier whose appointment +was personally acceptable and agreeable to him. In the successful +tactics then employed by Cameron may be found the secret of his +remarkable career as a party manager in the field in which, for a +full half-century, he was an active and indefatigable worker. + +The Whig victory of 1848 was not sufficiently decisive to warrant +any attempt, even had there been desire, to change the tariff. +General Taylor had been elected without subscribing to a platform +or pledging himself to a specific measure, and he was therefore in +a position to resist and reject appeals of the ordinary partisan +character. Moreover the tariff of 1846 was yielding abundant +revenue, and the business of the country was in a flourishing +condition at the time his administration was organized. Money +became very abundant after the year 1849; large enterprises were +undertaken, speculation was prevalent, and for a considerable period +the prosperity of the country was general and apparently genuine. +After 1852 the Democrats had almost undisputed control of the +government, and had gradually become a free-trade party. The +principles embodied in the tariff of 1846 seemed for the time to +be so entirely vindicated and approved that resistance to it ceased, +not only among the people but among the protective economists, and +even among the manufacturers to a large extent. So general was +this acquiescence that in 1856 a protective tariff was not suggested +or even hinted by any one of the three parties which presented +Presidential candidates. + + THE FREE-TRADE TARIFF OF 1857. + +It was not surprising therefore that with a plethoric condition of +the National Treasury for two or three consecutive years, the +Democratic Congress, in the closing session of Pierce's administration, +enacted what has since been known as the tariff of 1857. By this +law the duties were placed lower then they had been at any time +since the war of 1812. The Act was well received by the people, +and was indeed concurred in by a considerable proportion of the +Republican party. The Senate had a large Democratic majority, but +in the House three parties divided the responsibility,--no one of +them having an absolute majority. The Republicans had a plurality +and had chosen Mr. Banks Speaker, but the American party held the +balance of power in the House and on several of the leading +committees. Some prominent Republicans, however, remaining true +to their old Whig traditions, opposed the reduction of duties. +Mr. Seward voted against it, but his colleague, Mr. Hamilton Fish, +voted for it. Mr. Seward represented the protective tendencies of +the country districts of New York, and Mr. Fish the free-trade +tendencies of the city. Mr. Sumner and Mr. Wilson both voted for +it, as did also Senator Allen of Rhode Island, the direct representative +of the manufacturers of that State. Mr. Bell of New Hampshire +voted for it, while Senators Collamer and Foote of Vermont voted +against it. Mr. Fessenden did not oppose it, but his colleague, +Mr. Nourse, voted against it. The Connecticut senators, Foster +and Toucey, one of each party, supported the measure. + +In the House, the New-England representatives generally voted for +the bill, but Mr. Morrill of Vermont opposed it. The Pennsylvania +delegation, led by James H. Campbell and John Covode, did all in +their power to defeat it. The two Washburns, Colfax, and George G. +Dunn headed a formidable opposition from the West. Humphrey Marshall +and Samuel F. Swope of Kentucky were the only representatives from +slave States who voted in the negative; though in the Senate three +old and honored Whigs, John Bell of Tennessee, John B. Thompson of +Kentucky, and Henry S. Geyer of Missouri maintained their ancient +faith and voted against lowering the duties. It was an extraordinary +political combination that brought the senators from Massachusetts +and the senators from South Carolina, the representatives from New +England and the representatives from the cotton States, to support +the same tariff bill,--a combination which had not before occurred +since the administration of Monroe. This singular coalition +portended one of two results: Either an entire and permanent +acquiescence in the rule of free-trade, or an entire abrogation of +that system, and the revival, with renewed strength, of the doctrine +of protection. Which it should be was determined by the unfolding +of events not then foreseen, and the force of which it required +years to measure. + +The one excuse given for urging the passage of the Act of 1857 was +that under the tariff of 1846 the revenues had become excessive, +and the income of the government must be reduced. But it was soon +found to be a most expensive mode of reaching that end. The first +and most important result flowing from the new Act was a large +increase in importations and a very heavy drain in consequence upon +the reserved specie of the country, to pay the balance which the +reduced shipments of agricultural products failed to meet. In the +autumn of 1857, half a year after the passage of the tariff Act, +a disastrous financial panic swept over the country, prostrating +for the time all departments of business in about the same degree. +The agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing interests were +alike and equally involved. The distress for a time was severe +and wide-spread. The stagnation which ensued was discouraging and +long continued, making the years from 1857 to 1860 extremely dull +and dispiriting in business circles throughout the Union. The +country was not exhausted and depleted as it was after the panic +of 1837, but the business community had no courage, energy was +paralyzed, and new enterprises were at a stand-still. + +It soon became evident that this condition of affairs would carry +the tariff questions once more into the political arena, as an +active issue between parties. Thus far, the new Republican +organization had passively acquiesced in existing laws on the +subject; but the general distress caused great bodies of men, as +is always the case, to look to the action of the Government for +relief. The Republicans found therefore a new ground for attacking +the Democracy,--holding them responsible for the financial depression, +initiating a movement for returning to the principle and practice +of protection, and artfully identifying the struggle against slavery +with the efforts of the workingmen throughout the North to be freed +from injurious competition with the cheapened labor of Europe. +This phase of the question was presented with great force in certain +States, and the industrial classes, by a sort of instinct of self- +preservation as it seemed to them, began to consolidate their votes +in favor of the Republican party. They were made to see, by clever +and persuasive speakers, that the slave labor of the South and the +ill-paid labor of Europe were both hostile to the prosperity of +the workingman in the free States of America, and that the Republican +party was of necessity his friend, by its opposition to all the +forms of labor which stood in the wy of his better remuneration +and advancement. + + REPUBLICAN PARTY FAVORS PROTECTION. + +The convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln met when the feeling +against free-trade was growing, and in many States already deep- +rooted. A majority of those who composed that convention had +inherited their political creed from the Whig party, and were +profound believers in the protective teachings of Mr. Clay. But +a strong minority came from the radical school of Democrats, and, +in joining the Republican party on the anti-slavery issue, had +retained their ancient creed on financial and industrial questions. +Care was for that reason necessary in the introduction of new issues +and the imposition of new tests of party fellowship. The convention +therefore avoided the use of the word "protection," and was contented +with the moderate declaration that "sound policy requires such an +adjustment of imposts as will encourage the development of the +industrial interests of the whole country." A more emphatic +declaration might have provoked resistance from a minority of the +convention, and the friends of protection acted wisely in accepting +what was offered with unanimity, rather than continue the struggle +for a stronger creed which would have been morally weakened by +party division. They saw also that the mere form of expression +was not important, so long as the convention was unanimous on what +theologians term the "substance of doctrine." It was noted that +the vast crowd which attended the convention cheered the tariff +resolution as lustily as that which opposed the spread of slavery +into free territory. From that hour the Republican party gravitated +steadily and rapidly into the position of avowed advocacy of the +doctrine of protection. The national ticket which they presented +was composed indeed of an original Whig protectionist and an original +Democratic free-trader; but the drift of events, as will be seen, +carried both alike into the new movement for a protective system. + + +A review of the tariff legislation in the period between the war +of 1812 and the political revolution of 1860 exhibits some sudden +and extraordinary changes on the part of prominent political leaders +in their relation to the question. The inconsistency involved is +however more apparent than real. Perhaps it would be correct to +say that the inconsistency was justifiable in the eyes of those +who found it necessary to be inconsistent. Mr. Webster was a +persistent advocate of free-trade so long as Massachusetts was a +commercial State. But when, by the operation of laws against the +enactment of which he had in vain protested, Massachusetts became +a manufacturing State, Mr. Webster naturally and inevitably became +a protectionist. Mr. Calhoun began as a protectionist when he +hoped for the diffusion and growth of manufactures throughout all +sections alike. He became a free-trader when he realized that the +destiny of the South was to be purely agricultural, devoted to +products whose market was not, in his judgment, to be enlarged by +the tariff, and whose production was enhanced in cost by its +operation. Colonel Benton's change was similar to Mr. Calhoun's, +though at a later period, and not so abrupt or so radical. Mr. Van +Buren's shifting of position was that of a man eagerly seeking the +current of popular opinion, and ready to go with the majority of +his party. Of all the great lights, but one burned steadily and +clearly. Mr. Clay was always a protectionist, and, unlike Mr. Van +Buren, he forced his party to go with him. But as a whole, the +record of tariff legislation, from the very origin of the government, +is the record of enlightened selfishness; and enlightened selfishness +is the basis of much that is wisest in legislation. + +It is natural that both sides to the tariff controversy should +endeavor to derive support for their principles from the experience +of the country. Nor can it be denied that each side can furnish +many arguments which apparently sustain its own views and theories. +The difficulty in reaching a satisfactory and impartial conclusion +arises from the inability or unwillingness of the disputants to +agree upon a common basis of fact. If the premises could be candidly +stated, there would be not trouble in finding a true conclusion. +In the absence of an agreement as to the points established, it is +the part of fairness to give a succinct statement of the grounds +maintained by the two parties to the prolonged controversy,--grounds +which have not essentially changed in a century of legislation and +popular contention. + +It is maintained by free-traders that under the moderate tariff +prevailing from the origin of the government to the war of 1812 +the country was prosperous, and manufactures were developing as +rapidly as was desirable or healthful. Protectionists on the other +hand aver that the duty levied in 1789 was the first of uniform +application throughout all the States, and that, regardless of its +percentage, its influence and effect were demonstrably protective; +that it was the first barrier erected against the absolute commercial +supremacy of England, and that it effectually did its work in +establishing the foundation of the American system. In the absence +of that tariff, they maintain that England, under the influence of +actual free-trade, had monopolized our market and controlled our +industries. Finally they declare that the free-traders yield the +whole case in acknowledging that the first tariff imparted an +impetus to manufactures and to commercial independence wholly +unknown while the States were under the Articles of Confederation +and unable to levy uniform duties on imports. + + COMPARISON OF REVENUE SYSTEMS. + +The free-traders point to the destructive effect of the war tariff +of 1812, which unduly stimulated and then inevitably depressed the +country. They assume this to be a pregnant illustration of a truth, +otherwise logically deduced by them, as to the re-action sure to +follow an artificial stimulus given to any department of trade. +The protectionists declining to defend the war duties as applicable +to a normal condition, find in the too sudden dropping of war rates +the mistake which precipitated the country into financial trouble. +Depression, they say, would naturally have come; but it was hastened +and increased by the inconsiderate manner in which the duties were +lowered in 1816. From that time onward the protectionists claim +that the experience of the country has favored their theories of +revenue and financial administration. The country did not revive, +or prosperity re-appear, until the protective tariff of 1824 was +enacted. The awakening of all branches of industry by that Act +was further promoted by the tariff of 1828, to which the protectionists +point as the perfected wisdom of their school. Mr. Clay publicly +asserted that the severest depression he had witnessed in the +country was during the seven years preceding the tariff of 1824, +and that the highest prosperity was during the seven years following +that Act. + +The free-traders affirm that the excitement in the South and the +sectional resistance to the tariff of 1828 show the impossibility +of maintaining high duties. The protectionists reply that such an +argument is begging the question, and is simply tantamount to +admitting that protection is valuable if it can be upheld. The +protectionists point to the fact that their system was not abandoned +in 1832 upon a fair consideration of its intrinsic merits, but as +a peace-offering to those who were threatening the destruction of +the government if the duties were not lowered. Many protectionists +believe that if Mr. Clay had been willing to give to General Jackson +the glory of an absolute victory over the Nullifiers of South +Carolina, the revenue system of the country would have been very +different. They think however that the temptation to settle the +question by compromise instead of permitting Jackson to settle it +by force was perhaps too strong to be resisted by one who had so +many reasons for opposing and hating the President. + +A more reasonable view held by another school of protectionists is +that Mr. Clay did the wisest possible thing in withdrawing the +tariff question from a controversy where it was complicated with +so many other issues,--some of them bitter and personal. He justly +feared that the protective principle might be irretrievably injured +in the collision thought to be impending. He believed moreover +that the best protective lesson would be taught by permitting the +free-traders to enforce their theories for a season, trusting for +permanent triumph to the popular re-action certain to follow. +There was nothing in the legislation to show that Mr. Clay or his +followers had in any degree abandoned or changed their faith in +protective duties of their confidence in the ultimate decision of +the public judgment. The protectionists aver that the evils which +flowed from the free-trade tariff of 1833, thus forced on the +country by extraneous considerations, were incalculably great, and +negatively established the value of the tariff of 1828 which had +been so unfairly destroyed. They maintain that it broke down the +manufacturing interest, led to excessive importations, threw the +balance of trade heavily against us, drained us of our specie, and +directly led to the financial disasters of 1837 and the years +ensuing. They further declare that this distressing situation was +not relieved until the protective tariff of 1842 was passed, and +that thenceforward, for the four years in which that Act was allowed +to remain in force, the country enjoyed general prosperity,--a +prosperity so marked and wide-spread that the opposing party had +not dared to make an issue against the tariff in States where there +was large investment in manufacturing. + +The free-traders consider the tariff of 1846 to be a conclusive +proof the beneficial effect of low duties. They challenge a +comparison of the years of its operation, between 1846 and 1857, +with any other equal period in the history of the country. +Manufacturing, they say, was not forced by a hot-house process to +produce high-priced goods for popular consumption, but was gradually +encouraged and developed on a healthful and self-sustaining basis, +not to be shaken as a reed in the wind by every change in the +financial world. Commerce, as they point out, made great advances, +and our carrying trade grew so rapidly that in ten years from the +day the tariff of 1846 was passed our tonnage exceeded the tonnage +of England. The free-traders refer with especial emphasis to what +the term the symmetrical development of all the great interests of +the country under this liberal tariff. Manufactures were not +stimulated at the expense of the commercial interest. Both were +developed in harmony, while agriculture, the indispensable basis +of all, was never more flourishing. The farmers and planters at +no other period of our history were in receipt of such good prices, +steadily paid to them in gold coin, for their surplus product, +which they could send to the domestic market over our own railways +and to the foreign market in our own ships. + + COMPARISON OF REVENUE SYSTEMS. + +Assertions as to the progress of manufactures in the period under +discussion are denied by the protectionists. While admitting the +general correctness of the free-trader's statements as to the +prosperous condition of the country, they call attention to the +fact that directly after the enactment of the tariff of 1846 the +great famine occurred in Ireland, followed in the ensuing years by +short crops in Europe. The prosperity which came to the American +agriculturist was therefore from causes beyond the sea and not at +home,--causes which were transient, indeed almost accidental. +Moreover an exceptional condition of affairs existed in the United +States in consequence of our large acquisition of territory from +Mexico at the close of the war and the subsequent and almost +immediate discovery of gold in California. A new and extended +field of trade was thus opened in which we had the monopoly, and +an enormous surplus of money was speedily created from the products +of the rich mines on the Pacific coast. At the same time Europe +was in convulsion from the revolutions of 1848, and production was +materially hindered over a large part of the Continent. This +disturbance had scarcely subsided when three leading nations of +Europe, England, France, and Russia, engaged in the wasteful and +expensive war of the Crimea. This struggle began in 1853 and ended +in 1856, and during those years it increased consumption and +decreased production abroad, and totally closed the grain-fields +of Russia from any competition with the United States. + +The protectionists therefore hold that the boasted prosperity of +the country under the tariff of 1846 was abnormal in origin and in +character. It depended upon a series of events exceptional at home +and even more exceptional abroad,--events which by the doctrine of +probabilities would not be repeated for centuries. When peace was +restored in Europe, when foreign looms and forges were set going +with renewed strength, when Russia resumed her export of wheat, +and when at home the output of the gold-mines suddenly decreased, +the country was thrown into distress, followed by a panic and by +long years of depression. The protectionists maintain that from +1846 to 1857 the United States would have enjoyed prosperity under +any form of tariff, but that the moment the exceptional conditions +in Europe and in America came to an end, the country was plunged +headlong into a disaster from which the conservative force of a +protective tariff would in large part have saved it. The protectionists +claim moreover that in these averments they are not wise after the +fact. They show a constant series of arguments and warnings from +leading teachers of their economic school, especially from Horace +Greeley and Henry C. Carey, accurately foretelling the disastrous +results which occurred at the height of what was assumed to be our +solid and enduring prosperity as a nation. These able writers were +prophets of adversity, and the inheritors of their faith claim that +their predictions were startlingly verified. + +The free-traders, as an answer to this arraignment of their tariff +policy, seek to charge responsibility for the financial disasters +to the hasty and inconsiderate changes made in the tariff in 1857, +for which both parties were in large degree if not indeed equally +answerable. The protectionists will not admit the plea, and insist +that the cause was totally inadequate to the effect, considering +the few months the new tariff had been in operation. They admit +that the low scale of duties in the new tariff perhaps may have +added to the distress, by the very rapid increase of importations +which it invited; but they declare that its period of operation +was entirely too brief to create a result so decided, if all the +elements of disaster had not been in existence, and in rapid +development, at the time the Act was passed. The tariff of 1846 +therefore under which there had been a very high degree of prosperity, +was, in the judgment of the protectionists, successfully impeached, +and a profound impression in consequence made on the public mind +in favor of higher duties. + + PROTECTION IN PENNSYLVANIA. + +The question of the tariff was of especial significance and influence +in Pennsylvania. Important in that State, it became important +everywhere. Pennsylvania had been continuously and tenaciously +held by the Democratic party. In the old political divisions she +had followed Jefferson and opposed Adams. In the new divisions +she had followed Jackson and opposed Clay. She was Republican as +against the Federalists, she was Democratic as against the Whigs. +From the election of Jackson in 1828 to the year 1860,--a period +that measured the lifetime of a generation,--she had, with very +few exceptions, sustained the Democratic party. Joseph Ritner was +elected governor by the Whigs in 1835, in consequence of Democratic +divisions. Harrison, in the political convulsion of 1840, triumphed +in the State by the slight majority of three hundred. Taylor +received her electoral vote, partly in consequence of dissensions +between Cass and Van Buren, and partly in consequence of the free- +trade opinions of Cass. In 1854 James Pollock was chosen governor +by the sudden uprising and astounding development of the Native- +American excitement as organized by the _Know-Nothing_ party. The +repeal of the Missouri Compromise aided the canvass of Pollock, +but that alone would not have loosened the strong moorings of the +Pennsylvania Democracy. Mr. Buchanan recovered the State two years +afterwards, and would have held it firmly in his grasp but for the +financial revulsion and the awakened demand for a protective tariff. + +Dissociated from the question of protection, opposition to the +extension of slavery was a weak issue in Pennsylvania. This was +conclusively shown in the gubernatorial contest of 1857, when David +Wilmot, the personal embodiment of Free-soil principles, was the +Republican candidate for governor. Besides the general strength +of the Territorial issue, Mr. Wilmot had the advantage of all the +anti-slavery zeal which was aroused by the announcement of the Dred +Scott decision, with the censurable connection therewith of President +Buchanan. Thus an angry element was superadded for personal +prejudice and effective agitation. Yet Mr. Wilmot was disastrously +beaten by the Democratic candidate, Governor Parker, the adverse +majority reaching indeed tens of thousands. + +The crushing Republican defeat received in the person of Wilmot +occurred on the very eve of the financial distress of 1857. The +Democratic canvass had been made while there was yet no suspicion +of impending panic and revulsion,--made indeed with constant boasts +of the general prosperity and with constant ascription of that +prosperity to the well-defined and long-continued policy of the +Democratic party. From that time the Democratic party became +embarrassed in Pennsylvania. With a tariff of their own making, +with a President of their own choice, with both branches of Congress +and every department of the government under their control, a +serious disaster had come upon the country. The promises of +Democratic leaders had failed, their predictions had been falsified, +and as a consequence their strength was shattered. The Republicans +of Pennsylvania, seeing their advantage, pressed it by renewed and +urgent demands for a protective tariff. On the other issues of +the party they had been hopelessly beaten, but the moment the +hostility to slave-labor in the Territories became identified with +protected labor in Pennsylvania, the party was inspired with new +hopes, received indeed a new life. + +It was this condition of public opinion in Pennsylvania which made +the recognition of the protective system so essential in the Chicago +platform of 1860. It was to that recognition that Mr. Lincoln in +the end owed his election. The memorable victory of Andrew G. +Curtin, when he was chosen governor by a majority of thirty-two +thousand, was largely due to his able and persuasive presentation +of the tariff question, and to his effective appeals to the laboring- +men in the coal and iron sections of the State. But for this issue +there was in fact no reason why Curtin should have been stronger +in 1860 than Wilmot was in 1857. Indeed, but for that issue he +must have been weaker. The agitation over the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise had somewhat subsided with the lapse of years: the free- +State victory in Kansas was acknowledged and that angry issue +removed; while the Dred Scott decision, failing to arouse popular +resentment at the time it was pronounced, could hardly be effective +for an aggressive canvass three years later. If Governor Curtin +could have presented no other issue to the voters of Pennsylvania, +he would undoubtedly have shared the fate which Wilmot met when he +had these anti-slavery questions as his only platform. Governor +Curtin gave a far greater proportion of his time to the discussion +of the tariff and financial issues than to all others combined, +and he carried Pennsylvania because a majority of her voters believed +that the Democratic party tended to free-trade, and that the +Republican party would espouse and maintain the cause of protection. + + PENNSYLVANIA'S INFLUENCE IN 1860. + +Had the Republicans failed to carry Pennsylvania, there can be no +doubt that Mr. Lincoln would have been defeated. An adverse result +in Pennsylvania in October would certainly have involved the loss +of Indiana in November, besides California and Oregon and the four +votes in New Jersey. The crisis of the national campaign was +therefore reached in the triumph of Governor Curtin in the State +election which preceded by four weeks the direct choice of President. +It would be difficult to compute the possible demoralization in +the Republican ranks if Pennsylvania had been lost in October. +The division among the Democrats was a fruitful source of encouragement +and strength to the Republicans, but would probably have disappeared +with the positive assurance of success in the national struggle. +Whether in the end Douglas or Breckinridge would have been chosen +President is matter of speculation, but it is certain that Mr. +Lincoln would have been defeated. The October election of Pennsylvania +was for so long a period an unerring index to the result of the +contest for the Presidency, that a feeling almost akin to superstition +was connected with it. Whichever party carried it was sure, in +the popular judgment, to elect the President. It foretold the +crushing defeat of John Quincy Adams in 1828; it heralded the +disaster to Mr. Clay in 1844; it foredoomed General Cass in 1848. +The Republicans, having elected their candidate for governor in +1854 by a large majority, confidently expected to carry the State +against Mr. Buchanan in 1856. But the Democratic party prevailed +in the October election, and the supporters of Frémont at once +recognized the hopelessness of their cause. The triumph of Governor +Curtin was the sure precursor of Mr. Lincoln's election, and that +very fact added immeasurably to his popular strength in the closing +month of the prolonged and exciting struggle. + +In reviewing the agencies therefore which precipitated the political +revolution of 1860, large consideration must be given to the +influence of the movement for Protection. To hundreds of thousands +of voters who took part in that memorable contest, the tariff was +not even mentioned. Indeed this is probably the fact with respect +to the majority of those who cast their suffrages for Mr. Lincoln. +It is none the less true that these hundreds of thousands of ballots, +cast in aid of free territory and as a general defiance to the +aggressions of the pro-slavery leaders of the South, would have +been utterly ineffectual if the central and critical contest in +Pennsylvania had not resulted in a victory for the Republicans in +October. The tariff therefore had a controlling influence not only +in deciding the contest for political supremacy but in that more +momentous struggle which was to involve the fate of the Union. It +had obtained a stronger hold on the Republican party than even the +leaders of that organization were aware, and it was destined to a +larger influence upon popular opinion than the most sagacious could +foresee. + + +In the foregoing summary of legislation upon the tariff, the terms +Free-trade and Protection are used in their ordinary acceptation +in this country,--not as accurately defining the difference in +revenue theories, but as indicating the rival policies which have +so long divided political parties. Strictly speaking, there has +never been a proposition by any party in the United States for the +adoption of free-trade. To be entirely free, trade must encounter +no obstruction in the way of tax, either upon export or import. +In that sense no nation has ever enjoyed free-trade. As +contradistinguished from the theory of protection, England has +realized freedom of trade by taxing only that class of imports +which meet no competition in home production, thus excluding all +pretense of favor or advantage to any of her domestic industries. +England came to this policy after having clogged and embarrassed +trade for a long period by the most unreasonable and tyrannical +restrictions, ruthlessly enforced, without regard to the interests +or even the rights of others. She had more than four hundred Acts +of Parliament, regulating the tax on imports, under the old +designations of "tonnage and poundage," adjusted, as the phrase +indicates, to heavy and light commodities. Beyond these, she had +a cumbersome system of laws regulating and in many cases prohibiting +the exportation of articles which might teach to other nations the +skill by which she had herself so marvelously prospered. + +When by long experiment and persistent effort England had carried +her fabrics to perfection; when by the large accumulation of wealth +and the force of reserved capital she could command facilities +which poorer nations could not rival; when by the talent of her +inventors, developed under the stimulus of large reward, she had +surpassed all other countries in the magnitude and effectiveness +of her machinery, she proclaimed free-trade and persuasively urged +it upon all lands with which she had commercial intercourse. +Maintaining the most arbitrary and most complicated system of +protection so long as her statesmen considered that policy +advantageous, she resorted to free-trade only when she felt able +to invade the domestic markets of other countries and undersell +the fabrics produced by struggling artisans who were sustained by +weaker capital and by less advanced skill. So long as there was +danger that her own marts might be invaded, and the products of +her looms and forges undersold at home, she rigidly excluded the +competing fabric and held her own market for her own wares. + + FREE-TRADE POLICY OF ENGLAND. + +England was however neither consistent nor candid in her advocacy +and establishment of free-trade. She did not apply it to all +departments of her enterprise, but only to those in which she felt +confident that she could defy competition. Long after the triumph +of free-trade in manufactures, as proclaimed in 1846, England +continued to violate every principle of her own creed in the +protection she extended to her navigation interests. She had +nothing to fear from the United States in the domain of manufacturers, +and she therefore asked us to give her the unrestricted benefit of +our markets in exchange for a similar privilege which she offered +to us in her markets. But on the sea we were steadily gaining upon +her, and in 1850-55 were nearly equal to her in aggregate tonnage. +We could build wooden vessels at less cost than England and our +ships excelled hers in speed. When steam began to compete with +sail she saw her advantage. She could build engines at less cost +than we, and when, soon afterward, her ship-builders began to +construct the entire steamer of iron, her advantages became evident +to the whole world. + +England was not content however with the superiority which these +circumstances gave to her. She did not wait for her own theory of +Free-trade to work out its legitimate results, but forthwith +stimulated the growth of her steam marine by the most enormous +bounties ever paid by any nation to any enterprise. To a single +line of steamers running alternate weeks from Liverpool to Boston +and New York, she paid nine hundred thousand dollars annually, and +continued to pay at this extravagant rate for at least twenty years. +In all channels of trade where steam could be employed she paid +lavish subsidies, and literally destroyed fair competition, and +created for herself a practical monopoly in the building of iron +steamers, and a superior share in the ocean traffic of the world. +But every step she took in the development of her steam marine by +the payment of bounty, was in flat contradiction of the creed which +she was at the same time advocating in those departments of trade +where she could conquer her competitors without bounty. + +With her superiority in navigation attained and made secure through +the instrumentality of subsidies, England could afford to withdraw +them. Her ships no longer needed them. Thereupon, with a promptness +which would be amusing if it did not have so serious a side for +America, she proceeded to inveigh through all her organs of public +opinion against the discarded and condemned policy of granting +subsidies to ocean steamers. Her course in effect is an exact +repetition of that in regard to protection of manufactures, but as +it is exhibited before a new generation, the inconsistency is not +so readily apprehended nor so keenly appreciated as it should be +on this side of the Atlantic. Even now there is good reason for +believing that many lines of English steamers, in their effort to +seize the trade to the exclusion of rivals, are paid such extravagant +rates for the carrying of letters as practically to amount to a +bounty, thus confirming to the present day (1884) the fact that no +nation has ever been so persistently and so jealously protective +in her policy as England so long as the stimulus of protection is +needed to give her the command of trade. What is true of England +is true in greater or less degree of all other European nations. +They have each in turn regulated the adoption of free-trade by the +ratio of their progress towards the point where they could overcome +competition. In all those departments of trade where competition +could overcome them, they have been quick to interpose protective +measures for the benefit of their own people. + +The trade policy of the United States at the foundation of the +government had features of enlightened liberality which were unknown +in any other country of the world. The new government was indeed +as far in advance of European nations in the proper conception of +liberal commerce as it was on questions relating to the character +of the African slave-trade. The colonists had experienced the +oppression of the English laws which prohibited export from the +mother country of the very articles which might advance their +material interest and improve their social condition. They now +had the opportunity, as citizens of a free Republic, to show the +generous breadth of their statesmanship, and they did so by providing +in their Constitution, that Congress should never possess the power +to levy "a tax or duty on articles exported from any State." + +At the same time trade was left absolutely free between all the +States of the Union, no one of them being permitted to levy any +tax on exports or imports beyond what might be necessary for its +inspection laws. Still further to enforce this needful provision, +the power to regulate commerce between the States was given to the +General Government. The effect of these provisions was to insure +to the United States a freedom of trade beyond that enjoyed by any +other nation. Fifty-five millions of American people (in 1884), +over an area nearly as large as the entire continent of Europe, +carry on their exchanges by ocean, by lake, by river, by rail, +without the exactions of the tax-gatherer, without the detention +of the custom house, without even the recognition of State lines. +In these great channels, the domestic exchanges represent an annual +value perhaps twenty-five times as great as the total of exports +and imports. It is the enjoyment of free-trade and protection at +the same time which has contributed to the unexampled development +and marvelous prosperity of the United States. + + OPERATION OF PROTECTIVE LAWS. + +The essential question which has grown up between political parties +in the United States respecting our foreign trade, is whether a +duty should be laid upon any import for the direct object of +protecting and encouraging the manufacture of the same article at +home. The party opposed to this theory does not advocate the +admission of the article free, but insists upon such rate of duty +as will produce the largest revenue and at the same time afford +what is termed "incidental protection." The advocates of actual +free-trade according to the policy of England--taxing only those +articles which are not produced at home--are few in number, and +are principally confined to _doctrinaires_. The instincts of the +masses of both parties are against them. But the nominal free- +trader finds it very difficult to unite the largest revenue from +any article with "incidental protection" to the competing product +at home. If the duty be so arranged as to produce the greatest +amount of revenue, it must be placed at that point where the foreign +article is able to undersell the domestic article and thus command +the market to the exclusion of competition. This result goes beyond +what the so-called American free-trader intends in practice, but +not beyond what he implies in theory. + +The American protectionist does not seek to evade the legitimate +results of his theory. He starts with the proposition that whatever +is manufactured at home gives work and wages to our own people, +and that if they duty is even put so high as to prohibit the import +of the foreign article, the competition of home producers will, +according to the doctrine of Mr. Hamilton, rapidly reduce the price +to the consumer. He gives numerous illustrations of articles which +under the influence of home competition have fallen in price below +the point at which the foreign article was furnished when there +was no protection. The free-trader replies that the fall in price +has been still greater in the foreign market, and the protectionist +rejoins that the reduction was made to compete with the American +product, and that the former price would probably have been maintained +so long as the importer had the monopoly of our market. Thus our +protective tariff reduced the price in both countries. This has +notably been the result with respect to steel rails, the production +of which in America has reached a magnitude surpassing that of +England. Meanwhile rails have largely fallen in price to the +consumer, the home manufacture has disbursed countless millions of +money among American laborers, and has added largely to our industrial +independence and to the wealth of the country. + +While many fabrics have fallen to as low a price in the United +States as elsewhere, it is not to be denied that articles of clothing +and household use, metals and machinery, are on an average higher +than in Europe. The difference is due in large degree to the wages +paid to labor, and thus the question of reducing the tariff carries +with it the very serious problem of a reduction in the pay of the +artisan and the operative. This involves so many grave considerations +that no party is prepared to advocate it openly. Free-traders do +not, and apparently dare not, face the plain truth--which is that +the lowest priced fabric means the lowest priced labor. On this +point protectionists are more frank than their opponents; they +realize that it constitutes indeed the most impregnable defense of +their school. Free-traders have at times attempted to deny the +truth of the statement; but every impartial investigation thus far +has conclusively proved that labor is better paid, and the average +condition of the laboring man more comfortable, in the United States +than in any European country. + +An adjustment of the protective duty to the point which represents +the average difference between wages of labor in Europe and in +America, will, in the judgment of protectionists, always prove +impracticable. The difference cannot be regulated by a scale of +averages because it is constantly subject to arbitrary changes. +If the duty be adjusted on that basis for any given date, a reduction +of wages would at once be enforced abroad, and the American +manufacturer would in consequence be driven to the desperate choice +of surrendering the home market or reducing the pay of workmen. +The theory of protection is not answered, nor can its realization +to attained by any such device. Protection, in the perfection of +its design as described by Mr. Hamilton, does not invite competition +from abroad, but is based on the controlling principle that +competition at home will always prevent monopoly on the part of +the capitalist, assure good wages to the laborer, and defend the +consumer against the evils of extortion. + + + TENDENCY OF OVER-PRODUCTION. + +An argument much relied upon and strongly presented by the advocates +of free-trade is the alleged tendency to over-production of protected +articles, followed uniformly by seasons of depression and at certain +intervals by financial panic and wide-spread distress. These +results are unhappily too familiar in the United States, but the +protectionists deny that the cause is correctly given. They aver +indeed that a glut of manufactured articles is more frequently seen +in England than in the United States, thus proving directly the +reverse of the conclusion assumed by the free-traders, and establishing +the conservative and restraining power of a protective tariff. +The protectionists direct attention to the fact that the first +three instances in our history in which financial panic and prolonged +depression fell upon the country, followed the repeal of protective +tariffs and the substitution of mere revenue duties,--the depression +of 1819-24, that of 1837-42, and that of 1857-61. They direct +further attention to the complementary fact that, in each of these +cases, financial prosperity was regained through the agency of a +protective tariff, the operation of which was prompt and beneficent. + +On the other hand the panic of 1873 and the depression which lasted +until 1879 undoubtedly occurred after a protective tariff had been +for a long time in operation. Free-traders naturally make much of +this circumstance. Protectionists, however, with confidence and +with strong array of argument, make answer that the panic of 1873 +was due to causes wholly unconnected with revenue systems,--that +it was the legitimate and the inevitable outgrowth of an exhausting +war, a vitiated and redundant currency, and a long period of reckless +speculation directly induced by these conditions. They aver that +no system of revenue could have prevented the catastrophe. They +maintain however that by the influence of a protective tariff the +crisis was long postponed; that under the reign of free-trade it +would have promptly followed the return of peace when the country +was ill able to endure it. They claim that the influence of +protection would have put off the re-action still longer if the +rebuilding of Chicago and Boston, after the fires of 1871 and 1872, +had not enforced a sudden withdrawal of $250,000,000 of ready money +from the ordinary channels of trade to repair the loss which these +crushing disasters precipitated. + +The assailants of protection apparently overlook the fact that +excessive production is due, both in England and in America, to +causes beyond the operation of duties either high or low. No cause +is more potent than the prodigious capacity of machinery set in +motion by the agency of steam. It is asserted by an intelligent +economist that, if performed by hand, the work done by machinery +in Great Britain would require the labor of seven hundred millions +of men,--a far larger number of adults than inhabit the globe. It +is not strange that, with this vast enginery, the power to produce +has a constant tendency to outrun the power to consume. Protectionists +find in this a conclusive argument against surrendering the domestic +market of the United States to the control of British capitalists, +whose power of production has no apparent limit. When the harmonious +adjustment of international trade shall ultimately be established +by "the Parliament of man" in "the Federation of the world," the +power of production and the power of consumption will properly +balance each other; but in traversing the long road and enduring +the painful process by which that end shall be reached, the +protectionist claims that his theory of revenue preserves the newer +nations from being devoured by the older, and offers to human labor +a shield against the exactions of capital. + + +CHAPTER X. + +Presidential Election of 1860.--The Electoral and Popular Vote.-- +Wide Divergence between the Two.--Mr. Lincoln has a Large Majority +of Electors.--In a Minority of 1,000,000 on Popular Vote.--Beginning +of Secession.--Rash Course of South Carolina.--Reluctance on the +Part of Many Southern States.--Unfortunate Meeting of South-Carolina +Legislature.--Hasty Action of South-Carolina Convention.--The Word +"Ordinance."--Meeting of Southern Senators in Washington to promote +Secession.--Unwillingness in the South to submit the Question to +Popular Vote.--Georgia not eager to Secede.--Action of Other States. +--Meeting of Congress in December, 1860.--Position of Mr. Buchanan. +--His Attachment to the Union as a Pennsylvanian.--Sinister Influences +in his Cabinet.--His Evil Message to Congress.--Analysis of the +Message.--Its Position destructive to the Union.--The President's +Position Illogical and Untenable.--Full of Contradictions.--Extremists +of the South approve the Message.--Demoralizing Effect of the +Message in the North and in the South.--General Cass resigns from +State Department.--Judge Black succeeds him.--Character of Judge +Black.--Secretaries Cobb, Floyd, and Thompson.--Their Censurable +Conduct in the Cabinet.--Their Resignation.--Re-organization of +Cabinet.--Dix, Holt, Stanton.--Close of Mr. Buchanan's Administration. +--Change in the President's Course.--The New Influences.--Analysis +of the President's Course.--There were two Mr. Buchanans.--Personal +and Public Character of Mr. Buchanan. + +The winter following the election of Mr. Lincoln was filled with +deplorable events. In the whole history of the American people, +there is no epoch which recalls so much that is worthy of regret +and so little that gratifies pride. The result of the election +was unfortunate in the wide divergence between the vote which Mr. +Lincoln received in the electoral colleges and the vote which he +received at the polls. In the electoral colleges he had an aggregate +of 180. His opponents, united, had but 123. Of the popular vote, +Lincoln received 1,866,452; Douglas, 1,291,547; Breckinridge, +850,082; Bell, 646,124. Mr. Lincoln's vote was wholly from the +free States, except some 26,000 cast for him in the five border +slave States. In the other slave States his name was not presented +as a candidate. Mr. Douglas received in the South about 163,000 +votes. In the North the votes cast distinctively for the Breckinridge +electoral ticket were less than 100,000, and distinctively for the +Bell electoral ticket about 80,000. + +It was thus manifest that the two Northern Presidential candidates, +Lincoln and Douglas, had absorbed almost the entire vote in the +free States, and the two Southern Presidential candidates, Breckinridge +and Bell, had absorbed almost the entire vote in the slave States. +The Northern candidate received popular support in the South in +about the same degree that the Southern candidate received popular +support in the North. In truth as well as in appearance it was a +sectional contest in which the North supported Northern candidates, +and the South supported Southern candidates. It was the first time +in the history of the government in which the President was chosen +without electoral votes from both the free and the slave States. +This result was undoubtedly a source of weakness to Mr. Lincoln,-- +weakness made more apparent by his signal failure to obtain a +popular majority. He had a large plurality, but the combined vote +of his opponents was nearly a million greater than the vote which +he received. + +The time had now come when the Southern Disunionists were to be +put to the test. The event had happened which they had declared +in advance to be cause of separation. It was perhaps the belief +that their courage and determination were challenged, which forced +them to action. Having so often pledged themselves not to endure +the election of an anti-slavery President, they were now persuaded +that, if they quietly submitted, they would thereby accept an +inferior position in the government. This assumed obligation of +consistency stimulated them to rash action; for upon every +consideration of prudence and wise forecast, they would have quietly +accepted a result which they acknowledged to be in strict accordance +with the Constitution. The South was enjoying exceptional prosperity. +The advance of the slave States in wealth was more rapid then at +any other period of their history. Their staple products commanded +high prices and were continually growing in amount to meet the +demands of a market which represented the wants of the civilized +world. In the decade between 1850 and 1860 the wealth of the South +had increased three thousand millions of dollars, and this not from +an overvalution of slaves, but from increased cultivation of land, +the extension of railways, and all the aids and appliances of vast +agricultural enterprises. Georgia alone had increased in wealth +over three hundred millions of dollars, no small proportion of +which was from commercial and manufacturing ventures that had proved +extremely profitable. There was never a community of the face of +the globe whose condition so little justified revolution as that +of the slave States in the year 1860. Indeed, it was a sense of +strength born of exceptional prosperity which led them to their +rash adventure of war. + + THE FIRST EFFORT AT SECESSION. + +It would however be an injustice to the People of the South to say +that in November, 1860, they desired, unanimously, or by a majority, +or on the part of any considerable minority, to engage in a scheme +of violent resistance to the National authority. The slave-holders +were in the main peacefully disposed, and contented with the +situation. But slavery as an economical institution and slavery +as a political force were quite distinct. Those who viewed it and +used it merely as a system of labor, naturally desired peace and +dreaded commotion. Those who used it as a political engine for +the consolidation of political power had views and ambitions +inconsistent with the plans and hopes of law-abiding citizens. It +was only by strenuous effort on the part of the latter class that +an apparent majority of the Southern people committed themselves +to the desperate design of destroying the National Government. + +The first effort at secession was made, as might have been expected, +by South Carolina. She did not wait for the actual result of the +election, but early in October, on the assumption of Lincoln's +success, began a correspondence with the other Cotton States. The +general tenor of the responses did not indicate a decided wish or +purpose to separate from the Union. North Carolina was positively +unwilling to take any hasty step. Louisiana, evidently remembering +the importance and value of the Mississippi River and of its numerous +tributaries to her commercial prosperity, expressed an utter +disinclination to separate from the North-West. Georgia was not +ready to make resistance, and at most advocated some form of +retaliatory legislation. It was evident that even in the Cotton- +belt and the Gulf States there was in the minds of sober people +the gravest objection to revolutionary measures. + +It happened, most unfortunately, that the South-Carolina Legislature +assembled early in November for the purpose of choosing Presidential +electors, who in that State were never submitted to the popular +vote. While it might seem extravagant to ascribe the revolution +which convulsed the country to an event so disconnected and apparently +so inadequate, it is nevertheless true that the sudden _furor_ +which seized a large number of the Southern people came directly +from that event. Indeed, it is scarcely an exaggeration to say +that the great civil war, which shook a continent, was precipitated +by the fact that the South-Carolina Legislature assembled at the +unpropitious moment. Without taking time for reflection, without +a review of the situation, without stopping to count the cost, with +a boldness born of passionate resentment against the North, the +rash men of South Carolina fired the train. In a single hour they +created in their own State a public sentiment which would not brook +delay or contradiction or argument. The leaders of it knew that +the sober second thought, even in South Carolina, would be dangerous +to the scheme of a Southern confederacy. They knew that the feeling +of resentment among the Southern people must be kept at white-heat, +and that whoever wished to speak a word of caution or moderation +must be held as a public enemy, and subjected to the scorn and the +vengeance of the people. + +In this temper a convention was ordered by the Legislature. The +delegates were to be chosen directly by the people, and when +assembled were to determine the future relation of South Carolina +to the Government of the United States. The election was to be +held in four weeks, and the convention was to assemble on the 17th +of December. The unnatural and unprecedented haste of this action, +by which South Carolina proceeded, as she proclaimed, to throw off +her national relations, is more easily comprehended by recalling +the difficult mode provided in every State for a change in its +constitution. In not a single State of the American Union can the +organic law be changed in less than a year, or without ample +opportunity for serious consideration by the people. At that very +moment the people of South Carolina were inhibited from making the +slightest alteration in their own constitution except by slow and +conservative processes which gave time for deliberation and +reflection. In determining a question momentous beyond all +calculation to themselves and to their posterity, they were hurried +into the election of delegates, and the delegates were hurried into +convention, and the convention was hurried into secession by a +terror of public opinion that would not endure resistance and would +not listen to reason. + +The few who were left in possession of coolness and sound judgment +among the public men of South Carolina, desired to stay the rush +of events by waiting for co-operation with the other slave-holding +States. Their request was denied and their argument answered by +the declaration that co-operation had been tried in 1850, and had +ended in defeating all measures looking to Disunion. One of the +members declared that if South Carolina again waited for co-operation, +slavery and State-rights would be abandoned, State-sovereignty and +the cause of the South would be lost forever. The action of the +convention was still further stimulated by the resignation of Mr. +Hammond and Mr. Chestnut, United-States senators from South Carolina, +and by the action of Governor Pickens in appointing a cabinet of +the same number and of the same division of departments that had +been adopted in the National Government. + + THE ACTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. + +South Carolina was urged forward in this course by leading Disunionists +in other States who needed the force of one bold example of secession +to furnish the requisite stimulus to their own communities. The +members of the South Carolina convention, recognizing the embarrassment +and incongruity of basing their action simply upon the constitutional +election of a President, declared that the public opinion of their +State "had for a long period been strengthening and ripening for +Disunion." Mr. Rhett, eminent in the public service of his State, +asserted "that the secession of South Carolina was not produced by +Mr. Lincoln's election, or by the non-execution of the Fugitive- +slave Law; that it was a matter which had been gathering head for +thirty years," and that they were now "determined upon their course +at whatever risk." + +Among the singular incidents of the South-Carolina secession, +followed subsequently by other States, was the solemn import attached +to the word _ordinance_. The South gave it a significance which +elevated its authority above the Constitution, and above the laws +of their own State and of the United States. And yet, neither in +legal definition nor in any ordinary use of the word, was there +precedent or authority for attaching to it such impressive meaning. +An _ordinance_ of Parliament was but a temporary Act which the +Commons might alter at their pleasure. An _Act_ of Parliament +could not be changed except by the consent of king, lords, and +commons. In this country, aside from the use of the word in +declaring the freedom of the North-west Territory in 1787, _ordinance_ +has uniformly been applied to Acts of inferior bodies, to the +councils of cities, to the authorities of towns, to the directors +of corporations,--rarely if ever to the Acts of legislative assemblies +which represent the power of the State. + +It is still more singular that, in passing the ordinance of Secession, +the convention worded it so that it should seem to be the repeal +of the ordinance of the 23d of May, 1788, whereby the Constitution +of the United States was ratified by South Carolina, when, in simple +truth, the Act of that State ratifying the Federal Constitution +was never called an ordinance. Mirabeau said that words were +things; and this word was so used in the proceedings of Secession +conventions as to impress the mind of the Southern people with its +portentous weight and solemnity. With an amendment to the +constitutions of their States they had all been familiar. In the +enactment of their laws thousands had participated. But no one of +them had ever before seen or heard or dreamed of any thing of such +momentous and decisive character as an Ordinance. Even to this +day, when disunion, secession, rebellion have all been destroyed +by the shock of arms, and new institutions have been built over +their common grave, the word "ordinance" has, in the minds of many +people both in the North and in the South, a sound which represents +the very majesty of popular power. + +If the other Southern States would have been left to their own +counsels, South Carolina would have stood alone, and her Secession +of 1860 would have proved as abortive as her Nullification of 1832. +The Disunion movement in the remaining States of the South originated +in Washington. Finding that the Cotton States, especially those +bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, were moving too slowly, the senators +from Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, +and Florida held a meeting in Washington on the 5th of January, +1861. The South had always contended for the right of States to +instruct their senators, but now the Southern senators proceeded +to instruct their States. In effect they sent out commands to the +governing authorities and to the active political leaders, that +South Carolina must be sustained; that the Cotton States must stand +by her; and that the secession of each and all of them must be +accomplished in season for a general convention to be held at +Montgomery, not later than Feb. 15, and, in any event, before the +inauguration of Mr. Lincoln. The design was that the new President +of the United States should find a Southern Confederacy in actual +existence, with the ordinary departments of government in regular +operation, with a name and a flag and a great seal, and all the +insignia of national sovereignty visible. + +It is a suggestive fact that, in carrying out these designs, the +political leaders determined, as far as possible, to prevent the +submission of the ordinances of Secession to the popular vote. It +is not indeed probable that, in the excited condition to which they +had by this time brought the Southern mind, Secession would have +been defeated; but the withholding of the question from popular +decision is at least an indication that there was strong apprehension +of such a result, and that care was taken to prevent the divisions +and acrimonious contests which such submission might have caused. +In the Georgia convention the resolution declaring it to be her +right and her duty to secede was adopted only by a vote of 165 to +130. A division of similar proportion in the popular vote would +have stripped the secession of Georgia of all moral force, and +hence the people were not allowed to pass upon the question. + + ACTION OF OTHER COTTON STATES. + +Georgia was really induced to secede, only upon the delusive +suggestion that better terms could be made with the National +Government by going out for a season than by remaining steadfastly +loyal. The influence of Alexander H. Stephens, while he was still +loyal, was almost strong enough to hold the State in the Union; +and but for the phantasm of securing better terms outside, the +Empire State of the South would have checked and destroyed the +Secession movement at the very outset. Mississippi followed +Jefferson Davis with a vote amounting almost to unanimity. Florida, +Louisiana, and Alabama followed with secession ordained by conventions +and no vote allowed to the people. Texas submitted the ordinance, +after the other States had seceded, and by the force of their +example carried it by a vote of about three to one. These were +the original seven States that formed the nucleus of the Confederacy. +They had gone through what they deemed the complete process of +separation from the Union, without the slightest obstruction from +any quarter and without the interposition of any authority from +the National Government against their proceedings. + + +Long before the Secession movement had been developed to the extent +just detailed, Congress was in session. It assembled one month +after the Presidential election, and fifteen days before the +Disunionists of South Carolina met in their ill-starred convention. +Up to that time there had been excitement, threats of resistance +to the authority of the government in many sections of the South, +and an earnest attempt in the Cotton States to promote co-operation +in the fatal step which so many were bent on taking. But there +had been no overt act against the national authority. Federal +officers were still exercising their functions in all the States; +the customs were still collected in Southern ports; the United- +States mails were still carried without molestation from the Potomac +to the Rio Grande. But the critical moment had come. The Disunion +conspiracy had reached a point where it must go forward with +boldness, or retreat before the displayed power and the uplifted +flag of the Nation. The administration could adopt no policy so +dangerous as to permit the enemies of the Union to proceed in their +conspiracy, and the hostile movement to gain perilous headway. At +that juncture Mr. Buchanan confronted a graver responsibility than +had ever before been imposed on a President of the United States. +It devolved on him to arrest the mad outbreak of the South by +judicious firmness, or by irresolution and timidity to plunge the +Nation into dangers and horrors, the extent of which was mercifully +veiled from the vision of those who were to witness and share them. + + PENNSYLVANIA AND THE UNION. + +There could be no doubt in the mind of any one that the destruction +of the Union would be deplored by Mr. Buchanan as profoundly as by +any living man. His birth and rearing as a Pennsylvanian leave no +other presumption possible. In the original Union, Pennsylvania +was appropriated denominated the Keystone of the arch, supported +by, and in turn supporting, the strength of all. Of the "old +thirteen" there were six free States north of her, and six slave +States south of her. She was allied as warmly by ties of friendship +and of blood with her Maryland and Virginia neighbors on the one +side as with those of New Jersey and New York on the other. Her +political and social connection on both sides were not more intimate +than those of a business and commercial character. As the Union +grew in power and increased in membership, Pennsylvania lost nothing +of her prestige. She held to the new States as intimate relations +as she held to the old. The configuration of the country and the +natural channels of communication have bound her closely to all +sections. Her northern border touching the great lakes, connected +her by sail and steam, before the era of the railway, with the +magnificent domain which lies upon the shores of those inland seas. +Her western rivers, whose junction marks the site of a great city, +form part of the most extensive system of interior water-communications +on the globe, affording a commercial highway twenty thousand miles +in length through seventeen States not included in the original +Union. Patriotic tradition increased Pennsylvania's attachment to +the National Government. It was on her soil that the Declaration +of Independence was proclaimed. It was in her Legislative halls +that the Constitution was formed and the "more perfect Union" of +the States ordained. From geographical position therefore, from +material interest, from inherited pride, from every association +and sympathy, from every aspiration, and from every hope, Pennsylvania +was for the Union, inviolable and indissoluble. No threat of its +destruction ever came from her councils, and no stress of circumstances +could ever seduce her into a calculation of its value, or drive +her to the contemplation of its end. + +With all his attachment to the Union, Mr. Buchanan had been brought +under influences which were hostile to it. In originally constituting +his Cabinet, sinister agencies had controlled him, and far-seeing +men anticipated trouble when the names were announced. From the +South he had selected Howell Cobb of Georgia for the Treasury, John +B. Floyd of Virginia for Secretary of War, Jacob Thompson of Missouri +for the Interior, and Aaron V. Brown of Tennessee for Postmaster- +General. From the North he had selected Lewis Cass of Michigan +for the State Department, Isaac Toucey of Connecticut for the Navy, +and Jeremiah S. Black of Pennsylvania for Attorney-General. It +seemed extraordinary that out of seven Cabinet officers four should +be given to the South, when the North had a vast preponderance of +population and wealth. It was hardly less than audacious that the +four departments assigned to the South should be those which dealt +most intimately and most extensively with the finances, the +manufactures, and the commerce of the country. The quiet manner +in which the North accepted this inequitable distribution of +political power added only another proof of the complete ascendency +which the South had acquired in the councils of the Democratic +party. + +Mr. Buchanan had always looked to the statesmen of the South as a +superior class; and after a political life wholly spent in close +association and constant service with them, it could not be expected +that, even in a crisis threatening destruction to the Union, he +would break away from them in a day. They had fast hold of him, +and against the influence of the better men in his Cabinet they +used him for a time to carry out their own ends. Secessionists +and Abolitionists Mr. Buchanan no doubt regarded as equally the +enemies of the Union. But the Secessionists all came from the +party that elected him President, and the Abolitionists had all +voted against him. The Abolitionists, in which phrase Mr. Buchanan +included all men of anti-slavery conviction, had no opportunity, +even if they had desired, to confer with the President, while the +Secessionists from old and friendly association, were in daily and +intimate relations with him. They undoubtedly persuaded the +President by the most plausible arguments that they were not in +fault; that the whole responsibility lay at the door of the Northern +anti-slavery men; and that, if these disturbers of the peace could +be suppressed, all would be well. It was under these influences, +artfully insinuated and persistently plied, that Mr. Buchanan was +induced to write his mischievous and deplorable message of the +first Monday of December, 1860,--a message whose evil effect can +never be estimated, and whose evil character can hardly be +exaggerated. + +The President informed Congress that "the long-continued and +intemperate interference of the Northern people with the question +of slavery in the Southern States has at last produced its natural +effect. . . . The time has arrived so much dreaded by the Father +of his Country, when hostile geographical parties have been formed." +He declared that he had "long foreseen and often forewarned" his +countrymen of "the impending danger." Apparently arguing the case +for the Southern extremists, the President believed that the danger +"does not proceed solely from the attempt to exclude slavery from +the Territories, nor from the efforts to defeat the execution of +the Fugitive-slave Law." Any or all of these evils, he said, "might +have been endured by the South," trusting to time and reflection +for a remedy. "The immediate peril," Mr. Buchanan informed the +country, "arises from the fact that the long-continued agitation +in the free States has at length produced its malign influence on +the slaves, and inspired them with vague notions of freedom. Hence +a sense of security no longer exists around the family altar. The +feeling of peace at home has given place to apprehensions of servile +insurrections, and many a matron throughout the South retires at +night in dread of what may befall herself and her children before +morning." The President was fully persuaded that "if this apprehension +of domestic danger should extend and intensify itself, disunion +will become inevitable." + + PRESIDENT BUCHANAN AND THE SOUTH. + +Having thus stated what he believed to be the grievances of the +South, Mr. Buchanan proceeded to give certain reasons why the slave- +holders should not break up the government. His defensive plea +for the North was worse, if worse were possible, than his aggressive +statements on behalf of the South. "The election of any one of +our fellow-citizens to the office of President," Mr. Buchanan +complacently asserted, "does not of itself afford just cause for +dissolving the Union." And then he adds an extraordinary qualification: +"This is more especially true if his election has been effected by +a mere plurality, and not a majority, of the people, and has resulted +from transient and temporary causes, which may probably never again +occur." Translated into plainer language, this was an assurance +to the Southern Disunionists that they need not break up the +government at that time, because Mr. Lincoln was a minority President, +and was certain to be beaten at the next election. He reminded +the Southern leaders moreover that in the whole history of the +Federal Government "no single Act had ever passed Congress, unless +the Missouri Compromise be an exception, impairing in the slightest +degree the rights of the South to their property in slaves." The +Missouri Compromise had been repealed, so that the entire body of +national statutes, from the origin of the government to that hour +was, according to President Buchanan, guiltless of transgression +against the rights of slave-holders. Coming from such a source, +the admission was one of great historic value. + +The President found that the chief grievance of the South was in +the enactments of the free States known as "personal liberty laws." +When the Fugitive-slave Law subjected the liberty of citizens to +the decision of a single commissioner, and denied jury trial to a +man upon the question of sending him to lifelong and cruel servitude, +the issue throughout the free States was made one of self-preservation. +Without having the legal right to obstruct the return of a fugitive +slave to his servitude, they felt not only that they had the right, +but that it was their duty, to protect free citizens in their +freedom. Very likely these enactments, inspired by an earnest +spirit of liberty, went in many cases too far, and tended to produce +conflicts between National and State authority. That was a question +to be determined finally and exclusively by the Federal Judiciary. +Unfortunately Mr. Buchanan carried his argument beyond that point, +coupling it with a declaration and an admission fatal to the +perpetuity of the Union. After reciting the statutes which he +regarded as objectionable and hostile to the constitutional rights +of the South, and after urging their unconditional repeal upon the +North, the President said: "The Southern States, standing on the +basis of the Constitution, have a right to demand this act of +justice from the States of the North. Should it be refused, then +the Constitution, to which all the States are parties, will have +been willfully violated by one portion of them in a provision +essential to the domestic security and happiness of the remainder. +In that event, the injured States, after having used all peaceful +and constitutional means to obtain redress, would be justified in +revolutionary resistance to the government of the Union." + +By this declaration the President justified, and in effect advised, +an appeal from the constitutional tribunals of the country to a +popular judgment in the aggrieved States, and recognized the right +of those States, upon such popular judgment, to destroy the +Constitution and Union. The "constitutional means" of redress were +the courts of the country, and to these the President must have +referred in the paragraph quoted. After an appeal to the courts, +and a decision upon the questions presented, it would have been +the plain duty of the parties to accept the decision as authoritative +and final. By the advice of the President, the States of the South +were to accept the decision obtained by constitutional means, in +case it was favorable to them, and to disregard it, and to destroy +both the Constitution and the Union, if it should prove to be +adverse to the popular opinion in those States. + +It is not improbable that the President's language conveyed more +than his real meaning. He may have intended to affirm that if the +free States should refuse to repeal their obnoxious statutes after +a final decision against their constitutionality, then the slave +States would be justified in revolutionary resistance. But he had +no right to make such an argument or suggest such an hypothesis, +for never in the history of the Federal Government had the decision +of the Supreme judicial tribunal been disobeyed or disregarded by +any State or by any individual. The right of "revolutionary +resistance" was not so foreign to the conception of the American +citizen as to require suggestion and enforcement from Mr. Buchanan. +His argument in support of the right at that crisis was prejudicial +to the Union, and afforded a standing-ground for many Southern men +who were beginning to feel that the doctrine of Secession was +illogical, unsafe, untenable. They now had the argument of a +Northern President in justification of "revolutionary resistance." +Throughout the South, the right of Secession was abandoned by a +large class, and the right of Revolution substituted. + + FATAL ADMISSION OF THE PRESIDENT. + +Having made his argument in favor of the right of "Revolution," +Mr. Buchanan proceeded to argue ably and earnestly against the +assumption by any State of an inherent right to secede from the +government at its own will and pleasure. But he utterly destroyed +the force of his reasoning by declaring that "after much serious +reflection" he had arrived at "the conclusion that no power has +been delegated to Congress, or to any other department of the +Federal Government, to coerce a State into submission which is +attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn," from the Union. +He emphasized his position by further declaring that, "so far from +this power having been delegated to Congress, it was expressly +refused by the convention which framed the Constitution." Congress +"possesses many means," Mr. Buchanan added, "of preserving the +Union by conciliation; but the sword was not placed in their hands +to preserve it by force." + +The fatal admission was thus evolved from the mind of the President, +that any State which thought itself aggrieved and could not secure +the concessions demanded, might bring the Government down in ruins. +The power to destroy was in the State. The power to preserve was +not in the Nation. The President apparently failed to see that if +the Nation could not be preserved by force, its legal capacity for +existence was dependent upon the concurring and continuing will of +all the individual States. The original bond of union was, therefore, +for the day only, and the provision of the Constitution which gave +to the Supreme Court jurisdiction in controversies between States +was binding no further than the States chose to accept the decisions +of the Court. + +The difference between the President and the Secessionists of the +South was a difference of opinion as to the time for action, and +as to the name by which that action should be called. In principle +there was concurrence. The President insisted that the injured +party should appeal to the aggressor, and then to the courts, with +the reserved right of revolution always in view and to be exercised +if neither the aggressor nor the courts furnished satisfactory +redress. The President recognized the reserved right of revolution +in the States, and it was a necessary incident of that right that +each State might decide when the right should be exercised. He +suggested that, as justification of revolution, the Federal Government +must be guilty of "a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise" +of powers not granted by the Constitution, quoting from the text +of the State-rights declaration by Virginia in 1798. But in all +his arguments he left the State to be the ultimate judge of the +constitutionality of the Acts of the Federal Government. Under +these doctrines the Government of the United States was shorn of +all power to preserve its own existence, and the Union might crumble +and fall while its constituted authorities stood paralyzed and +impotent. + +This construction was all that the extremists of the South desired. +With so much conceded, they had every thing in their own hands. +They could march out of the Union at their own will and caprice, +without resistance from the National Government, and they could +come back upon such conditions as, with the President's aid, they +might extort from an alarmed and weakening North. Assured by the +language of the President that they could with impunity defy the +constitutional authority of the government, the Secessionists were +immeasurably encouraged. The Southern men had for three generations +been cherishing the belief that they were as a class superior to +Northern men, and they were more than ever confirmed in this pleasing +illusion when they saw a Northern President, with the power of the +nation in his hands, deliberately affirming that he could exercise +no authority over or against them. + +Men who, under the wholesome restraint of executive power, would +have refrained from taking aggressive steps against the National +Government, were by Mr. Buchanan's action forced into a position +of hostility. Men in the South, who were disposed to avoid extreme +measures, were by taunt and reproach driven into the ranks of +Secession. They were made to believe, after the President's message, +that the South would be ruined if she did not assert a position +which the National authority confessed it had no right and no means +to contest. The Republicans had been taunting Southern men with +the intention of using only bluster and bravado, and if they should +now fail to take a decisive step in the direction of Disunion, they +felt that it would be a humiliating retraction of all they had said +in the long struggle over slavery. It would be an invitation to +the Abolitionists and fanatics of the North, to deal hereafter with +the South, and with the question of slavery, in whatever manner +might seem good in their sight. No weapon of logic could have been +more forcible; and, wielded as it was by Southern leaders with +skill and courage, they were able to consolidate the public opinion +and control the political action of their section. + +The evil effects of Mr. Buchanan's message were not confined to +the slave States. It did incalculable harm in the free States. +It fixed in the minds of tens of thousands of Northern men who were +opposed to the Republican party, the belief that the South was +justified in taking steps to break up the government, if what they +termed a war on Southern institutions should be continued. This +feeling had in turn a most injurious influence in the South, and +stimulated thousands in that section to a point of rashness which +they would never have reached but for the sympathy and support +constantly extended to them from the North. Even if a conflict of +arms should be the ultimate result of the Secession movement, its +authors and its deluded followers were made to believe that, against +a South entirely united, there would be opposed a North hopelessly +divided. They were confident that the Democratic party in the free +States held the views expressed in Mr. Buchanan's message. They +had conclusively persuaded themselves that the Democrats, together +with a large proportion of the conservative men in the North who +had supported Mr. Bell for the Presidency, would oppose an "abolition +war," and would prove a distracting and destructive force in the +rear of the Union army if it should ever commence its march +Southward. + + THE SECRETARY OF STATE RESIGNS. + +The most alarming feature of the situation to reflecting men in +the North was that, so far as known, all the members of Mr. Buchanan's +Cabinet approved the destructive doctrines of the message. But as +the position of the President was subjected to examination and +criticism by the Northern press, uneasiness was manifested in +Administration circles. It was seen that if the course foreshadowed +by Mr. Buchanan should be followed, the authority of the Union +would be compelled to retreat before the usurpations of seceding +States, and that a powerful government might be quietly overthrown, +without striking one blow of resistance, or uttering one word of +protest. General Cass was the first of the Cabinet to feel the +pressure of loyalty from the North. The venerable Secretary of +State, whose whole life had been one of patriotic devotion to his +country, suddenly realized that he was in a false position. When +it became known that the President would not insist upon the +collection of the national revenue in South Carolina, or upon the +strengthening of the United-States forts in the harbor of Charleston, +General Cass concluded that justice to his own reputation required +him to separate from the Administration. He resigned on the twelfth +of December,--nine days after Mr. Buchanan had sent his fatal +message to Congress. + + CHARACTER AND CONDUCT OF JUDGE BLACK. + +Judge Black, who had from the beginning of the Administration been +Mr. Buchanan's chief adviser, now became so by rank as the successor +of General Cass in the State Department. He was a man of remarkable +character. He was endowed by nature with a strong understanding +and a strong will. In the profession of the law he had attained +great eminence. His learning had been illustrated by a prolonged +service on the bench before the age at which men, even of exceptional +success at the bar, usually attract public observation. He had +added to his professional studies, which were laborious and +conscientious, a wide acquaintance with our literature, and had +found in its walks a delight which is yielded to few. In history, +biography, criticism, romance, he had absorbed every thing in our +language worthy of attention. Shakspeare, Milton, indeed all the +English poets, were his familiar companions. There was not a +disputed passage or an obscure reading in any one of the great +plays upon which he could not off-hand quote the best renderings, +and throw original light from his own illumined mind. Upon theology +he had apparently bestowed years of investigation and reflection. +A sincere Christian, he had been a devout and constant student of +the Bible, and could quote its passages and apply its teachings +with singular readiness and felicity. To this generous store of +knowledge he added fluency of speech, both in public address and +private communication, and a style of writing which was at once +unique, powerful, and attractive. He had attained unto every +excellence of mental discipline described by Lord Byron. Reading +had made him a full man, talking a ready man, writing an exact man. +The judicial literature of the English tongue may be sought in vain +for finer models than are found in the opinions of Judge Black when +he sat, and was worthy to sit, as the associate of John Bannister +Gibson, on the Supreme Bench of Pennsylvania. + +In political opinion he was a Democrat, self-inspired and self- +taught, for his father was a Whig who had served his State in +Congress. He idolized Jefferson and revered Jackson as embodying +in their respective characters all the elements of the soundest +political philosophy, and all the requisites of the highest political +leadership. He believed in the principles of Democracy as he did +in a demonstration of Euclid,--all that might be said on the other +side was necessarily absurd. He applied to his own political creed +the literal teachings of the Bible. If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob +had held slaves without condemnation or rebuke from the Lord of +hosts, he believed that Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia might do +the same. He found in the case of Onesiums, St. Paul's explicit +approval of the Fugutive-slave Law of 1850, and in the cruel case +of Passmore Williamson he believed himself to be enforcing the +doctrines of the New Testament. Personally unwilling to hold even +a beast of burden in oppressive bondage, nothing could induce him +to condemn slave-holding in those whose conscience permitted them +to practice it. In the Abolitionists he found the chief disturbers +of the Republic, and he held New England answerable to posterity +and to God for all the heresies which afflicted either Church or +State. He had an uncompromising hostility to what are termed New- +England ideas, though the tenderest ties of his life were of New- +England origin. "The New-Englander individually I greatly affect," +he often said, "but, in the mass, I judge them to be stark mad." +"I think, too," he would add, "that if you are going to make much +of a New-Englander, he should, like Dr. Johnson's Scotchman, be +caught young." + +To his native State Judge Black was devotedly attached. He inherited +the blood of two strong elements of its population,--the German +and the Scotch-Irish,--and he united the best characteristics of +both in his own person. He had always looked upon Pennsylvania as +the guardian of the Federal Union, almost as the guarantor of its +safety and its perpetuity. He spoke of her as the break-water that +protected the slave States from the waves of radicalism which were +threatening to ingulf Southern institutions. The success of the +Republican party in 1860 he regarded as a portent of direst evil, +--indeed, as a present disaster, immeasurably sorrowful. The +excitement in the Southern States over the probability of Mr. +Lincoln's election he considered natural, their serious protest +altogether justifiable. He desired the free States to be awakened +to the gravity of the situation, to be thoroughly alarmed, and to +repent of their sins against the South. He wished it understood +from ocean to ocean that the position of the Republican party was +inconsistent with loyalty to the Union, and that its permanent +success would lead to the destruction of the government. It was +not unnatural that with these extreme views he should be carried +beyond the bounds of prudence, and that, in his headlong desire to +rebuke the Republican party as enemies of the Union, he should aid +in precipitating a dissolution of the government before the +Republicans could enter upon its administration. He thus became +in large degree responsible for the unsound position and the +dangerous teachings of Mr. Buchanan. In truth some of the worst +doctrines embodied in the President's evil message came directly +from an opinion given by Judge Black as Attorney-General, and, made +by Mr. Buchanan still more odious and more dangerous by the quotation +of a part and not the whole. + +It was soon manifest however to Judge Black, that he was playing +with fire, and that, while he was himself desirous only of arousing +the country to the dangers of anti-slavery agitation, Mr. Buchanan's +administration was every day effectually aiding the Southern +conspiracy for the destruction of the Union. This light dawned on +Judge Black suddenly and irresistibly. He was personally intimate +with General Cass, and when that venerable statesman retired from +the Cabinet to preserve his record of loyalty to the Union, Judge +Black realized that he was himself confronted by an issue which +threatened his political destruction. Could he afford, as Secretary +of State, to follow a policy which General Cass believed would +destroy his own fame? General Cass was nearly fourscore years of +age, with his public career ended, his work done. Judge Black was +but fifty, and he had before him possibly the most valuable and +most ambitious period of his life. He saw at a glance that if +General Cass could not be sustained in the North-West, he could +not be sustained in Pennsylvania. He possessed the moral courage +to stand firm to the end, in defiance of opposition and regardless +of obloquy, if he could be sure he was right. But he had begun to +doubt, and doubt led him to review with care the position of Mr. +Buchanan, and to examine its inevitable tendencies. He did it with +conscience and courage. He had none of that subserviency to Southern +men which had injured so many Northern Democrats. Until he entered +the Cabinet in 1857, he had never come into personal association +with men from the slave-holding States, and his keen observation +could not fail to discern the inferiority to himself of the four +Southern members of the Cabinet. + +Judge Black entered upon his duties as Secretary of State on the +17th of December,--the day on which the Disunion convention of +South Carolina assembled. He found the malign influence of Mr. +Buchanan's message fully at work throughout the South. Under its +encouragement only three days were required by the convention at +Charleston to pass the Ordinance of Secession, and four days later +Governor Pickens issued a proclamation declaring "South Carolina +a separate, sovereign, free, and independent State, with the right +to levy war, conclude peace, and negotiate treaties." From that +moment Judge Black's position towards the Southern leaders was +radically changed. They were no longer fellow-Democrats. They +were the enemies of the Union to which he was devoted: they were +conspirators against the government to which he had taken a solemn +oath of fidelity and loyalty. + +Judge Black's change, however important to his own fame, would +prove comparatively fruitless unless he could influence Mr. Buchanan +to break with the men who had been artfully using the power of his +administration to destroy the Union. The opportunity and the test +came promptly. The new "sovereign, free, and independent" government +of South Carolina sent commissioners to Washington to negotiate +for the surrender of the national forts, and the transfer of the +national property within her limits. Mr. Buchanan prepared an +answer to their request which was compromising to the honor of the +Executive and perilous to the integrity of the Union. Judge Black +took a decided and irrevocable stand against the President's +position. He advised Mr. Buchanan that upon the basis of that +fatal concession to the Disunion leaders he could not remain in +his Cabinet. It was a sharp issue, but was soon adjusted. Mr. +Buchanan gave way, and permitted Judge Black, and his associates +Holt and Stanton, to frame a reply for the administration. + + THE PRESIDENT AND THE SOUTHERN LEADERS. + +Jefferson Davis, Mr. Toombs, Mr. Benjamin, Mr. Slidell, who had +been Mr. Buchanan's intimate and confidential advisers, and who +had led him to the brink of ruin, found themselves suddenly +supplanted, and a new power installed at the White House. Foiled, +and no longer able to use the National Administration as an +instrumentality to destroy the National life, the Secession leaders +in Congress turned upon the President with angry reproaches. In +their rage they lost all sense of the respect due to the Chief +Magistrate of the Nation, and assaulted Mr. Buchanan with coarseness +as well as violence. Senator Benjamin spoke of him as "a senile +Executive under the sinister influence of insane counsels." This +exhibition of malignity towards the misguided President afforded +to the North the most convincing and satisfactory proof that there +had been a change for the better in the plans and purposes of the +Administration. They realized that it must be a deep sense of +impending danger which could separate Mr. Buchanan from his political +associations with the South, and they recognized in his position +a significant proof of the desperate determination to which the +enemies of the Union had come. + +The stand taken by Judge Black and his loyal associates was in the +last days of December, 1860. The re-organization of the Cabinet +came as a matter of necessity. Mr. John B. Floyd resigned from +the War Department, making loud proclamation that his action was +based on the President's refusal to surrender the national forts +in Charleston Harbor to the Secession government of South Carolina. +This manifesto was not necessary to establish Floyd's treasonable +intentions toward the government; but, in point of truth, the plea +was undoubtedly a pretense, to cover reasons of a more personal +character which would at once deprive him of Mr. Buchanan's +confidence. There had been irregularities in the War Department +tending to compromise Mr. Floyd, for which he was afterwards indicted +in the District of Columbia. Mr. Floyd well knew that the first +knowledge of these shortcomings would lead to his dismissal from +the Cabinet. Whatever Mr. Buchanan's faults as an Executive may +have been, his honor in all transactions, both personal and public, +was unquestionable, and he was the last man to tolerate the slightest +deviation from the path of rigid integrity. + +Mr. Thompson, the Secretary of the Interior, followed Mr. Floyd +after a short interval. Mr. Cobb had left the Treasury a few days +before General Cass resigned from the Cabinet, and had gone to +Georgia to stimulate her laggard movements in the scheme of destroying +the government. His successor was Philip Francis Thomas of Maryland, +who entered the Cabinet as a representative of the principles whose +announcement had forced General Cass to resign. The change of +policy to which the President was now fully committed, forced Mr. +Thomas to retire, after a month's service. He frankly stated that +he was unable to agree with the President and his chief advisers +"in reference to the condition of things in South Carolina," and +therefore tendered his resignation. Mr. Thomas adhered to the +Union, and always maintained an upright and honorable character, +but his course at that crisis deprived him subsequently of a seat +in the United-States Senate, though at a later period he served in +the House as representative from Maryland. + +Mr. Cobb, Mr. Floyd, and Mr. Thompson had all remained in the +Cabinet after the Presidential election in November, in full +sympathy, and so far as was possible in full co-operation, with +the men in the South who were organizing resistance to the authority +of the Federal Government. Neither those gentlemen, nor any friend +in their behalf, ever ventured to explain how, as sworn officers +of the United States, they could remain at their posts consistently +with the laws of honor,--laws obligatory upon them not only as +public officials who had taken a solemn oath of fidelity to the +Constitution, but also as private gentlemen whose good faith was +pledged anew every hour they remained in control of the departments +with whose administration they had been intrusted. Their course +is unfavorably contrasted with that of many Southern men (of whom +General Lee and the two Johnstons were conspicuous examples), who +refused to hold official positions under the National Government +a single day after they had determined to take part in the scheme +of Disunion. + + BUCHANAN'S RECONSTRUCTED CABINET. + +By the re-organization of the Cabinet, the tone of Mr. Buchanan's +administration was radically changed. Judge Black had used his +influence with the President to secure trustworthy friends of the +Union in every department. Edwin M. Stanton, little known at the +time to the public, but of high standing in his profession, was +appointed Attorney-General soon after Judge Black took charge of +the State Department. Judge Black had been associated with Stanton +personally and professionally, and was desirous of his aid in the +dangerous period through which he was called to serve. + +Joseph Holt, who, since the death of Aaron V. Brown in 1859, had +been Postmaster-General, was now appointed Secretary of War, and +Horatio King of Maine, for many years the upright first assistant, +was justly promoted to the head of the Post-office Department. +Mr. Holt was the only Southern man left in the Cabinet. He was a +native of Kentucky, long a resident of Mississippi, always identified +with the Democratic party, and affiliated with its extreme Southern +wing. Without a moment's hesitation he now broke all the associations +of a lifetime, and stood by the Union without qualification or +condition. His learning, his firmness, and his ability, were +invaluable to Mr. Buchanan in the closing days of his administration. + +General John A. Dix of New York was called to the head of the +Treasury. He was a man of excellent ability, of wide experience +in affairs, of spotless character, and a most zealous friend of +the Union. He found the Treasury bankrupt, the discipline of its +officers in the South gone, its orders disregarded in the States +which were preparing for secession. He at once imparted spirit +and energy into the service,--giving to the administration of this +department a policy of pronounced loyalty to the government. No +act of his useful and honorable life has been so widely known or +will be so long remembered as his dispatch to the Treasury agent +at New Orleans to take possession of a revenue cutter whose commander +was suspected of disloyalty and of a design to transfer his vessel +to the Confederate service. Lord Nelson's memorable order at +Trafalgar was not more inspiring to the British navy than was the +order of General Dix to the American people, when, in the gloom of +that depressing winter, he telegraphed South his peremptory words, +"If any man attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on +the spot." + +Thus reconstructed, the Cabinet as a whole was one of recognized +power,--marked by high personal character, by intellectual training, +by experience in affairs, and by aptitude for the public service. +There have been Cabinets perhaps more widely known for the possession +of great qualities; but, if the history of successive administrations +from the origin of the government be closely studied, it will be +found that the re-organized Cabinet of President Buchanan must take +rank as one of exceptional ability. + +For the remaining two months of Mr. Buchanan's administration the +destinies of the country were in the keeping of these constitutional +advisers. If in any respect they failed to come to the standard +of a loyalty that was quickened by subsequent developments, they +no doubt fairly represented the demand of the Northern States at +the time. There was everywhere the most earnest desire to avert +a conflict, and an unwillingness to recognize the possibility of +actual war. The majority of the Republican party in both branches +of Congress was not advocating a more decided or more aggressive +course with the South, during the months of January and February, +than the Cabinet, with Judge Black at its head, was pursuing. The +time for executive acts of a more pronounced character was directly +after the Presidential election, when the first symptoms of resistance +to national authority were visible in the South. If the new Cabinet +had been then in power, the history of the civil revolt might have +been different. But the force that will arrest the first slow +revolution of a wheel cannot stand before it when, by unchecked +velocity, it has acquired a destructive momentum. The measures +which might have secured repression in November would only have +produced explosion in January. + + THE PRESIDENT'S NEW POSITION. + +The change of position on the part of Mr. Buchanan was not left to +inference, or to the personal assurance of the loyal men who composed +his re-organized Cabinet. He announced it himself in a special +message to Congress on the 8th of January, 1861. The tone was so +different from the message of December, that it did not seem possible +that the two could have been written by the same man. It was +evident from many passages in the second message that he was trying +to reconcile it with the first. This was the natural course +suggested by the pride of one who overrated the virtue of consistency. +The attempt was useless. The North with unaffected satisfaction, +the South with unconcealed indignation, realized that the President +had entirely escaped from the influences which dictated the first +message. He now asserted that, "as the Chief Executive under the +Constitution of the United States," he had no alternative but "to +collect the public revenues, and to protect the public property, +so far as this might be practicable under existing laws." Remarking +that his province "was to execute, and not to make, the laws," he +threw upon Congress the duty "of enlarging their provisions to meet +exigencies as they may occur." He declared it as his own conviction +that "the right and the duty to use military force defensively +against those who resist the federal officers in the execution of +their legal functions, and against those who assail the property +of the Federal Government, are clear and undeniable." Conceding +so much, the mild denial which the President re-asserted, of "the +right to make aggressive war upon any State," may be charitably +tolerated; for, under the defensive power which he so broadly +approved, the whole force of national authority could be used +against a State aggressively bent upon Secession. + +The President did not fail to fortify his own position at every +point with great force. The situation had become so serious, and +had "assumed such vast and alarming proportions, as to place the +subject entirely above and beyond Executive control." He therefore +commended "the question, in all its various bearings, to Congress, +as the only tribunal possessing the power to meet the existing +exigency." He reminded Congress that "to them belongs exclusively +the power to declare war, or to authorize the employment of military +force in all cases contemplated by the Constitution." Not abandoning +the hope of an amicable adjustment, the President pertinently +informed Congress that "they alone possess the power to remove +grievances which might lead to war, and to secure peace and union." +As a basis of settlement, he recommended a formal compromise by +which "the North shall have exclusive control of the territory +above a certain line, and Southern institutions shall have protection +below that line." This plan, he believed, "ought to receive +universal approbation." He maintained that on Congress, and "on +Congress alone, rests the responsibility." As Congress would +certainly in a few days be under the control of the Republicans in +both branches,--by the withdrawal of senators and representatives +from the seceding States,--Mr. Buchanan's argument had a double +force. Not only was he vindicating the position of the Executive +and throwing the weight of responsibility on the Legislative +Department of the government, but he was protecting the position +of the Democratic party by saying, in effect, that the President +chosen by that party stood ready to approve and to execute any laws +for the protection of the government and the safety of the Union +which a Republican Congress might enact. + +A certain significance attached to the date which the President +had selected for communicating his message to Congress. It was +the eighth day of January, the anniversary of the Battle of New +Orleans, celebrated that year with enthusiastic demonstrations in +honor of the memory of Andrew Jackson, who had, on a memorable +occasion not unlike the present, sworn an emphatic oath that "the +Federal Union must and shall be preserved." There was also marked +satisfaction throughout the loyal States with Mr. Buchanan's +assurance of the peace of the District of Columbia on the ensuing +4th of March, on the occasion of Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. He +did not himself "share in the serious apprehensions that were +entertained of disturbance" on that occasion, but he made this +declaration, which was received in the North with hearty applause: +"In any event, it will be my duty to preserve the peace, and this +duty shall be performed." + +The change of sentiment towards Mr. Buchanan after the delivery of +the special message, was as marked in the North as it was in the +South, though in the opposite direction. It would not be true to +say that any thing like popularity attended the President in his +new position; but the change of feeling was so great that the +Legislature of Massachusetts, on the 23d of January, 1861, adopted +resolutions in which they declared that they regarded "with unmingled +satisfaction the determination evinced in the recent firm and +patriotic special message of the President of the United States to +amply and faithfully discharge his constitutional duty of enforcing +the laws, and preserving the integrity of the Union." The Legislature +"proffered to the President, through the Governor of the Commonwealth, +such aid in men and money as he may require to maintain the authority +of the National Government." These resolutions were forwarded to +Mr. Buchanan by Governor Andrew. They were only one of many +manifestations which the President received of approval of his +course. + +The Massachusetts Legislature was radically Republican in both +branches, and even in making a reference to "men and money" as +requisite to maintain the Union, they had gone farther than the +public sentiment at that time approved. Coercive measures were +generally condemned. A few days after the action of the Legislature, +a large meeting of the people of Boston, held in Faneuil Hall, +declared that they "depended for the return of the seceding States, +and the permanent preservation of the Union, on conciliatory +counsels, and a sense of the benefits which the Constitution confers +on all the States, and not on military coercion." They declared +that they shrunk "with horror from the thought of civil war between +the North and the South." + +It must always be remembered that the disbelief in ultimate secession +was nearly universal throughout the free States. The people of +the North could not persuade themselves that the proceedings in +the Southern States would lead to any thing more serious than +hostile demonstrations, which would end, after coaxing and compromise, +in a return to the Union. But with this hope of final security +there was, on the part of the great mass of the people in the free +States, the gravest solicitude throughout the winter of 1860-61, +and a restless waiting and watching for a solution of the troubles. +Partisan leaders were busy on both sides seeking for an advantage +that might survive the pending trials. Northern Democrats in many +instances sought to turn the occasion to one of political advantage +by pointing out the lamentable condition to which anti-slavery +agitation had brought the country. This was naturally answered by +Republicans with defiance, and with an affected contempt and +carelessness of what the South might do. Much that was written +and much that was spoken throughout the North during that winter, +both by Democrats and Republicans, would have remained unwritten +and unspoken if they had realized the seriousness and magnitude of +the impending calamity. + + + FINAL ESTIMATE OF MR. BUCHANAN. + +In a final analysis and true estimate of Mr. Buchanan's conduct in +the first stages of the revolt, the condition of the popular mind +as just described must be taken into account. The same influences +and expectations that wrought upon the people were working also +upon him. There were indeed two Mr. Buchanans in the closing months +of the administration. The first was Mr. Buchanan of November and +December, angered by the decision of the Presidential election and +more than willing that the North, including his own State, should +be disciplined by fright to more conservative views and to a stricter +observance of what he considered solemn obligations imposed by the +Constitution. If the Southern threat of resistance to the authority +of the Union had gone no farther than this, Mr. Buchanan would have +been readily reconciled to its temporary violence, and would probably +have considered it a national blessing in disguise.--The second +was Mr. Buchanan of January and February, appalled by surrounding +and increasing perils, grieved by the conduct of Southern men whom +he had implicitly trusted, overwhelmed by the realization of the +evils which had obviously followed his official declarations, hoping +earnestly for the safety of the Union, and yet more disturbed and +harrowed in his mind than the mass of loyal people who did not +stand so near the danger as he, or so accurately measure its alarming +growth. The President of December with Cobb and Floyd and Thompson +in his Cabinet, and the President of January with Dix and Stanton +and Holt for his councilors, were radically different men. No true +estimate of Mr. Buchanan in the crisis of his public career can +ever be reached if this vital distinction be overlooked. + +It was Mr. Buchanan's misfortune to be called to act in an emergency +which demanded will, fortitude, and moral courage. In these +qualities he was deficient. He did not possess the executive +faculty. His life had been principally devoted to the practice of +law in the most peaceful of communities, and to service in legislative +bodies where he was borne along by the force of association. He +had not been trained to prompt decision, had not been accustomed +to exercise command. He was cautious and conservative to the point +of timidity. He possessed ability of a high order, and, though he +thought slowly, he could master the most difficult subject with +comprehensive power. His service of ten years in the House and an +equal period in the Senate was marked by a conscientious devotion +to duty. He did not rank with the ablest members of either body, +but always bore a prominent part in important discussions and +maintained himself with credit. + + PERSONAL CHARACTER OF MR. BUCHANAN. + +It was said of Mr. Buchanan that he instinctively dreaded to assume +responsibility of any kind. His keenest critic remarked that in +the tentative period of political issues assumed by his party, Mr. +Buchanan could always be found two paces to the rear, but in the +hour of triumph he marched proudly in the front rank. He was not +gifted with independence or self-assertion. His bearing towards +Southern statesmen was derogatory to him as a man of spirit. His +tone towards administrations of his own party was so deferential +as almost to imply a lack of self-respect. He was not a leader +among men. He was always led. He was led by Mason and Soulé into +the imprudence of signing the Ostend Manifesto; he was led by the +Southern members of his Cabinet into the inexplicable folly and +blunder of indorsing the Lecompton iniquity; he was led by Disunion +senators into the deplorable mistake contained in his last annual +message. Fortunately for him he was led a month later by Black +and Holt and Stanton to a radical change of his compromising +position. + +If Mr. Buchanan had possessed the unconquerable will of Jackson or +the stubborn courage of Taylor, he could have changed the history +of the revolt against the Union. A great opportunity came to him +but he was not equal to it. Always an admirable adviser where +prudence and caution were the virtues required, he was fatally +wanting in a situation which demanded prompt action and strong +nerve. As representative in Congress, as senator, as minister +abroad, as Secretary of State, his career was honorable and +successful. His life was singularly free from personal fault or +short-coming. He was honest and pure-minded. His fame would have +been more enviable if he had never been elevated to the Presidency. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Congress during the Winter of 1860-61.--Leave-taking of Senators +and Representatives.--South Carolina the First to secede.--Her +Delegation in the House publish a Card withdrawing.--Other States +follow.--Mr. Lamar of Mississippi.--Speeches of Seceding Senators. +--Mr. Yulee and Mr. Mallory of Florida.--Mr. Clay and Mr. Fitzpatrick +of Alabama.--Jefferson Davis.--His Distinction between Secession +and Nullification.--Important Speech by Mr. Toombs.--He defines +Conditions on which the Union might be allowed to survive.--Mr. +Iverson's Speech.--Georgia Senators withdraw.--Insolent Speech of +Mr. Slidell of Louisiana.--Mr. Judah P. Benjamin's Special Plea +for his State.--His Doctrine of "A Sovereignty held in Trust."-- +Same Argument of Mr. Yulee for his State.--Principle of State +Sovereignty.--Disproved by the Treaty of 1783.--Notable Omission +by Secession Senators.--Grievances not stated.--Secession Conventions +in States.--Failure to state Justifying Grounds of Action.-- +Confederate Government fail likewise to do it.--Contrast with the +Course of the Colonies.--Congress had given no Cause.--Had not +disturbed Slavery by Adverse Legislation.--List of Measures Favorable +to Slavery.--Policy of Federal Government steadily in that Direction. +--Mr. Davis quoted Menaces, not Acts.--Governing Class in the South. +--Division of Society there.--Republic ruled by an Oligarchy.-- +Overthrown by Election of Lincoln.--South refuses to acquiesce. + +No feature of the extraordinary winter of 1860-61 is more singular +in retrospect than the formal leave-taking of the Southern senators +and representatives in their respective Houses. Members of the +House from the seceding States, with few exceptions, refrained from +individual addresses, either of farewell or defiance, but adopted +a less demonstrative and more becoming mode. The South-Carolina +representatives withdrew on the 24th of December (1860), in a brief +card laid before the House by Speaker Pennington. They announced +that, as the people of their State had "in their sovereign capacity +resumed the powers delegated by them to the Federal Government of +the United States," their "connection with the House of Representatives +was thereby dissolved." They "desired to take leave of those with +whom they had been associated in a common agency, with mutual regard +and respect for the rights of each other." They "cherished the +hope" that in future relations they might "better enjoy the peace +and harmony essential to the happiness of a free and enlightened +people." + + SOUTHERN REPRESENTATIVES WITHDRAW. + +Other delegations retired from the House in the order in which +their States seceded. The leave-taking, in the main, was not +undignified. There was no defiance, no indulgence of bravado. +The members from Mississippi "regretted the necessity" which impelled +their State to the course adopted, but declared that it met "their +unqualified approval." The card was no doubt written by Mr. L. Q. +C. Lamar, and accurately described his emotions. He stood firmly +by his State in accordance with the political creed in which he +had been reared, but looked back with tender regret to the Union +whose destiny he had wished to share and under the protection of +whose broader nationality he had hoped to live and die. A few +Southern representatives marked their retirement by speeches bitterly +reproaching the Federal Government, and bitterly accusing the +Republican party; but the large majority confined themselves to +the simpler form of the card. + +Whether the ease and confidence as to the future which these Southern +representatives manifested was really felt or only assumed, can +never be known. They were all men of intelligence, some of them +conspicuously able; and it seems incredible that they could have +persuaded themselves that a great government could be dissolved +without shock and without resistance. They took leave with no more +formality than that with which a private gentleman, aggrieved by +discourteous treatment, withdraws from a company in which he feels +that he can no longer find enjoyment. Their confidence was based +on the declarations and admissions of Mr. Buchanan's message; but +they had, in effect, constructed that document themselves, and the +slightest reflection should have warned them that, with the change +of administration to occur in a few weeks, there would be a different +understanding of Executive duty, and a different appeal to the +reason of the South. + +The senators from the seceding States were more outspoken than the +representatives. They took the opportunity of their retirement to +say many things which, even for their own personal fame, should +have been left unsaid. A clear analysis of these harangues is +impossible. They lacked the unity and directness of the simple +notifications with which the seceding representatives had withdrawn +from the House. The valedictories in the Senate were a singular +compound of defiance and pity, of justification and recrimination. +Some of the speeches have an insincere and mock-heroic tone to the +reader twenty years after the event. They appear to be the +expressions of men who talked for effect, and who professed themselves +ready for a shock of arms which they believed would never come. +But the majority of the utterances were by men who meant all they +said; who, if they did not anticipate a bloody conflict, were yet +prepared for it, and who were too deeply stirred by resentment and +passion to give due heed to consequences. + +On the 21st of January the senators from Florida, Alabama, and +Mississippi formally withdrew from the Senate. Their speeches +showed little variety of thought, consisting chiefly of indictments +against the free States for placing the government under the control +of an anti-slavery administration. Mr. Yulee was the first to +speak. He solemnly announced to the Senate that "the State of +Florida, though a convention of her people, had decided to recall +the powers which she had delegated to the Federal Government, and +to assume the full exercise of all her sovereign rights as an +independent and separate community." At what particular period in +the history of the American continent Florida had enjoyed "sovereign +rights," by what process she had ever "delegated powers to the +Federal Government," or at what time she had ever been "an independent +and separate community," Mr. Yulee evidently preferred not to inform +the Senate. His colleague, Mr. Mallory, implored the people of +the North not to repeat the fatal folly of the Bourbons by imagining +that "the South would submit to the degradation of a constrained +existence under a violated Constitution." Mr. Mallory regarded +the subjugation of the South by war as impossible. He warned the +North that they were dealing with "a nation, and not with a +faction." + +Mr. Clement C. Clay, Jr., of Alabama, boasted that in the convention +which adopted the Ordinance of Secession in his State there was +not one friend of the Union; and he resented with indignation what +he termed the offensive calumny of the Republicans in denouncing +slavery and polygamy as twin relics of barbarism. The action of +Alabama, he said, was not from "sudden, spasmodic, and violent +passion." It was the conclusion her people had reached "after +years of enmity, injustice, and injury at the hands of their Northern +brethren." Instead of causing surprise, "it is rather matter of +reproach that they have endured so much and so long, and have +deferred this act of self-defense until to-day." Mr. Clay's speech +was insulting and exasperating to the last degree. His colleague, +Mr. Fitzpatrick, a man of better tempter, showed reserve and an +indisposition to discuss the situation. He contented himself with +the expression of a general concurrence in the views of Mr. Clay, +adding no word of bitterness himself. He said that he "acknowledged +loyalty to no other power than to the sovereign State of Alabama." +But for the pressure brought upon him, Mr. Fitzpatrick would have +been glad to retain his seat in the Senate and wait the course of +events. He was not in his heart a Disunionist, as his colleague +was. He would have accepted the nomination for the Vice-Presidency +on the ticket with Douglas the preceding year, if the whole political +power of the Cotton States had not opposed his wishes and forced +him into the support of Breckinridge. + + VALEDICTORY OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. + +Jefferson Davis expressed his concurrence in the action of the +people of Mississippi. He believed that action was necessary and +proper, but would "have felt himself equally bound if his belief +had been otherwise." He presented an analysis of the difference +between the remedies of nullification and secession. Nullification +was a remedy inside of the Union; secession a remedy outside. He +expressed himself as against the theory of nullification, and +explained that, so far from being identified with secession, the +two are antagonistic principles. Mr. Calhoun's mistake, according +to Mr. Davis, was in trying to "nullify" the laws of the Union +while continuing a member of it. He intimated that President +Jackson would never have attempted to "execute the laws" in South +Carolina as he did against the nullifiers in 1832, if the State +had seceded, and that therefore his great example could not be +quoted in favor of "coercion." It is not believed that Mr. Davis +had the slightest authority for this aspersion upon the memory of +Jackson. It seems rather to have been a disingenuous and unwarranted +statement of the kind so plentifully used at the time for the +purpose of "firing the Southern heart." + +There had been an impression in the country that Mr. Davis was +among the most reluctant of those who engaged in the secession +movement; but in his speech he declared that he had conferred with +the people of Mississippi before the step was taken, and counseled +them to the course which they had adopted. This declaration was +a great surprise to Northern Democrats, among whom Mr. Davis had +many friends. For several years he had been growing in favor with +a powerful element in the Democracy of the free States, and, but +for the exasperating quarrel of 1860, he might have been selected +as the Presidential candidate of his party. No man gave up more +than Mr. Davis in joining the revolt against the Union. In his +farewell words to the Senate, there was a tone of moderation and +dignity not unmixed with regretful and tender emotions. There was +also apparent a spirit of confidence and defiance. He evidently +had full faith that he was going forth to victory and to power. + +Mr. Toombs of Georgia did not take formal leave, but on the 7th of +January delivered a speech which, though addressed to the Senate +of the United States, was apparently intended to influence public +sentiment in Georgia, where there was an uncomfortable halting in +the progress of secession. The speech had special interest, not +alone from Mr. Toombs's well-known ability, but because it was the +only presentation of the conditions on which the scheme of Disunion +might be arrested, and the Cotton States held fast in their loyalty +to the government,--conditions which, in the language of Mr. Toombs, +would "restore fraternity and peace and unity to all of us." It +was not believed that Mr. Toombs had the faintest expectation that +his proposition would receive favorable consideration in the free +States. His point would be fully gained by showing that the free +States would not accept conditions which Georgia had the right to +exact as the basis of her remaining in the Union. Once firmly +persuaded that she was deprived of her constitutional rights, +Georgia could the more easily be led or forced into secession. + +The first condition prescribed by Mr. Toombs was, that in all the +territory owned or to be acquired by the United States, slave +property should be securely protected until the period of the +formation of a State government, when the people could determine +the question for themselves. The second condition was, that property +in slaves should be entitled to the same protection from the +Government of the United States in all its departments everywhere, +which is extended to other property, provided that there should be +no interference with the liberty of a State to prohibit or establish +slavery within its limits. The third condition was, that persons +committing crimes against slave property in one State, and fleeing +to another, should be delivered up in the same manner as persons +committing crimes against other forms of property, and that the +laws of the State from which such persons flee should be the test +of the criminality of the act. The fourth condition was, that +fugitive slaves should be surrendered under the Act of 1850 without +being entitled to a writ of _habeas corpus_, or trial by jury, or +other obstructions in the States to which they might flee. The +fifth and last demand was, that Congress should pass efficient laws +for the punishment of all persons in any of the States who should +in any manner aid or abet invasion or insurrection in any other +State, or commit any other act against the law of nations tending +to disturb the tranquility of the people or government of any other +State. Without the concession of these points Mr. Toombs said the +Union could not be maintained. If some satisfactory arrangement +should not be made, he was for immediate action. "We are," he +said, "as ready to fight now as we ever shall be. I will have +equality or war." He denounced Mr. Lincoln as "an enemy to the +human race, deserving the execration of all mankind." + + GEORGIA SENATORS WITHDRAW. + +Three weeks later the Georgia senators withdrew. Georgia had on +the 19th of January, after much dragooning, passed the Ordinance +of Secession, and on the 28th, Mr. Alfred Iverson, the colleague +of Mr. Toombs, communicated the fact to the Senate in a highly +inflammatory speech. He proclaimed that Georgia was the sixth +State to secede, that a seventh was about to follow, and that "a +confederacy of their own would soon be established." Provision +would be made "for the admission of other States," and Mr. Iverson +assured the Senate that within a few months "all the slave-holding +States of the late confederacy of the United States will be united +together in a bond of union far more homogenous, and therefore more +stable, than the one now being dissolved." His boasting was +unrestrained, but his conception of the contest which he and his +associates were inviting was pitiably inadequate. "Your conquest," +said he, addressing the Union senators, "will cost you a hundred +thousand lives and a hundred millions of dollars." + +The conclusion of Mr. Iverson's harangue disclosed his fear that +after all Georgia might prefer the old Union. "For myself," said +he, "unless my opinions greatly change, I shall never consent to +the reconstruction of the Federal Union. The Rubicon is passed, +and with my consent shall never be recrossed." But these bold +declarations were materially qualified by Mr. Iverson when he +reflected on the powerful minority of Union men in Georgia, and +the general feeling in that State against a conflict with the +National Government. "In this sentiment," said he, "I may be +overruled by the people of my State and of the other Southern +States." . . . "Nothing, however, will bring Georgia back except +a full and explicit recognition and guaranty of the safety and +protection of the institution of domestic slavery." This was the +final indication of the original weakness of the secession cause +in Georgia, and of the extraordinary means which were taken to +impress the people of that State with the belief that secession +would lead to reconstruction on a basis of more efficient protection +to the South and greater strength to the whole Union. + +On the 4th of February Mr. Slidell and Mr. Benjamin delivered their +valedictories as senators from Louisiana. Mr. Slidell was aggressively +insolent. He informed the Senate that if any steps should be taken +to enforce the authority of the Union in the seceded States, they +would be resisted. "You may," he said, "under color of enforcing +your laws and collecting your revenue, blockade our ports. This +will be war, and we shall meet it with different but equally +efficient weapons. We will not permit the consumption or introduction +of any of your manufactures. Every sea will swarm with our +privateers, the volunteer militia of the ocean." He confidently +expected foreign aid. "How long," he asked, "will the great naval +powers of Europe permit you to impede their free intercourse with +their best customers, and to stop the supply of the great staple +which is the most important basis of their manufacturing industry?" +"You were," said he, adding taunt to argument, "with all the wealth +of this once great confederacy, but a fourth or fifth rate naval +power. What will you be when emasculated by the withdrawal of +fifteen States, and warred upon by them with active and inveterate +hostility?" + +In a tone of patronizing liberality, Mr. Slidell gave assurance +that the new confederacy would recognize the rights of the inhabitants +of the valley of the Mississippi and its tributaries to free +navigation, and would guarantee to them "a free interchange of +agricultural production without impost, and the free transit from +foreign countries of every species of merchandise, subjected only +to such regulations as may be necessary for a protection of the +revenue system which we may establish." Had Mr. Slidell been less +inspired by insolence, and more largely endowed with wisdom, he +would have remembered that when the Union contained but six millions +of people, they were willing to fight any one of three great European +powers for freedom of access to the sea for the inhabitants of the +valley of the Mississippi, and that it was from the first a physical +impossibility to close it or in any way restrict it against the +rights of the North-West. The people of that section, even without +the prestige of the national flag, were immeasurably stronger than +the people of the South-West, and were, unaided, fully competent +to fight their way to the ocean over any obstacles which the powers +behind Mr. Slidell could interpose. In the mere matching of local +strength, it was sheer folly for the States of the lower Mississippi +to attempt to control the mouth of that river. + + SPEECHES OF BENJAMIN AND SLIDELL. + +Mr. Judah P. Benjamin spoke in a tone of moderation as contrasted +with the offensive dictation of Mr. Slidell. He devoted himself +mainly to answering an argument which came instinctively to every +man's mind, and which bore with particular severity upon the action +of Louisiana. Mr. Benjamin brought his eminent legal ability to +the discussion, but failed even to satisfy himself. The State of +Louisiana was formed from territory which had been bought and paid +for by the United States out of the common treasury of the whole +people. Whatever specious plea might be made for the independent +and separate sovereignty of the old thirteen States, the argument +could not apply to Louisiana. No one could maintain that Louisiana +had ever enjoyed a separate sovereignty of any kind, nominal or +real. She had been originally owned by France, had been sold to +Spain, had been sold back again to France, and had been bought by +the United States. These sales had been made without protest from +any one, and the title conferred at each transfer was undisputed, +the sovereignty of the purchasing power undeniable. + +Confronting these facts, and realizing the difficulty they presented, +Mr. Benjamin was reduced to desperate straits for argument. "Without +entering into the details of the negotiation," he said, "the archives +of our State Department show the fact to be that although the +domain, the public lands and other property of France in the ceded +province, were conveyed by absolute title to the United States, +the sovereignty was not conveyed _otherwise than in trust_." This +peculiar statement of a sovereignty that was "conveyed in trust" +Mr. Benjamin attempted to sustain by quoting the clause in the +treaty which gave the right of the people of Louisiana to be +incorporated into the Union "on terms of equality with the other +States." From this he argued that the sovereignty of the _Territory_ +of Louisiana held in trust by the Federal Government, and conveyed +to the _State_ of Louisiana on her admission to the Union, was +necessarily greater than the National sovereignty. Indeed, Mr. +Benjamin recognized no "Nation" in the United States and no real +sovereignty in the General Government which was but the agent of +the sovereign States. It properly and logically followed, according +to Mr. Benjamin, that the "sovereignty held in trust," might, when +conferred, be immediately and rightfully employed to destroy the +life of the trustee. The United States might or might not admit +Louisiana to the Union, for the General Government was sole judge +as to time and expediency--but when once admitted, the power of +the State was greater than the power of the Government which +permitted the State to come into existence. Such were the +contradictions and absurdities which the creed of the Secessionists +inevitably involved, and in which so clever a man as Mr. Benjamin +was compelled to blunder and flounder. + +Pursuing his argument, Mr. Benjamin wished to know whether those +who asserted that Louisiana had been bought by the United States +meant that the United States had the right based on that fact to +sell Louisiana? He denied in every form that there had ever been +such a purchase of Louisiana as carried with it the right of sale. +"I deny," said he, "the fact on which the argument is founded. I +deny that the Province of Louisiana or the people of Louisiana were +ever conveyed to the United States for a price as property that +could be bought or sold at will." However learned Mr. Benjamin +may have been in the law, he was evidently ill informed as to the +history of the transaction of which he spoke so confidently. He +should have known that the United States, sixteen years after it +bought Louisiana from France, actually sold or exchanged a large +part of that province to the King of Spain as part of the consideration +in the purchase of the Floridas. He should have known that at the +time the Government of the United States disposed of a part of +Louisiana, there was not an intelligent man in the world who did +not recognize its right and power to dispose of the whole. The +theory that the United States acquired a less degree of sovereignty +over Louisiana than was held by France when she transferred it, or +by Spain when she owned it, was never dreamed of when the negotiation +was made. It was an afterthought on the part of the hard-pressed +defenders of the right of secession. It was the ingenious but lame +device of an able lawyer who undertook to defend what was +indefensible. + +Mr. Yulee of Florida had endeavored to make the same argument on +behalf of his State, feeling the embarrassment as did Mr. Benjamin, +and relying, as Mr. Benjamin did, upon the clause in the treaty +with Spain entitling Florida to admission to the Union. Mr. Benjamin +and Mr. Yulee should both have known that the guaranty which they +quoted was nothing more and nothing less than the ordinary condition +which every enlightened nation makes in parting with its subjects +or citizens, that they shall enter into the new relation without +discrimination against them and with no lower degree of civil rights +than had already been enjoyed by those who form the nation to which +they are about to be annexed. Louisiana, when she was transferred +to the United States, received no further guaranty than Napoleon +in effect gave to Spain at the treaty of San Ildefonso, or than +the Spanish Bourbons had given to the French Bourbons in the treaty +of 1763 at the close of the Seven Years' War. In each of the three +transfers of the sovereignty of Louisiana, the same condition was +perfectly understood as to the rights of the inhabitants. Mr. +Benjamin drew the conclusion which was not only diametrically wrong +in morals, but diametrically erroneous in logic. Instead of +inferring that a State, situated as Louisiana was, should necessarily +become greater than the power which purchased it, simply because +other States in the Union which she joined had assumed such power, +a discriminating mind of Mr. Benjamin's acuteness should have seen +that the very position proved the reverse of what he stated, and +demonstrated, in the absurdity of Louisiana's secession, the equal +absurdity of the secession of South Carolina and Georgia. + + THE ARGUMENT OF MR. BENJAMIN. + +It seemed impossible for Mr. Benjamin or for any other leader of +Southern opinion to argue the question of State rights fairly or +dispassionately. They had been so persistently trained in the +heresy that they could give no weight to the conclusive reasoning +of the other side. The original thirteen, they averred, were "free, +sovereign, and independent States," acknowledged to be such by the +King of Great Britain in the Treaty of peace in 1783. The new +States, so the argument ran, were all admitted to the Union of +terms of equality with the old. Hence all were alike endowed with +sovereignty. Even the historical part of this argument was strained +and fallacious. Much was made in the South of Mr. Toombs's +declaration that "the original thirteen" were as "independent of +each other as Australia and Jamaica." So indeed they were as long +as they remained British Colonies. Their only connection in that +condition was in their common dependence on the Crown. But the +first step towards independence of the Crown was to unite. From +that day onward they were never separate. Nor did the King of +Great Britain acknowledge the "independence and sovereignty" of +the thirteen individual and separate States. The Treaty of peace +declares that "His Majesty acknowledges the said United States +[naming them] to be free, sovereign, and independent States."--not +separately and individually, but the "said _United_ States." The +King then agrees that "the following are and shall be the boundaries +of the said United States,"--proceeding to give, not the boundaries +of each State, but the boundaries of the whole as one unit, one +sovereignty, one nationality. Last of all, the commissioners who +signed the treaty with the King's commissioner were not acting for +the individual States, but for the _United_ States. Three of them, +John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, were from the North, +and Henry Laurens from the South. The separate sovereignties whose +existence was so persistently alleged by Mr. Benjamin and Mr. Toombs +were not represented when independence was conceded. Mr. Benjamin's +conclusion, therefore, was not only illogical, but was completely +disproved by plain historical facts. + +It seems never to have occurred to Mr. Benjamin, or to Mr. Yulee, +or to the Texas senators, or to the Arkansas senators, that the +money paid from a common treasury of the nation gave any claim to +National sovereignty. Their philosophy seems to have been that +the General Government had been paid in full by the privilege of +nurturing new States, of improving their rivers and harbors, of +building their fortifications, of protecting them in peace, of +defending them in war. The privilege of leading the new communities +through the condition of Territorial existence up to the full +majesty of States, was, according to secession argument, sufficient +compensation, and removed all shadow of the title or the sovereignty +of the National Government, the moment the inhabitants thus benefitted +announced their desire to form new connections. Louisiana had cost +fifteen millions of dollars at a time when that was a vast sum of +money. It had cost five millions of money and the surrender of a +province, to purchase Florida, and nearly a hundred millions more +to extinguish the Indian title, and make the State habitable for +white men. Texas cost the National Treasury ninety millions of +dollars in the war which was precipitated by her annexation, and +ten millions more paid to her in 1850, in adjustment of her boundary +trouble. All these States apparently regarded the tie that bound +them to the National Government as in no degree mutual, as imposing +no duty upon them. By some mysterious process still unexplained, +the more they gained from connection with the National authority, +the less was their obligation thereto, the more perfect their right +to disregard and destroy the beneficent government which had created +them and fostered them. + + + SOUTHERN GRIEVANCES NOT STATED. + +In all the speeches delivered by the senators from the seceding +States, there was no presentation of the grievances which, in their +own minds, justified secession. This fact elicited less notice at +the time than it calls forth in retrospect. Those senators held +in their hands in the beginning, the fate of the secession movement. +If they had advised the Southern States that it was wiser and better +to abide in the Union, and at least to wait for some overt act of +wrong against the slave States, the whole movement would have +collapsed. But they evidently felt that this would be a shrinking +and cowardly policy after the numerous manifestoes they had issued. +South Carolina had taken the fatal step, and to fail in sustaining +her would be to co-operate in crushing her. While these motives +and aims are intelligible, it seems utterly incredible that not +one of the senators gave a specification of the wrongs which led +the South to her rash step. Mr. Toombs recounted the concessions +on which the South would agree to remain; but these were new +provisions and new conditions, never intended by the framers of +the Federal Constitution; and they were abhorrent to the civilization +of the nineteenth century. + +Mr. Toombs, Mr. Jefferson Davis, and Mr. Benjamin were the three +ablest senators who spoke in favor of secession. Not one of them +deemed it necessary to justify his conduct by a recital of the +grounds on which so momentous a step could bear the test of historic +examination. They dealt wholly in generalities as to the past, +and apparently based their action on something that was to happen +in the future. Mr. John Slidell sought to give a strong reason +for the movement, in the statement that, if Lincoln should be +inaugurated with Southern assent, the 4th of March would witness, +in various quarters, outbreaks among the slaves which, although +they would be promptly suppressed, would carry ruin and devastation +to many a Southern home. It was from Mr. Slidell that Mr. Buchanan +received the information which induced him to dwell at length in +his annual message on this painful feature of the situation. But +it was probably an invention of Mr. Slidell's fertile brain--imposed +upon the President and intended to influence public sentiment in +the North. It was in flat contradiction of the general faith in +the personal fealty of their slaves, so constantly boasted by the +Southern men,--a faith abundantly justified by the subsequent fact +that four years of war passed without a single attempt to servile +insurrection. At the time of the John Brown disturbance the South +resented the imputation of fear, made upon it by the North. If +now the danger was especially imminent, Southern leaders were solely +to blame. They would not accept the honorable assurance of the +Republican party and of the President-elect that no interference +with slavery in the States was designed. They insisted in all +their public addresses that Mr. Lincoln was determined to uproot +slavery everywhere, and they might well fear that these repeated +declarations had been heard and might be accepted by their slaves. + +The omission by individual senators to present the grievances which +justified secession is perhaps less notable then the same omission +by the conventions which ordained secession in the several States. +South Carolina presented, as a special outrage, the enactment of +personal-liberty bills in the free States, and yet, from the +foundation of the Federal Government, she had probably never lost +a slave in consequence of these enactments. In Georgia the attempt +at justification reached the ludicrous when solemn charge was made +that a bounty had been paid from the Federal Treasury to New-England +fishermen. The tariff was complained of, the navigation laws were +sneered at. But these were all public policies which had been in +operation with Southern consent and largely with Southern support, +throughout the existence of the Republic. When South Carolina +attempted, somewhat after the illustrious model of the Declaration +of Independence, to present justifying reasons for her course, the +very authors of the document must have seen that it amounted only +to a parody. + +Finding no satisfactory exhibit of grievances, either in the speeches +of senators or in the declarations of conventions, one naturally +infers that the Confederate Government, when formally organized at +Montgomery in February, must have given a full and lucid statement +to the world of the reasons for this extraordinary movement. When +our fathers were impelled to break their loyalty to the English +king, and to establish an independent government, they declared in +the very fore-front of the document which contained their reasons, +that "when it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the +political bonds which have connected them with another, and to +assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station +to which the laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a +decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that _they should +declare the causes which impel them to the separation_." They +followed this assertion with an exhibit of causes which, in the +judgment of the world, has been and ever will be, a complete +justification of their revolutionary movement. + + THOMAS JEFFERSON AND JEFFERSON DAVIS. + +The Confederate Government saw fit to do nothing of the kind. +Their Congress put forth no declaration or manifesto, and Jefferson +Davis in his Inaugural as President utterly failed--did not even +attempt--to enumerate the grounds of complaint upon which the +destruction of the American Union was based. He said that "the +declared compact of the Union from which we have withdrawn was to +establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the +common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing +of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. And when, in the judgment +of the sovereign States now composing this confederacy, it has been +perverted from the purposes for which it was ordained, and ceases +to answer the ends for which it was established, a peaceful appeal +to the ballot-box declared, that, so far as they were concerned, +the government created by that compact should cease to exist. In +this they merely assert the right which the Declaration of Independence +of 1776 defined to be inalienable." But in what manner, at what +time, by what measure, "justice, domestic tranquillity, common +defense, the general welfare," had been destroyed by the government +of the Union, Mr. Jefferson Davis did not deign to inform the world +to whose opinion he appealed. + +Mr. Jefferson, in draughting the Declaration of Independence which +Davis quotes as his model, said "the history of the present King +of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, +all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny +over these States." What would have been thought of Mr. Jefferson +if he had stopped there and adduced no instance and given no proof +of his serious indictment against George III.? But Mr. Jefferson +and his fellow-patriots in that great Act proceeded to submit their +proof to the judgment of a candid world. They recited twenty-eight +distinct charges of oppression and tyranny, depriving them of rights +to which they were entitled as subjects of the Crown under the +British Constitution. From that hour to this, there has been no +disproval of the truth of these charges or of the righteousness of +the resistance to which our forefathers resorted. It would have +been well for the dignity of the Southern Confederacy in history +if one of its many able men had placed on record, in an authentic +form, the grounds upon which, and the grievances for which, +destruction of the Union could be justified. + +In his message to the Confederate Congress, Mr. Davis apparently +attempted to cure the defects of his Inaugural address, and to give +a list of measures which he declared to have been hostile to Southern +interests. But it is to be observed that not one of these measures +had been completed. They were merely menaced or foreshadowed. As +matter of fact, emphasized by Mr. Buchanan in his message, and +known to no one better than to Mr. Davis, not a single measure +adverse to the interests of slavery had been passed by the Congress +of the United States from the foundation of the government. If +the Missouri Compromise of 1820 be alleged as an exception to this +sweeping assertion, it must be remembered that that compromise was +a Southern and not a Northern measure, and was a triumph of the +pro-slavery members of Congress over the anti-slavery members; and +that its constitutionality was upheld by the unanimous voice of +the Cabinet in which Mr. Crawford of Georgia and Mr. Calhoun of +South Carolina were leading members. + +On the other hand, the policy of the government had been steadily +in favor of slavery; and the measures of Congress which would +strengthen it were not only numerous, but momentous in character. +They are familiar to every one who knows the simplest elements of +our national history. The acquisition of Louisiana, the purchase +of Florida, the Mexican war, were all great national movements +which resulted in strengthening the slave power. Every demand +which the South made for protection had been conceded. More +stringent provisions for the return of fugitive slaves were asked, +and a law was enacted trampling under foot the very spirit of +liberty, and putting in peril the freedom of men who were citizens +of Northern States. The Missouri Compromise, passed with the +consent and support of the South, was repealed by Southern dictation +the moment its operation was found to be hostile to the spread of +slavery. The rights of slavery in the Territories required judicial +confirmation, and the Supreme Court complied by rendering the famous +decision in the case of Dred Scott. Against all these guaranties +and concessions for the support of slavery, Mr. Davis could quote, +not anti-slavery aggressions which had been made, but only those +which might be made in the future. + + SOUTHERN RESISTANCE TO LAW. + +This position disclosed the real though not the avowed cause of +the secession movement. Its authors were not afraid of an immediate +invasion of the rights of the slave-holder in the States, but they +were conscious that the growth of the country, the progress of +civilization, and the expansion of our population, were all hostile +to their continued supremacy as the governing element in the +Republic. The South was the only section in which there was +distinctively a governing class. The slave-holders ruled their +States more positively than ever the aristocratic classes ruled +England. Besides the distinction of free and slave, or black and +white, there was another line of demarcation between white men that +was as absolute as the division between patrician and plebeian. +The nobles of Poland who dictated the policy of the kingdom were +as numerous in proportion to the whole population as the rich class +of slave-holders whose decrees governed the policy of their States. +It was, in short, an oligarchy which by its combined power ruled +the Republic. No President of any party had ever been elected who +was opposed to its supremacy. The political revolution of 1860 +had given to the Republic an anti-slavery President, and the Southern +men refused to accept the result. They had been too long accustomed +to power to surrender it to an adverse majority, however lawful or +constitutional that majority might be. They had been trained to +lead and not to follow. They were not disciplined to submission. +They had been so long in command that they had become incapable of +obedience. Unwillingness to submit to Constitutional authority +was the controlling consideration which drove the Southern States +to the desperate design of a revolution, peaceful they hoped it +would be, but to a revolution even if it should be one of blood. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Congress in the Winter of 1860-61.--The North offers Many Concessions +to the South.--Spirit of Conciliation.--Committee of Thirteen in +the Senate.--Committee of Thirty-three in the House.--Disagreement +of Senate Committee.--Propositions submitted to House Committee.-- +Thomas Corwin's Measure.--Henry Winter Davis.--Justin S. Morrill-- +Mr. Houston of Alabama.--Constitutional Amendment proposed by +Charles Francis Adams.--Report of the Committee of Thirty-three.-- +Objectionable Measures proposed.--Minority Report by Southern +Members.--The Crittenden Compromise proposed.--Details of that +Compromise.--Mr. Adams's Double Change of Ground.--An Old Resolution +of the Massachusetts Legislature.--Mr. Webster's Criticism Pertinent. +--Various Minority Reports.--The California Members.--Washburn and +Tappan.--Amendment to the Constitution passed by the House.--By +the Senate also.--New Mexico.--The Fugitive-slave Law.--Mr. Clark +of New Hampshire.--Peace Congress.--Invited by Virginia.--Assembles +in Washington.--Peace Measures proposed.--They meet no Favor in +Congress.--Territories of Colorado, Dakota, and Nevada originated. +--Prohibition of Slavery abandoned.--Republicans in Congress do +not ask it.--Explanation required.--James S. Green of Missouri.-- +His Character as a Debater.--Northern Republicans frightened at +their own Success.--Anxious for a Compromise.--Dread of Disunion. +--Northern Democrats.--Dangerous Course pursued by them.--General +Demoralization of Northern Sentiment. + +While the Secession leaders were engaged in their schemes for the +disruption of the National Government and the formation of a new +confederacy, Congress was employing every effort to arrest the +Disunion tendency by making new concessions, and offering new +guaranties to the offended power of the South. If the wild +precipitation of the Southern leaders must be condemned, the +compromising course of the majority in each branch of Congress will +not escape censure,--censure for misjudgment, not for wrong intention. +The anxiety in both Senate and House to do something which should +allay the excitement in the slave-holding section served only to +develop and increase its exasperation and its resolution. A man +is never so aggressively bold as when he finds his opponent afraid +of him; and the efforts, however well meant, of the National Congress +in the winter of 1860-61 undoubtedly impressed the South with a +still further conviction of the timidity of the North, and with a +certainty that the new confederacy would be able to organize without +resistance, and to dissolve the Union without war. + + COMMITTEES OF CONCILIATION. + +Congress had no sooner convened in December, 1860, and received +the message of Mr. Buchanan, with its elaborate argument that the +National Government possessed no power to coerce a State, than in +each branch special committees of conciliation were appointed. +They were not so termed in the resolutions of the Senate and House, +but their mission was solely one of conciliation. They were charged +with the duty of giving extraordinary assurances that Slavery was +not to be disturbed, and of devising measures which might persuade +Southern men against the rashness on which they seemed bent. In +the Senate they raised a committee of thirteen, representing the +number of the original States of the Union. In the House the +committee was composed of thirty-three members, representing the +number of States then existing. In the Senate, Mr. Powell of +Kentucky was chairman of the committee of thirteen, which was +composed of seven Democrats, five Republicans, and the venerable +Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky, who belonged to neither party. It +contained the most eminent men in the Senate of all shades of +political opinion. In the House, Thomas Corwin was made chairman, +with a majority of Republicans of the more conservative type, a +minority of Democrats, and Mr. Henry Winter Davis of Maryland, who +held a position similar to that occupied by Mr. Crittenden in the +Senate. + +The Senate committee promptly disagreed, and before the close of +December reported to the Senate their inability to come to any +conclusion. The committee of thirty-three was more fortunate, or +perhaps unfortunate, in being able to arrive at a series of +conclusions which tended only to lower the tone of Northern opinion +without in the least degree appeasing the wrath of the South. The +record of that committee is one which cannot be reviewed with pride +or satisfaction by any citizen of a State that was loyal to the +Union. Every form of compromise which could be suggested, every +concession of Northern prejudice and every surrender of Northern +pride, was urged upon the committee. The measures proposed to the +committee by members of the House were very numerous, and those +suggested by the members of the committee themselves seemed designed +to meet every complaint made by the most extreme Southern agitators. +The propositions submitted would in the aggregate fill a large +volume, but a selection from the mass will indicate the spirit +which had taken possession of Congress. + +Mr. Corwin of Ohio wished a declaration from Congress that it was +"highly inexpedient to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia +unless with the consent of the States of Maryland and Virginia." +Mr. Winter Davis suggested the Congress should request the States +to revise their statutes with a view to repeal all personal-liberty +bills, and further that the Fugitive-slave Law be so amended as to +secure trial by jury to the fugitive slave, not in the free State +where he was arrested, but in the slave State to which he might be +taken. Mr. Morrill of Vermont offered a resolution declaring that +all accessions of foreign territory shall hereafter be made by +treaty stipulation, and that no treaty shall be ratified until it +had received the legislative assent of two-thirds of all the States +of the Union, and that neither Congress nor any Territorial +Legislature shall pass any law establishing or prohibiting slavery +in any Territory thus acquired until it shall have sufficient +population to entitle it to admission to the Union. Mr. Houston +of Alabama urged the restitution of the Missouri line of 36° 30´. +There was in the judgment of many Southern men a better opportunity +to effect an adjustment on this line of partition than upon any +other basis that had been suggested. But the plea carried with it +a national guaranty and protection of slavery on the southern side +of the line, and its effect would inevitably have been in a few +years to divide the Republic from ocean to ocean. Mr. Taylor of +Louisiana wanted the Constitution so amended that the rights of +the slave-holder in the Territories could be guarantied, and further +amended so that no person, "unless he was of the Caucasian race +and of pure and unmixed blood," should ever be allowed to vote for +any officer of the National Government. + + PROPOSITIONS OF COMPROMISE. + +Mr. Charles Francis Adams proposed that the Constitution of the +United States be so amended that no subsequent amendment thereto, +"having for its object any interference with slavery, shall originate +with any State that does not recognize that relation within its +own limits, or shall be valid without the assent of every one of +the States composing the Union." No Southern man, during the long +agitation of the slavery questions extending from 1820 to 1860, +had ever submitted so extreme a proposition as that of Mr. Adams. +The most precious muniment of personal liberty never had such deep +embedment in the organic law of the Republic as Mr. Adams now +proposed for the protection of slavery. The well-grounded jealousy +and fear of the smaller States had originally secured a provision +that their right to equal representation in the Senate should never +be taken from them even by an amendment of the Constitution. Mr. +Adams now proposed to give an equal safeguard and protection to +the institution of slavery. Yet the proposition was opposed by +only three members of the committee of thirty-three,--Mason W. +Tappan of New Hampshire, Cadwallader C. Washburn of Wisconsin, +and William Kellogg of Illinois. + +After a consideration of the whole subject, the majority of the +committee made a report embodying nearly every objectionable +proposition which had been submitted. The report included a +resolution asking the States to repeal all their personal-liberty +bills, in order that the recapture and return of fugitive slaves +should in no degree be obstructed. It included an amendment to +the Constitution as proposed by Mr. Adams. It offered to admit +New Mexico, which then embraced Arizona, immediately, with its +slave-code as adopted by the Territorial Legislature,--thus confirming +and assuring its permanent character as a slave State. It proposed +to amend the Fugitive-slave Law by providing that the right to +freedom of an alleged fugitive should be tried in the slave State +from which he was accused of fleeing, rather than in the free State +where he was seized. It proposed, according to the demand of Mr. +Toombs, that a law should be enacted in which all offenses against +slave property by persons fleeing to other States should be tried +where the offense was committed, making the slave-code, in effect, +the test of the criminality of the act,--an act which, in its +essential character, might frequently be one of charity and good +will. + +These propositions had the precise effect which, in cooler moments, +their authors would have anticipated. They humiliated the North +without appeasing or satisfying the South. Five Southern members +made a minority report in which still further concessions were +demanded. They submitted what was known as the Crittenden Compromise, +demanding six amendments to the Constitution for the avowed purpose +of placing slavery under the guardianship and protection of the +National Government, and, after the example of Mr. Adams's proposed +amendment, intrenching the institution where agitation could not +disturb it, where legislation could not affect it, where amendments +to the Constitution would be powerless to touch it. + +--The first amendment proposed that in "all the territory of the +United States south of the old Missouri line, either now held or +to be hereafter acquired, the slavery of the African race is +recognized as existing, not to be interfered with by Congress, but +to be protected as property by all the departments of the Territorial +Government during its continuance." + +--The second amendment declared that "Congress shall have no power +to interfere with slavery even in those places under its exclusive +jurisdiction in the slave States." + +--The third amendment took away from Congress the exclusive +jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, as guarantied in the +Constitution, declaring that Congress should "never interfere with +slavery in the District, except with the consent of Virginia and +Maryland, so long as it exists in the State of Virginia or Maryland, +nor without the consent of the inhabitants of the District, nor +without just compensation for the slaves. Nor shall Congress +prohibit officers of the General Government nor members of Congress +from bringing with them their slaves to the District, holding them +there during the time their duties may require them to remain, and +afterwards taking them from the District." + +--The fourth amendment prohibited Congress from interfering with +the transportation of slaves from one State to another, or from +one State to any Territory south of the Missouri line, whether that +transportation be by land, by navigable river, or by the sea. + +--The fifth amendment conferred upon Congress the power, and +prescribed its duty, to provide for the payment to the owner of a +fugitive slave his full value from the National Treasury, in all +cases where the marshal was prevented from arresting said fugitive +by violence or intimidation, or where the fugitive, after arrest, +was rescued by force. + +--The sixth amendment provided for a perpetual existence of the +five amendments just quoted, by placing them beyond the power of +the people to change or revise--declaring that "no future amendment +to the Constitution shall ever be passed that shall affect any +provision of the five amendments just recited; that the provision +in the original Constitution which guaranties the count of three- +fifths of the slaves in the basis of representation, shall never +be changed by any amendment; that no amendment shall ever be made +which alters or impairs the original provision for the recovery of +fugitives from service; that no amendment shall be made that shall +ever permit Congress to interfere in any way with slavery in the +State where it may be permitted." + + PROPOSITIONS OF COMPROMISE. + +Before Mr. Corwin submitted his report, Mr. Charles Francis Adams +appears to have become disgusted with his own proposition for the +amendment of the Constitution. This disgust was caused by the +refusal of the Southern members of the committee to agree to the +declaration that "peaceful acquiescence in the election of the +Chief Magistrate, accomplished in accordance with every legal and +constitutional requirement, is the paramount duty of every good +citizen of the United States." The proposition of Mr. Adams to +this effect was amended by Mr. Millson of Virginia, who substituted +"high and imperative" for "paramount." But even in this modified +form, seven Southern members asked to be excused from voting upon +it, and Mr. Adams seems wisely to have thought that "if there could +not be agreement on a proposition so fundamental and essential as +that, it was of no use to seek any remedy for the existence of +evils by legislation of Congress." Mr. Adams, therefore, made a +report dissenting from the committee, stating that he had changed +his course, and now declined to recommend the very measures which +he had in good faith offered. This was on the 14th of January. + +On the 31st of January Mr. Adams changed his course again, and +returned to the unqualified support of the measures proposed by +the committee. In his speech of that date, he asked, addressing +the South, "How stands the case, then? We offer to settle the +question finally in all of the present territory that you claim, +by giving you every chance of establishing Slavery that you have +any right to require of us. You decline to take the offer because +you fear it will do you no good. Slavery will not go there. Why +require protection where you will have nothing to protect? . . . +All you appear to desire it is for New Mexico. Nothing else is +left. Yet you will not accept New Mexico at once, because ten +years of experience have proved to you that protection has been of +no use thus far." These are somewhat extraordinary words in 1861 +from a man who in 1850 had, as a Conscience Whig, declined to +support Mr. Webster for making in advance the same statements, and +for submitting arguments that were substantially identical. + +During the debate, in which Mr. Adams arraigned the Disunionists +of the South with considerable power, he was somewhat embarrassed +by a Southern member who quoted resolutions which Mr. Adams had +introduced in the Massachusetts Legislature in 1844, and which had +been passed by that body, respecting the annexation of Texas. He +had declared therein, just as Josiah Quincy had declared with +reference to the acquisition of Louisiana, "that the power to unite +an independent foreign State with the United States is not among +the powers delegated to the General Government by the Constitution +of the United States." He declared, further, that "the Commonwealth +of Massachusetts, faithful to the compact between the people of +the United States, according to the plain meaning and intent in +which it was understood and acceded to by them, is sincerely anxious +for its preservation; and that it is determined, as it doubts not +other States are, to submit to undelegated powers in no body of +men on earth; and that the project of the annexation of Texas, +unless resisted on the threshold, may tend to drive these States +into a dissolution of the Union." This resolution of Mr. Adams +was unfortunate in every respect for his position in the debate on +that day, since it really included and justified every constitutional +heresy entertained by Mr. Calhoun, and claimed for the State of +Massachusetts every power of secession or dissolution which was +now asserted by the Southern States. + +Mr. Webster, in one of his ablest speeches (in reply to Mr. Calhoun +in February, 1833), devoted his great powers to demonstrating that +the Constitution was not "a compact," and that the people of the +States had not "acceded" to it. Mr. Adams had unfortunately used +the two words which, according to Mr. Webster, belonged only to +the lexicon of disloyalty. "If," said Mr. Webster, "in adopting +the Constitution nothing was done but _acceding to a compact_, +nothing would seem necessary in order to break it up but to _secede +from the same compact_." "Accession," as a word applied to +political association, implies coming into a league, treaty, or +confederacy. "Secession" implied departing from such league or +confederacy. Mr. Adams had further declared that the people of +Massachusetts are "faithful to the compact according to the plain +meaning and intent in which it was understood by them." But +according to Mr. Webster, and in accordance with the principles +absolutely essential to maintain a constitutional government, +Massachusetts had no part or lot in deciding the question which +Mr. Adams's resolution covered. If Massachusetts reserved to +herself the right to determine the sense in which she understood +her accession to the compact of the Federal Government, she gave +full warrant to South Carolina to determine for herself the sense +of the compact to which she acceded, and therefore justified the +action of the Southern States. Whether Texas was constitutionally +or unconstitutionally annexed to the Union was no more to be decided +by Massachusetts than the constitutionality of the prohibition of +Slavery north of the Missouri line was to be decided by South +Carolina. The position of Mr. Adams in 1844 had therefore returned +to plague its inventor in 1861, and in a certain sense to weaken +the position of the loyal States. + + REPORT OF COMPROMISE COMMITTEE. + +Various reports were submitted by members of the minority, of no +special significance, differing often on immaterial points. The +members from California and Oregon who represented the Breckinridge +party of the North, united in a recommendation for a general +convention to be called under the authority of the Constitution, +to propose such amendments as would heal all existing differences, +and afford sufficient guaranties to the growing interests of the +government and people. The only bold words spoken were in the able +report by Cadwallader C. Washburn of Wisconsin and Mason W. Tappan +of New Hampshire. They made an exhaustive analysis of the situation +in plain language. They reviewed ably and conclusively the report +made by Mr. Corwin for the majority of the committee, and spoke as +became men who represented the justice and the power of a great +Republic. They vindicated the conduct of the General Government, +and showed that the Union was not to be preserved by compromises +nor by sacrifice of principle. They regarded the discontent and +hostility in the South as without just cause, and intimated that +those States might purchase at a high price some valuable information +to be learned only in the school of experience. They embodied +their entire recommendations in a single resolution in which they +declared that the provisions of the Constitution were ample for +the preservation of the Union; that it needed to be obeyed rather +than amended; and that "our extrication from present difficulties +is to be looked for in efforts to preserve and protect the public +property and enforce the laws, rather than in new guaranties for +particular interests, or in compromises, or concessions to unreasonable +demands." + +When the report of the committee of thirty-three came before the +House for action, the series of resolution were first tested by a +motion to lay upon the table, which was defeated by a vote of nearly +two to one; and after angry debate running through several days, +the resolutions, which were only directory in their character, were +adopted by a large majority. When the constitutional amendment was +reached, Mr. Corwin substituted for that which was originally +draughted by Mr. Adams, an amendment declaring that "no amendment +shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to +Congress the power to abolish, or interfere, within any State, with +the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held +to labor or service by the laws of said State." This was adopted +by a vote of 133 to 65. It was numbered as the thirteenth amendment +to the Federal Constitution, and would have made slavery perpetual +in the United States, so far as any influence or power of the +National Government could affect it. It intrenched slavery securely +in the organic law of the land, and elevated the privilege of the +slave-holder beyond that of the owner of any other species of +property. It received the votes of a large number of Republicans +who were then and afterwards prominent in the councils of the party. +Among the most distinguished were Mr. Sherman of Ohio, Mr. Colfax, +Mr. C. F. Adams, Mr. Howard of Michigan, Mr. Windom of Minnesota, +and Messrs. Moorhead and McPherson of Pennsylvania. The sixty-five +negative votes were all Republicans whom the excitement of the hour +did not drag from their moorings, and many of whom have since done, +as they had done before, signal service for their party and their +country. Thaddeus Stevens was at their head, and he was sustained +by the two Washburns, by Bingham of Ohio, by Roscoe Conkling, by +Anson Burlingame, by Owen Lovejoy, by Marston and Tappan of New +Hampshire, by Galusha A. Grow, by Reuben E. Fenton, and by others +who, if less conspicuous, were not less deserving. + +When the proposition reached the Senate, it was adopted by a vote +of 24 to 12, precisely the requisite two-thirds. Among those who +aided in carrying it were Hunter of Virginia, Nicholson of Tennessee, +Sebastian of Arkansas, and Gwin of California, who soon after +proceeded to join the Rebellion. Eight Republican senators, Anthony +of Rhode Island, Baker of Oregon, Dixon and Foster of Connecticut, +Grimes and Harlan of Iowa, Morrill of Maine, and Ten Eyck of New +Jersey, voted in the affirmative. Only twelve out of twenty-five +Republican senators voted in the negative. Mr. Seward, Mr. Fessenden, +Mr. Collamer, and others among the weightiest Republican leaders +are not recorded as voting. As pairs were not announced, it may +be presumed that they consented to the passage of the amendment. +Before the resolution could reach the States for concurrence, either +by convention or Legislature, the evidences of Southern outbreak +had so increased that all such efforts at conciliation were seen +to be vain, and in the end they proved hurtful. Only two States, +Maryland and Ohio, gave their assent to the amendment. In the New- +England States it was rejected, and in many it was not acted upon. +Whoever reads the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution as it +now stands, and compares it with the one which was proposed by the +Thirty-sixth Congress, will be struck with the rapid revolution of +public sentiment, and will not be at a loss to draw some useful +lessons as to the course of public opinion and the conduct of public +men in times of high excitement. + + THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE. + +The propositions of the committee of thirty-three to admit New +Mexico as a slave State, and to amend the Fugitive-slave Law, were +both passed by the House, but were defeated or not acted upon in +the Senate. In that body the efforts of the friends of conciliation +were mainly confined to the Crittenden compromise which has already +been outlined in the proceedings of the House. But for the eminent +respectability of the venerable senator from Kentucky, his propositions +would have had short consideration. They were of a character not +to be entertained by a free people. They dealt wholly in the +finding of new guaranties for slavery, without attempting to intimate +the possible necessity of new guaranties for freedom. Perhaps the +most vicious feature in this whole series of proposed amendments +to the Constitution was the guaranty of slavery against the power +of Congress in all territory of the United States south of 36° 30´. +This offered a premium upon the acquisition of territory, and was +an encouragement to schemes of aggression against friendly powers +south of the United States, which would always have had the sympathy +and support of one-half the Union, and could hardly have been +resisted by any moral power of the General Government. It would +have opened anew the old struggle for equality between free States +and slave States, and would in all probability have led the country +to war within three years from its adoption,--war with Mexico for +the border States of that Republic, war with Spain for the acquisition +of Cuba. This would have followed as matter of policy with Southern +leaders, whether they intended to abide in the Union, or whether +they intended, at some more advantageous and opportune moment, to +secede from it. If they concluded to remain, their political power +in the National Government would have been greatly increased from +the acquisition of new States. If they desired to secede, they +would have acquired a much more formidable strength and vastly +larger area by the addition of Southern territory to which the +Crittenden propositions would not only have invited but driven them. + +While these propositions were under discussion, Mr. Clark of New +Hampshire offered as a substitute the resolution with which Messrs. +Washburn and Tappan had closed their report in the House,--a +resolution of which Mr. Clark was the author, and which he had +previously submitted to the consideration of the Senate. The test +question in the Senate was whether Mr. Clark's resolution should +be substituted for the Crittenden proposition, and this was carried +by a vote of 25 to 23. The twenty-five were all Republicans; the +twenty-three were all Democrats, except Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky +and Mr. Kennedy of Maryland, who had been supporters of Mr. Bell +in the Presidential election. It is a fact worthy of note that +six senators from the extreme Southern States sat in their seats +and refused to vote on the proposition. Had they chosen they could +have defeated the action. But they believed, with a certain +consistency and wisdom, that no measure could be of value to the +South unless it had the concurrence of senators from the North; +and with this motive they imposed upon the Republicans of the Senate +the responsibility of deciding the Crittenden proposition. It was +matter of congratulation with Republicans who did not lose their +judgment in that trying season, that the Senate stood firmly against +the fatal compromise which was urged by so many strong influences. +Much was forgiven for other unwise concessions, so long as this +was definitely rejected. + + + PROPOSITIONS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE. + +Meanwhile a body of men had assembled in the National Capital upon +the invitation of the State of Virginia, for the purpose of making +an earnest effort to adjust the unhappy controversy. The Peace +Congress, as it was termed, came together in the spirit in which +the Constitution was originally formed. Its members professed, +and no doubt felt, an earnest desire to afford to the slave-holding +States, consistently with the principles of the Constitution, +adequate guaranties for the security of their rights. Virginia's +proposition was brought to the National Capital by Ex-President +John Tyler, deputed by his State to that honorable duty. In response +to the invitation twenty-one States, fourteen free and seven slave, +had sent delegates, who assembled in Washington on the 4th of +February, 1861. After remaining in session some three weeks, the +Peace Congress submitted an article of amendment to the Constitution, +contained in seven sections, making as many distinct propositions. + +--The first section restored the line of the Missouri Compromise +as it was before the repeal in 1854. + +--The second provided that no further acquisition of territory +should be made except by the consent of a majority of all the +senators from the slave-holding States and a majority of all the +senators from the free States. + +--The third declared that no amendment to the Constitution shall +be made interfering with Slavery in the States, nor shall Congress +prohibit it in the District of Columbia, nor interfere with the +inter-State slave-trade, nor place any higher rate of taxation on +slaves than upon land. At the same time it abolished the slave- +trade in the District of Columbia. + +--The fourth provided that no construction of the Constitution +shall prevent any of the States aiding, by appropriate legislation, +in the arrest and delivery of fugitive slaves. + +--The fifth forever prohibited the foreign slave-trade. + +--The sixth declared that the amendments to the Constitution herein +proposed shall not be abolished or changed without the consent of +all the States. + +--The seventh provided for the payment from the National Treasury +for all fugitive slaves whose recapture is prevented by violence. + +These propositions met with little favor in either branch of Congress. +Mr. Crittenden, finding that he could not pass his own resolutions, +endeavored to substitute these, but could induce only six senators +to concur with him. In the House there was no action whatever upon +the report. The venerable Ex-President was chosen to preside over +the deliberations of the conference, but was understood not to +approve the recommendations. Far as they went, they had not gone +far enough to satisfy the demands of Virginia, and still less the +demands of the States which had already seceded. It is a curious +circumstance that one of the delegates from Pennsylvania, Mr. J. +Henry Puleston, was not a citizen of the United States, but a +subject of Queen Victoria, and is now (1884), and has been for +several years, a member of the British Parliament. + + +To complete the anomalies and surprises of that session of Congress, +it is necessary to recall the fact, that, with a Republican majority +in both branches, Acts organizing the Territories of Colorado, +Dakota, and Nevada were passed without containing a word of +prohibition on the subject of slavery. From the day that the +administration of Mr. Polk began its career of foreign acquisition, +the question of slavery in the Territories had been a subject of +controversy between political parties. When the Missouri Compromise +was repealed, and the Territories of the United States north of +the line of 36° 30´ were left without slavery inhibition or +restriction, the agitation began which ended in the overthrow of +the Democratic party and the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency +of the United States. It will therefore always remain as one of +the singular contradictions in the political history of the country, +that, after seven years of almost exclusive agitation on this one +question, the Republicans, the first time they had the power as a +distinctive political organization to enforce the cardinal article +of their political creed, quietly and unanimously abandoned it. +And the abandoned it without a word of explanation. Mr. Sumner +and Mr. Wade and Mr. Chandler, the most radical men in the Senate +on the Republican side, sat still and allowed the bill to be passed +precisely as reported by James S. Green of Missouri, who had been +the ablest defender of the Breckinridge Democracy in that body. +In the House, Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, Mr. Owen Lovejoy, the Washburns, +and all the other radical Republicans vouchsafed no word explanatory +of this extraordinary change of position. + + COLORADO, DAKOTA, AND NEVADA. + +If it be said in defense of this course that all the Territories +lay north of 36° 30´, and were therefore in no danger of slavery, +it only introduces fresh embarrassment by discrediting the action +of the Republican party in regard to Kansas, and discrediting the +earnest and persistent action of the anti-slavery Whigs and Free- +Soilers, who in 1848 successfully insisted upon embodying the Wilmot +Proviso in the Act organizing the Territory of Oregon. Surely, if +an anti-slavery restriction were needed for Oregon, it was needed +for Dakota which lay in the same latitude. Beyond doubt, if the +Territory of Kansas required a prohibition against slavery, the +Territory of Colorado and the Territory of Nevada, which lay as +far south, needed it also. To allege that they could secure the +President's approval of the bills in the form in which they were +passed, and that Mr. Buchanan would veto each and every one of them +if an anti-slavery proviso were embodied, is to give but a poor +excuse, for, five days after the bills received the Executive +signature, Mr. Buchanan went out of office, and Abraham Lincoln +was installed as President. + +If, indeed, it be fairly and frankly admitted, as was the fact, +that receding from the anti-slavery position was part of the +conciliation policy of the hour, and that the Republicans did it +the more readily because they had full faith that slavery never +could secure a foothold in any of the Territories named, it must +be likewise admitted that the Republican party took precisely the +same ground held by Mr. Webster in 1850, and acted from precisely +the same motives that inspired the 7th of March speech. Mr. Webster +maintained for New Mexico only what Mr. Sumner now admitted for +Colorado and Nevada. Mr. Webster acted from the same considerations +that now influenced and controlled the judgment of Mr. Seward. As +matter of historic justice, the Republicans who waived the anti- +slavery restriction should at least have offered and recorded their +apology for any animadversions they had made upon the course of +Mr. Webster ten years before. Every prominent Republican senator +who agreed in 1861 to abandon the principle of the Wilmot Proviso +in organizing the Territories of Colorado and Nevada, had, in 1850, +heaped reproach upon Mr. Webster for not insisting upon the same +principle for the same territory. Between the words of Mr. Seward +and Mr. Sumner in the one crisis and their votes in the other, +there is a discrepancy for which it would have been well to leave +on record an adequate explanation. The danger to the Union, in +which they found a good reason for receding from the anti-slavery +restriction on the Territories, had been cruelly denied to Mr. +Webster as a justifying motive. They found in him only a guilty +recreancy to sacred principle for the same act which in themselves +was inspired by devotion to the Union. + +It was certainly a day of triumph for Mr. Douglas. He was justified +in his boast that, after all the bitter agitation which followed +the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, the Republicans adopted +his principle and practically applied its provisions in the first +Territory which they had the power to organize. Mr. Douglas had +been deprived of his chairmanship of the Committee of Territories +by the Southern leaders, and his place had been given to James S. +Green of Missouri. His victory therefore was complete when Mr. +Seward waived the anti-slavery guaranty on behalf of the Republicans, +and when Mr. Green waived the pro-slavery guaranty on behalf of +the Breckinridge Democracy. It was the apotheosis of Popular +Sovereignty, and Mr. Douglas was pardonable even for an excessive +display of self-gratulation over an event so suggestive and so +instructive. Mr. Grow, the chairman of Territories in the House, +frankly stated that he had agreed with Mr. Green, chairman of +Territories in the Senate, that there should be no reference whatever +to the question of slavery in any of the Territorial bills. It +cannot be denied that this action of the Republican party was a +severe reflection upon that prolonged agitation for prohibition of +slavery in the Territories by Congressional enactment. A surrender +of the principle with due explanation of the reasons, properly +recorded for the instruction of those who should come after, would +have left the Republican party in far better position than did the +precipitate retreat which they made without a word of apology, +without an attempt at justification. + +If receding from the anti-slavery creed of the Republican party +was intended as a conciliation to the South, the men who made the +movement ought to have seen that it would prove ineffectual. The +Republicans no more clearly perceived that they risked nothing on +the question of slavery in organizing those Territories without +restriction, than the Southern leaders perceived that they would +gain nothing by it. In vain is the net spread in the sight of any +bird. The South had realized their inability to compete with +Northern emigration by their experience in attempting to wrest +Kansas from the control of free labor. They were not to be deluded +now by a nominal equality of rights in Territories where, in a long +contest for supremacy, they were sure to be outnumbered, outvoted, +and finally excluded by organic enactment. The political agitation +and the sentimental feeling on this question were therefore exposed +on both sides,--the North frankly confessing that they did not +desire a Congressional restriction against slavery, and the South +as frankly conceding that the demand they had so loudly made for +admission to the Territories was really worth nothing to the +institution of slavery. The whole controversy over the Territories, +as remarked by a witty representative from the South, related to +an imaginary negro in an impossible place. + +James Stephens Green, who was so prominent in this legislation, +who prepared and reported the bills, and who was followed by a +unanimous Senate, terminated his public service on the day Mr. +Lincoln was inaugurated. He was then but forty-four years of age, +and had served only four years in the Senate. He died soon after. +No man among his contemporaries had made so profound an impression +in so short a time. He was a very strong debater. He had peers, +but no master, in the Senate. Mr. Green on the one side and Mr. +Fessenden on the other were the senators whom Douglas most disliked +to meet, and who were the best fitted in readiness, in accuracy, +in logic, to meet him. Douglas rarely had a debate with either in +which he did not lose his temper, and to lose one's temper in debate +is generally to lose one's cause. Green had done more than any +other man in Missouri to break down the power of Thomas H. Benton +as a leader of the Democracy. His arraignment of Benton before +the people of Missouri in 1849, when he was but thirty-two years +of age, was one of the most aggressive and successful warfares in +our political annals. His premature death was a loss to the country. +He was endowed with rare powers which, rightly directed, would have +led him to eminence in the public service. + + NORTHERN DEMORALIZATION. + +It would be unjust to the senators and representatives in Congress +to leave the impression that their unavailing efforts at conciliating +the South were any thing more or less than a compliance with a +popular demand which overspread the free States. As soon as the +election was decided in favor of Mr. Lincoln, and the secession +movement began to develop in the South, tens of thousands of those +who had voted for the Republican candidates became affrighted at +the result of their work. This was especially true in the Middle +States, and to a very considerable extent in New England. Municipal +elections throughout the North during the ensuing winter showed a +great falling-off in Republican strength. There was, indeed, in +every free State what might, in the political nomenclature of the +day, be termed an utter demoralization of the Republican party. +The Southern States were going farther than the people had believed +was possible. The wolf which had been so long used to scare, seemed +at last to have come. Disunion, which had been so much threatened +and so little executed, seemed now to the vision of the multitude +an accomplished fact,--a fact which inspired a large majority of +the Northern people with a sentiment of terror, and imparted to +their political faith an appearance of weakness and irresolution. + +Meetings to save the Union upon the basis of surrender of principle +were held throughout the free States, while a word of manly resistance +to the aggressive disposition of the South, or in re-affirmation +of principles so long contended for, met no popular response. Even +in Boston, Wendell Phillips needed the protection of the police in +returning to his home after one of his eloquent and defiant harangues, +and George William Curtis was advised by the Republican mayor of +Philadelphia that his appearance as a lecturer in that city would +be extremely unwise. He had been engaged to speak on "The Policy +of Honesty." But so great had been the change in popular feeling +in a city which Mr. Lincoln had carried by a vast majority, that +the owner of the hall in which Mr. Curtis was to appear, warned +him that a riot was anticipated if he should speak. Its doors were +closed against him. This was less than five weeks after Mr. Lincoln +was elected, and the change of sentiment in Philadelphia was but +an index to the change elsewhere in the North. + +The South, meanwhile, had been encouraged in the work of secession +by thousands of Democrats who did not desire or look for the +dissolution of the Union, but wished to plot of secession to go +far enough, and the danger to the Union to become just imminent +enough, to destroy their political opponents. Men who afterwards +attested their loyalty to the Union by their lives, took part in +this dangerous scheme of encouraging a revolt which they could not +repress. They apparently did not comprehend that lighted torches +cannot be carried with safety through a magazine of powder; and, +though they were innocent of intentional harm, they did much to +increase an evil which was rapidly growing beyond all power of +control. As already indicated, the position of President Buchanan +and the doctrines of his message had aided in the development of +this feeling in the North. It was further stimulated by the +commercial correspondence between the two sections. The merchants +and factors in the South did not as a class desire Disunion, and +they were made to believe that the suppression of Abolitionism in +the North would restore harmony and good feeling. Abolitionism +was but another name for the Republican party, and in business +circles in the free State that party had come to represent the +source of all our trouble. These men did not yet measure the full +scope of the combination against the Union, and persisted in +believing that its worst enemies were in the North. The main result +of these misconceptions was a steady and rapid growth of strength +throughout the slave States in the movement for Secession. + + + ENACTMENT OF THE MORRILL TARIFF. + +Fruitless and disappointing as were the proceedings of this session +of Congress on the subjects which engrossed so large a share of +public attention, a most important change was accomplished in the +revenue laws,--a change equivalent to a revolution in the economic +and financial system of the government. The withdrawal of the +Southern senators and representatives left both branches of Congress +under the control of the North, and by a considerable majority +under the direction of the Republican party. In the preceding +session of Congress the House, having a small Republican majority, +had passed a bill advancing the rate of duties upon foreign +importations. This action was not taken as an avowed movement for +protection, but merely as a measure to increase the revenue. +During Mr. Buchanan's entire term the receipts of the Treasury had +been inadequate to the payment of the annual appropriations by +Congress, and as a result the government had been steadily incurring +debt at a rate which was afterwards found to affect the public +credit at a critical juncture in our history. To check this +increasing deficit the House insisted on a scale of duties that +would yield a larger revenue, and on the 10th of May, 1860, passed +the bill. In the Senate, then under the control of the Democratic +party, with the South in the lead, the bill encountered opposition. +Senators from the Cotton States thought they saw in it the hated +principle of protection, and protection meant in their view, strength +and prestige for the manufacturing States of the North. The bill +had been prepared in committee and reported in the House by a New- +England member, Mr. Morrill of Vermont, which of itself was sufficient +in the eyes of many Southern men to determine its character and +its fate. + +Mr. Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia was at the time Chairman of +the Senate Committee of Finance. He was a man of sturdy common +sense, slow in his methods, but strong and honest in his processes +of reasoning. He advanced rapidly in public esteem, and in 1839, +at thirty years of age, was chosen Speaker of the House of +Representatives. He was a sympathizer with the South-Carolina +extremists, and coalesced with the Whigs to defeat the regular +Democrats who were sustaining the Administration of Mr. Van Buren. +In 1847 Mr. Hunter was chosen senator from Virginia, and served +continuously till the outbreak of the war. He was a conservative +example of that class of border State Democrats who were blinded +to all interests except those of slavery. + +The true wealth of Virginia, in addition to her agriculture and in +aid of it, lay in her vast deposits of coal and iron, in her +extensive forests, in her unsurpassed water power. Her natural +resources were beyond computation, and suggested for her a great +career as a commercial and manufacturing State. Her rivers on the +eastern slope connected her interior with the largest and finest +harbor on the Atlantic coast of North America, and her jurisdiction +extended over an empire beyond the Alleghanies. Her climate was +salubrious, and so temperate as to forbid the plea always used in +justification of negro slavery in the Cotton States, that the white +man could not perform agricultural labor. A recognition of Virginia's +true destiny would point to Northern alliances and Northern +sympathies. Mr. Hunter's sympathies were by birth and rearing with +the South. The alliances he sought looked towards the Gulf and +not towards the Lakes. Any measure which was displeasing to South +Carolina or Alabama was displeasing to Mr. Hunter, and he gave no +heed to what might be the relations of Virginia with the New England, +Middle, and Western States. He measured the policy of Virginia by +the policy of States whose geographical position, whose soil, +climate, products, and capacities were totally different from hers. +By Mr. Hunter's policy, Virginia could sell only slaves to the +South. A more enlightened view would have enabled Virginia to +furnish a large proportion of the fabrics which the Southern States +were compelled to purchase in communities far to the north of her. +Mr. Hunter was no doubt entirely honest in this course. He was +upright in all his personal and political relations, but he could +not forget that he was born a Southern man and a slave-holder. He +had a full measure of that pride in his State so deeply cherished +by Virginians. At the outset of his public career he became +associated with Mr. Calhoun, and early imbibed the doctrines of +that illustrious senator, who seldom failed to fascinate the young +men who fell within the sphere of his personal influence. + +Mr. Hunter therefore naturally opposed the new tariff, and under +his lead all action upon it was defeated for the session. This +conclusion was undoubtedly brought about by considerations outside +of the legitimate scope of the real question at issue. The struggle +for the Presidency was in progress, and any concession by the slave +States on the tariff question would weaken the Democratic party +in the section where its chief strength lay, and would correspondingly +increase the prestige of Lincoln's supporters in the North and of +Mr. Fillmore's followers in the South. Mr. Hunter had himself just +received a strong support in the Charleston convention for the +Presidency, securing a vote almost equal to that given to Douglas. +This was an additional tie binding him to the South, and he responded +to the wishes of that section by preventing all action on the tariff +bill of the House pending the Presidential struggle of 1860. + + SENATE VOTES ON THE MORRILL TARIFF. + +But the whole aspect of the question was changed when at the ensuing +session of Congress the senators and representatives from the Cotton +States withdrew, and betook themselves to the business of establishing +a Southern Confederacy. Mr. Hunter's opposition was not relaxed, +but his supporters were gone. Opposition was thus rendered powerless, +and the first important step towards changing the tariff system +from low duties to high duties, from free-trade to protection, was +taken by the passage of the Morrill Bill on the second day of March, +1861. Mr. Buchanan was within forty-eight hours of the close of +his term and he promptly and cheerfully signed the bill. He had +by this time become not only emancipated from Southern thraldom +but in some degree embittered against Southern men, and could +therefore readily disregard objections from that source. His early +instincts and declarations in favor of a protective policy doubtless +aided him in a conclusion which a year before he could not have +reached without a conflict in his Cabinet that would probably have +ended in its disruption. + +The passage of the Morrill Tariff was an event which would almost +have marked an era in the history of the government if public +attention had not been at once absorbed in struggles which were +far more engrossing than those of legislative halls. It was however +the beginning of a series of enactments which deeply affected the +interests of the country, and which exerted no small influence upon +the financial ability of the government to endure the heavy +expenditure entailed by the war which immediately followed. Theories +were put aside in the presence of a great necessity, and the belief +became general that in the impending strain on the resources of +the country, protection to home industry would be a constant and +increasing strength to the government. + +On the passage of the bill in the Senate, on the 20th of February, +the yeas were 25 and the nays 14. No Democratic senator voted in +the affirmative and no Republican senator in the negative. It was +not only a sharp division on the party line but almost equally so +on the sectional line. Mr. Douglas, Mr. Rice of Minnesota, Mr. +Latham of California, and Mr. Lane of Oregon were the only Northern +senators who united with the compact South against the bill. +Senators from Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas +were still taking part in the proceedings. Mr. Crittenden of +Kentucky and Mr. Kennedy of Maryland were favorable to the policy +of protection, but on this bill they withheld their votes. They +had not abandoned all hope of an adjustment of the Disunion troubles, +and deemed the pending measure too radical a change of policy to +be adopted in the absence of the senators and representatives from +seven States so deeply interested. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, +sympathizing warmly with the Republicans on all questions relating +to the preservation of the Union, was too firmly wedded to the +theory of free-trade to appreciate the influence which this measure +would exert in aid of the national finances. + +The test vote in the House was taken on the 27th of February, on +a motion made by Mr. Branch of North Carolina to lay the bill on +the table. Only 43 votes were given in favor, while 102 were +recorded against this summary destruction of the measure. The +sectional line was not so rigidly maintained as it was in the House. +Of the hostile vote 28 were from the South and 15 from the North. +The Virginia delegation, following Mr. Hunter's example, voted +solidly in opposition. The Southern men who voted for the bill +were in nearly every instance distinguished for their hostility to +secession. John A. Gilmer of North Carolina, Thomas A. R. Nelson, +and William B. Stokes of Tennessee, William C. Anderson, Francis +M. Bristow, Green Adams, and Laban T. Moore of Kentucky, separated +from their section, and in their support of a protective tariff +openly affiliated with the North. + +The Morrill Tariff, as it has since been popularly known, was part +of a bill whose title indicates a wider scope than the fixing of +duties on imports. It provided also for the payment of outstanding +Treasury notes and authorized a loan. These additional features +did little to commend it to those who were looking to an alliance +with the Secessionists, nor did the obvious necessity of money for +the national Treasury induce the ultra disciples of free-trade in +the North to waive their opposition to a measure which distinctly +looked to the establishment of protection. It was a singular +combination of circumstances which on the eve of the Southern revolt +led to the inauguration of a policy that gave such industrial and +financial strength to the Union in its hour of dire necessity, in +the very crisis of its fate. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Mr. Lincoln's Journey from Springfield to Washington.--Speeches on +the Way.--Reaches Washington.--His Secret Journey.--Afterwards +regretted.--Precautions for his Safety.--President Buchanan.-- +Secretary Holt.--Troops for the Protection of Washington.--Inauguration +of Mr. Lincoln.--Relief to the Public Anxiety.--Inaugural Address. +--Hopefulness and Security in the North.--Mr. Lincoln's Appeal to +the South.--Fails to appease Southern Wrath.--Dilemma of the South. +--The New Cabinet.--The "Easy Accession" of Former Times.--Seward +Secretary of State.--Chase at the Head of the Treasury.--Radical +Republicans dissatisfied.--Influence of the Blairs.--Comment of +Thaddeus Stevens.--The National Flag in the Confederacy.--Flying +at only Three Points.--Defenseless Condition of the Government.-- +Confidence of Disunion Leaders.--Extra Session of the Senate.-- +Douglas and Breckinridge.--Their Notable Debate.--Douglas's Reply +to Wigfall.--His Answer to Mason.--Condition of the Territories.-- +Slavery not excluded by Law.--Public Opinion in Maine, 1861.--Mr. +Lincoln's Difficult Task.--His Wise Policy.--His Careful Preparation. +--Statesmanship of his Administration. + +When Southern confidence was at its height, and Northern courage +at its lowest point, Mr. Lincoln began his journey from Springfield +to Washington to assume the government of a divided and disorganized +Republic. His speeches on the way were noticeable for the absence +of all declaration of policy or purpose touching the impending +troubles. This peculiarity gave rise to unfavorable comments in +the public press of the North, and to unfounded apprehensions in +the popular mind. There was fear that he was either indifferent +to the peril, or that he failed to comprehend it. The people did +not understand Mr. Lincoln. The failure to comprehend was on their +part, not on his. Had he on that journey gratified the aggressive +friends of the Union who had supported him for the Presidency, he +would have added immeasurably to the serious troubles which already +confronted him. He had the practical faculty of discerning the +chief point to be reached, and then bending every energy to reach +it. He saw that the one thing needful was his regular, constitutional +inauguration as President of the United States. Policies both +general and in detail would come after that. He could not afford +by imprudent forwardness of speech or premature declaration of +measures to increase the embarrassment which already surrounded +him. "Let us do one thing at a time and the big things first" was +his homely but expressive way of indicating the wisdom of his +course. + +A man of ordinary courage would have been overwhelmed by the task +before him. But Mr. Lincoln possessed a certain calmness, firmness, +and faith that enabled him to meet any responsibility, and to stand +unappalled in any peril. He reached Washington by a night journey, +taken secretly much against his own will and to his subsequent +chagrin and mortification, but urged upon him by the advice of +those in whose judgment and wisdom he was forced to confide. It +is the only instance in Mr. Lincoln's public career in which he +did not patiently face danger, and to the end of his life he +regretted that he had not, according to his own desire, gone through +Baltimore in open day, trusting to the hospitality of the city, to +the loyalty of its people, to the rightfulness of his cause and +the righteousness of his aims and ends. He came as one appointed +to a great duty, not with rashness, not with weakness, not with +bravado, not with shrinking, but in the perfect confidence of a +just cause and with the stainless conscience of a good man. Threats +that he never should be inaugurated had been numerous and serious, +and it must be credited to the administration of Mr. Buchanan, that +ample provision had been made for the protection of the rightful +ruler of the nation. + + PATRIOTIC CONDUCT OF JOSEPH HOLT. + +The active and practical loyalty of Joseph Holt in this crisis +deserves honorable mention. When, at the close of December, 1860, +he succeeded Mr. Floyd as Secretary of War, no troops were stationed +in Washington or its neighborhood. After consultation with General +Scott, then in command of the army, and with the full approval of +President Buchanan, Secretary Holt thought it wise to make precautions +for the safety of the National Capital. Seven companies of artillery +and one company of sappers and miners were accordingly brought to +Washington. This movement gave offense to the Southern men who +still remained in Congress, and Mr. Branch of North Carolina offered +a resolution declaring that "the quartering of troops around the +capital was impolitic and offensive," and that, "if permitted, it +would be destructive of civil liberty, and therefore the troops +should be forthwith removed." The House laid the resolution on +the table by a vote of 125 to 35. Ex-President Tyler had formally +complained to the President from the Peace Congress, that United- +States troops were to march in the procession which was to celebrate +the 22d of February. When so many of the Southern people were +engaged in seizing the forts and other property of the government, +it was curious to witness their uneasiness at the least display of +power on the part of the National Government. + +The tone of Secretary Holt's report to the President in regard to +the marshaling of troops in the National Capital was a manifestation +of courage in refreshing contrast with the surrounding timidity. +He stated in very plain language that "a revolution had been in +progress for the preceding three months in several of the Southern +States;" that its history was one of "surprise, treacheries, and +ruthless spoliations;" that forts of the United States had been +captured and garrisoned, and "hostile flags unfurled from the +ramparts;" that arsenals had been seized, and the arms which they +contained appropriated to the use of the captors; that more than +half a million of dollars, found in the mint of New Orleans, had +been unscrupulously applied to replenish the treasury of Louisiana; +that a conspiracy had been entered into for the armed occupation +of Washington as part of the revolutionary programme; and that he +could not fail to remember that, if the early admonitions in regard +to the designs of lawless men in Charleston Harbor had been acted +on, and "adequate re-enforcements sent there before the revolution +began, the disastrous political complications which ensued might +not have occurred." + +The inauguration of Mr. Lincoln was an immense relief to the country. +There had been an undefined dread throughout the Northern States, +colored and heightened by imagination, that Mr. Lincoln would in +some way, by some act of violence or of treachery, be deprived of +the Presidency, and the government thrown into anarchy. Mr. +Breckinridge was the Vice-President, and there had been a vague +fear that the count of the electoral votes, over which he presided, +would in some way be obstructed or tampered with, and that the +regularity of the succession might be interrupted, and its legitimacy +stained. But Mr. Breckinridge had performed his official duty with +scrupulous fidelity, and Mr. Lincoln had been declared by him, in +the presence of the two Houses of Congress, to be lawfully and +constitutionally elected President of the United States. Anarchy +and disorder in the North would at that time have proved so +advantageous to the leaders of Secession, that the apprehension +was firmly fixed in the Northern mind that some attempt would be +made to bring it about. The very fact, therefore, that Mr. Lincoln +was in possession of the office, that he was quietly living in the +Executive mansion, that the Senate of the United States was in +session, with a quorum present, ready to act upon his nominations, +imported a new confidence and opened a new prospect to the friends +of the Union. + +The Inaugural address added to the feeling of hopefulness and +security in the North. It effectually removed every trace of +unfavorable impression which had been created by Mr. Lincoln's +speeches, and gave at once a new view and an exalted estimate of +the man. He argued to the South, with persuasive power, that the +institution of Slavery in the States was not in danger by his +election. He admitted the full obligation under the Constitution +for the return of fugitive slaves. He neither affirmed nor denied +any position touching Slavery in the Territories. He was fully +aware that many worthy, patriotic citizens desired that the National +Constitution should be amended; and, while he declined to make any +recommendation, he recognized the full authority of the people over +the subject, and said he should favor rather than oppose a fair +opportunity for them to act upon it. He expressed a preference, +if the Constitution was to be amended, for a general convention +rather than for action through State Legislatures. He so far +departed from his purpose not to speak of particular amendments as +to allude to the one submitted by the late Congress, to the effect +that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic +institutions of the States; and he said that, holding such a +provision to be now implied in the Constitution, he had no objection +to its being made express and irrevocable. He pleaded earnestly, +even tenderly, with those who would break up the Union. "In your +hands," said he, "my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in +mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will +not assail you. You can have no conflict without yourselves being +the aggressors. You can have no oath registered in heaven to +destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to +preserve, protect, and defend it. I am loath to close. We are +not enemies, but friends. Though passion may have strained, it +must not break, our bonds of affection." + +While the effect produced by the Inaugural in the North was so +auspicious, no corresponding impression was made in the South. +Mr. Lincoln's concise and candid statement of his opinions and +purposes in regard to Slavery, his majestic and unanswerable argument +against Secession, and his pathetic appeal to the people and States +of the South, all alike failed to win back the disaffected communities. +The leaders of the Secession movement were only the more enraged +by witnessing the favor with which Mr. Lincoln's position was +received in the North. The declaration of the President that he +should execute the laws in all parts of the country, as required +by his oath, and that the jurisdiction of the nation under the +Constitution would be asserted everywhere and constantly, inspired +the doubting with confidence, and gave to the people of the North +a common hope and a common purpose in the approaching struggle. +The address left to the seceding States only the choice of retiring +from the position they had taken, or of assuming the responsibilities +of war. It was clear that the assertion of jurisdiction by two +separate governments over the same territory and people must end +in bloodshed. In this dilemma was the South placed by the Inaugural +address of President Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan had admitted the right +of Secession, while denying the wisdom of its exercise; but the +right when exercised carried jurisdiction with it. Hence it was +impossible for Mr. Buchanan to assert jurisdiction and attempt its +exercise over the territory and people of the seceding States. +But Mr. Lincoln, by his Inaugural address, set himself free from +all logical entanglements. His emphatic words were these: "I +therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, +the Union is unbroken; and to the extent of my ability, I shall +take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, +that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. +. . . I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as +a declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend +and maintain itself." + + + THE CABINET OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +Mr. Lincoln constituted his Cabinet in a manner at least unusual +if not unprecedented. It had been the general practice of Presidents, +from the first organization of the government, to tender the post +of Secretary of State to the man considered to be next in prominence +to himself in the party to which both belonged. In the earlier +history of the country, the expected successor in the Executive +office was selected. This was indeed for a long period so uniform +that the appointment to the State Department came to be regarded +as a designation to the Presidency. In political phrase, this mode +of reaching the coveted place was known as the "easy accession." +By its operation Madison succeeded Jefferson, Monroe succeeded +Madison, John Quincy Adams succeeded Monroe. After successful +application for a quarter of a century the custom fell into disfavor +and, by bitter agitation, into disuse. The cause of its overthrow +was the appointment of Henry Clay to the State Department, and the +baseless scandal of a "bargain and sale" was invented to deprive +Mr. Clay of the "easy accession." After a few years, when National +Conventions were introduced, it became the habit of the President +to tender the State Department to a leading or prominent competitor +for the Presidential nomination. Thus General Harrison offered +the post to Mr. Clay, who declined; and then to Mr. Webster, who +accepted. President Polk appointed Mr. Buchanan. President Pierce +appointed Mr. Marcy. President Buchanan appointed General Cass. + +Following in the same line, Mr. Lincoln now invited his chief rival, +Mr. Seward, to the State Department. But his courtesy did not stop +there. He was generous beyond all example to his rivals. He called +Salmon P. Chase to the Treasury, appointed Simon Cameron to the +War Department, and made Edward Bates of Missouri Attorney-General. +These were the three who, next to Mr. Seward, received the largest +votes of the minority in the convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln. +The Cabinet was completed by the appointment of Gideon Welles of +Connecticut Secretary of the Navy, Caleb B. Smith of Indiana +Secretary of the Interior, and Montgomery Blair of Maryland Postmaster- +General. + +The announcement of these names gave fair satisfaction to the party, +though the most advanced and radical element of the Republicans +regarded its composition with distrust. There had been strong hope +on the part of the conservative friends of the Union that some +prominent man from the Cotton States would be included in the +Cabinet, and overtures were undoubtedly made to that effect directly +after the election in November. But the rapidly developing revolt +against the Union made such an appointment undesirable if not +altogether impracticable. By the time of the inauguration it was +found that such an olive-branch from the President would exert no +influence over the wild passions which had been aroused in the +South. The name most frequently suggested was that of Mr. John A. +Gilmer of North Carolina, who was a sincere friend of the Union, +and did all in his power to avert a conflict; but his appointment +to the Cabinet would have destroyed him at home, without bringing +strength at that crisis to the National cause. + +The opinions and characteristics of each member of the Cabinet were +very closely scanned and criticised. Mr. Seward was known to be +fully committed to the policy of conciliation towards the South, +and to the adoption of every measure consistent with the honor of +the country to avert war and induce the return of the seceding +States. Mr. Chase was understood to favor a moderate policy, but +did not go so far as Mr. Seward. Mr. Cameron sympathized with Mr. +Seward more than with Mr. Chase. Mr. Bates was extremely conservative, +but a zealous friend of the Union, and a lifelong disciple of Mr. +Clay. Mr. Welles was of Democratic antecedents, a follower of Van +Buren and Wright, an associate of John M. Niles, anti-slavery in +principle, a strict constructionist, instinctively opposed to Mr. +Seward, readily co-operating with Mr. Chase. His appointment was +a surprise to New-England Republicans who expected a much more +prominent member of the party to be called to the Cabinet. It was +understood that the selection was due to the counsel of Vice- +President Hamlin, who soon after had such serious differences with +Mr. Welles that a state of absolute non-intercourse existed between +them during the whole period of his incumbency of the Navy Department. +Mr. Caleb B. Smith had been prominent in the House of Representatives +when Mr. Lincoln was a member, had been popular as a public speaker +in the West, but had no aptitude for so serious a task as the +administration of a great department, and did not long retain his +position. + + THE CABINET OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +Mr. Blair was appointed as a citizen of Maryland. This gave serious +offense to many of Mr. Lincoln's most valued supporters, and was +especially distasteful to the Union men of Maryland, with Henry +Winter Davis at their head. They regarded Mr. Blair as a non- +resident, as not in any sense identified with them, and as disposed +from the outset to foment disturbance where harmony was especially +demanded. Mr. Bates had been appointed from Missouri largely by +the influence of Francis P. Blair, Jr.; and the border-State +Republicans were dissatisfied that the only two members of the +Cabinet from the slave States had been appointed apparently without +any general consultation among those who were best fitted to give +the President advice on so important a matter. The extreme men in +the Republican party, of the type of Benjamin F. Wade and Owen +Lovejoy, believed that the Cabinet was so constituted as to insure +what they termed "a disgraceful surrender to the South." It was +a common saying at the time in Washington, among the radical +Republicans, that Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet did not contain three as +absolute and strong defenders of the Union as Dix, Holt, and Stanton, +who had just retired with Mr. Buchanan. Thaddeus Stevens, with +his accustomed sharpness of speech, said the Cabinet was composed +of an assortment of rivals whom the President appointed from +courtesy, one stump-speaker from Indiana, and two representatives +of the Blair family. + + +In the seven States which constituted the original Southern +Confederacy, the flag of the United States was flying at only three +points on the day of Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. The army of the +United States still held Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston; +Fort Pickens, opposite the Pensacola Navy Yard; and Key West, the +extreme southern point of Florida. Every other fort, arsenal, dock- +yard, mint, custom-house, and court-house had been seized by the +Confederacy, and turned to hostile use. Fort Moultrie, Castle +Pinckney, and the United-States arsenal at Charleston had been +seized by the troops of South Carolina; Forts Jackson and Pulaski, +and the United-States arsenal at Augusta, by the troops of Georgia; +the Chattahoochee and St. Augustine arsenals and the Florida forts, +by the troops of that State; the arsenal at Baton Rouge, and Forts +Jackson and St. Philip, together with the New-Orleans mint and +custom-house, by the troops of Louisiana; the Little-Rock arsenal +by the troops of Arkansas; Forts Johnson and Caswell by the troops +of North Carolina; and General Twiggs had traitorously surrendered +to the State of Texas all the military stores in his command, +amounting in value to a million and a half of dollars. By these +means the seceding States had come into possession of all the +artillery, small arms, ammunition, and supplies of war needed for +immediate use, and were well prepared for the opening of the +campaign. On the part of the government there was no such preparation. +Indeed the government did not at that moment have twelve thousand +available troops against the most formidable rebellion in history. +Its whole navy could not make one large squadron, and its most +effective ships were at points remote from the scene of conflict. +The revenues of the country were not then yielding more than thirty +millions per annum, and the credit was so low that one per cent. +a month had been paid by the retiring administration for the funds +necessary to close its unfortunate career. + +In view of all these facts, it cannot be matter of wonder that the +Disunion leaders in the South laughed to scorn any efforts on the +part of the Government of the United States to arrest their progress, +much less to subdue them, and enforce their return to the Union. +North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas had not yet +seceded. The Union sentiment was strong in each one of these +States, and the design of Mr. Lincoln was to pursue a policy so +mild and conciliatory as to win them to the side of the government. +Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri were excited by strong minorities +who desired to aid the South, while no strong element in their +population was ready to take decisive measures for the Union. +Palliation, conciliation, concession, compromise, were the only +words heard, and the almost universal opinion in the South, shared +largely by the North, was that to precipitate war would be to +abandon the last hope for restoration of the Union. + + EXTRA SESSION OF THE SENATE. + +The extra session of the Senate, called by Mr. Buchanan for the +convenience of the new administration, assembled on the 4th of +March. All the Southern States were represented in full except +those which had members in the Confederate Congress at Montgomery, +and from one of these--the State of Texas--both senators, John +Hemphill and Louis T. Wigfall, were present. Texas was indeed +represented in the Congress of the Confederate States at Montgomery +and in the Congress of the United States at Washington at the same +time. Some excuse was given for the continuance of the senators +by an alleged lack of completeness in the secession proceedings of +their State; but to the apprehension of the ordinary mind, a +secession that was complete enough to demand representation at +Montgomery was complete enough to end it at Washington. The Texas +senators, therefore, did not escape the imputation of seizing a +mere pretext for remaining at Washington somewhat in the character +of spies upon the new administration. John C. Breckinridge of +Kentucky and Thomas L. Clingman of North Carolina took the usual +oath to support the Constitution--Clingman for his second term, +Breckinridge for his first. Salmon P. Chase was sworn in as senator +from Ohio, and retired the next day to the Treasury Department. +John Sherman was his successor. Among the new senators who entered, +and who afterwards became conspicuous, were Howe of Wisconsin and +Baker of Oregon. The session was only for Executive purposes, and +of course possessed no legislative power; but the debates were of +interest and of value to the country. + +Mr. Douglas, with the characteristic boldness of a leader and with +a patriotism which did him honor, defended the Inaugural address +of Mr. Lincoln against the assault of opposition senators. In +reply to Wigfall of Texas, who wished to know Douglas's views upon +certain points of policy, he said, "I do not choose to proclaim +what my policy would be, in view of the fact that the senator does +not regard himself as the guardian of the honor and the interests +of my country, but is looking to the interests of another which he +thinks is in hostility. It would hardly be good policy or wisdom +for me to reveal what I think ought to be our policy to one who +may so soon be in the councils of the enemy and in the command of +his armies." Being pressed by Wigfall to know what he would advise +the President to do in the critical condition of Fort Sumter, +Douglas sarcastically answered that he "should have no hesitancy +in replying to the senator from Texas if that senator held himself +bound by his oath to support the Constitution of the United States, +and to protect and aid the honor of the country instead of +communicating it to the enemy to be used against us." It was a +vast gain to the Union that Douglas spoke so boldly in defense of +Mr. Lincoln; and it was significant that Wigfall received imputations +upon his honor without threats of a duel, and without even using +the language of resentment. + +Mr. Mason of Virginia came to the aid of Wigfall in the debate, +but fared badly at the hands of Douglas. He asked Douglas to define +what should be done in this crisis in regard to Fort Sumter. "If +the senator from Virginia," said Douglas, "had voted right in the +last Presidential election, I should have been, perhaps, in a +position to-day to tell him authoritatively what ought to be done. +Not occupying that position, I must refer the senator from Virginia +to those who have been intrusted by the American people, according +to the Constitution, with the decision of that question." The +speech of Wigfall had given great offense, and the castigation +administered by Douglas was heartily responded to throughout the +North. Wigfall had boasted that he owed no allegiance to the +government; that he was a foreigner and owed allegiance to another +government. On the next day, reciting these words as a preamble, +Mr. Foster of Connecticut moved "that Louis T. Wigfall be and hereby +is expelled from the Senate." Mr. Clingman of North Carolina moved +as a substitute a declaration that "Texas having seceded from the +Union, and being no longer one of the United States, is not entitled +to be represented in this body." After a brief debate, the +resolutions were referred to the Judiciary by the votes of Republican +senators, who, not wishing to precipitate any issue prematurely, +and persuaded that Wigfall's presence was helping rather than +harming the Union cause, concluded to let the matter rest. + + BRECKINRIDGE AND DOUGLAS. + +A notable debate took place between Breckinridge and Douglas, in +which the issues that had led to the disruption of the Democracy +in the late Presidential election were, in a certain sense, fought +over again. Mr. Breckinridge's speech was carefully prepared, and +presented the Southern side in a tone of dignity and confidence; +but the reply of Douglas exhibited his superiority as a debater. +Breckinridge had declared that whatever settlement be made of other +questions, there must be a concession to the South of the right to +emigrate into all the Territories, or at least an equitable partition +of the National Domain. In reply, Douglas reminded him that the +South had, by the action of a Republican Congress, the full right +to emigrate into all the territory of the United States; and that, +with the consent of the Republican Congress, every inch of the +territory of the United States south of the thirty-seventh degree +of latitude was at that hour open to slavery. "So far," said he, +"as the doctrine of popular sovereignty and non-intervention is +concerned, the Colorado Bill and the Nevada Bill and the Dakota +Bill are identically the same with the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and +in its precise language." The answer was at once a complete +destruction of the argument of Breckinridge, and a severe indictment +of the Republican party. Never before in the existence of the +Federal Government had its territory been so open, by Congressional +enactment and by judicial decision, to the slave-holder as on the +day that Abraham Lincoln assumed the office of President of the +United States. It is a singular fact that, on the eve of the utter +destruction of the institution of Slavery, its legal status was +stronger than ever before in the history of the government, and +the area over which it might lawfully spread was far larger than +at any previous period. Douglas showed in this debate how absolutely +groundless was the excuse of slave-holders for basing secession or +revolution upon the failure to acquire their rights in the Territories, +when never before had their rights in the Territories been so +absolutely complete. + + +Public opinion in March, 1861, was so unsettled, the popular mind +so impressible, that a spirit of discontent soon began to spread +over the loyal States on the part of those who had hoped for what +they termed a vigorous administration. For a few weeks the conduct +of the government fell under the animadversion of all classes in +the North. To those who wanted an instant settlement, and the +return of the seceding States upon their own terms, the administration +seemed too radical. To those who demanded that the flag be +maintained, and Fort Sumter promptly re-enforced, who would be +satisfied with nothing less than the recovery of every piece of +public property of which the Confederates had possessed themselves, +the administration appeared altogether too conservative. The +overwhelming public desire after all was for peace, and the +overwhelming public opinion was against the extremists who would, +by any possibility, precipitate war. The administration thus began +its career with no firm footing beneath it, with an aggressive and +defiant enemy in front of it, with a public opinion divided, +distrustful, and compromising, behind it. + +No more difficult task has ever been presented to any government +than that which Mr. Lincoln and his Cabinet assumed in the month +of March, 1861. To judge it now by any appearance of irresolution, +or by any seeming deficiency of courage, would be trying it by a +standard totally inapplicable and unfair. Before and beyond all +things, Mr. Lincoln desired to prevent war, and he felt that every +day of peace gave fresh hope that bloodshed might be avoided. In +his Inaugural address he had taken the strongest ground for the +preservation of the Union, and had carefully refrained from every +act and every expression which would justify, even in the public +opinion of the South, an outbreak of violence on the part of the +Confederates. He believed that the Southern revolt had attained +its great proportions in consequence of Mr. Buchanan's assertion +that he had not power to coerce a seceding State. Mr. Lincoln had +announced a different creed, and every week that the South continued +peaceful, his hope of amicable adjustment grew stronger. He believed +that with the continuance of peace, the Secessionists could be +brought to see that Union was better than war for all interests, +and that in an especial degree the institution of Slavery would be +imperiled by a resort to arms. He had faith in the sober second- +thought. If the South would deliberate, the Union would be saved. +He feared that the Southern mind was in the condition in which a +single untoward circumstance might precipitate a conflict, and he +determined that the blood of his brethren should not be on his +hands. + + STATESMANSHIP OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +Mr. Lincoln saw, moreover, that war between a divided North and a +united South would be a remediless calamity. If, after all efforts +at peace, war should be found unavoidable, the Administration had +determined so to shape its policy, so to conduct its affairs, that +when the shock came it should leave the South entirely in the wrong, +and the government of the Union entirely in the right. Consolidated +as might be the front which the Rebellion would present, the +administration was resolved that it should not be more solid, more +immovable, more courageous, than that with which the supporters of +the government would meet it. Statesmanship cannot be judged upon +theories. It must be decided by results. When that conclusive +test is brought to bear, Mr. Lincoln's administration of the +government in the weeks immediately following his inauguration +deserves the highest praise; and all the more because it was +compelled to disregard the clamor and disappoint the expectations +of many who had been conspicuously influential in bringing it into +power, and who therefore thought themselves entitled to give +counsel. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +President Lincoln and the Confederate Commissioners.--Misleading +Assurance given by Judge Campbell.--Mr. Seward's Answer to Messrs. +Forsythe and Crawford.--An Interview with the President is desired +by the Commissioners.--Rage in the South.--Condition of the Montgomery +Government.--Roger A. Pryor's Speech.--President determines to send +Provisions to Fort Sumter.--Advises Governor Pickens.--Conflict +precipitated.--The Fort surrenders.--Effect of the Conflict on the +North.--President's Proclamation and Call for Troops.--Responses +of Loyal States.--Popular Uprising.--Democratic Party.--Patriotism +of Senator Douglas.--His Relations with Mr. Lincoln.--His Death.-- +Public Service and Character.--Effect of the President's Call on +Southern States.--North Carolina.--Tennessee.--Virginia.--Senator +Mason's Letter.--Responses of Southern Governors to the President's +Call for Troops.--All decline to comply.--Some of them with Insolent +Defiance.--Governors of the Free States.--John A. Andrew, E. D. +Morgan, Andrew G. Curtin, Oliver P. Morton.--Energetic and Patriotic +Action of all Northern Governors.--Exceptional Preparation in +Pennsylvania for the Conflict.--Governors of Free States all +Republicans except in California and Oregon.--Critical Situation +on Pacific Coast.--Loyalty of its People.--President's Reasons for +postponing Session of Congress.--Election in Kentucky.--Union +Victory.--John J. Crittenden and Garrett Davis.--John Bell.-- +Disappoints Expectation of Union Men.--Responsibility of Southern +Whigs.--Their Power to arrest the Madness.--Audacity overcomes +Numbers.--Whig Party of the South.--Its Brilliant Array of Leaders. +--Its Destruction. + +The negotiation which the seceding State of South Carolina had +unsuccessfully attempted with President Buchanan, for the surrender +of Fort Sumter, was now formally renewed by the Confederate Government +with the administration of Mr. Lincoln. The week following the +inauguration, John Forsythe of Alabama and Martin J. Crawford of +Georgia appeared in Washington in the character of Commissioners +from the Confederate States, "with a view," as they defined it, +"to a speedy adjustment of all questions growing out of the political +separation, upon such terms of amity and good will as the respective +interests, geographical contiguity, and future welfare of the two +nations, may render necessary." They addressed their communication +to the Secretary of State as a matter pertaining to the Foreign +Department of the government, and waited with confidence for an +answer that would practically recognize the nationality which they +assumed to represent. Judge Campbell of the Supreme Court, a +citizen of Alabama, had held some conferences with Mr. Seward, the +result of which was his personal assurance to the Commissioners +that Fort Sumter would be evacuated before the 25th of March; and +he urged them not to insist upon too prompt an answer to their +demand. At his instance, the reply of Mr. Seward was withheld from +official delivery, and, though dated the 15th of March, was really +not read by the Commissioners until the 7th or 8th of April. + + THE CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS. + +Mr. Seward's answer threw the Commissioners and the entire South +into a rage. He declined to comply with the request of Messrs. +Forsythe and Crawford. He saw in them, "not a rightful and +accomplished revolution, not an independent nation with an established +government, but only the perversion of a temporary and partisan +excitement, and an inconsiderate purpose of unjustifiable and +unconstitutional aggression upon the rights and the authority vested +in the Federal Government." Mr. Seward further advised them that +he "looked for the cure of evils which should result from proceedings +so unnecessary, so unwise, so unusual, so unnatural, not to irregular +negotiations having in view untried relations, but to regular, +considerate action of the people of those States through the Congress +of the United States, and through such extraordinary conventions, +if there be need thereof, as the Federal Constitution contemplates +and authorizes to be assembled." Under these circumstances, Mr. +Seward informed the Commissioners that his official duties were +confined to the conduct of the foreign relations of his country, +and did not at all embrace domestic questions, or questions arising +between the several States and the Federal Government. + +The Secretary of State was unable, therefore, to comply with the +request of Messrs. Forsythe and Crawford, and declined to appoint +a day on which they might submit the objects of their visit to the +President of the United States. He refused to recognize them as +diplomatic agents, and would not hold correspondence or further +communication with them. Lest the Commissioners might console +themselves with the reflection that Mr. Seward was speaking only +for himself, and that the President might deal with them less +curtly, he informed them that he had cheerfully submitted his answer +to Mr. Lincoln, who coincided in the views it expressed, and +sanctioned the Secretary's decision declining official intercourse +with Messrs. Forsythe and Crawford. The rejoinder of the Confederate +Commissioners to Mr. Seward was in a threatening tone, upbraiding +him with bad faith, and advising him that "Fort Sumter cannot be +provisioned without the effusion of blood;" reminding him also that +they had not come to Washington to ask the Government of the United +States to recognize the independence of the Confederacy, but for +an "adjustment of new relations springing from a manifest and +accomplished revolution." + +Up to this time there had not been the slightest collision between +the forces of the Confederacy and the forces of the Union. The +places which had been seized, belonging to the Federal Government, +had been taken without resistance; and the authorities of Montgomery +appeared to a great many Southern people to be going through blank +motions, and to be aping power rather than exercising it. Their +defiant attitude had been demoralizing to the public sentiment in +the North, but their failure to accomplish any thing in the way of +concession from the National Government, and their apparent timidity +in refraining from a shock of arms, was weakening the Disunion +sentiment in the States which composed the Confederacy. Jefferson +Davis had been inaugurated with great pomp and pretension in +February, and now April had been reached with practically nothing +done but the issuing of manifestoes, and the maintenance of a mere +shadow of government, without its substance. The Confederates had +as yet no revenue system and no money. They had no armed force +except some military companies in the larger cities, organized long +before secession was contemplated. They had not the pretense of +a navy, or any power apparently to create one. While the administration +of Mr. Lincoln, therefore, was disappointing great numbers in the +North by its failure to do something decisive towards re-establishing +the National authority in the rebellious States, the inhabitants +of those States were becoming daily dissatisfied with the fact that +the administration of Mr. Davis was doing nothing to consolidate +and protect the Confederacy. + + DISSATISFACTION WITH THE CONFEDERACY. + +Ever since the inauguration of Jefferson Davis, the flag of the +United States had been flying over the strongest fortress in the +Confederacy, and no forcible effort had been made to displace it. +The first flush of joy and congratulation was over, and re-action +had begun throughout the revolting States. The Confederate Government +was reminded by many of the leading newspapers of the South that +unless some decisive step were taken to assert its authority and +establish its prestige, it would quietly crumble to pieces. The +apparent non-resistance of Mr. Lincoln's administration had, in +many minds, the effect of casting contempt upon the whole Southern +movement, and the refusal to recognize or receive commissioners of +Mr. Davis's appointment was regarded as a direct insult to their +government, which, unless met by some decisive step, would subject +the leaders to the derision of public opinion throughout the new +Confederacy. Mr. Buchanan had been willing to receive commissioners +from seceding States, so far as to confer with them, even when he +declared that he had no power to take any action in the premises. +Mr. Lincoln had advanced beyond the position of Mr. Buchanan when +he refused even to give audience to representatives bearing the +commission of the Confederate States. + +The situation therefore had become strained. The point had been +reached where it was necessary to go forward or go backward; where +the Confederacy must assert itself, or the experiment of secession +be abandoned. From all quarters of the seven States came the demand +upon the Montgomery government to do something decisive. A prominent +member of the Alabama Legislature told Jefferson Davis that "unless +he sprinkled blood in the face of the Southern people they would +be back in the old Union in less than ten days." Public meetings +were held to urge the government to action. At Charleston, in +answer to a large crowd who came to pay him honor, Roger A. Pryor +(whose attractive eloquence has since been used to better ends) +told the people that only one thing was necessary to force Virginia +into the Southern Confederacy: "to strike a blow." That done, he +promised them that "Virginia would secede in less than an hour by +Shrewsbury clock." + +The indifference of Mr. Lincoln's administration to the program of +the Southern Confederacy was apparent and not real. In his Inaugural +he had declared that the power confided to him would be used to +hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the +government, and to collect the duties and imposts, but, beyond what +was necessary for those objects, there would be no invasion, no +use of force against or among the people anywhere. Influential +persons connected with Mr. Lincoln's administration may have wavered +in regard to the expediency of re-enforcing Major Anderson and +holding possession of Fort Sumter, but the President himself wisely +concluded that to retreat from that point would be an almost fatal +step. There was not a citizen in the North who had not become +interested in the fate of Major Anderson and the brave soldiers +under his command. Though many patriotic men of conservative or +timid nature advised a quiet withdrawal from Fort Sumter rather +than an open conflict for its possession, there was an instinctive +undertone in the masses of the people in the Northern States against +a concession so humiliating. If prestige were needed for the +government at Montgomery, Mr. Lincoln felt that it was needed for +the government at Washington, and if he withdrew from Sumter he +could not see any point where he could make a stand. + +The President determined, therefore, to send supplies to Major +Anderson. He wisely saw that if he failed to do this he would be +receding from the temperate and conservative position taken in the +Inaugural, and that it would give to the Confederates a degree of +courage, and to the North a degree of despondency, which would +vastly increase the difficulty of restoring the Union. In Mr. +Lincoln's own language: "the abandonment of Sumter would be utterly +ruinous, under the circumstances." . . . "At home it would discourage +the friends of the Union, embolden its adversaries, and go far to +insure to the latter a recognition abroad. In fact, it would be +our national destruction consummated." Having taken this determination, +he communicated it to Governor Pickens of South Carolina just at +the time that Mr. Seward delivered to the commissioners of Jefferson +Davis the government's refusal to receive them. The answer to the +commissioners, and the determination not to permit Anderson to be +starved out of Fort Sumter with the hostile guns of the Confederacy +pointed at him, brought on the conflict. As soon as the two events +were made public, the Confederate Secretary of War instructed +General Beauregard that if the information conveyed to Governor +Pickens was authentic, he should proceed to reduce the fort. The +conflict came on the 12th of April, and after a furious cannonade +of thirty-four hours, Major Anderson, being out of provisions, was +compelled to surrender. The fleet that was bringing him relief +arrived too late, and the flag of the United States was lowered to +the Confederacy. Those who had urged Mr. Davis to strike a blow +and to sprinkle blood in the faces of the people as a means of +consolidating Southern opinion, were undoubtedly successful. +Throughout the States of the Confederacy the inhabitants were crazed +with success. They had taken from the National Government its +strongest fortress on the South-Atlantic coast. They felt suddenly +awakened to a sense of power, and became wild with confidence in +their ability to defy the authority of the United States. + + EFFECT OF FORT SUMTER'S FALL. + +The Confederate Government, however, had not anticipated the effect +of an actual conflict on the people of the North. Until the hour +of the assault on Sumter they had every reason for believing that +Mr. Lincoln's administration was weak; that it had not a sustaining +force of public opinion behind it in the free States; that, in +short, Northern people were divided very much on the line of previous +party organizations, and that his opponents had been steadily +gaining, his supporters as steadily losing, since the day of the +Presidential election in November. The Confederates naturally +counted much on this condition of Northern sentiment, and took to +themselves the comforting assurance that vigorous war could never +be made by a divided people. They had treasured all the extreme +sayings of Northern Democrats about resisting the march of a Black +Republican army towards the South, and offering their dead bodies +as obstructions to its progress. They believed, and had good reason +for believing, that half the population of the North was opposed +to the policy of subjugation, and they accepted the creed of Mr. +Buchanan that there was no power in the Constitution to coerce a +sovereign State. + +Never was popular delusion so suddenly and so completely dispelled. +The effect of the assault on Sumter and the lowering of the National +flag to the forces of the Confederacy acted upon the North as an +inspiration, consolidating public sentiment, dissipating all +differences, bringing the whole people to an instant and unanimous +determination to avenge the insult and re-establish the authority +of the Union. Yesterday there had been doubt and despondency; to- +day had come assurance and confidence. Yesterday there had been +division; to-day there was unity. The same issue of the morning +paper that gave intelligence of the fall of Sumter, brought also +a call from the President of the United States for seventy-five +thousand men to aid him "in suppressing combinations against the +law, too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial +proceedings." He notified the people that "the first service +assigned to the force hereby called forth will probably be to +repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized +from the Union;" and he concluded by convening an extra session of +Congress to assemble on the fourth day of the ensuing July. The +President stated, in his Proclamation, that the laws of the United +States had been "for some time past opposed, and their execution +obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, +Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too +powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial +procedure, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law." He +had therefore "called forth the militia to suppress such combinations, +and to cause the laws to be duly executed." He appealed to all +loyal citizens "to aid in maintaining the honor, the integrity, +and the existence of the National Union, and the perpetuity of +popular government." The Proclamation was general. The Call for +troops was issued specifically to every State except the seven +already in revolt. + +The Proclamation was responded to in the loyal States with an +unparalleled outburst of enthusiasm. On the day of its issue +hundreds of public meetings were held, from the eastern border of +Maine to the extreme western frontier. Work was suspended on farm +and in factory, and the whole people were roused to patriotic ardor, +and to a determination to subdue the Rebellion and restore the +Union, whatever might be the expenditure of treasure or the sacrifice +of life. Telegrams of congratulation and sympathy fell upon the +White House like snow-flakes in a storm; and the President was made +to feel, after all the months of gloom and darkness through which +he had passed since his election, that light had broken, that day +had dawned, and that the open struggle for the Union, however severe +and however sanguinary it might prove, was preferable to the slough +of despond in which the nation had been cast, and the valley of +humiliation through which the government had been groping. + +In the history of popular uprisings and of manifestations of National +enthusiasm, there is perhaps no equal to that which was seen in +the free States of the Union in the weeks immediately following +the rash attack on Fort Sumter. While the feeling was too deep to +brook resistance, or quietly to endure a word of opposition, it +was happily so tempered with discretion as to prevent personal +outrages upon the few who did not join in the general chorus for +the Union. Suspected men were waited upon and requested to speak +for the loyal cause, and newspapers, which before the firing of +Sumter had been offensive in tone, were compelled to hoist the +National flag over their offices, and openly support the government. +But these cases were few and exceptional; and it is due to the +Democracy of the North to say, that however strongly they had +opposed the election of Mr. Lincoln, and however hostile they had +been to the principles which he represented, the mass of the party +responded with noble enthusiasm and with patriotic fidelity to the +Union. Their great leader, Senator Douglas, set a worthy example +by promptly waiting on the President, and expressing his deepest +sympathy and his most earnest co-operation in the struggle for the +life of the nation. + + PATRIOTIC COURSE OF MR. DOUGLAS. + +The patriotic course of Mr. Douglas had been of invaluable service +to the government from the hour of Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. +The old friendship between the illustrious rivals from Illinois, +which had begun when each was in his youth, was now strongly revived. +Differing always on political issues, they were at once in accord +when the fate of the government was at stake. The position of +Douglas during the extra session of the Senate had given marked +satisfaction to Mr. Lincoln, and when the deliberations came to a +close, on the 28th of March, the President said that a great gain +had been made to the cause of the Union, by the direction which +the speeches of Douglas would give to the sympathy and action of +the Northern Democracy. From the hour of actual danger, Mr. Douglas +had spoken no partisan word, had known no partisan division, had +labored only for the government of the nation, had looked only to +its safety and its honor. He had a larger following than any other +party leader of his day. Nearly a million and a half of men believed +in his principles, were devoted to him personally, trusted him +implicitly. The value of his active loyalty to the Union may be +measured by the disaster which would have been caused by hesitation +on his part. When he returned to his State, after the firing on +Sumter, the Republican Legislature of Illinois received him with +a display of feeling as profound as that with which they would have +welcomed Mr. Lincoln. His address on that memorable occasion was +worthy of the loftiest patriot, and was of inestimable value to +the cause of the Union. Perhaps no words spoken carried confidence +to more hearts, or gave greater strength to the National cause. + +Mr. Douglas did not live to return to the Senate. The extra session +of March closed his public service. He died in Chicago on the +third day of June, 1861, at the early age of forty-eight. His last +days were his best days. The hour of his death was the hour of +his greatest fame. In his political career he had experienced the +extremes of popular odium and of popular approval. His name had +at different periods been attended with as great obloquy as ever +beset a public man. It was his happy fate to have changed this +before his death, and to have secured the enthusiastic approbation +of every lover of the Union. His career had been stormy, his +partisanship aggressive, his course often violent, his political +methods sometimes ruthless. He had sought favor at the South too +long to regain mastery of the North, and he had been defeated in +the Presidential struggle of 1860,--a struggle in which the ambition +of his life had been centred. But with danger to the Union his +early affections and the associations of his young life had come +back. He remembered that he was a native of New England, that he +had been reared in New York, that he had been crowned with honors +by the generous and confiding people of Illinois. He believed in +the Union of the States, and he stood by his country with a fervor +and energy of patriotism which enshrined his name in the history +and in the hearts of the American people. His death created the +profoundest impression in the country, and the Administration felt +that one of the mighty props of the Union had been torn away. + +The rank of Mr. Douglas as a statesman is not equal to his rank as +a parliamentary leader. As a statesman, he was full of resources, +fertile in expedients. But he lacked the truest form of conservatism, +and more than once in his career carried partisan contests beyond +the point of safety. His participation in the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise is an illustration, all the more pertinent and impressive +because his own judgment was against the measure, and he allowed +himself to be controlled by the fear that another might usurp the +place in Southern regard so long held by himself. In parliamentary +discussion it is not easy to overstate the power of Mr. Douglas. +Indeed, it would be difficult to name his superior. He did not +attain the dignity of Webster's stately style. He was not gifted +with the fire that burned through Clay's impulsive speech. But as +a ready, comprehensive speaker, armed at all points and using his +weapons with deadliest effect, he was the equal of either. In the +rapidity with which he marshaled the facts favorable to his position, +in the consummate skill with which he presented his argument, in +the dashing and daring manner by which he overcame an opponent more +strongly intrenched than himself, Mr. Douglas is entitled to rank +with the most eminent of parliamentary debaters. + + + ADDITIONS TO THE CONFEDERACY. + +The effect of Major Anderson's surrender of Sumter and of the +President's call for troops proved prejudicial to the Union sentiment +in the slave States which had not yet seceded. It would be more +correct, perhaps, to say that Mr. Lincoln's Proclamation was a test +of loyalty which revealed the actual character of public sentiment +in those States, till then not known in the North. Mr. Lincoln +had done every thing in his power to conciliate them, and to hold +them fast in their loyalty to the Union. But the sympathy with +the South, engendered by the common danger to the institution of +Slavery, was too powerful to be resisted. North Carolina, which +had always been moderate, conservative, and Union-loving, threw +her fortunes with the Confederacy. Tennessee, distracted by the +unforeseen defection of such staunch Union men as John Bell and +Baillie Peyton,* went Southward with the general current. Virginia +could not be restrained, although she was warned and ought to have +seen, that if she joined the Rebellion she would inevitably become +the battle-ground, and would consign her territory to devastation +and her property to destruction. The Virginia convention which +was in session before the firing on Fort Sumter, and which was +animated by a strong friendship for the Union, was carried in to +the vortex of secession by the surrounding excitement. By a vote +of 88 to 55 the State determined to join the Confederacy. The +wonder is that in the prevailing excitement and arrogant dictation, +there could have been found fifty-five men to resist so powerful +a tide of public opinion. The minority was strong enough, however, +to command the submission of the ordinance to a vote of the people, +--a submission which was in form and not in substance, for in +reality no freedom of opinion was conceded. + +The ordinance which was passed on the 17th of April, three days +after the fall of Sumter, declared that "it should take effect when +ratified by a majority of the votes of the people of the State, +cast at a poll to be taken thereon on the fourth Thursday in May." +The Convention did not submit its work to popular review and decision +in a fair and honorable way. Eight days after the act of submission, +the Convention passed another ordinance, by which Virginia agreed +"to adopt and ratify the Constitution of the Provisional Government +of the Confederate States." They provided that this second ordinance +should have no effect if the first should be rejected by the people. +It is not difficult to see that the action was taken in order to +render the rejection of the first ordinance impossible. Under the +second ordinance, the Convention at once entered into a formal +alliance, offensive and defensive, with the Confederate States. +Their Vice-President, Alexander H. Stephens, appeared in Richmond +as commissioner of his government, and the Convention appointed Ex- +President John Tyler, William Ballard Preston, James P. Holcombe, +and other leading citizens, as commissioners for Virginia. These +joint commissioners made a formal compact between Virginia and the +Confederate States on the 25th of April, the day after the Convention +had adopted the Confederate Constitution. By this compact, Virginia, +"looking to a speedy union with the Confederate States," placed +"the whole military force of the Commonwealth under the control +and direction of the Confederate States, upon the same basis and +footing as if said Commonwealth were now a member of said +Confederacy." + +Without waiting for the decision of the people on the question of +secession, the national flag was removed from the public buildings, +and the Confederate flag was raised. All the property of the +General Government was seized and, by an article in the agreement +with the Confederate commissioner, was in due time to be turned +over to the Montgomery government. In short, the State Government +of Virginia proceeded in its mad career of hostility to the Union, +without the slightest regard to the future decision of the people +on the important issue which in form had been submitted to them. +They evidently intended to make a rejection of the Disunion ordinance +impossible. For their own honor, the man who contrived and guided +these proceedings would better have adopted the bold precedent of +those States which refused altogether to submit the ordinance to +popular vote. + +It ought not to escape notice that General Robert E. Lee is not +entitled to the defense so often made for him, that in joining the +Disunion movement he followed the voice of his State. General Lee +resigned his commission in the army of the Union and assumed command +of Confederate troops, long before Virginia had voted upon the +ordinance of secession. He gave the influence of his eminent name +to the schemes of those who, by every agency, _fas aut nefas_, were +determined to hurl Virginia into secession. The very fact that +General Lee had assumed command of the troops in Virginia was a +powerful incentive with many to vote against the Union. Jefferson +Davis had anticipated and measured the full force of the effect +which would be produced upon Virginians by General Lee's identification +with the Confederate cause. Whether or not there be ground for +making General Lee the subject of exceptional censure, there is +surely none for excusing him as one who reluctantly obeyed the +voice of his State. If he had remained in the national army until +the people of Virginia voted on the ordinance of secession, the +strength of the Union cause in his State would have been greater. +If he had chosen, as a citizen of Virginia, to stand by the Union +until his State decided against him, secession might have been +defeated. It is fair that his action should be clearly understood, +and that his name should bear the just responsibility. + + THE SECESSION OF VIRGINIA. + +All pretense of a fair submission of the question to popular vote +was finally abandoned, and the abandonment practically proclaimed +in a letter of Senator James M. Mason, which was published on the +16th of May, some ten days in advance of the election. "If it be +asked," wrote Mr. Mason, "what those shall do who cannot in conscience +vote to separate Virginia from the United States, the answer is +simple and plain. Honor and duty alike require that they should +not vote on the question, and if they retain such opinions they +must leave the State." Mr. Mason thus accurately defined what the +South understood by the submission of secession ordinances to +popular vote. It meant that a man might vote for an ordinance but +not against it; if he desired to vote against it, and persisted in +the desire, he should leave the State. It is rather a matter of +surprise that of 161,000 votes cast in Virginia on the question, +32,000 were registered against secession. These friends of the +Government were, it is true, in large part from the western section +of the State where slaves were few and the loyal sentiment was +strong. It is an interesting fact that along the mountain range +through Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and even as far South +as Georgia, the inhabitants generally sympathized with the Union. +Though often forced to aid the Rebellion, they were at heart loyal +to the government of their fathers, and on many important occasions +rendered the most valuable service to the National cause. The +devotion of large numbers in East Tennessee to the Federal Government +seriously embarrassed the new Confederacy. The remaining slave +States, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, gave trouble to the +administration, but did not succeed in separating themselves from +the Union. Large numbers of their people joined the Southern army, +but the political power of those States was wielded in favor of +the loyal cause. They desired to enact the part of neutrals; but +the National Government, from the first, took strong ground against +a policy so dishonorable in the States, so injurious to the Union. + +The responses made by the Southern governors to the President's +call for troops are so characteristic, and afford so true a picture +of the times, as to merit notice. Nearly every one returned a +scornful and defiant message. Governor Magoffin replied that +Kentucky "would furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing +her sister States of the South." Governor Letcher declared that +"the militia of Virginia would not be furnished to the powers at +Washington for any such use or purpose as they had in view, which +was the subjugation of the Southern States," and that "the civil +war which the powers at Washington had chosen to inaugurate would +be met by the South in a spirit as determined." Governor Jackson +considered "the call to be illegal, unconstitutional, and revolutionary; +its objects to be inhuman and diabolical," and it "would not be +complied with by Missouri." Governor Harris said that Tennessee +"would not furnish a single man for coercion, but would raise fifty +thousand men for the defense of her rights, and those of her Southern +brethren." Governor Ellis of North Carolina answered that he "could +be no party to the wicked violation of the laws of the country and +to the war upon the liberties of a free people." Governor Rector +declared that the President's call for troops was only "adding +insult to injury, and that the people of Arkansas would defend, to +the last extremity, their honor and their property against Northern +mendacity and usurpation." Governor Hicks for prudential reasons +excused Maryland at the time from responding to the President's +call, and when a month afterwards he notified the War Department +of his readiness to comply with the request of the Government, he +was informed that three-months' men were not needed, and that +arrangements had been made for accepting three-years' volunteers +from Maryland. Governor Burton of Delaware replied that "there +was no organized militia in the State, and no law authorizing such +organization." Indisposition to respond to the President was +therefore in different degrees manifest in every part of the Union +where Slavery had wrought its demoralizing influence. Mr. Lincoln +was disappointed at this proof of the sectional character of the +contest, and he realized that if American nationality was to be +preserved, it must look for help to the abounding resources and +the patriotic loyalty of the free States. + + THE GOVERNORS OF LOYAL STATES. + +It fortunately happened that the governors of the free States were +devoted to the Union in as great degree as the Southern governors +were devoted to the Confederacy. It may well be doubted whether +at any time in history of the government there had been so large +a number of able men occupying the gubernatorial chairs of the +Northern States. They were not only eminent in an intellectual +point of view, but they had a special fitness for the arduous and +patriotic duties so unexpectedly devolved upon them. They became +popularly known as the "War Governors," and they exercised a +beneficent and decisive influence upon the fortunes of the Union. + +The Governor of Massachusetts, John A. Andrew, added fervor to the +patriotism of the whole people, and nobly led his State in her +generous outpouring of aid and comfort to the loyal cause. The +vigor which Massachusetts had imparted to the Revolution against +the Crown was surpassed by the ardor with which she now threw +herself into the contest for the Union. She had been often reproached +for urging forward the anti-slavery agitation, which was the excuse +of the South for rebelling against the National authority. A +somewhat similar accusation had been lodged against her by the +Royal Governors and by the Tories a century before. But the men +who found this fault with Massachusetts--a fault wholly on virtue's +side--will not deny that when the hour of trial came, when convictions +of conscience were to be maintained by the strength of the right +arm, and faith in principle was to be attested by a costly sacrifice +of blood, her sons added imperishable honor to their ancestral +record of heroism in the cause of human Liberty and Constitutional +Government. + +The other New-England States were not less ardent than Massachusetts. +Israel Washburn, the Governor of Maine, impulsive, energetic, +devoted to the cause of the Union, was sustained by the people of +the State without regard to party and with the noblest enthusiasm. +William A. Buckingham of Connecticut, of mature years and stainless +life, was a young man once more when his country demanded his best +energies. The young Governor of Rhode Island, William Sprague, +laid aside the civilian's dress for the uniform of a soldier, and +led the troops of his State to the National Capital. Ichabod +Goodwin of New Hampshire and Erastus Fairbanks of Vermont, two of +their most honored and useful men, filled out the list of New +England's worthy Executives. Throughout the six States there was +but one anxiety, one resolve,--anxiety for the safety of the +government, resolve to subdue the revolt against it. + +New England is not mentioned first except in a geographical sense. +More important even than her patriotic action was the course of +the great Central and Western States. New York and Pennsylvania +of themselves constituted no mean power, with a population of seven +millions, with their boundless wealth, and their ability to produce +the material of war. Edwin D. Morgan was the Executive of New +York. He was a successful merchant of high character, of the +sturdiest common sense and soundest judgment. A man of wealth +himself, he possessed the entire confidence of the bankers and +capitalists of the metropolis. His influence in aid of the finances +of the government in its early period of depression was given +without stint and was of incalculable value. In the neighboring +State of New Jersey, Governor Charles Olden was ready for hearty +co-operation, and seconded with patriotic zeal every movement in +aid of the loyal cause. + +Of a different type from Governor Morgan, but equally valuable and +more enthusiastic, was the Governor of Pennsylvania, Andrew G. +Curtin. Circumstances had thrown him into close and cordial +relations with Mr. Lincoln,--relations which had their origin at +the time of the Chicago Convention, and which had grown more intimate +after Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated. Before the firing on Sumter, +but when the States of the Confederacy were evidently preparing +for war, Mr. Lincoln earnestly desired a counter signal of readiness +on the part of the North. Such a movement in New England would +have been regarded in the South merely as a fresh ebullition of +radicalism. In New York the tone was too conservative and Governor +Morgan too cautious to permit the demonstration to be made there. +Governor Curtin undertook to do it in Pennsylvania at the President's +special request. On the eleventh day of April, one day before the +South precipitated the conflict, the Legislature of Pennsylvania +passed an Act for the better organization of the militia, and +appropriated five hundred thousand dollars to carry out the details +of the measure. The manifest reference to the impending trouble +was in the words prescribing the duty of the Adjutant-General of +the State in case the President should call out the militia. It +was the first official step in the loyal States to defend the Union, +and the generous appropriation, made in advance of any blow struck +by the Confederacy, enabled Governor Curtin to rally the forces of +the great Commonwealth to the defense of the Union with marvelous +promptness. His administration was vigorous, and his support of +the Union cause was in the highest degree efficient, patriotic, +and successful. He attained an exceptional popularity with the +soldiers, and against the most bitter attacks never lost his hold +on the confidence and personal regard of Mr. Lincoln. + + GOVERNORS OF LOYAL STATES. + +In the West the commanding figure among a number of distinguished +Executives was Oliver P. Morton of Indiana. He was of stalwart +frame, full health, and the highest physical vigor. His energy +was untiring, his will unconquerable. In the closely balanced +condition of parties in his State, he had been trained to the most +aggressive and exacting form of leadership, so that he entered upon +his gubernatorial duties with a certain experience in the control +of men which was of marked value. He possessed a mind of extraordinary +strength; and in frequent contests at the bar and upon the stump, +he had thoroughly disciplined his faculties. In debate he was +formidable. It cannot be said that he exhibited striking originality +of thought, or that he possessed in large degree the creative power. +But in the art of presenting with force and clearness a subject +which he had studied, of analyzing it and simplifying it to the +comprehension of the common mind, of clothing it in language as +plain and forcible as the diction of John Bunyan, he has had few +equals among the public men of America. + +The Governor of Iowa was Samuel J. Kirkwood, a man of truth, courage, +and devoted love of country. Distinguished for comprehensive +intelligence, for clear foresight, for persuasive speech, for +spotless integrity, for thorough acquaintance with the people, he +was a model of executive efficiency. Alexander Ramsey, the first +governor of the Territory of Minnesota, was now governor of that +State. As strong in character as he was in popularity, as able as +he was patriotic, he broadened by his executive career a personal +fame already enviable. Austin Blair of Michigan was a worthy +compeer of these eminent officials, and administered his high trust +with honor to himself and with advantage to his country. Richard +Yates of Illinois had been chosen governor the day Mr. Lincoln was +elected President, and enjoyed an exceptional popularity with the +people of his State. William Dennison had succeeded Salmon P. +Chase in the gubernatorial chair of Ohio, and was unremitting in +his labor for the Union. Alexander W. Randall of Wisconsin had +contributed in no small degree by public and attractive speech to +the triumph of Mr. Lincoln, and was now intrusted with an important +duty, to which he gave himself with genuine zeal. + +In these sixteen States--all the non-slaveholding Commonwealths +east of the Rocky Mountains--the governors were members of the +Republican party. They were in political accord, and in complete +personal sympathy with the administration. This was regarded by +Mr. Lincoln as not in all respects a fortunate circumstance. It +was his belief, as it was the belief of many others, that if loyal +Democrats had been in the executive chairs of some of the largest +States, the effect would have been more impressive. It would have +suggested a more absolute unity of the Northern people in support +of the government. It would in some degree have relieved the +struggle for national life from the opprobrium contained in the +reproach which subsequently became too common, that after all it +was "a Republican war," waged merely for the abolition of slavery. + +The two States on the Pacific coast had Democratic governors, and, +by reason of the strong influence which the Southern Democrats had +exercised in both under the influence of William M. Gwin and Joseph +Lane, there was deep solicitude as to the course of event in that +important outpost of the Union. The loyal adherence of those States +to the National Government was a profound disappointment to the +Confederacy. Jefferson Davis had expected, with a confidence +amounting to certainty, and based, it is believed, on personal +pledges, that the Pacific Coast, if it did not actually join the +South, would be disloyal to the Union, and would, from its remoteness +and its superlative importance, require a large contingent of the +national forces to hold it in subjection. It was expected by the +South that California and Oregon would give at least as much trouble +as Kentucky and Missouri, and would thus indirectly but powerfully +aid the Southern cause. The enthusiastic devotion which these +distant States showed to the Union was therefore a surprise to the +South and a most welcome relief to the National Government. The +loyalty of the Pacific Coast was in the hearts of its people, but +it was made more promptly manifest and effective by the patriotic +conduct of Governor Downey and Governor Whittaker, and by the fervid +and persuasive eloquence of Thomas Starr King. + +The war wrought a great change in the relative position of parties +in California. In the autumn of 1861 the Republican candidate, +Leland Stanford, was chosen Governor of the State. He received +56,036 votes, while John Conness, a war Democrat, received 30,944, +and McConnell who was the representative of the Gwin Democracy, +which had so long controlled the State, received 32,750. The men +who supported Conness, if driven to the choice, would have supported +Stanford as against McConnell, thus showing the overwhelming +sentiment of California in favor of the Union. Two years before, +in the election of 1859, Mr. Stanford, as the Republican candidate, +received but 10,110 votes, while Milton S. Latham, representing +the Buchanan administration, received 62,255, and Curry, the Douglas +candidate, 31,298. The majority of the Douglas men, if forced to +choose, would have voted for Latham as against Stanford. In the +Presidential election of 1860 California gave Mr. Lincoln 38,734 +votes, Mr. Douglas 38,120, Mr. Breckinridge 33,975, Mr. Bell 9,136. +The vote which Governor Stanford received in September, 1861, shows +how rapid, radical, and complete was the political revolution caused +in California by the Southern Rebellion. + + + THE ELECTION IN KENTUCKY. + +In the eager desire of the loyal people to hasten all measures of +preparation for the defense of the Union, fault was found with Mr. +Lincoln for so long postponing the session of Congress. Between +the date of his proclamation and the date of the assembling of +Congress, eighty days were to elapse. Zealous and impatient +supporters of the loyal cause feared that the Confederacy would be +enabled to consolidate its power, and to gather its forces for a +more serious conflict than they could make if more promptly confronted +with the power of the Union. But Mr. Lincoln judged wisely that +time was needed for the growth and consolidation of Northern opinion, +and that senators and representatives, after the full development +of patriotic feeling in the free States, would meet in a frame of +mind better suited to the discharge of the weighty duties devolving +upon them. An additional and conclusive reason with the President +was, that Kentucky had not yet elected her representatives to the +Thirty-seventh Congress, and would not do so, under the constitution +and laws, until the ensuing August. Mr. Lincoln desired to give +ample time for canvassing Kentucky for the special election, which +was immediately ordered by the governor of the State for the +twentieth of June. From the first, Mr. Lincoln had peculiar interest +in the course and conduct of Kentucky. It was his native State, +and Mr. Clay had been his political exemplar and ideal. He believed +also that in the action of her people would be found the best index +and the best test of the popular opinion of the Border slave States. +He did every thing therefore that he could properly do, to aid +Kentucky in reaching a conclusion favorable to the Union. He was +rewarded with a great victory. Of the ten representatives chosen, +nine were decided friends of the Union, with the venerable Crittenden +at their head, ably seconded by Robert Mallory and William H. +Wadsworth. Only one member, Henry C. Burnett, was disloyal to the +government, and he, after a few months' tarry in the Union councils, +went South and joined the Rebellion. The popular vote showed 92,365 +for the Union candidates, and 36,995 for the Secession candidates, +giving a Union majority of more than 55,000. Mr. Lincoln regarded +the result in Kentucky as in the highest degree auspicious, and as +amply vindicating the wisdom of delaying the extra session of +Congress. The effect was to stimulate a rapidly developing loyalty +in the western part of Virginia, to discourage rebellious movements +in Missouri, and to arrest Disunion tendencies in Maryland. + +Under the protection of the administration, and inspired by the +confidence of its support, the Union men of Kentucky had done for +that State what her Union men might have done for Tennessee if John +Bell and his Whig associates had been as bold and as true to their +old principles and John J. Crittenden and Garrett Davis had proved +in Kentucky. The conduct of Mr. Bell was a sad surprise to his +Northern friends, and a keen mortification to those Southern Whigs +who had remained firm in their attachment to the Union. The vote +which he had received in the South at the Presidential election +was very nearly as large as that given to Breckinridge. The vote +of Bell and Douglas united, exceeded that given to Breckinridge in +the slave States by more than a hundred thousand. The popular +judgment in the North had been that the Disunion element in the +South was massed in support of Breckinridge, and that all who +preferred the candidacy of Bell or Douglas might be relied upon in +the supreme crisis as friends of the Union. Two Southern States, +Kentucky and Tennessee, had given popular majorities for Mr. Bell, +and there was no reason for supposing that the Union sentiment of +Tennessee was any less pronounced than that of Kentucky. Indeed, +Tennessee had the advantage of Mr. Bell's citizenship and long +identification with her public service, while Kentucky encountered +the personal influence and wide-spread popularity of Mr. Breckinridge, +who took part against the Union. + +If Mr. Bell had taken firm ground for the Union, the Secession +movement would have been to a very great extent paralyzed in the +South. Mr. Badger of North Carolina, of identically similar +principles with Crittenden, could have given direction to the old +Whig sentiment of his State, and could have held it steadily as +Kentucky was held to the Union. The Bell and Everett campaign had +been conducted upon the single and simple platform of the Union +and the Constitution,--devotion to the Union, obedience to the +Constitution. Mr. Everett, whose public life of grace, eloquence, +and purity had not been especially distinguished for courage, +pronounced with zeal and determination in favor of Mr. Lincoln's +administration, and lent his efforts on the stump to the cause of +the Union with wonderful effect through the Northern States. The +eagerness of Virginia Democrats never could have swept their State +into the whirlpool of Secession if the supporters of Mr. Bell in +Tennessee and North Carolina had thrown themselves between the Old +Dominion and the Confederacy. With that aid, the former Whigs of +Virginia, led by Stuart and Botts and Wickham and Baldwin, and +united with the loyal Democrats of the mountain and the valley, +could have held the State firmly to the support of the Union, and +could have effectively nullified the secret understanding between +Mr. Mason and the Montgomery government, that Virginia should secede +as soon as her open co-operation was needed for the success of the +Southern revolt. + + THE WHIGS OF THE SOUTH. + +A large share of the responsibility for the dangerous development +of the Rebellion must therefore be attributed to John Bell and his +half million Southern supporters, who were all of the old Whig +party. At the critical moment they signally failed to vindicate +the principles upon which they had appealed in the preceding canvass +for popular support. They are not justly chargeable with original +Disunion proclivities. Sentiments of that kind had been consolidated +in the Breckinridge party. But they are responsible for permitting +a party whose rank and file did not outnumber their own to lead +captive the public opinion of the South, and for permitting themselves +to be pressed into a disavowal of their political principles, and +to the adoption of the extreme views against which they had always +warred. The precipitate manner in which the Southern men of the +ancient Whig faith yielded their position as friends of the Union +was an instructive illustration of the power which a compact and +desperate minority can wield in a popular struggle. In a secret +ballot, where every man could have voted according to his own +convictions and desires, the Secession scheme would have been +defeated in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and +Arkansas. But the men who led the Disunion movement, understood +the practical lesson taught by the French revolutionist, that +"audacity" can overcome numbers. In such a contest conservatism +always goes down, and radicalism always triumphs. The conservative +wishes to temporize and to debate. The radical wishes to act, and +is ready to shoot. By reckless daring a minority of Southern men +raised a storm of sectional passion to which the friends of the +Union bowed their heads and surrendered. + +It would be incorrect to speak of a Whig party in the South at the +outbreak of the civil war. There were many Whigs, but their +organization was gone. It was the destruction of that party which +had prepared the way for a triumph of the Democratic Disunionists. +In the day of their strength the Whigs could not have been overborne +in the South by the Secessionists, nor would the experiment have +been tried. No party in the United States ever presented a more +brilliant array of talent than the Whigs. In the South, though +always resting under the imputation of not being so devoted to the +support of Slavery as their opponents, they yet maintained themselves, +by the power of intellect and by the prestige of chivalric leadership, +in some extraordinary political battles. Many of their eminent +men have a permanent place in our history. Others, with less +national renown, were recognized at home as possessing equal power. +In their training, in their habits of mind, in their pride and +independence, in their lack of discipline and submission, they were +perhaps specially fitted for opposition, and not so well adapted +as men of less power, to the responsibility and detail of +administration. But an impartial history of American statesmanship +will give some of the most brilliant chapters to the Whig party +from 1830 to 1850. If their work cannot be traced in the National +statute-books as prominently as that of their opponents, they will +be credited by the discriminating reader of our political annals +as the English of to-day credit Charles James Fox and his Whig +associates--for the many evils which they prevented. + +[* Baillie Peyton is erroneously described as uniting with the +South. He remained true to the Union throughout the contest.] + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Thirty-Seventh Congress assembles.--Military Situation.--List of +Senators: Fessenden, Sumner, Collamer, Wade, Chandler, Hale, +Trumbull, Breckinridge, Baker of Oregon.--List of Members of the +House of Representatives: Thaddeus Stevens, Crittenden, Lovejoy, +Washburne, Bingham, Conkling, Shellabarger.--Mr. Grow elected +Speaker.--Message of President Lincoln.--Its Leading Recommendations. +--His Account of the Outbreak of the Rebellion.--Effect of the +Message on the Northern People.--Battle of Bull Run.--Its Effect +on Congress and the Country.--The Crittenden Resolution adopted.-- +Its Significance.--Interesting Debate upon it in the Senate.--First +Action by Congress Adverse to Slavery.--Confiscation of Certain +Slaves.--Large Amount of Business dispatched by Congress.--Striking +and Important Debate between Baker and Breckinridge.--Expulsion of +Mr. Breckinridge from the Senate.--His Character.--Credit due to +Union Men of Kentucky.--Effect produced in the South of Confederate +Success at Bull Run.--Rigorous Policy adopted by the Confederate +Government.--Law respecting "Alien Enemies."--Law sequestrating +their Estates.--Rigidly enforced by Attorney-General Benjamin.--An +Injudicious Policy. + +The Thirty-seventh Congress assembled according to the President's +proclamation, on the fourth day of July, 1861. There had been no +ebb in the tide of patriotic enthusiasm which overspread the loyal +States after the fall of Sumter. Mr. Lincoln's sagacity in fixing +the session so late had apparently been well approved. The temper +of the senators and representatives as they came together could +not have been better for the great work before them. Startling +events, following each other thick and fast, had kept the country +in a state of absorbing excitement, and Congress saw around it on +every side the indications of a sanguinary struggle to come. Even +after the firing on Sumter, anxious and thoughtful men had not +given up all hope of an adjustment. The very shock of arms in the +harbor of Charleston, it was believed by many, might upon sober +second thought induce Southern men to pause and consider and +negotiate before taking the fatal plunge. Such expectations were +vain. The South felt that their victory was pre-ordained. Jefferson +Davis answered Mr. Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men by +a proclamation ordering the enlistment of one hundred thousand. +The Confederacy was growing in strength daily. State after State +was joining it, and energy and confidence prevailed throughout all +its borders. The situation grew every day more embarrassing and +more critical. Without waiting for the action of Congress, Mr. +Lincoln had called for forty-two thousand additional volunteers, +and added eleven new regiments, numbering some twenty-two thousand +men, to the regular army. A blockade of the Southern ports had +been ordered on the 19th of April, and eighteen thousand men had +been added to the navy. + +No battle of magnitude or decisive character had been fought when +Congress assembled; but there had been activity on the skirmish +line of the gathering and advances forces and, at many points, +blood collision. In Baltimore, on the historic 19th of April, the +mob had endeavored to stop the march of Massachusetts troops hurrying +to the protection of the National Capital. In Missouri General +Nathaniel Lyon had put to flight the disloyal governor, and +established the supremacy of National authority. In Western Virginia +General McClellan had met with success in some minor engagements, +and on the upper Potomac the forces under General Robert Patterson +had gained some advantages. A reverse of no very serious character +had been experienced at Big Bethel, near Hampton Roads, by the +troops under General Benjamin F. Butler. General Robert C. Schenck, +in command of a small force, had met with a repulse a few miles +from Washington, near Vienna in the State of Virginia. These +incidents were not in themselves of special importance, but they +indicated an aggressive energy on the part of the Confederates, +and foreshadowed the desperate character which the contest was +destined to assume. Congress found itself legislating in a fortified +city, with patrols of soldiers on the streets and with a military +administration which had practically superseded the civil police +in the duty of maintaining order and protecting life. The situation +was startling and serious, and for the first time people began to +realize that we were to have a war with bloody fighting and much +suffering, with limitless destruction of property, with costly +sacrifice of life. + + UNITED-STATES SENATORS. + +The spirit in both branches of Congress was a fair reflection of +that which prevailed in the North. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee +was the only senator who appeared from the eleven seceding States. +John C. Breckinridge was present from Kentucky, somewhat mortified +by the decisive rebuke which he had received in the vote of his +State. The first important act of the Senate was the seating of +James H. Lane and Samuel C. Pomeroy as senators from the new State +of Kansas, which had been admitted at the last session of Congress +as a free State,--in a bill which, with historic justice, Mr. +Buchanan was called upon to approve, after he had announced in +Congress, during the first year of his administration, that Kansas +was as much a slave State as South Carolina. The first question +of moment growing out of the Rebellion was the presentation of +credentials by Messrs. Willey and Carlile, who claimed seats as +senators from Virginia, the right to which was certified by the +seal of the State with the signature of Francis H. Pierpont as +governor. The credentials indicated that Mr. Willey was to take +the seat vacated by Mr. Mason, and Mr. Carlile that vacated by Mr. +Hunter. The loyal men of Virginia, especially from the western +counties, finding that the regularly organized government of the +State had joined the Rebellion, extemporized a government composed +of the Union men of the Legislature which had been in session the +preceding winter in Richmond. This body had met in Wheeling, and +elected two men as senators who had stood firmly for the Union in +the convention which had forced Virginia into secession. Their +admission to the Senate was resisted by Mr. James A. Bayard, then +senator from Delaware, and by the few other Democratic senators +who still held seats. But after discussion, Mr. Willey and Mr. +Carlile were sworn in, and thus the first step was taken which led +soon after to the partition of the Old Dominion and the creation +of the new State of West Virginia. The free States had a unanimous +representation of Republican senators, with the exception of John +R. Thompson from New Jersey, Jesse D. Bright from Indiana, James +W. Nesmith from Oregon, and the two senators from California, Milton +S. Latham and James A. McDougall, the latter of whom was sworn in +as the successor of William M. Gwin. + +The Senate, though deprived by secession of many able men from the +South, presented an imposing array of talent, statesmanship, and +character. William Pitt Fessenden had already served one term with +distinction, and was now in the third year of his second term. He +possessed a combination of qualities which gave him just eminence +in his public career. He was brilliant from his youth upward; had +led the Maine Legislature when but a few years beyond his majority; +and, at a time when members of the legal profession are struggling +for a first foot-hold, he had stepped to the front rank in the bar +of Maine. He was elected a representative in Congress in 1840 at +thirty-four years of age. He never enjoyed popularity in the sense +in which that word is ordinarily used, but he had the absolute +confidence and admiration of his constituents. He possessed that +peculiar strength with the people--the most valuable and most +enduring a public man can have--which comes from a sense of pride +in the ability and character of the representative. Somewhat +reserved and distant in manner to the world at large, he was genial +and delightful to the intimate circle whom he called friends. + +As a debater Mr. Fessenden was exceptionally able. He spoke without +apparent effort, in a quiet, impressive manner, with a complete +master of pure English. He preserved the _lucidus ordo_ in his +argument, was never confused, never hurried, never involved in +style. A friend once said to him that the only criticism to be +made of his speeches in the Senate was that he illustrated his +point too copiously, throwing light upon it after it was made plain +to the comprehension of all his hearers. "That fault," said he, +"I acquired in addressing juries, where I always tried to adapt my +argument to the understanding of the dullest man of the twelve." +It was a fault which Mr. Fessenden overcame, and in his later years +his speeches may be taken as models for clearness of statement, +accuracy of reasoning, felicity of expression, moderation of tone. +There have been members of the Senate who achieved greater distinction +than Mr. Fessenden, but it may well be doubted whether in the +qualities named he ever had a superior in that body. His personal +character was beyond reproach. He maintained the highest standard +of purity and honor. His patriotism was ardent and devoted. The +general character of his mind was conservative, and he had the +heartiest contempt of every thing that savored of the demagogue in +the conduct of public affairs. He was never swayed from his +conclusion by the passion of the hour, and he met the gravest +responsibilities with even mind. He had a lofty disregard of +personal danger, possessing both moral and physical courage in a +high degree. He was constant in his devotion to duty, and no doubt +shortened his life by his public labors.* + + UNITED-STATES SENATORS. + +Mr. Sumner, though five years the junior, was senior in senatorial +service to Mr. Fessenden, and had attained wider celebrity. Mr. +Sumner's labor was given almost exclusively to questions involving +our foreign relations, and to issues growing out of the slavery +agitation. To the latter he devoted himself, not merely with +unswerving fidelity but with all the power and ardor of his nature. +Upon general questions of business in the Senate he was not an +authority, and rarely participated in the debates which settled +them; but he did more than any other man to promote the anti-slavery +cause, and to uprear its standard in the Republican party. He had +earned, in an unexampled degree, the hatred of the South, and this +fact had increased the zeal for him among anti-slavery men throughout +the North. The assault, made upon him by Preston S. Brooks, a +South-Carolina representative, for his famous speech on Kansas, +had strengthened his hold upon his constituency, which was not +merely the State of Massachusetts but the radical and progressive +Republicans of the entire country. + +Mr. Sumner was studious, learned, and ambitious. He prepared his +discussions of public questions with care, but was not ready as a +debater. He presented his arguments with power, but they were +laborious essays. He had no faculty for extempore speech. Like +Addison, he could draw his draft for a thousand pounds, but might +not have a shilling of change. This did not hinder his progress +or lessen his prestige in the Senate. His written arguments were +the anti-slavery classics of the day, and they were read more +eagerly than speeches which produced greater effect on the hearer. +Colonel Benton said that the eminent William Pinkney of Maryland +was always thinking of the few hundred who came to hear him in the +Senate Chamber, apparently forgetting the million who might read +him outside. Mr. Sumner never made that mistake. His arguments +went to the million. They produced a wide-spread and prodigious +effect on public opinion and left an indelible impression on the +history of the country. + +Jacob Collamer of Vermont was a senator of eminent worth and ability. +He had earned honorable fame as a member of the House of Representatives, +and as a member of the Cabinet in the administration of General +Taylor. He had entered the Senate at a ripe age, and with every +qualification for distinguished service. To describe him in a +single word, he was a wise man. Conservative in his nature, he +was sure to advise against rashness. Sturdy in his principles, he +always counseled firmness. In the periods of excitement through +which the party was about to pass, his judgment was sure to prove +of highest value--influenced, as it always was, by patriotism, and +guided by conscience. Without power as an orator, he was listened +to in the Senate with profound attention, as one who never offered +counsel that was not needed. He carried into the Senate the gravity, +the dignity, the weight of character, which enabled him to control +more ardent natures; and he brought to a later generation the wisdom +and experience acquired in a long life devoted to the service of +his State and of his country. + + UNITED-STATES SENATORS. + +Zachariah Chandler had been the recognized leader of the Republican +party in Michigan from its formation. He had superseded General +Cass with a people in whose affections the latter had been strongly +intrenched before Chandler was born. He had been four years in +the Senate when the war broke out, and he was well established in +reputation and influence. He was educated in the common schools +of his native State of New Hampshire, but had not enjoyed the +advantage of collegiate training. He was not eloquent according +to the canons of oratory; but he was widely intelligent, had given +careful attention to public questions, and spoke with force and +clearness. He was a natural leader. He had abounding confidence +in himself, possessed moral courage of a high order, and did not +know the sensation of physical fear. He was zealous in the +performance of public duty, radical in all his convictions, patriotic +in every thought, an unrelenting foe to all forms of corruption. +He distinguished between a friend and an enemy. He was always +ready to help the one, and, though not lacking in magnanimity, he +seldom neglected an opportunity to cripple the other. + +Lyman Trumbull had entered the Senate six years before, when Illinois +revolted against the course of Douglas in destroying the Missouri +Compromise. Mr. Lincoln had earnestly desired the place, but waived +his claims. The election of Trumbull was considered desirable for +the consolidation of the new party, and the Republicans of Whig +antecedents were taught a lesson of self-sacrifice by the promptness +with which Mr. Lincoln abandoned the contest. Judge Trumbull had +acquired a good reputation at the bar of his State, and at once +took high rank in the Senate. His mind was trained to logical +discussion, and as a debater he was able and incisive. His political +affiliations prior to 1854 were with the Democracy, and aside from +the issue in regard to the extension of slavery, he did not fully +sympathize with the principles and tendencies of the Republican +party. He differed from Mr. Lincoln just as Preston King, senator +from New York, differed from Mr. Seward. Lincoln and Seward believed +in Henry Clay and all the issues which he represented, while Trumbull +and King were devoted to the policies and measures which characterized +the administration of Jackson. The two classes of men composing +the Republican party were equally zealous in support of the principles +that led to the political revolution of 1860, but it was not easy +to see what would be the result of other issues which time and +necessity might develop. + +Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio had been ten years in the Senate when the +war broke out. He entered in March, 1851--the immediate successor +of Thomas Ewing who had been transferred to the Senate from the +Cabinet of Taylor, to take the place of Thomas Corwin who left the +Senate to enter the Cabinet of Fillmore. Mr. Wade was elected as +a Whig--the last senator chosen by that party in Ohio. His triumph +was a rebuke to Mr. Corwin for his abandonment of the advanced +position which he had taken against the aggressions of the slave +power. It was rendered all the more significant by the defeat of +Mr. Ewing, who with his strong hold upon the confidence and regard +of the people of Ohio, was too conservative to embody the popular +resentment against the odious features of the Compromise of 1850. +Mr. Wade entered the Senate with Mr. Sumner. Their joint coming +imparted confidence and strength to the contest for free soil, and +was a powerful re-enforcement to Mr. Seward, Mr. Chase, and Mr. +Hale, who represented the distinctively anti-slavery sentiment in +the Senate. The fidelity, the courage, the ability of Mr. Wade +gave him prominence in the North, and were a constant surprise to +the South. He brought to the Senate the radicalism which Mr. +Giddings had so long upheld in the House, and was protected in his +audacious freedom of speech by his steadiness of nerve and his +known readiness to fight. + +Henry B. Anthony entered the Senate on the 4th of March, 1859, at +forty-four years of age. He had been Governor of Rhode Island ten +years before. He received a liberal education at Brown University, +and was for a long period editor of the _Providence Journal_, a +position in which he established an enviable fame as a writer and +secured an enduring hold upon the esteem and confidence of his +State. In the Senate he soon acquired the rank to which his thorough +training and intelligence, his graceful speech, his ardent patriotism, +his stainless life entitled him. No man has ever enjoyed, among +his associates of all parties, a more profound confidence, a more +cordial respect, a warmer degree of affection. + + UNITED-STATES SENATORS. + +John P. Hale of New Hampshire was still pursuing the career which +he had begun as an early advocate of the anti-slavery cause, and +in which he had twice overthrown the power of the Democratic party +in New Hampshire.--Henry Wilson was the colleague of Mr. Sumner, +and was a man of strong parts, self-made, earnest, ardent, and +true.--Lot M. Morrill was the worthy associate of Mr. Fessenden, +prominent in his profession, and strong in the regard and confidence +of the people of his States.--The author of the Wilmot Proviso came +from Pennsylvania as the successor of Simon Cameron, and as the +colleague of Edgar Cowan, whose ability was far greater than his +ambition or his industry.--James W. Grimes, a native of New Hampshire, +who had gone to Iowa at the time of its organization as a Territory +and had been conspicuously influential in the affairs of the State, +entered the Senate in March, 1859. He possessed an iron will and +sound judgment. He was specially distinguished for independence +of party restraint in his modes of thought and action. He and +Judge Collamer of Vermont were the most intimate associates of Mr. +Fessenden, and the three were not often separated on public questions. +--The colleague of Mr. Grimes was James Harlan, one of Mr. Lincoln's +most valued and most confidential friends, and subsequently a member +of his Cabinet.--James R. Doolittle came from Wisconsin, a far more +radical Republican than his colleague, Timothy O. Howe, and both +were men of marked influence in the councils of their party.--John +Sherman filled the vacancy occasioned by the appointment of Mr. +Chase to the Treasury. Mr. Chase had been chosen as the successor +of George E. Pugh, and remained in the Senate but a single day. +Mr. Sherman had been six years in the House, and had risen rapidly +in public esteem. He had been the candidate of his party for +Speaker, and had served as chairman of Ways and Means in the Congress +preceding the war.--From the far-off Pacific came Edward Dickinson +Baker, a senator from Oregon, a man of extraordinary gifts of +eloquence; lawyer, soldier, frontiersman, leader of popular +assemblies, tribune of the people. In personal appearance he was +commanding, in manner most attractive, in speech irresistibly +charming. Perhaps in the history of the Senate no man ever left +so brilliant a reputation from so short a service. He was born in +England, and the earliest recollection of his life was the splendid +pageant attending the funeral of Lord Nelson.** He came with his +family to the United States when a child, lived for a time in +Philadelphia, and removed to Illinois, where he grew to manhood +and early attained distinction. He served his State with great +brilliancy in Congress, and commanded with conspicuous success one +of her regiments in the war with Mexico. The Whigs of the North- +West presented Colonel Baker for a seat in the Cabinet of President +Taylor. His failure to receive the appointment was a sore +mortification to him. He thought his political career in Illinois +was broken; and in 1852, after the close of his service in Congress, +he joined the throng who were seeking fortune and fame on the +Pacific slope. When leaving Washington he said to a friend that +he should never look on the Capitol again unless he could come +bearing his credentials as a senator of the United States. He +returned in eight years. + +Among the opposition senators, some fourteen in number, the most +prominent was John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, who had stepped +from the Vice-President's chair to the floor of the Senate as the +successor of Mr. Crittenden. Mr. Breckinridge at that time was +forty years of age, attractive in personal appearance, graceful, +and cordial in manner, by inheritance and by cultivation a gentleman. +He came from a section where family rank gave power and influence. +He united in his person the best blood of the South and the North, +--preserving and combining the most winning traits of each. His +lineage in Kentucky naturally brought to him the sympathy and +support of the State. He was born to success and authority among +his people. Originally he had anti-slavery convictions, as had +all the members of his eminent family. So strongly was this tendency +developed in his mind that, when he came to the bar, he removed to +the Territory of Iowa, intending to identify himself with the growth +of the free North-West. Circumstances overcame the determination, +and carried him back to Kentucky, where he was welcomed at the +hearth-stones and in the hearts of her people. + + MR. CLAY AND MR. BRECKINRIDGE. + +At twenty-five years of age Mr. Breckinridge was appointed major +in one of the Kentucky regiments, which served in the Mexican war. +After his return he entered upon the practice of his profession in +Lexington, and against all the traditions of his family identified +himself with the Democratic party. An apparently slight incident +had an important bearing upon his earlier political career. He +was selected to deliver the address of welcome to Mr. Clay on his +return to Kentucky in the autumn of 1850, from the field of his +senatorial triumph in securing the adoption of the celebrated +compromise of that year. Mr. Breckinridge's speech was graceful +and effective. He eulogized Mr. Clay's work with discrimination, +and paid the highest tribute to the illustrious statesman. Mr. +Clay was visibly touched by the whole scene. His old opponents +were present by the thousand to do him honor. The enmities and +antagonisms of earlier years were buried. He had none but friends +and supporters in Kentucky. He responded with earnestness, and +even with emotion: "My welcome," he said, "has been made all the +more grateful from being pronounced by my eloquent young friend, +the son of an eloquent father, the grandson of a still more eloquent +grandfather, both of whom were in days long gone my cherished +companions, my earnest supporters." Mr. Clay's words were so warm, +his manner was so cordial, that it seemed as if he intended to +confer upon Breckinridge the leadership in Kentucky, which, after +a half century's domination, he was about to surrender. Undoubtedly +the events of that day aided Breckinridge the next year in carrying +the Ashland District for Congress, and drew to him thereafter the +support of many influential Whigs. He entered Congress when the +slavery discussion was absorbing public attention, and by the +irresistible drift of events he was carried into an association +with extreme Southern men. It was by their friendly influence that +he was promoted to the Vice-Presidency as soon as he became eligible +under the Constitution. During the four stormy years of Buchanan's +administration, when the sectional contest approached its crisis, +Mr. Breckinridge became more and more the representative of Southern +opinion, and, though unequal to Douglas in the arena of debate, he +became the leader of those who opposed the "popular sovereignty" +dogma of the Illinois senator. He was thence drawn by influences +which he could not have controlled if he had desired, into the +prolonged and exciting controversy which disrupted the Democratic +party. Intellectually Mr. Breckinridge was not the equal of many +Southern men who deferred to him as a leader. His precedence was +due to his personal character, to his strong connections, to his +well-tempered judgment, and especially to a certain attractiveness +of manner which was felt by all who came in contact with him. + +The prominence of New England in the Senate was exceptional. So +many positions of influence were assigned to her that it created +no small degree of jealously and ill-feeling in other sections. +The places were allotted according to the somewhat rigid rules of +precedence which obtain in that body, but this fact did not induce +senators from the Middle and Western States to acquiesce with grace. +The chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Relations was given +to Mr. Sumner; Mr. Fessenden was placed at the head of the Finance +Committee, which then included Appropriations; Mr. Wilson was made +chairman of Military Affairs; Mr. John P. Hale, chairman of Naval +Affairs; Mr. Collamer, chairman of Post-office and Post-roads; Mr. +Foster of Connecticut, chairman of Pensions; Mr. Clark of New +Hampshire, chairman of Claims; Mr. Simmons of Rhode Island, chairman +of Patents; Mr. Foot of Vermont, chairman of Public Buildings and +Grounds; Mr. Anthony, chairman of Printing; Mr. Dixon of Connecticut, +chairman of Contingent Expenses. Mr. Lot M. Morrill, who had just +entered the public service from Maine, was the only New-England +senator left without a chairmanship. There were in all twenty-two +committees in the Senate. Eleven were given to New England. But +even this ratio does not exhibit the case in its full strength. +The Committees on Foreign Relations, Finance, Military Affairs, +and Naval Affairs shaped almost the entire legislation in time of +war, and thus New England occupied a most commanding position. +The retirement of Mr. Seward, Mr. Chase, and Mr. Cameron from the +Senate to enter the Cabinet undoubtedly increased the number of +important positions assigned to New England. Twenty-two States +were represented in the Senate, and it was impossible to make +sixteen of them, including the four leading States of the Union, +recognize the justice of placing the control of National legislation +in the hands of six States in the far North-East. It was not a +fortunate arrangement for New England, since it provoked prejudices +which proved injurious in many ways, and lasted for many years. + + + THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + +The House of Representatives was promptly organized by the election +of Galusha A. Grow of Pennsylvania as Speaker. Mr. Grow came from +the Wilmot district, on the northern border of the State, where +the anti-slavery sentiment had taken earliest and deepest root. +As Connecticut had in the Colonial period claimed a large part of +the area of North Pennsylvania, her emigration tended in that +direction, and this fact had given a distinct and more radical type +to the population. Mr. Grow was himself a native of Connecticut. +He was chosen Speaker because of his activity in the anti-slavery +struggles of the House, and because of his aptitude for the duties +of the chair. Francis P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri was a rival +candidate, and was supported by strong influences. It was not +considered expedient to hold a party caucus, and the Democratic +minority declined to present a candidate. On the roll call, Mr. +Grow received 71 votes, Mr. Blair 40, while 48 votes, principally +of Democratic representatives, were cast for different gentlemen +who were in no sense candidates. Accepting Mr. Grow's plurality +as the best form of nomination to the office, a large number of +the friends of Mr. Blair changed their votes before the result was +authoritatively declared, and Mr. Grow was announced as receiving +90 votes,--a majority of all the members. Two members appeared +from Virginia. The other Confederate States were without +representation. Emerson Etheridge of Tennessee was chosen Clerk, +in compliment to his fidelity and courage as a Union man. + +The House was filled with able men, many of whom had parliamentary +experience. The natural leader, who assumed his place by common +consent, was Thaddeus Stevens, a man of strong peculiarities of +character, able, trained, and fearless. Born in Vermont and educated +at Dartmouth, he had passed all his adult years in Pennsylvania, +and was thoroughly identified with the State which he had served +with distinction both in her own Legislature and in Congress. He +had the reputation of being somewhat unscrupulous as to political +methods, somewhat careless in personal conduct, somewhat lax in +personal morals; but to the one great object of his life, the +destruction of slavery and the elevation of the slave, he was +supremely devoted. From the pursuit of that object nothing could +deflect him. Upon no phase of it would he listen to compromise. +Any man who was truly anti-slavery was his friend. Whoever espoused +the cause and proved faithless in never so small a degree, became +his enemy, inevitably and irreconcilably. Towards his own race he +seemed often to be misanthropic. He was learned in the law, and +for a third of a century had held high rank at the bar of a State +distinguished for great lawyers. He was disposed to be taciturn. +A brilliant talker, he did not relish idle and aimless conversation. +He was much given to reading, study, and reflection, and to the +retirement which enabled him to gratify his tastes. As was said +of Mr. Emerson, Mr. Stevens loved solitude and understood its use. + +Upon all political questions Mr. Stevens was an authority. He +spoke with ease and readiness, using a style somewhat resembling +the crisp, clear sententiousness of Dean Swift. Seldom, even in +the most careless moment, did a sentence escape his lips, that +would not bear the test of grammatical and rhetorical criticism. +He possessed the keenest wit, and was unmerciful in its use toward +those whom he did not like. He illustrated in concrete form the +difference between wit and humor. He did not indulge in the latter. +He did not enjoy a laugh. When his sharp sallies would set the +entire House in an uproar, he was as impassive, his visage as +solemn, as if he were pronouncing a funeral oration. His memory +of facts, dates, and figures was exact, and in argument he knew +the book and chapter and page for reference. He was fond of young +men, invited their society, encouraged and generously aided them. +He was easily moved by the distress of others. He was kind, +charitable, lavish of his money in the relief of poverty. He had +characteristics which seemed contradictory, but which combined to +make one of the memorable figures in the Parliamentary history of +the United States,--a man who had the courage to meet any opponent, +and who was never overmatched in intellectual conflict. + +Mr. Stevens had efficient colleagues from Pennsylvania. The most +distinguished was John Hickman, who had been a Democrat until 1860, +and who in debate was skillful and acute. William D. Kelley entered +the House at this session for the first time, and was destined to +serve his State for a long series of years, with ability, fidelity, +and usefulness. James K. Moorhead, John Covode, Edward McPherson, +and John W. Killinger were active and influential members.*** + + THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + +New York sent Reuben E. Fenton, already prominent, popular, and +strong in the public service; Elbridge G. Spaulding, who became +useful and even eminent as an adviser in financial legislation; +William A. Wheeler, afterwards Vice-President of the United States; +Theodore Pomeroy, the neighbor and confidential friend of Mr. +Seward; Charles B. Sedgwick, of pronounced ability in the law; +Charles H. Van Wyck, who afterwards sought distinction in the West; +and Abraham Olin, subsequently well known in judicial life. The +ablest and most brilliant man of the delegation was Roscoe Conkling. +He had been elected to the preceding Congress when but twenty-nine +years of age, and had exhibited a readiness and eloquence in debate +that placed him at once in the first rank. His command of language +was remarkable. In affluent and exuberant diction Mr. Conkling +was never surpassed in either branch of Congress, unless, perhaps, +by Rufus Choate. + +The Ohio delegation was especially strong. John A. Bingham, the +oldest in service on the Republican side, was an effective debater, +well informed, ready, and versatile. A man of high principle, of +strong faith, of zeal, enthusiasm, and eloquence, he could always +command the attention of the House. His colleague, Samuel +Shellabarger, was distinguished for the logical and analytical +character of his mind. Without the gift of oratory, paying little +heed to the graces of speech, Mr. Shellabarger conquered by the +intrinsic strength of his argument, which generally amounted to +demonstration. His mind possessed many of the qualities which +distinguished Mr. Lincoln. In fairness, lucidness, fullness of +statement, the two had a striking resemblance. Valentine B. Horton +was a valuable member on all questions of finance and business; +and on the issues touching slavery James M. Ashley followed the +radical example of Mr. Giddings. Among the Democrats, George H. +Pendleton, Clement L. Vallandigham, and Samuel S. Cox were especially +conspicuous. Mr. Pendleton was regarded as the leader of the +Democratic side of the House by a large section of his party, and +his assignment to the Committee of Ways and Means by the Speaker +was intended as a recognition of that fact. Mr. Cox gave much +attention to foreign affairs, to which his mind had been drawn by +a brief but fruitful participation in the diplomatic service of +the country. Mr. Vallandigham possessed ability, and a certain +form of dogged courage, combined with a love of notoriety, which +allured him to the assumption of extreme positions and the advocacy +of unpopular measures. No other State was in the aggregate so ably +represented as Ohio. + + THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + +Indiana was influential in the House. Schuyler Colfax was at the +height of his successful career on the floor and destined to eminent +promotion in the public service. Among his Republican colleagues +were George W. Julian, long and creditably identified with the anti- +slavery cause, and especially esteemed for the conscientious +attention he had given to all questions relating to the public +lands; Albert G. Porter, in his second Congress, well trained for +debate, with ability and high character, rapidly winning public +favor, but cut off from his legislative career by a Democratic +majority in his district, although his strength with the people +has since been strikingly attested; William McKee Dunn, a man of +sound judgment, to be known and appreciated afterwards in other +fields of honorable duty. On the Democratic side, William S. Holman +already ranked as an old member. His efforts were steadily and +persistently directed to the enforcement of public economy; and +though he may have sometimes been unreasonable, and though he was +often accused of acting the part of a demagogue, the country owes +him a debt of gratitude for the integrity, intelligence, and +simplicity with which he has illustrated a most honorable career +as representative of the people. Daniel W. Voorhees, by nature a +fierce partisan, yet always filled with generous impulses, was in +his second Congress. His character was significantly illustrated +by his willingness to lend his attractive eloquence in the Virginia +courts in defense of one of John Brown's associates in the Harper's +Ferry tragedy,--a magnanimous act in view of the risk to his position +among the pro-slavery Democracy, with whom he was strongly identified +in party organization. + +Illinois sent Elihu B. Washburne, already eight years a representative +in Congress, a man of courage, energy, and principle, devoted to +the Republican party, constant in attendance upon the sessions of +the House, expert in its rules, its most watchful and most careful +member, an economist by nature, a foe to every form of corruption. +Owen Lovejoy, though a native of Maine, springing from Puritan +ancestry, and educated to the Christian ministry in the faith taught +by Calvin, had the fiery eloquence of a French Revolutionist. Not +even the exasperating wit of Thaddeus Stevens, or the studied taunts +of John Quincy Adams, ever threw the Southern men into such rage +as the speeches of Lovejoy. He was recklessly bold. His brother +had been killed by a mob for preaching the doctrine of the +Abolitionists, and he seemed almost to court the same fate. He +was daring enough to say to the Southern Democrats, at a time of +great excitement in the House, in a speech delivered long before +the war, that the negroes were destined to walk to emancipation, +as the children of Israel had journeyed to the promised land, +"through the _Red_ Sea." Among the Democrats the most conspicuous +was William A. Richardson, who had been a devoted adherent of +Douglas, and had co-operated with in the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise. A younger adherent of Douglas was John A. Logan, +serving in his second term. He remained however but a short time +in the Thirty-seventh Congress. His ardent patriotism and ambitious +temperament carried him into the war, where his brilliant career +is known and read of all men. + +The most distinguished accession to the House was John J. Crittenden +of Kentucky. He had never before served in that branch, but he +had been chosen to the Senate six times by the Legislature of his +State,--for five full terms and for the remainder of Mr. Clay's +term when he retired in 1842. Only one other man, William E. King +of Alabama, has ever been so many times elected to the Senate. +Mr. Crittenden, like Mr. Clay, entered the Senate at thirty years +of age. His service began the day that Madison left the Presidency, +and ended the day of Lincoln's inauguration. But in this long +period he had served only two full terms, and his total service in +the Senate was little more than twenty years. He resigned in 1819 +"to get bread for his family," as he expressed it; the compensation +of a senator for the session of Congress not averaging at that time +more than nine hundred dollars per annum. He resigned in 1841 to +become Attorney-General in the Cabinet of Harrison. He resigned +in 1848 to run for Governor of Kentucky in aid of General Taylor's +candidacy, and he left the governorship in 1850, after the death +of Taylor, to accept his old position in the Cabinet. He was +appointed to the Supreme Bench by John Quincy Adams in the last +year of his administration; but the Senate, already under the +influence of the Jackson men, refused to confirm him. Mr. Clay +wrote to Mr. Crittenden in anticipation of his failure, bidding +him "cultivate calmness of mind and prepare for the worst event." + +Mr. Crittenden's ability was of a high order. He stood at the head +of that class of statesmen who were next to the highest grade. +Like so many other eminent Whigs, he was excluded from the full +recognition of his power by the overshadowing prestige of Mr. Clay +and Mr. Webster. The appearance of Mr. Crittenden in the House in +his seventy-fourth year was his patriotic response to the roll-call +of duty. He loved his country and his whole country, and every +effort of his waning strength was put forth in behalf of the Union. +It was his influence, more than that of any other man, which saved +his State from the vortex of Rebellion. But for his strong hold +upon the sympathy and pride of Kentucky, the malign influence of +Breckinridge might have forced the State into the Confederacy. +Mr. Lincoln considered Mr. Crittenden's course entitled to the +admiration and gratitude of every man who was loyal to the Union. + + THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + +Another Kentuckian gave noble aid to the National cause. Charles +A. Wickliffe was a contemporary of Mr. Crittenden, and had for many +years belonged to the same party. In the Whig dissensions which +followed the accession of Mr. Tyler to the Presidency, Mr. Wickliffe +supported the Administration. As an effective blow to Mr. Clay, +the President called Mr. Wickliffe to his Cabinet. He served as +Postmaster-General through Mr. Tyler's term, and with his chief +went over to the Democratic party, supporting Mr. Polk in 1844. +There was much anger over his course, on the part of the Kentucky +Whigs, resulting in personal estrangements. He was a man of ability, +of commanding appearance, of high character. His return to Congress, +where he had originally entered nearly forty years before, brought +a valuable support to the cause of the Union. + +Associated with Crittenden and Wickliffe were three men of mark. +Robert Mallory, William H. Wadsworth, and James S. Jackson were +younger but not less devoted friends of the Union. Their example +was especially valuable in holding thousands of young Kentuckians +from following Breckinridge into the Confederate army. Jackson +gave his life to his country on one of the battle-fields of the war. + +--Missouri sent Francis P. Blair, Jr., and James S. Rollins, who +had already been in the smoke and fire of civil conflict, and whose +loyalty to the Union, under every form of peril, entitled them to +the respect and confidence of patriotic men. + +--Massachusetts sent Benjamin F. Thomas of rare eloquence; Alexander +H. Rice, afterwards the governor of his State; Thomas D. Elliott, +John B. Alley, the venerable William Appleton; and Henry L. Dawes, +whose long service attests his character, his ability, and the +confidence of his constituents. + +--From New Hampshire came Gilman Marston, who soon after gained +credit in the field; from Vermont, Justin S. Morrill, one of the +most useful, industrious, and honorable members of the House; from +Maine, its distinguished ex-governor, Anson P. Morrill; and Frederick +A. Pike, of strong mind, keen and incisive in debate, but lacking +the ambition necessary to give him his proper rank in the House. +Samuel C. Fessenden and Thomas A. D. Fessenden, brothers of the +distinguished senator, were members of this House,--the only instance +in which three brothers were ever in Congress at the same time from +the same State. Three Washburns had served in the preceding +Congress, but they represented three States. + +--The far North-West was well represented by young men. William +Windom came from Minnesota, and from Iowa James F. Wilson, a man +of positive strength, destined to take very prominent part in +legislative proceedings. Fernando C. Beaman came from Michigan, +and John F. Potter and A. Scott Sloan from Wisconsin. Martin F. +Conway came from the youngest State of the Union, fresh from the +contests which had made Kansas almost a field of war. + +The organization of the House was so promptly effected that the +President's message was received on the same day. Throughout the +country there was an eagerness to hear Mr. Lincoln's views on the +painful situation. The people had read with deep sympathy the +tender plea to the South contained in his Inaugural address. The +next occasion on which they had heard from him officially was his +proclamation for troops after the fall of Sumter. Public opinion +in the North would undoubtedly be much influenced by what the +President should now say. Mr. Lincoln was keenly alive to the +importance of his message, and he weighed every word he wrote. He +maintained, as he always did, calmness of tone, moderation in +expression. He appealed to reason, not to prejudice. He spoke as +one who knew that he would be judged by the public opinion of the +world. It was his fortune to put his name to many state papers of +extraordinary weight, but never to one of graver import than his +first message to Congress. + + PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FIRST MESSAGE. + +The President informed Congress that he would not call their +attention "to any ordinary subject of legislation." In fact there +were but two things for Congress to do in the national exigency-- +provide for the enlistment of an army, and for the raising of money +necessary to the conduct of a great war. The President vividly +narrated the progressive steps in the South which had brought about +the existing status of affairs. He depicted in strong colors the +condition in which he found the government when he assumed office; +how "the forts, arsenals, dock-yards, and custom-houses" of the +National Government had been seized; how "the accumulations of +national revenue" had been appropriated; how "a disproportionate +share of Federal muskets and rifles" had found their way into the +Southern States, and had been seized to be used against the +government; how the navy had been "scattered in distant seas, +leaving but a small part of it within immediate reach of the +government;" how seven States had seceded from the Union, and formed +"a separate government, which is already invoking recognition, aid, +and intervention from foreign powers." With this critical situation +he was compelled to deal at once, and the policy which he had chosen +when he entered upon his office looked to the exhaustion of all +peaceful measures before a resort to stronger ones. + +In pursuing the policy of peace, the President had "sought only to +hold the public places and property not already wrested from the +government, and to collect the revenue--relying for the rest on +time, discussion, and the ballot-box." He had even gone so far as +"to promise a continuance of the mails at government expense to +the very people who were resisting the government;" and he had +given "repeated pledges" that every thing should be "forborne +without which it was believed possible to keep the government on +foot;" that there should be no "disturbances to any of the people, +or to any of their rights." He had gone in the direction of +conciliation as far as it was possible to go, without consenting +to a disruption of the government. + +The President gave in detail the events which led to the assault +on Sumter. He declared that the reduction of the fort "was in no +sense a matter of self-defense on the part of the assailants." +They well knew "that the garrison in the fort could by no possibility +commit an aggression upon them;" they were expressly notified that +"the giving of bread to the few brave and hungry men of the garrison +was all which would be attempted, unless themselves, by resisting +so much, should provoke more." They knew that the National Government +desired to keep the garrison in the fort, "not to assail them, but +merely to maintain visible possession, and thus to preserve the +Union from actual and immediate dissolution." The Confederate +Government had "assailed and reduced the fort for precisely the +reverse object--to drive out the visible authority of the Federal +Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolution." + +"In this act," said Mr. Lincoln, "discarding all else, they have +forced upon the country the distinct issue--immediate dissolution +or blood; and this issue embraces more than the fate of these United +States. It presents to the whole family of man the question, +whether a Constitutional Republic, a government of the people by +the same people, can or cannot maintain its territorial integrity +against its own domestic foes." The President presented this point +with elaboration. The question really involved, was "whether +discontented individuals, too few in number to control the +administration according to the organic law, can always, upon the +pretenses made in this case, or any other pretenses, or arbitrarily +without pretenses, break up the government, and thus practically +put an end to free government upon the earth. It forces us to ask, +_Is there in all Republics this inherent and fatal weakness?_ Must +a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its +own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" + +The President was severe upon Virginia and Virginians. He had made +earnest effort to save the State from joining the Rebellion. He +had held conferences with her leading men, and had gone so far on +the 13th of April as to address a communication, for public use in +Virginia, to the State convention then in session at Richmond, in +answer to a resolution of the convention asking him to define the +policy he intended to pursue in regard to the Confederate States. +In this he re-asserted the position assumed in his Inaugural, and +added that "if, as now appears to be true, an unprovoked assault +has been made on Fort Sumter, I shall hold myself at liberty to +repossess it if I can, and the like places which had been seized +before the government was devolved upon me. I shall, to the best +of my ability, repel force by force." This letter was used to +inflame public sentiment in Virginia, and to hurl the State into +Secession through the agency of a Convention elected to maintain +the Union. Mr. Lincoln afterwards believed that the letter had +been obtained from him under disingenuous pretenses and for the +express purpose of using it, as it was used, against the Union and +in favor of the Confederacy. + + PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FIRST MESSAGE. + +The President's resentment towards those who had thus, as he thought, +broken faith with him is visible in his message. Referring to the +Virginia convention, he observed that, "the people had chosen a +large majority of professed Union men" as delegates. "After the +fall of Sumter, many members of that majority went over to the +original Disunion minority, and with them adopted an ordinance +withdrawing the State from the Union." In his own peculiar style, +Mr. Lincoln made the stinging comment, "Whether this change was +wrought by their great approval of the assault upon Sumter, or by +their great resentment at the government's resistance to that +assault, is not definitely known." Though the Virginia convention +had submitted the ordinance of Secession to a vote of the people, +to be taken on a day nearly a month in the future, the President +informed Congress that "they immediately commenced acting as if +the State was already out of the Union." They seized the arsenal +at Harper's Ferry, and the navy-yard at Norfolk, and "received, +perhaps invited, large bodies of troops from the so-called seceding +States." They "sent members to their Congress at Montgomery, and +finally permitted the insurrectionary government to be transferred +to their Capitol at Richmond." Mr. Lincoln concluded with an +ominous sentence which might well have inspired Virginians with a +sense of impending peril; "The people of Virginia have thus allowed +his giant insurrection to make its nest within her borders, and +this government has no choice left but to deal with it where it +finds it." In that moment of passion these words, with all their +terrible significance, were heard by Southern men only to be jeered +at. + +When the President came to specific recommendations he was brief +and pointed. He asked that Congress would place "at the control +of the government at least four hundred thousand men, and four +hundred millions of money." He said this number was about one- +tenth of those of proper age within the regions where all were +apparently willing to engage, and the sum was "less than a twenty- +third part of the money value owned by men who seem ready to devote +the whole." He argued that "a debt of six hundred millions of +dollars is now a less sum per head than the debt of the Revolution +when we came out of that struggle, and the money value in the +country bears even a greater proportion to what it was then than +does the population." "Surely," he added, "each man has as strong +a motive now to _preserve_ our liberties as each had then to +_establish_ them." + +After arguing at length as to the utter fallacy of the right of +Secession, and showing how the public "mind of the South had been +drugged and insidiously debauched with the doctrine for thirty +years," the President closed his message "with the deepest regret +that he found the duty of employing the war power of the government +forced upon him;" but he "must perform his duty, or surrender the +existence of the government." Compromise had been urged upon the +President from every quarter. He answered all such requests frankly: +"No compromise by public servants could in this case be a cure; +not that compromises are not often proper, but that no popular +government can long survive a marked precedent that those who carry +an election can only save the government from immediate destruction +by giving up the main point upon which the people gave the election. +The people themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse +their own deliberate decision." + +Mr. Lincoln thus saw his duty clearly and met it boldly. In his +own person was centred, as he profoundly realized, the fate of +Republican government. He had been elected President of the United +States in strict accordance with all the requirements of the +Constitution. He had been chosen without bribe, without violence, +without undue pressure, by a majority of the electoral votes. If +there had been outrage upon the freedom of the ballot it was not +among his supporters; if there had been a terror of public opinion, +overawing the right of private judgment, it was not in the States +which had voted for him, but in those Southern communities where, +by threats of violence, the opportunity to cast a ballot was denied +to electors favorable to his cause. If he should now yield, he +evil results would be immeasurable and irremediable. "As a private +citizen," he said, "the Executive could not have consented that +Republican institutions shall perish; much less could he in betrayal +of so vast and so sacred a trust as these free people have confided +to him." He avowed that, in full view of his great responsibility, +he had so far done what he had deemed his duty. His words were +almost to foreshadow the great tragedy of after years when declaring +that _he felt he had no moral right to shirk, or even to count the +chances of his own life in what might follow_. In conclusion he +said to Congress, "having thus chosen our own course without guile, +and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward +without fear, and with manly hearts." + +The effect of this message upon the public opinion of the North +was very great. If there had been hesitation by any party or any +class upon the subsidence of the first glow of patriotism which +had animated the country after the assault on Sumter, Mr. Lincoln's +words arrested it, and restored enthusiasm and ardor to all hearts. +Indeed, men of thought and discretion everywhere saw that the course +of the President was fixed, and even if they differed from his +conclusions, they were persuaded that safety could be secured only +by following his counsels, and upholding his measures. Mr. Lincoln +had been throughout his life much given to reading, to argument, +to induction, to speculation, to reflection. He was now before +the world as a man of whom decision and action were required, with +the lives and fortunes of unborn millions depending upon his wisdom, +with the fate of Republican liberty and Constitutional government +at stake upon his success. The history of the world shows no +example of a man upon whom extraordinary public duties and perilous +responsibilities were so suddenly thrust. No antecedent training +had apparently fitted him for his work; no experience in affairs +had given assurance that he could master a situation which demanded +an unprecedented expenditure of treasure, which involved the control +of armies larger than the fabled host of Xerxes, which developed +questions of state-craft more delicate and more difficult than +those which had baffled the best minds in Europe. + +Under the inspiration of the message, and in strict accordance with +its recommendations, Congress proceeded to its work. No legislation +was attempted, none was even seriously suggested, except measures +relating to the war. In no other session of Congress was so much +accomplished in so brief a time. Convening on the fourth day of +July, both Houses adjourned finally on the 6th of August. There +were in all but twenty-nine working-days, and every moment was +faithfully and energetically employed. Seventy-six public Acts +were passed. With the exception of four inconsiderable bills, the +entire number related to the war,--to the various modes of +strengthening the military and naval forces of the Union, to the +wisest methods of securing money for the public service, to the +effectual building up of the National credit. Many of these bills +were long and complex. The military establishment was re-organized, +the navy enlarged, the tariff revised, direct taxes were levied, +and loan-bills perfected. Two hundred and seven millions of dollars +were appropriated for the army, and fifty-six millions for the +navy. Some details of these measures are elsewhere presented under +appropriate heads. They are referred to here only to illustrate +the patriotic spirit which pervaded Congress, and the magnitude of +the work accomplished under the pressure of necessity. + + DEFEAT OF THE UNION ARMY AT BULL RUN. + +Seventeen days after the extra session began, and fifteen days +before it closed, the country was startled and profoundly moved by +a decisive defeat of the Union army at Bull Run in Virginia. The +National troops were commanded by General Irvin McDowell, and the +Confederates by General Beauregard. The battle is remarkable for +the large number of division and brigade commanders who afterwards +became widely known. Serving under General McDowell were General +William T. Sherman, General Hunter, General Burnside, General Miles, +General Heintzelman, General Fitz-John Porter, and General Howard. +Serving under General Beauregard were Stonewall Jackson, General +Longstreet, General Ewell, General J. E. B. Stuart. General Joseph +E. Johnston re-enforced Beauregard with another army during the +fight, and became the ranking-officer on the field. The defeat of +the Union army was complete; it was a _rout_, and on the retreat +became a panic. When the troops reached the protection of the +fortifications around Washington, a thorough demoralization pervaded +their ranks. The holiday illusion had been rudely dispelled, and +the young men who had enlisted for a summer excursion, suddenly +found that they were engaged in a bloody war in which comrades and +friends had been slain by their side, and in which they saw nothing +before them but privation, peril, loss of health, and possibly loss +of life. The North had been taught a lesson. The doubting were +at last convinced that the Confederates were equipped for a desperate +fight, and intended to make it. If the Union were to be saved, it +must be saved by the united loyalty and the unflinching resolution +of the people. + +The special and immediate danger was an outbreak in the Border +slave States. Their people were seriously divided; but the Union +men, aided by the entire moral influence and in no small degree by +the military force of the Nation, had thus far triumphed. The +repulse of the National arms, with the consequent loss of prestige, +necessarily emboldened the enemies of the Union, who, by playing +upon the prejudices and fears of the slave-holders, might succeed +in seducing them from their allegiance. To prevent the success of +such appeal Mr. Crittenden, whose wise counsels were devoted with +sleepless patriotism to the preservation of loyalty in the Border +States, offered in the House a resolution defining the objects of +the National struggle. The resolution set forth that "the deplorable +civil war has been forced upon the country by the Disunionists of +the Southern States now in arms against the Constitutional Government;" +that "in this National emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings +of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the +whole country;" that "the war is not waged in any spirit of +oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or the +overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions +of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the +Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, +equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired;" and that, +"as soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to cease." +The resolution was adopted by the House without debate, and with +only two negative votes. + + THE CRITTENDEN RESOLUTION. + +The same resolution was offered in the Senate by Andrew Johnson of +Tennessee two days after its adoption in the House. It led to a +somewhat acrimonious debate. Mr. Polk of Missouri desired an +amendment declaring that the war had been "forced upon the country +by the Disunionists of the Southern and Northern States." He was +asked by Mr. Collamer of Vermont, whether he had ever "heard of +any Northern Disunionists being in revolt against the government." +He replied by asserting his belief that there were Disunionists +North as well as South. He had "read Fourth of July speeches, in +which the country was congratulated that there was now to be a +dissolution of the Union." The amendment was rejected, receiving +only four votes. + +--Mr. Collamer spoke ably for the resolution. He was not however +afraid of the word "subjugation." Its literal, classical meaning +was, to pass under the yoke, but in the popular acceptation it +meant that "all the people of the United States should submit to +the Constitution and laws." + +--Mr. Harris of New York expressed his approval of the resolution +"precisely as it was offered. Every expression in it was apt and +appropriate." If slavery should be abolished as a result of the +war, he would not "shed a tear over that result; but yet it is not +the purpose of the government in prosecuting the war to overthrow +slavery." + +--Mr. Fessenden of Maine agreed with Mr. Collamer as to the word +"subjugation." It expressed the idea clearly, and he was "satisfied +with it. The talk about subjugation is mere clap-trap." + +--Mr. Doolittle of Wisconsin said the use of the word "subjugation" +in the resolution did not imply that it was not "the purpose of +the Government to compel the Disunionists to submit to the Constitution +and the laws." + +--Mr. Willey of Virginia said that there was a great sensitiveness +in his section; that there was a fear among many that the object +of the war was subjugation; that "its design was to reduce the Old +Dominion to a province, and to make the people (in the language of +the senator from Vermont) pass under the yoke." + +--Mr. Hale of New Hampshire favored the resolution. He said the +most radical abolitionists had "always disclaimed the idea or the +power of interfering with slavery in the States." + +--Mr. Clark, the colleague of Mr. Hale, would support the resolution, +and would oppose any amendment offered to it, not because he liked +its phraseology, but because "it was drawn by the senator from +Tennessee, and suited him and the region from which he came." + +--Mr. Breckinridge of Kentucky could not vote for the resolution, +because he did not "agree with the statement of facts contained in +it." He would not go into the antecedents of the unhappy difficulties. +He did not consider that "the rupture in the harbor of Charleston, +the firing on the _Star of the West_, and the collision at Fort +Sumter, justified those proceedings on the part of the President +which have made one blaze of war from the Atlantic to the western +borders of the Republic." He did not believe that "the President +had a right to take that step which produced the war, and to call +(under Presidential authority alone) the largest army into the +field ever assembled on the American continent, and the largest +fleet ever collected in American harbors." He believed that "the +responsibility for the war is to be charged, first, to the majority +in the two Houses last winter in rejecting amendments to the +Constitution; and, secondly, to the President, for calling out an +armed force." + +--Mr. Sherman of Ohio replied with great spirit to Mr. Breckinridge. +He said Ohio and Kentucky stood side by side, and had always been +friends; but if the senator who had just spoken, spoke the voice +of his State, then he feared that Kentucky and Ohio would soon be +enemies. He felt confident however that "the views expressed do +not represent the sentiments of Kentucky's patriotic citizens." +On the contrary, no person with the authority of President Lincoln +"ever forbore so patiently." The people of the loyal States had +"forborne with the Disunionists of the Southern States too much +and too long." There was not a line, not a syllable, not a promise, +in the Constitution which the people of the loyal States did not +religiously obey. "The South has no right to demand any other +compromise. The Constitution was the bond of union; and it was +the South that sought to change it by amendments, or to subvert it +by force. The Disunionists of the Southern States are traitors to +their country, and must be, and will be, subdued." + +--Mr. Breckinridge, replying to Mr. Sherman, believed that he truly +represented the sentiment of Kentucky, and would submit the matter +to the people of his State. "If they should decide that the +prosperity and peace of the country would be best promoted by an +unnatural and horrible fraternal war, and should throw their own +energies into the struggle," he would "acquiesce in sadness and +tears, but would no longer be the representative of Kentucky in +the American Senate." He characterized personal allusion which +had been made to himself as ungenerous and unjust, and declared +that he had "never uttered a word or cherished a thought that was +false to the Constitution and Union." + +--Mr. Browning of Illinois, the successor of Stephen A. Douglas in +the Senate, closed the debate. He spoke of "the indulgence shown +to Mr. Breckinridge," and of his having used it to "assail the +President vehemently, almost vindictively, while he had not a single +word of condemnation for the atrocious conduct of the rebellious +States." Was the senator from Kentucky here to vindicate them, +and the hurl unceasing denunciations at the President, "who was +never surpassed by any ruler in patriotism, honor, integrity, and +devotion to the great cause of human rights?" + +The resolution was adopted with only five dissenting votes,-- +Breckinridge and Powell of Kentucky, Johnson and Polk of Missouri, +and Trumbull of Illinois. Mr. Trumbull voted in the negative, +because he did not like the form of expression. + +The Crittenden Resolution, as it has always been termed, was thus +adopted respectively, not jointly, by the two Houses of Congress. +Its declarations, contained in the concluding clauses, though made +somewhat under the pressure of national adversity, were nevertheless +a fair reflection of the popular sentiment throughout the North. +The public mind had been absorbed with the one thought of restoring +the Union promptly and completely, and had not even contemplated +interference with slavery as an instrumentality to that end. Many +wise and far-seeing men were convinced from the first that the +Rebellion would result in the destruction of slavery, but for +various reasons deemed it inexpedient to make a premature declaration +of their belief. Indeed, the wisest of them saw that a premature +declaration would probably prove a hinderance and not a help to +the conclusion they most desired. In the Senate it was noted that +Mr. Sumner withheld his vote, as did Thaddeus Stevens and Owen +Lovejoy in the House. But almost the entire Republican vote, +including such men as Fessenden, Hale, Chandler, and Grimes, +sustained the resolution. It was the voice of the Republican party, +with no one openly opposing it in either branch of Congress. + + ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENT DEVELOPED. + +It was soon discovered, however, that if the National Government +did not interfere with slavery, slavery would seriously interfere +with the National Government. In other words, it was made apparent +that the slaves if undisturbed were to be a source of strength to +the Rebellion. Mr. Crittenden's resolution had hardly passed the +House when it was learned from the participants in the battle of +Bull Run that slaves by the thousand had been employed on the +Confederate side in the construction of earthworks, in driving +teams, in cooking, in the general work of the Quartermaster and +Commissary Departments, and in all forms of camp drudgery. To +permit this was simply adding four millions to the population from +which the Confederates could draw their quotas of men for military +service. It was no answer to say that they never intended to put +arms in the hands of negroes. Their use in the various forms of +work to which they were allotted, and for which they were admirably +qualified, released the same number of white men, who could at once +be mustered into the ranks. The slaves were therefore an effective +addition to the military strength of the Confederacy from the very +beginning of the war, and had seriously increased the available +force of fighting men at the first engagement between the two +armies. + +As soon as this fact became well established, Congress proceeded +to enact the first law since the organization of the Federal +Government by which a slave could acquire his freedom. The "Act +to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes" was on +the calendar of the Senate when the disaster at Bull Run occurred, +and had been under consideration the day preceding the battle. As +originally framed, it only confiscated "any property used or employed +in aiding, abetting, or promoting insurrection, or resistance to +the laws." The word "property" would not include slaves, who, in +the contemplation of the Federal law, were always "persons." A +new section was now added, declaring that "whenever hereafter during +the present insurrection against the Government of the United +States, any person held to labor or service under the law of any +State shall be required or permitted by the person to whom such +labor or service is due to take up arms against the United States, +or to work in or upon any fort, dock, navy-yard, armory, intrenchment, +or in any military or naval service whatever against the Government +of the United States, the person to whom such service or labor is +due shall forfeit his claim thereto." The law further provided in +effect that "whenever any person shall seek to enforce his claim +to a slave, it shall be a sufficient answer to such claim, that +the slave had been employed in the military or naval service against +the United States contrary to the provisions of this Act." + + ZEAL AND INDUSTRY OF CONGRESS. + +The virtue of this law consisted mainly in the fact that it exhibited +a willingness on the part of Congress to strike very hard blows +and to trample the institution of slavery under foot whenever or +wherever it should be deemed advantageous to the cause of the Union +to do so. From that time onward the disposition to assail slavery +was rapidly developed, and the grounds on which the assurance +contained in the Crittenden Resolution was given, had so changed +in consequence of the use of slaves by the Confederate Government +that every Republican member of both Senate and House felt himself +absolved from any implied pledge therein to the slave-holders of +the Border States. Humiliating as was the Bull Run disaster to +the National arms, it carried with it many compensating considerations, +and taught many useful lessons. The nation had learned that war +must be conducted according to strict principles of military science, +and cannot be successfully carried on with banners and toasts and +stump speeches, or by the mere ardor of patriotism, or by boundless +confidence in a just cause. The Government learned that it is +lawful to strike at whatever gives strength to the enemy, and that +an insurgent against the National authority must, by the law of +common sense, be treated as beyond the protection of the National +Constitution, both as to himself and his possessions. + +Though the Act thus conditionally confiscating slave property was +signed by Mr. Lincoln, it did not meet his entire approval. He +had no objection to the principle involved, but thought it ill- +timed and premature,--more likely to produce harm than good. He +believed that it would prove _brutum fulmen_ in the rebellious +States, and a source of injury to the Union cause in the Border +slave States. From the outbreak of hostilities, Mr. Lincoln regarded +the position of those States as the key to the situation, and every +thing which tended to weaken their loyalty as a blow struck directly +and with fearful power against the Union. He could not however +veto the bill, because that would be equivalent to declaring that +the Confederate army might have the full benefit of the slave +population as a military force. What he desired was that Congress +should wait on his recommendations in regard to the question of +Slavery. He felt assured that he could see the whole field more +clearly; that, above all, he knew the time and the method for that +form of intervention which would smite the States in rebellion and +not alienate the slave States which still adhered to the Union. + +The rapidity with which business was dispatched at this session +gave little opportunity for any form of debate except that which +was absolutely necessary in the explanation of measures. Active +interest in the House centred around the obstructive and disloyal +course of Mr. Vallandigham of Ohio and Mr. Burnett of Kentucky. +Still greater interest attached to the course of Mr. Breckinridge +in the Senate. He had returned to Washington under a cloud of +suspicion. He was thoroughly distrusted by the Union men of +Kentucky, who had in the popular election won a noble victory over +the foes of the National Government, of whom Mr. Breckinridge had +been reckoned chief. No overt act of treason could be charged +against him, but the prevalent belief was that his sympathies were +wholly with the government at Richmond. He opposed every act +designed to strengthen the Union, and continually found fault with +the attitude and with the intentions of the National Government. +He was considered by many to be in Washington only that he might +the more efficiently aid the cause of the Confederacy. During the +consideration of "a bill to suppress insurrection and sedition," +a debate arose between Mr. Breckinridge and Mr. Baker, the new +senator from Oregon, which fixed the attention of the country upon +the former, and subjected him to general condemnation in the Loyal +States. + + BRECKINRIDGE AND BAKER DISCUSSION. + +The Oregon senator, with his ardent nature, and his impulse to take +part in every conflict, had raised a regiment of volunteers +principally composed of men from the Pacific coast. It was known +as the California Regiment, and was encamped near Washington.**** On +the 1st of August, while performing the double and somewhat anomalous +duty of commanding his regiment and representing Oregon in the +Senate, Mr. Baker entered the chamber in the full uniform of a +Colonel in the United-States army. He laid his sword upon his desk +and sat for some time listening to the debate. He was evidently +impressed by the scene of which he was himself a conspicuous feature. +Breckinridge took the floor shortly after Baker appeared, and made +a speech, of which it is fair criticism to say that it reflected +in all respects the views held by the members of the Confederate +Congress then in session at Richmond. Colonel Baker evidently grew +restive under the words of Mr. Breckinridge. His face was aglow +with excitement, and he sprang to the floor when the senator from +Kentucky took his seat. His reply, abounding in denunciation and +invective, was not lacking in the more solid and convincing argument. +He rapidly reviewed the situation, depicted the character of the +Rebellion, described the position of Breckinridge, and passionately +asked, "What would have been thought, if, in another Capitol, in +a yet more martial age, a senator, with the Roman purple flowing +from his shoulders, had risen in his place, surrounded by all the +illustrations of Roman glory, and declared that advancing Hannibal +was just, and that Carthage should be dealt with on terms of peace? +What would have been thought, if, after the battle of Cannae, a +senator had denounced every levy of the Roman people, every +expenditure of its treasure, every appeal to the old recollections +and the old glories?" + +Mr. Fessenden, who sat near Baker, responded in an undertone "He +would have been hurled from the Tarpeian Rock." Baker, with his +aptness and readiness, turned the interruption to still further +indictment of Breckinridge: "Are not the speeches of the senator +from Kentucky," he asked, "intended for disorganization? are they +not intended to destroy our zeal? are they not intended to animate +our enemies? Sir, are they not words of brilliant, polished +_treason_, even in the very Capitol of the Republic?" + +It is impossible to realize the effect of the words so eloquently +pronounced by the Oregon senator. In the history of the Senate, +no more thrilling speech was ever delivered. The striking appearance +of the speaker in the uniform of a soldier, his superb voice, his +graceful manner, all united to give to the occasion an extraordinary +interest and attraction. + +The reply of Mr. Breckinridge was tame and ineffective. He did +not repel the fierce characterizations with which Colonel Baker +had overwhelmed him. He did not stop to resent them, though he +was a man of unquestioned courage. One incident of his speech was +grotesquely amusing. He was under the impression that the suggestion +in regard to the Tarpeian Rock had been made by Mr. Sumner, and he +proceeded to denounce the senator from Massachusetts with bitter +indignation. Mr. Sumner looked surprised, but having become +accustomed to abuse from the South, said nothing. When next day +it was shown by the _Globe_ that Mr. Fessenden was the offender, +Mr. Breckinridge neither apologized to Mr. Sumner, nor attacked +the senator from Maine. The first was manifestly his duty. From +the second he excused himself for obvious reasons. After his +experience with Baker, Breckinridge evidently did not court a +conflict with Fessenden. + +The course of Mr. Breckinridge was in direct hostility to the +prevailing opinion of his State. The Legislature of Kentucky passed +a resolution asking that he and his colleague, Lazarus W. Powell, +should resign their seats, and, in the event of refusal, that the +Senate would investigate their conduct, and, if it were found to +be disloyal, expel them. Mr. Breckinridge did not wait for such +an investigation. In the autumn of 1861 he joined the Rebellion, +and was welcomed by the leaders and the people of the Confederacy +with extravagant enthusiasm. His espousal of their cause was +considered by them to be as great an acquisition as if a fresh army +corps had been mustered into their service. His act called forth +the most bitter denunciation throughout the North, and among the +loyal people of Kentucky. He had not the excuse pleaded by so many +men of the South, that he must abide by the fortunes of his States, +and the worst interpretation was placed upon his presence at the +July session of Congress. + +Among the earliest acts at the next session was the expulsion of +Mr. Breckinridge from the Senate. It was done in a manner which +marked the full strength of the popular disapprobation of his +course. The senators from the rebellious States had all been +expelled at the July session, but without the application of an +opprobrious epithet. There had also been a debate as to whether +expulsion of the persona, or a mere declaration that the seats were +vacant, were the proper course to be pursued by the Senate. Andrew +Johnson maintained the latter, and all the Democratic senators, +except McDougall of California, voted with him. But in the case +of Mr. Breckinridge there was not a negative vote--his own colleague +Powell remaining silent in his seat while five Democratic senators +joined in the vote for his expulsion. The resolution, draughted +by Mr. Trumbull, was made as offensive as possible, curtly declaring +that "John C. Breckinridge, the traitor, be and is hereby expelled +from the Senate." + +The mutation of public opinion is striking. Mr. Breckinridge lived +to become a popular idol in Kentucky. Long before his death (which +occurred in 1875 in his fifty-fourth year) he could have had any +position in the gift of his State. If his political disabilities +could have been removed, he would undoubtedly have returned to the +Senate. His support did not come solely from those who had +sympathized with the South, but included thousands who had been +loyally devoted to the Union. He possessed a strange, fascinating +power over the people of Kentucky,--as great as that which had been +wielded by Mr. Clay, though he was far below Mr. Clay in intellectual +endowment. No man gave up more than he when he united his fortunes +with the seceding States. It was his sense of personal fidelity +to the Southern men who had been faithful to him, that blinded him +to the higher obligation of fidelity to country, and to the higher +appreciation of self-interest which is inseparably bound up with +duty. He wrecked a great career. He embittered and shortened a +life originally devoted to noble aims, and in its darkest shadows +filled with generous impulses. + +The original aim of Kentucky was to preserve a position of neutrality +in the impending contest was found to be impracticable. The +Confederates were the first to violate it, by occupying that section +of the State bordering upon the Mississippi River with a considerable +force under the command of General Polk, the Episcopal Bishop of +Louisiana. This was on the 4th of September. Two days later the +Colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers, who was in command +at Cairo, took possession of Paducah. It was the first important +step in a military career which fills the most brilliant pages in +the military annals of our country. The name of the Illinois +Colonel was Ulysses S. Grant. + + + EFFECT OF REBEL VICTORY AT BULL RUN. + +The Confederate victory at Bull Run produced great effect throughout +the South. The fall of Sumter had been a signal encouragement to +those who had joined the revolt against the Union, but as no blood +had been spilled, and as the garrison had been starved out rather +than shelled out, there was a limit to enthusiasm over the result. +But now a pitched battle had been fought within cannon sound of +the National Capital, and the forces of the Union had been put to +flight. Jefferson Davis had come from Richmond during the battle, +and telegraphed to the Confederate Congress that the night had +"closed upon a hard-fought field," but that the enemy were routed, +and had "precipitately fled, abandoning a large amount of arms, +knapsacks, and baggage;" that "too high praise cannot be bestowed +upon the skill of the Confederate officers or the gallantry of all +their troops;" that "the Confederate force was fifteen thousand, +and the Union army was thirty-five thousand." He evidently knew +the effect which these figures would have upon the pride of the +South, and he did not at the moment stop to verify his statements. +The actual force under McDowell was much less, that under Beauregard +much greater, than Mr. Davis stated. McDowell was certainly +outnumbered after General Johnston's army arrived on the field. +If General Patterson, who was in command in the Shenandoah Valley, +had been able to engage or detain Johnston, the fate of the day +might have been different. But Johnston outgeneraled Patterson, +and achieved what military genius always does,--he had his force +in the right place at the right time. + +The effect of the Rebel victory at Bull Run was at once visible in +the rigorous policy adopted by the Confederate Government. The +people of the Confederacy knew that their numbers were less than +those of the Union, but Jefferson Davis had in effect told them +that fifteen Southern men might be relied upon to put to flight +thirty-five Northern men, and on this ratio they felt equal to the +contest. The Congress at Richmond went to every extreme in their +legislation. A fortnight after the battle they passed "an Act +respecting alien enemies," "warning and requiring every male citizen +of the United States, fourteen years old and upwards, to depart +from the Confederate States within forty days from the date of the +President's Proclamation," which was issued on the 14th of August. +Those only could remain who intended to become citizens of the +Confederacy. With the obvious design of avoiding every thing which +could chill the sympathy with the Confederacy so largely prevailing +in the Border States, the Proclamation excepted from its operation +the States of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, the District +of Columbia, the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and the Indian +Territory. This was a manifest declaration of what they expected +to include in the Confederacy when the National Government should +finally surrender. Wherever a slave was held, the Confederate +leaders adjudged the people to be their friends and their future +allies. + + CONFEDERATE CONFISCATION BILL. + +This warning to alien enemies could not however be regarded as a +measure of special harshness, or one beyond the fair exercise of +the war power. But the next step was of a different nature. A +law was enacted sequestrating "the estates, property, and effects +of alien enemies." Mr. Judah P. Benjamin, who was at the time +Attorney-General of the Confederate Government, proceeded to enforce +the Act with utmost rigidity. The exception of the Border States +and Territories, already noted, was also made under this law, but +towards the citizens of States of unquestioned loyalty no mercy +was shown. A close search was instituted by Mr. Benjamin, in which +agents, former partners, attorneys, trustees, and all who might +have the slightest knowledge of a piece of property within the +limits of the Confederacy, belonging to a loyal citizen of the +United States, were compelled to give information under penalty of +a fine which might be as high as five thousand dollars, and +imprisonment which might last for six months. They were forced to +tell of any lands, chattels, rights, interests, an alien enemy +might have, and also of any debts which might be due to an alien +enemy. Mr. Benjamin's letter of instruction included among alien +enemies all "subjects of Great Britain, France, or other neutral +nations, who have a domicile or are carrying on business or traffic +within the States at war with the Confederacy." It was a scheme +of wholesale, cruel confiscation of the property of innocent persons, +and the most ingenious lawyer of the Confederacy was selected to +enforce it by inquisitorial processes which disregarded the confidence +of friendship, the ties of blood, and the loyalty of affection. + +The National legislation had given no precedent or warrant for +proceedings so harsh. At the extra session there had been no +attempt at the confiscation of any property except that directly +used in aid of the insurrection. Slaves were added to his class +only after it was learned that they were thus employed by the +Confederates. Not only therefore did the Confederacy introduce +slaves as a component element of the military force, but it resorted +to confiscation of a cruel and rigorous type as one of the sources +of financial strength. If the Confederate authorities had not thus +set the example, it would have been difficult, perhaps impracticable, +to induce Congress to entertain such a line of policy. Many were +in favor of it from the first, but so many were against it that +the precedent thus established by the Confederacy was not only an +irresistible temptation but a justifying cause for lines of National +policy which were afterwards complained of as unusual and +oppressive. + +[* NOTE.--The following is a complete list of the Senators who served +in the Thirty-seventh Congress. Republicans in Roman, Democrats +in Italic, American or Old-Line Whigs in small capitals. + +CALIFORNIA.--_Milton S. Latham; James A. McDougall._ +CONNECTICUT.--James Dixon; Lafayette S. Foster. +DELAWARE.--_James A. Bayard; Willard Saulsbury._ +ILLINOIS.--_Stephen A. Douglas_, died June 3, 1861; Lyman Trumbull; + Orville H. Browning, appointed in place of Douglas; _William A. + Richardson_, elected in place of Douglas. +INDIANA.--_Jesse D. Bright_, expelled Feb. 5, 1862; Henry S. Lane; + Joseph A. Wright, appointed in place of Bright; _David Turpie_, + elected in place of Bright. +IOWA.--James W. Grimes; James Harlan. +KANSAS.--James H. Lane; Samuel C. Pomeroy. +KENTUCKY.--_Lazarus W. Powell; James C. Breckinridge_, expelled + Dec. 4, 1861; GARRETT DAVIS, elected in place of Breckinridge. +MAINE.--Lot M. Morrill; William Pitt Fessenden. +MARYLAND.--ANTHONY KENNEDY; JAMES A. PEARCE, died Dec. 30, 1862; + Thomas H. Hicks, elected in place of Pearce. +MASSACHUSETTS.--Charles Sumner; Henry Wilson. +MICHIGAN.--Zachariah Chandler; Kinsley S. Bingham, died Oct. 5, + 1861; Jacob M. Howard, elected in place of Bingham. +MINNESOTA.--Morton S. Wilkinson; _Henry M. Rice_. +MISSOURI.--_Trusten Polk_, expelled Jan. 10, 1862; John B. Henderson, + appointed in place of Polk; _Waldo P. Johnson_, expelled Jan. 10, + 1862; _Robert Wilson_, appointed in place of Johnson. +NEW HAMPSHIRE.--John P. Hale; Daniel Clark. +NEW JERSEY.--_John R. Thomson_, died Sept. 12, 1862; John C. Ten + Eyck; Richard S. Field, appointed in place of Thomson; _James W. + Wall_, elected in place of Thomson. +NEW YORK.--Preston King; Ira Harris. +OHIO.--Benjamin F. Wade; Salmon P. Chase, resigned March 5, 1861, + to become Secretary of Treasury; John Sherman, elected in place of + Chase. +PENNSYLVANIA.--David Wilmot, elected in place of Cameron; Edgar + Cowan; Simon Cameron, resigned March 5, 1861. +RHODE ISLAND.--James F. Simmons, resigned December, 1862; Henry B. + Anthony; Samuel G. Arnold, elected in place of Simmons. +TENNESSEE.--Andrew Johnson, resigned March 4, 1862, to be military + governor of Tennessee. +VERMONT.--Solomon Foot; Jacob Collamer. +VIRGINIA.--Waitman T. Willey; John S. Carlile. +WISCONSIN.--James R. Doolittle; Timothy O. Howe.] + +[** An anachronism occurs in stating that Senator Baker of Oregon +had witnessed as a child the funeral pageant of Lord Nelson. He +was not born for five years after Lord Nelson fell. The error was +taken from a eulogy pronounced on Senator Baker after his death. +The occurrence referred to was doubtless some one of the many +military pageants in London at the close of the Napoleonic wars.] + +[*** NOTE.--The following is a list of Representatives in the Thirty- +seventh Congress. Republicans are given in Roman, Democrats in +Italic, American or Old-Line Whigs in small capitals. + +CALIFORNIA.--Aaron A. Sargent; Frederick F. Low; Timothy G. Phelps. +CONNECTICUT.--Dwight Loomis; _James E. English; George C. Woodruff_; + Alfred A. Burnham. +DELAWARE.--George P. Fisher. +ILLINOIS.--Eilhu B. Washburne; Isaac N. Arnold; Owen Lovejoy; + William Kellogg; _William A. Richardson_, elected Senator; _John + A. McClernand_, resigned 1861 to enter the army; _James C. Robinson; + Philip B. Fouke; John A. Logan_, resigned 1861 to enter the army; + _William J. Allen_, elected in place of Logan; _Anthony L. Knapp_, + elected in place of McClernand. +INDIANA.--_John Law; James A. Cravens; William S. Holman_; George + W. Julian; Albert G. Porter; _Daniel W. Voorhees_; Albert S. White; + Schuyler Colfax; William Mitchell; John P. C. Shanks; W. McKee Dunn. +IOWA.--Samuel R. Curtis, resigned Aug. 4, 1861, to enter the army; + William Vandever; James F. Wilson, elected in place of Curtis. +KANSAS.--Martin F. Conway. +KENTUCKY.--_Henry C. Burnett_, expelled Dec. 3, 1861; JAMES S. + JACKSON, died in 1862; HENRY GRIDER; _Aaron Harding; Charles A. + Wickliffe_; GEORGE W. DUNLAP; ROBERT MALLORY; _John W. Menzies_; + SAMUEL L. CASEY, elected in place of Burnett; WILLIAM H. WADSWORTH; + JOHN J. CRITTENDEN; GEORGE H. YEAMAN, elected in place of Jackson. +LOUISIANA.--BENJAMIN F. FLANDERS, seated in February, 1863; MICHAEL + HAHN, seated in February, 1863. +MAINE.--John N. Goodwin; Charles W. Walton, resigned May 26, 1862; + Samuel C. Fessenden; Anson P. Morrill; John H. Rice; Frederick A. + Pike; Thomas A. D. Fessenden, elected in place of Walton. +MARYLAND.--JOHN W. CRISFIELD; EDWIN H. WEBSTER; _Cornelius L. L. + Learly_; FRANCIS THOMAS; CHARLES B. CALVERT; _Henry May_. +MASSACHUSETTS.--Thomas D. Eliot; James Buffington; Benjamin F. + Thomas; Alexander H. Rice; William Appleton, resigned in 1861; John + B. Alley; Daniel W. Gooch; Charles R. Train; Goldsmith F. Bailey, + died May 8, 1862; Charles Delano; Henry L. Dawes; Samuel Hooper, + elected in place of Appleton; Amasa Walker, elected in place of + Bailey. +MICHIGAN.--Bradley F. Granger; Fernando C. Beaman; Francis W. + Kellogg; Rowland E. Trowbridge. +MINNESOTA.--Cyrus Aldrich; William Windom. +MISSOURI.--Francis P. Blair, Jr., resigned in 1862; JAMES S. ROLLINS; + _Elijah H. Norton; John W. Reid_, expelled Dec. 2, 1861; _John W. + Noell; John S. Phelps; William A. Hall; Thomas L. Price_, elected + in place of Reid. +NEW HAMPSHIRE.--Gilman Marston; Edward H. Rollins; Thomas M. + Edwards. +NEW JERSEY.--John T. Nixon; John L. N. Stratton; _William G. Steele; + George T. Cobb; Nehemiah Perry_. +NEW YORK.--E. Henry Smith; MOSES F. ODELL; _Benjamin Wood_; William + Wall; Frederick A. Conkling; _Elijah Ward; Edward Haight_; Charles + H. Van Wyck; _John B. Steele_; Stephen Baker; Abraham B. Olin; + James B. McKean; William A. Wheeler; Scorates N. Sherman; _Chauncey + Vibbard_; Richard Franchot; Roscoe Conkling; R. Holland Duell; + William E. Lansing; Ambrose W. Clark; Charles B. Sedgwick; Theodore + M. Pomeroy; John P. Chamberlain; Alexander S. Diven; Robert B. Van + Valkenburgh; Alfred Ely; Augustus Frank; Burt Van Horn; Elbridge + G. Spaulding; Reuben E. Fenton; _Erastus Corning; James E. Kerrigan_; + Isaac C. Delaplaine. +OHIO.--_George H. Pendleton_; John A. Gurley; _Clement L. Vallandigham; + William Allen_; James M. Ashley; _Chilton A. White_; Richard A. + Harrison; Samuel Shellabarger; _Warren P. Noble_; Carey A. Trimble; + Valentine B. Horton; _Samuel S. Cox_; Samuel T. Worcester; Harrison + G. Blake; William P. Cutler; _James R. Morris_; Sidney Edgerton; + Albert G. Riddle; John Hutchins; John A. Bingham; _R. H. Nugen_. +OREGON.--_George K. Shiel_. +PENNSYLVANIA.--_William E. Lehman_; John P. Verree; William D. + Kelley; William M. Davis; John Hickman; _Thomas B. Cooper_, died + April 4, 1862; _John D. Stiles_, elected in place of Cooper, + deceased; _Sydenham E. Ancona_; Thaddeus Stevens; John W. Killinger; + James H. Campbell; _Hendrick R. Wright_; Philip Johnson; Galusha + A. Grow, Speaker; James T. Hale; _Joseph Bailey_; Edward McPherson; + Samuel S. Blair; John Covode; _Jesse Lazear_; James K. Moorhead; + Robert McKnight; John W. Wallace; John Patton; Elijah Babbitt; + _Charles J. Biddle_. +RHODE ISLAND.--William P. Sheffield; George H. Browne. +TENNESSEE.--GEORGE W. BRIDGES; ANDREW J. CLEMENTS; HORACE MAYNARD. +VERMONT.--Portus Baxter; Justin S. Morrill; Ezekiel P. Walton. +VIRGINIA.--Jacob B. Blair, elected in place of Carlile; William G. + Brown, John S. Carlile, elected Senator July, 1861; Joseph E. Segar; + Charles H. Upton; Kililan V. Whaley. +WISCONSIN.--Luther Hanchett, died Nov. 24, 1862; Walter D. McIndoe, + elected in place of Hanchett; John F. Potter; A. Scott Sloan. + +_Territorial Delegates_.--Colorado, Hiram P. Bennett; Dakota, John + B. S. Todd; Nebraska, Samuel G. Daily; Nevada, John Cradlebaugh; + New-Mexico, John S. Watts; Utah, John M. Bernhisel; Washington, + William H. Wallace.] + +[**** It should be stated that the so-called "California" regiment +of Colonel Baker was recruited principally in Philadelphia from +the young men of that city.] + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Second Session of Thirty-seventh Congress.--The Military Situation. +--Disaster at Ball's Bluff.--Death of Colonel E. D. Baker.--The +President's Message.--Capital and Labor.--Their Relation discussed +by the President.--Agitation of the Slavery Question.--The House +refuses to re-affirm the Crittenden Resolution.--Secretary Cameron +resigns.--Sent on Russian Mission.--Succeeded by Edwin M. Stanton. +--His Vigorous War Measures.--Victories in the Field.--Battle of +Mill Spring.--General Order of the President for a Forward Movement. +--Capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson.--Prestige and Popularity +of General Grant.--Illinois Troops.--General Burnside's Victory in +North Carolina.--Effect of the Victories upon the Country.--Continued +Success for the Union in the South-West.--Proposed Celebration.-- +The Monitor and the Merrimac.--Ericsson.--Worden.--Capture of New +Orleans by Farragut.--The Navy.--Its Sudden and Great Popularity. +--Legislation in its Favor.--Battle of Shiloh.--Anxiety in the +North.--Death of Albert Sidney Johnston.--General Halleck takes +the Field.--Military Situation in the East.--The President and +General McClellan.--The Peninsular Campaign.--Stonewall Jackson's +Raid.--Its Disastrous Effect.--Fear for Safety of Washington.--Anti- +Slavery Legislation.--District of Columbia.--Compensated Emancipation. +--Colonization.--Confiscation.--Punishment of Treason. + +The first session of the Thirty-seventh Congress came to an end +amid the deep gloom caused by the disastrous defeat at Bull Run. +The second session opened in December, 1861, under the shadow of +a grave disaster at Ball's Bluff, in which the eloquent senator +from Oregon, Edward D. Baker, lost his life. Despite these reverses +the patriotic spirit of the country had constantly risen, and had +increased the Union forces until the army was six hundred thousand +strong. Winfield Scott had gone upon the retired list at the ripe +age of seventy-five, and George B. McClellan had succeeded him in +command of the army. The military achievements thus far had been +scarcely more then defensive. The National Capital had been +fortified; Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri had been +wrenched from rebel domination; while on our Southern coast two +landings had been effected by the Union troops,--the first at +Hatteras in North Carolina, the second at Port Royal in South +Carolina. There was serious danger of a division of popular +sentiment in the North growing out of the Slavery question; there +was grave apprehension of foreign intervention from the arrest of +Mason and Slidell. The war was in its eighth month; and, strong +and energetic as the Northern people felt, it cannot be denied that +a confidence in ultimate triumph had become dangerously developed +throughout the South. + + THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE, 1861. + +The message of Mr. Lincoln dealt with the situation in perfect +candor. He did not attempt to withhold any thing or to color any +thing. He frankly acknowledged that "our intercourse with foreign +nations had been attended with profound solicitude." He recognized +that "a nation which endured factious domestic division is exposed +to disrespect abroad; and one party, if not both, is sure, sooner +or later, to invoke foreign intervention." With his peculiar power +of condensing a severe expression, he said that "the disloyal +citizens of the United States have offered the ruin of our country +in return for the aid and comfort which they have invoked abroad." +This offer was made on the presumption that some commercial or +substantial gain would accrue to other nations from the destruction +of the Republic; but Mr. Lincoln believed with confidence that +"foreign governments would not in the end fail to perceive that +one strong nation promises more durable peace, and a more extensive, +valuable, and reliable commerce, than can the same nation broken +into hostile fragments," and for this reason he believed that the +rebel leaders had received from abroad "less patronage and +encouragement than they probably expected." + +The President dwelt with satisfaction upon the condition of the +Border States, concerning whose course he had constantly exhibited +the profoundest solicitude. He now informed Congress that "noble +little Delaware led off right, from the first," and that Maryland, +which had been "made to seem against the Union," had given "seven +regiments to the loyal cause, and none to the enemy, and her people, +at a regular election, have sustained the Union by a larger majority +and a larger aggregate vote than they ever before gave to any +candidate on any question." Kentucky, concerning which his anxiety +had been deepest, was now decidedly, and, as he thought, "unchangeably, +ranged on the side of the Union." Missouri he announced as +comparatively quiet, and he did not believe she could be again +overrun by the insurrectionists. These Border slave States, none +of which "would promise a single soldier at first, have now an +aggregate of not less than forty thousand in the field for the +Union; while of their citizens certainly not more than a third of +that number, and they of doubtful whereabouts and doubtful existence, +are in arms against it." Beyond these results the President had +some "general accounts of popular movements in behalf of the Union +in North Carolina and Tennessee," and he expressed his belief that +"the cause of the Union is advancing steadily and certainly +Southward." + +The one marked change in the popular opinion of the free States, +now reflected in Congress, was in respect to the mode of dealing +with Slavery. Mr. Lincoln was conservative, and always desired to +keep somewhat in the rear rather than too far in advance of the +public judgment. In his message he avoided all direct expression +upon the Slavery question, but with the peculiar shrewdness which +characterized his political discussion he announced a series of +general truths respecting labor and capital which, in effect, were +deadly hostile to the institution. He directed attention to the +fact the "the insurrection is largely if not exclusively a war upon +the first principle of popular government--the rights of the people." +Conclusive evidence of this appeared in "the maturely considered +public documents as well as in the general tone of the insurgents." +He discerned a disposition to abridge the right of suffrage and to +deny to the people the "right to participate in the selection of +public officers except those of the Legislature." He found indeed +that "monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge +from the power of the people." While he did not think it fitting +to make "a general argument in favor of popular institutions," he +felt that he should scarcely be justified were he "to omit raising +a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism." It +was, he said, "the effort to place capital on an equal footing +with, if not above, labor in the structure of government," and it +assumed "that labor is available only in connection with capital; +that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow +by the use of it induces him to labor." + + THE PRESIDENT'S ANTI-SLAVERY ARGUMENT. + +Mr. Lincoln found that the next step in this line of argument raised +the question, "whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, +and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them, +and drive them to it without their consent?" thus leading to the +conclusion that "all laborers are either hired laborers or what we +call slaves," and that "whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed +in that condition for life." From all these theories Mr. Lincoln +radically dissented, and maintained that "labor is the superior of +capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." "No men +living," said he, "are more worthy to be trusted than those who +toil up from poverty--none less inclined to take or touch aught +which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering +a political power which they already possess, and which, if +surrendered, will surely be used to close the door of advancement, +and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them till all of +liberty shall be lost." If Mr. Lincoln had directly attempted at +that early stage of the contest to persuade the laboring men of +the North that it was best for them to aid in abolishing Slavery, +he would have seriously abridged the popularity of his administration. +He pursued the wiser course of showing that the spirit of the +Southern insurrection was hostile to all free labor, and that in +its triumph not merely the independence of the laborer but his +right of self-defense, as conferred by suffrage, would be imperiled +if not destroyed. Until the discussion reached the higher plane +on which Mr. Lincoln placed it, the free laborer in the North was +disposed to regard a general emancipation of the slaves as tending +to reduce his own wages, and as subjecting him to the disadvantage +of an odious contest for precedence of race. The masses in the +North had united with the Republican party in excluding Slavery +from the Territories because the larger the area in which free +labor was demanded the better and more certain was the remuneration. +But against a general emancipation Mr. Lincoln was quick to see +that white laborers might be readily prejudiced by superficial +reasoning, and hence he adduced the broader argument which appealed +at once to their humanity, to their sense of manly independence, +and to their instinct of self-preservation against the mastery and +the oppression of capital. + +The agitation of the Slavery question, while unavoidable, was +nevertheless attended with serious embarrassments to the Union +cause. The great outburst of patriotism which followed the fall +of Sumter contemplated a rally of the entire North for the defense +of the Flag and the preservation of the Union. Neither political +party was to take advantage of the situation, but all alike were +to share in the responsibility and in the credit of maintaining +the government inviolate. Every month however had demonstrated +more and more that to preserve the government without interfering +with Slavery would be impossible; and as this fact became clearly +evident to the Republican vision, a large section of the Democratic +party obdurately refused to acknowledge it or to consent to the +measures which it suggested. It was apparent therefore within the +first six months of the struggle that a division would come in the +North, which would be of incalculable advantage to the insurrectionists, +and that if the division should go far enough it would insure +victory to the Confederate cause. If the Democratic party as a +whole had in the autumn of the year 1861 taken the ground which a +considerable section of it assumed, it would have been impossible +to conduct the war for the Union successfully. Great credit +therefore was due and was cordially given to the large element in +that party which was ready to brave all the opprobrium of their +fellow-partisans and to accept the full responsibility of co- +operating with the Republicans in war measures. + +Congress had hardly come together when the change of opinion and +action upon the Slavery question became apparent. Mr. Holman of +Indiana, reciting the Crittenden resolution which had been passed +the preceding session with only two adverse votes, offered a +resolution that its principles "be solemnly re-affirmed by this +House." Objection was made by several members. Mr. Thaddeus +Stevens moved to lay the resolution on the table, and the motion +prevailed on a yea and nay vote by 71 to 65. The majority were +all Republicans. The minority was principally made up of Democrats, +but Republicans as conspicuous as Mr. Dawes of Massachusetts and +Mr. Shellabarger of Ohio voted in the negative. The wide divergence +between this action on the part of the Republicans on the third +day of December, 1861, and that which they had taken on the preceding +22d of July, was recognized and appreciated by the country, and +thus began the open division on the Slavery question which continually +widened, which consolidated the Republican party in support of the +most radical measures, and which steadily tended to weaken the +Democratic party in the loyal States. + + + SECRETARY CAMERON RESIGNS. + +At the height of the excitement in Congress over the engagement at +Ball's Bluff there was a change in the head of the War Department. +The disasters in the field and the general impatience for more +decisive movements on the part of our armies led to the resignation +of Secretary Cameron. He was in his sixty-third year, and though +of unusual vigor for his age, was not adapted by education or habit +to the persistent and patient toil, to the wearisome detail of +organization, to the oppressive increase of responsibility, +necessarily incident to military operations of such vast proportions +as were entailed by the progress of the war. He was nominated as +Minister to Russia, and on the eleventh day of January, 1862, was +succeeded in the War Department by Edwin M. Stanton. + +Mr. Stanton signalized his entrance upon duty by extraordinary +vigor in war measures, and had the good fortune to gain credit for +many successes which were the result of arrangements in progress +and nearly perfected under his predecessor. A week after he was +sworn in, an important victory was won at Mill Springs, Kentucky, +by General George H. Thomas. The Confederate commander, General +Zollicoffer, was killed, and a very decisive check was put to a +new development of Secession sympathy which was foreshadowed in +Kentucky. A few days later, on the 27th of January, under the +inspiration of Mr. Stanton, the President issued a somewhat remarkable +order commanding "a general movement of the land and naval forces +of the United States against the insurgent forces on the 22d of +February." He especially directed that the army at and about +Fortress Monroe, the Army of the Potomac, the Army of Western +Virginia, the army near Munfordsville, Kentucky, the army and +flotilla at Cairo, and the naval force in the Gulf of Mexico be +ready for a movement on that day. The order did not mean what was +stated on its face. It was evidently intended to mislead somebody. + +The Illinois colonel who had taken possession of Paducah in the +preceding September was now known as Brigadier-General Grant. He +had been made prominent by a daring fight at Belmont, Missouri, on +the 7th of November (1861) against a largely superior force under +the command of the Confederate General Pillow. For the numbers +engaged it was one of the most sanguinary conflicts of the war. +The quarter-master of the expedition intimated to General Grant +that in case of a reverse he had but two small steamers for transportation +to the Illinois shore. The General's only reply was that in the +event of his defeat "the steamers would hold all that would be +left." He was now in command at Cairo, and co-operating with him +was a flotilla of hastily constructed gunboats under the command +of Flag-officer A. H. Foote of the navy. General Grant evidently +interpreted Mr. Lincoln's order to mean that he need not wait until +the 22d, and he began his movement of the first day of February. +By the 16th he had captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. The +flotilla had been more active than the troops, against Fort Henry, +which was speedily evacuated, but Fort Donelson did not surrender +until after a hard-fought land battle in which the characteristic +tenacity, skill, and bravery of General Grant were for the first +time fully shown to the country. "The victory achieved," he +announced in his congratulatory order to the troops, "is not only +great in the effect it will have in breaking down the rebellion, +but has secured the greatest number of prisoners of war ever taken +in a single battle on this continent." The number of prisoners +exceeded ten thousand; forty pieces of cannon and extensive magazines +of ordnance with military stores of all kinds were captured. The +Confederate commander was General S. B. Buckner, who had joined +the rebellion under circumstances which gained him much ill will +in the Loyal States. Under a flag of truce he asked General Grant +on the morning of the 16th for an armistice to "settle the terms +of capitulation." General Grant's answer was, "No terms except +unconditional surrender can be accepted. I propose to move +immediately on your works." General Buckner felt himself "compelled +to accept the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms" which General +Grant proposed. It is due to General Buckner to say that he had +been left in a humiliating position. The two generals who ranked +him, Gideon J. Pillow and John B. Floyd, seeing the inevitable, +had escaped from the fort the preceding night with five thousand +men, leaving to Buckner the mortification of surrender. In view +of this fact the use of the term "unchivalrous" by the Confederate +commander can be justly appreciated. + + VICTORY AT FORT DONELSON. + +The effect of the victory upon the country was electric. The public +joy was unbounded. General Grant had become in a day the hero of +the war. His fame was on every tongue. The initials of his name +were seized upon by the people for rallying-cries of patriotism, +and were woven into songs for the street and for the camp. He was +"Unconditional Surrender," he was "United States," he was "Uncle +Sam." Not himself only but his State was glorified. It was an +Illinois victory. No less than thirty regiments from that State +were in General Grant's command, and they had all won great credit. +This fact was especially pleasing to Mr. Lincoln. Indiana, Iowa, +Missouri, and Kentucky were all gallantly represented on the field, +but the prestige of the day belonged to Illinois. Many of her +public men, prominent in political life before and since the war, +were in command of regiments. The moral force of the victory was +increased by the fact that so large a proportion of these prominent +officers had been, like General Grant, connected with the Democratic +party,--thus adding demonstration to assurance that it was an +uprising of a people in defense of their government, and not merely +the work of a political party seeking to extirpate slavery. John +A. Logan, Richard J. Oglesby, William R. Morrison, and William Pitt +Kellogg were among the Illinois officers who shared in the renown +of the victory. General Lewis Wallace commanded a division made +up of Indiana and Kentucky troops, and was honorably prominent. +The total force under General Grant was nearly fifty regiments, +furnishing about twenty-eight thousand men for duty. They had +captured the strongest Confederate intrenchment in the West, manned +by nearly seventeen thousand men. The defeat was a great mortification +to Jefferson Davis. He communicated intelligence of the disaster +to the Confederate Congress in a curt message in which he described +the official reports of the battle as "incomplete and unsatisfactory," +and stated that he had relieved Generals Floyd and Pillow from +command. + +Two important results followed the victory. The strong fortifications +erected at Columbus, Kentucky, to control the passage of the +Mississippi, were abandoned by the Confederates; and Nashville, +the capital of Tennessee, was surrendered to the Union army without +resistance. The Confederate force at the latter point was under +command of General Albert Sidney Johnston, who, unable to offer +battle, sullenly retreated southward. If the Confederate troops +had been withdrawn from Fort Donelson in season to effect a junction +with Johnston at Nashville, that able general might have delivered +battle there on terms possibly advantageous to his side. It was +this feature of the case which rendered the loss of Donelson so +serious and so exasperating to the Confederate Government, as shown +in the message of Jefferson Davis. + +Another victory for the Union was gained on the coast of North +Carolina under the joint efforts of the army and the navy. General +Burnside was in command of the former and Commodore Gouldsborough +of the latter. The battle of Roanoke Island was fought the day +after the capture of Fort Henry, and the Union victory led to a +lodgment of the national forces on the soil of North Carolina, +which was held firmly to the end. Events beyond the Mississippi +were also favorable to the National Government. General Sterling +Price had been the cause of much trouble in Missouri, where he was +personally popular. He had led many young men into rebellion, and +his efforts to carry the State into the Confederacy were energetic +and unremitting. He had been dominating a large section of Missouri +and creating grave apprehensions for its safety. On the 18th of +February General Halleck, who had succeeded General Frémont in the +command of the Western Department, telegraphed the Secretary of +War: "General Curtis has driven Price from Missouri, and is several +miles across the Arkansas line, cutting up Price's army and hourly +capturing prisoners and stores. The Army of the South-West is +doing its duty nobly. The flag of the Union is floating in +Arkansas." + +These victories coming almost simultaneously produced a profound +impression throughout the Loyal States. Men rushed to the conclusion +that the war would be closed and the Union restored before the end +of the year. The most sedate communities become mercurial and +impressible in time of deep excitement. The rejoicing was universal. +Congress ordered the illumination of the Capitol and other public +buildings in Washington on the 22d of February "in honor of the +recent victories of our army and navy;" and "as a mark of respect +to the memory of those who had been killed and in sympathy with +those who have been wounded" the House of Representatives on the +19th of February, on the motion of Mr. Washburne of Illinois, +adjourned without transacting business. The flags taken in the +recent victories were to be publicly exhibited, and a day of general +congratulation was to be associated with the memory of Washington +and "the triumph of the government which his valor and wisdom had +done so much to establish." In the midst of the arrangements for +this celebration, the members of the Cabinet jointly communicated +to Congress on the 21st of February the intelligence that "the +President of the United States is plunged into affliction by the +death of a beloved child." Congress immediately ordered that the +illumination of the public buildings be omitted, and "entertaining +the deepest sentiments of sympathy and condolence with the President +and his family," adjourned. The reading of Washington's Farewell +Address on the 22d, before the two Houses, was the only part +accomplished of the brilliant celebration that had been designed. + + THE MONITOR AND THE MERRIMAC. + +A fortnight later, on the 8th of March (1862), came the remarkable +engagement in Hampton Roads between the _Monitor_ and the _Merrimac_. +The former vessel arrived at Fortress Monroe after the _Merrimac_ +had destroyed the United-States sloop-of-war _Cumberland_ and the +frigate _Congress_, and had driven the steam-frigate _Minnesota_ +aground just as darkness put an end to the fight. On Sunday morning, +March 9, the _Merrimac_ renewed her attack upon the _Minnesota_, +and was completely surprised by the appearance of a small vessel +which, in the expressive description of the day, resembled a cheese- +box on a raft. She had arrived from New York at the close of the +first day's fight. From her turret began a furious cannonade which +not only diverted the attack from the _Minnesota_ but after a +ferocious contest of many hours practically destroyed the _Merrimac_, +which was compelled to seek the shelter of Confederate batteries +at Sewell's Point, and never re-appeared in service. The relief +to the North by this victory was incalculable. Not only had the +_Merrimac_ been stopped in her expected bombardment of Northern +cities, but the success of the _Monitor_ assured to the government +a class of armor-plated vessels that could be of great value in +the coast service to which our naval operations were principally +confined. Against land batteries they would prove especially +formidable. Ericsson who constructed the _Monitor_ and Lieutenant +Worden who commanded her, divided the honors, and were everywhere +regarded as having rendered an invaluable service to the country. +The modesty and heroism of Worden secured him an unbounded share +of popular admiration and respect. + +In the ensuing month of April the navy performed another great +service by the capture of New Orleans. The fleet was in command +of Captain Farragut, and successfully passed the fortifications +which had been erected by the National Government to prevent a +foreign foe from entering the Mississippi. New Orleans made no +resistance to the approach of the fleet, and General B. F. Butler, +in command of the Department of the Gulf, established his headquarters +in the city. The importance of this conquest to the Union cause +could hardly be estimated. It enabled the government to embarrass +the trans-Mississippi States in their support of the rebel army, +and thus inflicted a heavy blow upon the fortunes of the Confederacy. +New Orleans in the control of the National Government was easy to +defend, and it afforded a base of offensive operations in so many +directions that no amount of vigilance could anticipate the attacks +that might be made by the Union forces. + +Viewed in connection with the effective work of Flag-officer Foote +in supporting General Grant in the Henry and Donelson campaign, +and of Gouldsborough in supporting Burnside on the coast of North +Carolina, these later and greater achievements of the navy served +to raise that branch of the service in popular esteem. Besides +the intrinsic merit which attached to the victories, they had all +the advantage of a genuine surprise to the public. Little had been +expected from the navy in a contest where the field of operation +seemed so restricted. But now the people saw that the most important +post thus far wrenched from the Confederacy had been taken by the +navy, and that it was effectively sustaining and strengthening the +army at all points. It was no longer regarded as a mere blockading +force, but was menacing the coast of the Confederate States, +penetrating their rivers, and neutralizing the strength of thousands +of Rebel soldiers who were withdrawn from armies in the field to +man the fortifications rendered necessary by this unexpected form +of attack. These facts made a deep impression of Congress. Since +the close of the second war with Great Britain the navy had enjoyed +no opportunity for distinction. The war with Mexico was wholly a +contest on land, and for a period of forty-five years the navy of +the United States had not measured its strength with any foe. +Meanwhile however it had made great advance in the education and +training of its officers and in the general tone of the service. +Under the secretaryship of George Bancroft, the eminent historian, +(in the cabinet of Mr. Polk,) an academy had been established at +Annapolis for the scientific training of naval officers. By this +enlightened policy, inaugurated if not originally conceived by Mr. +Bancroft, naval officers had for the first time been placed on an +equal footing with the officers of the army who had long enjoyed +the advantages of the well-organized and efficient school at West +Point. The academy had borne fruit, and at the outbreak of the +war, the navy was filled with young officers carefully trained in +the duties of their profession, intelligent in affairs, and with +an _esprit de corps_ not surpassed in the service of any other +country. Their efficiency was supplemented by that of volunteer +officers in large numbers who came from the American merchant +marine, and who in all the duties of seamanship, in courage, +capacity, and patriotism, were the peers of any men who ever trod +a deck. + +Congress now realized that a re-organization of the naval service +was necessary, that the stimulus of promotion should be more +liberally used, the pride of rank more generously indulged. An +Act was therefore passed on the 16th of July greatly enlarging the +scope of the naval organization and advancing the rank of its +officers. Farragut had won his magnificent triumph at New Orleans +while holding the rank of captain,--the highest then known to our +service,--and Worden had achieved his great fame at Hampton Roads +with the commission of a lieutenant. David D. Porter, with no +higher rank, had been exercising commands which in any European +government would have been assigned to an admiral. Perhaps no navy +in the world had at that time abler officers than ours, while the +rank and emolument, except for the lowest grades, was shamefully +inadequate. The old navy had only the ranks of passed-midshipman, +lieutenant, commander, and captain. The new law gave nine grades, +--midshipman, ensign, master, lieutenant, lieutenant-commander, +commander, captain, commodore, and rear-admiral. The effect of +the increased rank was undoubtedly stimulating to the service and +valuable to the government. Two higher grades of vice-admiral and +admiral were subsequently added, and were filled by Farragut and +Porter to whom in the judgment of the Department special and emphatic +honor was due. The navy had conquered its own place in the public +regard, and had performed an inestimable service in the contest +against the rebellion. + + THE DESPERATE BATTLE OF SHILOH. + +The brilliant success in the early spring, both of the army and +navy, was unfortunately not continued in the subsequent months. +General Grant, after the fall of Nashville, marched southward to +confront the army of General A. S. Johnston, and on the 6th and +7th of April a terrible battle was fought at Pittsburg Landing on +the Tennessee River. The battle was originally called by that name +in the annals of the Union, but the title of "Shiloh" given to it +by the Confederate authorities, is the one more generally recognized +in history. In the first day's engagement the Union army narrowly +escaped a crushing defeat; but before the renewal of the contest +on the following morning General Buell effected a junction with +the forces of General Grant, and the two, united, recovered all +the lost ground of the day before and gained a substantial victory +for the Union, though at great cost of life. The Union army lost +some eighteen hundred men killed and nearly eight thousand wounded. +The Confederate loss was not less. There is no doubt that General +Grant was largely outnumbered on the first day, but after the +junction of Buell he probably outnumbered the Confederates. Sixty +thousand was perhaps the maximum of the Union forces on the second +day, while the Confederate army, as nearly as can be ascertained, +numbered fifty thousand. One great event of the battle was the +death of Albert Sidney Johnston, a soldier of marked skill, a man +of the highest personal character. Jefferson Davis made his death +the occasion of a special message to the Confederate Congress, in +which he said that "without doing injustice to the living, our loss +is irreparable." The personal affliction of Mr. Davis was sore. +The two had been at West Point together, and had been close friends +through life. William Preston Johnston, son of the fallen General, +a young man of singular excellence of character and of most attractive +personal traits, was at the time private secretary to Mr. Davis. +He has since been widely known in the South in connection with its +educational progress. + +Deep anxiety had preceded the battle throughout the North, and the +relief which followed was grateful. It was made the occasion by +the President for a proclamation in which the people were asked +"to assemble in their places of public worship and especially +acknowledge and render thanks to our Heavenly Father for the successes +which have attended the Army of the Union." But after the first +flush of victory, the battle became the subject of controversy in +the newspapers. Criticism of officers was unsparing, the slaughter +of our soldiers was exaggerated, crimination and recrimination were +indulged in respecting the conduct of troops from certain States. +General Grant was accused of having been surprised and of having +thereby incurred a danger which narrowly escaped being a defeat. +The subject was brought into Congress and warmly debated. Senator +Sherman of Ohio introduced a resolution calling for all the reports +from the officers in command, and made a speech defending the +conduct of the Ohio troops, upon which some reflections had been +inconsiderately and most unjustly cast. Mr. Elihu Washburne made +an elaborate speech in the House on the 2d of May, in which he gave +a full account of the battle, and defended General Grant with much +warmth against all possible charges which, either through ignorance +or malice, had been preferred against him for his conduct of the +battle. This speech, which was of great value to General Grant, +both with the Administration and the country, laid the foundation +of that intimate friendship which so long subsisted between him +and Mr. Washburne. Mr. Richardson of Illinois followed his colleague, +and expressed his disgust with even the introduction of the subject +in Congress. He felt that our armies would gain more renown and +secure greater victories if the "Riot Act" could be read, and both +Houses of Congress dispersed to their homes at the very earliest +moment. + +General Halleck, who had command of the Western Department, became +anxious for reputation on the field, and was thought by many to be +jealous of the daily increasing fame of General Grant. After the +battle of Shiloh, he took command in person of the army which Grant +had already rendered illustrious, leaving Grant to command its +right wing. Uniting the Western forces into one large army General +Halleck marched southward in pursuit of the Confederate column now +under the command of Beauregard, and strongly intrenched at Corinth. +As the army approached, Corinth was evacuated, and the campaign of +General Halleck, leading to no important engagement, did not add +to his military fame. Meanwhile there had been increasing +dissatisfaction in Congress and among the people with the supersedure +of General Grant, and to relieve the situation General Halleck was +called to Washington in the early part of July to take command of +the army which had been relinquished by McClellan in March, when +he set forth upon the Peninsular campaign. In the intervening +months there had been no General-in-Chief of the army, the duties +being performed by the Secretary of War. + + + GENERAL GEORGE B. McCLELLAN. + +The Western victories, important as they were, did not remove the +pressure in the East. The popular interest was more largely +concentrated in the success of the Army of the Potomac, which would +secure the safety of the National Capital, and possibly the possession +of the capital of the Confederacy. High hopes had been staked upon +the issue. Elaborate preparations had been made and the utmost +care had been taken in the organization and discipline of the army. + +General George B. McClellan was intrusted with the command. He +was a native of Pennsylvania, a distinguished graduate of West +Point, a man of high personal character. His military skill was +vouched for by older officers whose opinions would have weight with +the President. But he had been six months in command of the Army +of the Potomac and had done nothing in the field. The autumn had +passed in inaction, the winter had worn away, and the spring had +come without finding him ready to move. Whatever might be the +justification for delay, it was his misfortune to become the subject +of controversy. There was a McClellan party and an anti-McClellan +party, in the press, among the people, in Congress, and in the +army. How far this may have impaired the efficiency of his command +cannot be known, but it no doubt seriously undermined him in the +confidence of the War Department. Before he had fired a gun in +the Peninsular campaign he was in a disputation with both the +President and Secretary Stanton. On the 9th of April (1862) Mr. +Lincoln wrote him, "Your dispatches complaining that you are not +properly sustained, while they do not offend me, do pain me very +much." General McClellan had complained that the President had +detained McDowell's corps, and thus weakened the strength of his +army, and the President was defending the policy as one necessary +to the safety of Washington. McClellan protested that he had but +eighty-five thousand men at Yorktown. The President insisted that +he had a hundred and eight thousand. "And once more," said the +President, "in conclusion, let me tell you it is indispensable to +you that you strike a blow. I am powerless to help this. You will +do me the justice to remember that I always insisted that going +down the bay in search of a field, instead of fighting at or near +Manassas, was only shifting and not surmounting the difficulty; +that we would find the same enemy and the same or equal intrenchments +at either place. The country will not fail to note (is now noting) +that the present hesitation to move upon the intrenched enemy is +but the story of Manassas repeated. I beg to assure you that I +have never written you or spoken to you in greater kindness of +feeling than now, nor with a fuller purpose of sustaining you so +far as in my most anxious judgment I consistently can." + +This condition of affairs with the indication of increasing discord +between the Commander-in-Chief and General McClellan boded no good +to the Union cause, and the entire Peninsular campaign was but a +succession of "hopes deferred" that made the heart sick; of +disappointment, of great sacrifice of life and treasure, and in +the end of positive disaster and humiliating retreat. + +As General McClellan neared Richmond and needed re-enforcements +for a decisive battle with General Lee's army, the Confederates +used the most admirable tactics for the purpose of alarming the +authorities at Washington and compelling them to withhold help from +the Army of the Potomac. Stonewall Jackson came thundering down +the Shenandoah Valley with a force which the exaggeration of the +day placed far beyond his real numbers. He brushed aside the army +of General Banks at Winchester by what might well be termed a +military cyclone, and created such consternation that our troops +in the Potomac Valley were at once thrown upon the defensive. +McDowell with his corps was at Fredericksburg, hurrying to Hanover +Court-House for the purpose of aiding McClellan. With our forces +thus remote from Washington, and the fortifications around the city +imperfectly manned, something akin to panic seized upon the +Government. General McDowell, by direct order of the President, +was turned from his march on Richmond, to follow or intercept +Jackson. On the 25th of May the Secretary of War telegraphed to +the governors of the Loyal States: "Intelligence from various +quarters leaves no doubt that the enemy in great force are marching +on Washington. You will please organize and forward immediately +all the militia and volunteer forces in your State." The governors +in turn issued alarming proclamations, some of which were eminently +calculated to spread the contagion of fear prevailing at Washington. +Governor Andrew, with evident apprehension of the worst, informed +the people of Massachusetts that "The wily and barbarous horde of +traitors to the people, to the Government, to our country, and to +liberty, menace again the National Capital: they have attacked and +routed Major-General Banks, are advancing on Harper's Ferry, and +are marching on Washington. The President calls on Massachusetts +to rise at once for its rescue and defense." Throughout the entire +North there was for several days a genuine belief that the National +Capital might soon be in possession of the Confederate army, and +the senators and representatives in Congress be seized as prisoners +of war. + + STONEWALL JACKSON'S STRATEGY. + +Meanwhile Stonewall Jackson having marched to the very banks of +the Potomac and shelled Harper's Ferry, and having succeeded beyond +his most sanguine expectation in the object which he had in view, +deliberately began his retreat. He was followed up the Shenandoah +Valley by the commands of four Major-Generals and one Brigadier- +General of the Union army. He drew these united forces after him +precisely as he desired, for the benefit of Lee's army at Richmond. +He did not fly from them as if dreading a battle, for that would +have been to dismiss the large Union force to the aid of General +McClellan. Occasionally detailing a fraction of his command to +engage in a skirmish with his pursuers, who far outnumbered his +whole force, he managed to keep his main body at a safe distance, +and to reserve it for a more important work ahead. After thus +drawing our troops so far up the valley that it was impossible for +them to retrace their steps in season for concentration on Richmond, +he rapidly transported the main body of his own troops by rail from +Staunton, and rejoined General Lee in time to take part in the +final and memorable series of engagements which, by the close of +June, had compelled General McClellan to take refuge on the banks +of the James, where he could have the co-operation of the gunboats +which lay at Harrison's Landing. + +General Halleck took command as General-in-Chief of the army directly +after the Army of the Potomac had closed its campaign against +Richmond. He visited Harrison's Landing on the 24th of July to +make personal inquiry into the situation, and the result was an +order for the transfer of the army to Acquia Creek. General +McClellan protested earnestly, and, in the judgment of many of the +most skilled in military science, wisely, against this movement. +The Army of the Potomac, he said, was "within twenty-five miles of +Richmond, and with the aid of the gunboats we can supply the army +by water during its advance to within twelve miles of Richmond. +At Acquia Creek we would be seventy miles from Richmond, with land +transportation all the way." He thought the government had ample +troops to protect Washington and guard the line of the Potomac, +and he could not see the wisdom of transporting the Army of the +Potomac two hundred miles at enormous cost, only to place it three +times as far from Richmond as it then was. General Halleck's +position was sustained by the President, and the Secretary of War, +and the argument of General McClellan, convincing and conclusive +as it seems, was overruled by the peremptory mandate of his military +superiors. + +The failure of the Peninsular campaign will always be a subject of +controversy. At the time it was one of prolonged and angry dispute. +Where military critics so widely differ, civilians gain the right +to a personal judgment. The weakness of that great military movement +was the lack of cordiality and confidence between the commander +and the Administration at Washington. The seeds of distrust had +been sown and a bountiful crop of disaster was the natural growth. +The withdrawal of McDowell's corps was a fatal blow to McClellan. +Before a military court which was inquiring into the transaction, +General McClellan stated under oath that he had "no doubt that the +Army of the Potomac would have taken Richmond had not the corps of +General McDowell been separated from it; and that, had the command +of General McDowell in the month of May joined the Army of the +Potomac by way of Hanover Court-House, we would have had Richmond +a week after the junction." He added, with evident reference to +Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton, "I do not hold General McDowell +responsible for a failure to join me on that occasion." + + STONEWALL JACKSON'S SUCCESSFUL RAID. + +When General McDowell was turned back from Fredericksburg to take +part in the fruitless chase after Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah +Valley, he was doing precisely what the President of the Confederate +States would have ordered, had he been able to issue the orders of +the President of the United States. McDowell saw the blunder, but +his directions were peremptory and nothing was left but to obey. +He telegraphed the Secretary of War, "The President's order is a +crushing blow to us." Mr. Lincoln personally and immediately +replied to General McDowell, "The change is as painful to me as it +can possibly be to you or to any one." McDowell then ventured to +argue the case with the President. He distinctly told Mr. Lincoln +that he could effect nothing in trying to cut off Stonewall Jackson +in the Shenandoah Valley. "I shall," he continued, "gain nothing +for you there, and I shall lose much for you here. It is therefore +not only on personal ground that I have a heavy heart in this +matter, but I feel that it throws us all back, and from Richmond +north we shall have all our large mass paralyzed, and shall have +to repeat what we have just accomplished." Mr. Lincoln's order +and the whole of this correspondence were by telegraph on the twenty- +fourth day of May. Conclusive as the reasoning of General McDowell +seems, it did not move Mr. Lincoln from his purpose; and the heavy +re-enforcement which was then within three days of the point where +it could most effectively aid McClellan, was diverted to a hopeless +and useless pursuit. Had McDowell been allowed to proceed as he +desired and as General McClellan confidently expected, he would +have re-enforced the Army of the Potomac for an attack on Lee, +while Stonewall Jackson's corps was in the Shenandoah Valley. By +the unfortunate diversion ordered by Mr. Lincoln, precisely the +reverse occurred. Stonewall Jackson's corps arrived before Richmond +in season to aid in defeating McClellan, while McDowell with his +splendid contingent was aimlessly loitering in a distant part of +Virginia. + +The President was led into this course by the urgent advice of the +Secretary of War. When McClellan went to the field, Mr. Stanton +undertook personally to perform the duties of General-in-Chief in +Washington. This was evidently an egregious blunder. Neither by +education, temper, temperament, nor by any other trait of his +character, was Mr. Stanton fitted for this duty. He was very +positively and in a high degree unfitted for it. With three Major- +Generals--McDowell, Banks, and Frémont--exercising independent +commands in the Potomac Valley, with their movements exerting a +direct and important influence upon the fortunes of the main army +under McClellan, there was especial need of a cool-headed, experienced, +able general at the Capital. Had one of the three great soldiers +who have been at the head of the army since the close of the war, +then been in chief command at Washington, there is little hazard +in saying that the brilliant and dashing tactics of Stonewall +Jackson would not have been successful, and that if General McClellan +had failed before Richmond, it would not have been for lack of +timely and adequate re-enforcement. + + +Before these military disasters occurred, Congress had made progress +in its legislation against the institution of Slavery. At the +beginning of the war there had been an ill-defined policy, or rather +an absence of all policy, in relation to the most important of +pending questions. The winter preceding the outbreak of the +rebellion had been so assiduously devoted by Congress to efforts +of compromise and conciliation, that it was difficult to turn the +public mind promptly to the other side, and to induce the people +to accept the logical consequences of the war. There was no uniform +policy among our generals. Each commander was treating the question +very much according to his own personal predilection, and that was +generally found to be in accordance with his previous political +relations. The most conspicuous exception to this rule was General +Benjamin F. Butler, who had been identified with the extreme pro- +slavery wing of the Democratic party. He was in command in May, +1861, at Fortress Monroe, and he found that when fugitive slaves +sought the protection of his camp they were pursued under flags of +truce, and their return was requested as a right under the Constitution +of the United States by men who were in arms against the Constitution. +The anomaly of this situation was seen by General Butler, and he +met it promptly by refusing to permit the slaves to be returned, +declaring them to be contraband of war. As they were useful to +the enemy in military operations, they were to be classed with arms +and ammunition. This opinion was at first received joyously by +the country, and the word "contraband" became the synonym of fugitive +slave. But General Butler's judgment is justified by the rules of +modern warfare, and its application solved a question of policy +which otherwise might have been fraught with serious difficulty. +In the presence of arms the Fugitive-slave Law became null and +void, and the Dred Scott decision was trampled under the iron hoof +of war. + + SLAVERY ABOLISHED IN THE DISTRICT. + +The first exercise of legislative power hostile to the institution +of slavery, already detailed, was promptly followed by one still +more decisive. Congress provided for the abolition of the institution +in the District of Columbia. A bill for this purpose was introduced +in the Senate on the 16th of December, 1861, and two months later +Mr. Morrill of Maine, from the Committee on the District, reported +it to the Senate with a favorable recommendation. Garrett Davis +of Kentucky spoke in support of an amendment requiring the +colonization, beyond the limits of the United States, of all persons +who might be liberated by the Act. He was firmly persuaded that +the liberation of slaves with their continued residence among the +whites would result in a war of races. Mr. Hale of New Hampshire +combated his opinion by arguments and facts drawn from the history +of emancipation in Jamaica. Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts gave an +interesting history of the circumstances which led to the selection +of the site for the National Capital upon slave territory. + +Mr. Sumner dealt with the subject at great length, enforcing his +views by numerous authorities drawn from history, from the decisions +of courts, and from the opinions of publicists and statesmen of +modern times. The opponents of the measure did not conceal their +apprehension that the abolition of slavery in the District of +Columbia portended its overthrow in the States. Mr. Sumner and +his associates hailed the movement as the inauguration of a policy +destined to produce that result. "The future," said the Massachusetts +senator, "cannot be doubtful. At the National Capital slavery will +give way to freedom. But the good work will not stop here: it must +proceed. What God and Nature decree, Rebellion cannot arrest." +Mr. Sherman of Ohio maintained that it was not a measure for the +preservation of the government, but a municipal regulation, and +that the time had come when it was evidently wise to exercise the +powers granted by the Constitution. Mr. Willey of Virginia deprecated +the existence of slavery in the capital of the country, but he +opposed the emancipation bill as the first of a series of measures +that would end in the abolition of slavery in all the States by +act of Congress. The bill passed the Senate the third day of April +by a vote of 29 to 14. + +When the measure reached the House and was read for information it +was at once challenged by Mr. Vallandigham of Ohio; and upon the +parliamentary question "Shall the bill be rejected?" the yeas were +45 and the nays were 93. The debate which immediately followed +was in good temper, with a notable absence of the exasperation +which it was feared the subject would call forth. Mr. Crittenden +of Kentucky stated the objections of the minority, and especially +of the Border slave States, fairly and temperately. The time seemed +to him unpropitious inasmuch as the moving cause of the secession +of the States was the apprehension on their part that Congress was +likely to take measures for the abolition of slavery. The passage +of the bill necessarily rendered futile every attempt at reconciliation. +Secondly, there was an implied agreement with Virginia and Maryland +at the time of the cession of the District that "the system of +slavery shall not be disturbed." And finally, the bill, although +it provided for compensation to lawful owners, was in effect a +measure of confiscation. It passed the House by a vote of 92 to +38. The President accompanied his approval with a special message +in which, while not doubting the constitutionality of the measure, +he intimated that there were "matters within and about the Act +which might have taken a course or shape more satisfactory to his +judgment." He especially commended the provision made for compensation +to the owners of slaves, and referred with satisfaction to the +appropriation made to aid any colored person of the District who +might desire to emigrate "to Liberia, Hayti, or any country beyond +the limits of the United States which the President may determine." +The sum of one hundred thousand dollars was appropriated for this +purpose by the Act--one hundred dollars being allowed to each +emigrant. The experiment came to nothing. The colored persons +who had resided in the United States as slaves were obviously +desirous of trying their fortunes as freemen among the people whom +they knew, and in the homes to which they were attached. + + THE PRESIDENT'S CONSERVATIVE COURSE. + +Mr. Lincoln had always been a firm believer in the scheme of African +colonization; and in his message of December, 1861, he recommended +a provision for colonizing the slaves set free by the influence of +war. From the slave States which had remained loyal to the Union +he was willing to accept slaves in lieu of the direct tax, according +to some mode of valuation that might be agreed upon, and he was +anxious that adequate provision should be made for their settlement +in some place or places with a climate congenial to them. But the +experiment with the manumitted negroes of the District, which was +made in compliance with this recommendation of the President and +in deference to his personal wishes, frequently and earnestly +expressed, demonstrated the impracticability of the plan. Colonization +could be effected only by the forcible removal of the colored +people, and this would have been a more cruel violation of their +natural rights than a continuance of the slavery in which they were +born. If free choice between the two conditions had been offered, +nine-tenths, perhaps even a larger proportion of the slaves, would +have preferred to remain in their old homes. In an economic point +of view the scheme was indefensible. We were at the time the only +country with undeveloped agricultural resources in warm latitudes, +that was not engaged in seeking labor from all quarters of the +world. The Colonization scheme deliberately proposed to strip the +United States of patient, faithful laborers, acclimated to the +cotton and sugar fields of the South, and capable of adding great +wealth to the nation. Colonization would deprive us of this much +needed labor, would entail vast expense in the deportation of the +negroes, and would devolve upon this country, by a moral responsibility +which it could not avoid, the protection and maintenance of the +feeble government which would be planted on the shores of Africa. +The Liberian experiment, honorable as it was to the colored race, +and successful as it had proved in establishing civilization in +Africa, had not attained such material prosperity as would justify +the United States in the removal of millions of its population to +a remote country where there was no demand for labor. + +Mr. Lincoln's course on the Slavery question at that period of his +Administration was steadily and studiously conservative. He had +checked the Secretary of War (Mr. Cameron) in the issuing of an +anti-slavery order which was considered premature and unwise; he +had countermanded and annulled the proclamations of General Hunter +and General Frémont declaring the slaves to be free within the +districts of their respective commands. He now recommended a +measure in the line of his conservative policy, to which he attached +great weight, and from which he anticipated important consequences. +On the 6th of March, 1862, the President sent a message to Congress +recommending the adoption of a joint resolution declaring that "the +United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt +gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to each State pecuniary aid +to be used in its discretion to compensate for the inconveniences, +public and private, produced by such change of system." Mr. Lincoln +believed that if the leaders of the existing Rebellion could conquer +their independence, the Border slave States would necessarily join +them from sympathy with their institutions. By the initiation of +emancipation all possible desire or tendency in that direction +would be removed, and thus a severe blow be given to the Rebellion. +He believed in compensation to the slave-holder, and expressed his +opinion that "gradual and not sudden emancipation is better for +all." He asked Congress to consider "how very soon the current +expenses of the war would purchase at a fair valuation all the +slaves in any named State." + +When the message reached the House it was referred to the Committee +of the Whole on the State of the Union. Four days later Mr. Roscoe +Conkling moved to suspend the rules in order to bring the resolution +before the House "in the exact form in which the President had +recommended it." The motion prevailed by 86 to 35. Francis P. +Blair of Missouri and the representatives from West Virginia were +the only Border State men who voted to suspend the rules. Mr. +Conkling thought an immediate vote might be taken because he presumed +"every member had made up his mind on the question involved." But +the Kentucky delegation desired time for consultation. They +concluded to oppose the resolution. Mr. Crittenden, speaking the +sentiments of all, asked, "Why do you exact of Kentucky more than +she has already done to show her loyalty? Has she not parted with +all her former allies, with all her natural kindred in other States? +Why should it be asked that she should now surrender up her domestic +institutions?" Against the protest of Kentucky the resolution was +passed, such radical abolitionists as Owen Lovejoy warmly supporting +the proposition to pay for slaves out of the Treasury of the United +States. Mr. Henderson of Missouri and Mr. Willey of West Virginia +were the only Border State senators who saw the vast advantage to +be secured to their own constituents by the passage of the measure. +They supported it ably and heartily. It was earnestly opposed by +the senators from Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware. Mr. Carlile +of West Virginia was the only senator in nominal sympathy with the +Administration who voted against it. The hostility to the President's +policy by senators from the Border slave States was so fixed as to +prevent even a free discussion of the measure, and it was therefore +remanded to a future day for consideration. + + CONFISCATION OF REBEL PROPERTY. + +A still more aggressive movement against slavery was made by Congress +before the close of this eventful session. On the day that Congress +convened, in the preceding December, Mr. Trumbull gave notice of +his intention to introduce a bill "for the confiscation of the +property of rebels, and giving freedom to the persons they hold in +slavery." Three days later he formally introduced the bill, and +made a lucid explanation of its provisions and its objects. He +"disdained to press it upon the ground of a mere military power +superior to the civil in time of war." "Necessity," said he, "is +the plea of tyrants; and if our Constitution ceases to operate, +the moment a person charged with its observance thinks there is a +necessity to violate it, is of little value." So far from admitting +that the superiority of the military over the civil power in time +of war, Mr. Trumbull held that "under the Constitution the military +is as much the subject of control by the civil power in war as in +peace." He was for suppressing the rebellion "according to law, +and in no other way;" and he warned his countrymen who stood "ready +to tolerate almost any act done in good faith for the suppression +of the rebellion, not to sanction usurpations of power which may +hereafter become precedents for the destruction of constitutional +liberty." Though the bill was introduced on the second day of +December, 1861, it did not become a law until the 17th of July in +the next year. + +In the months intervening, it was elaborately debated, almost every +senator taking part in the discussion. Garrett Davis of Kentucky, +who had succeeded Mr. Breckinridge in the Senate, made a long speech +against the bill, contending that Congress had no power to free +any slaves. He wanted a bill of great severity against the rebel +leaders: "to those that would repent" he would give "immunity, +peace, and protection; to the impenitent and incorrigible he would +give the gallows, or exile and the forfeiture of their whole estate." +Such a law as that, he said, his "own State of Kentucky desired. +As Hamilcar brought his infant son Hannibal to the family altar, +and made him swear eternal enmity to the Roman power, so I have +sworn and will ever maintain eternal enmity to the principle of +secession and all its adherents." It was seen throughout the debate +that the bill under consideration was in large part provoked by +the confiscation measures of the Confederate Congress, and Mr. +Davis declared that "the debts due to the North, estimated at +$200,000,000, seized, confiscated, and appropriated by the rebel +government, shall be remunerated fully." + +Mr. John B. Henderson of Missouri who, as a Union man of prominence +and ability, had succeeded Trusten Polk in the Senate, opposed the +bill because it would "cement the Southern mind against us and +drive new armies of excited and deluded men from the Border States +to espouse the cause of rebellion." He urged that "the Union +sentiment of the South should be cultivated, and radical measures +tending to destroy that sentiment should be dropped." Mr. Fessenden +was conservative on this as on other questions, and insisted upon +the reference of Mr. Trumbull's bill to a committee; which was the +occasion of some little passage between himself and Mr. Trumbull, +not without temper. Mr. Trumbull suggested that "the senator from +Maine would not be likely to get any light from the deliberations +of five men unless he were himself one of them." Retorting in the +same spirit, but, as he said, good-naturedly, Mr. Fessenden said +he should not "hope that _any_ deliberation of anybody would +enlighten the senator from Illinois." + +Sustaining the extreme power of confiscation, Mr. Sumner desired +"the Act to be especially leveled at the institution of Slavery." +He recalled the saying of Charles XII. of Sweden, that the cannoneers +were perfectly right in directing their shots at him, for the war +would be at an instant end if they could kill him; whereas they +would reap little from killing his principal officers. "There is," +said the senator, "no shot in this war so effective as one against +Slavery, which is king above all officers; nor is there better +augury of complete success than the willingness at last to fire +upon this wicked king." By this means, Mr. Sumner believed that +we should "take from the rebellion its mainspring of activity and +strength, stop its chief stores of provisions and supplies, remove +a motive and temptation to prolonged resistance, and destroy forever +the disturbing influence which, so long as it exists, will keep +this land a volcano, ever ready to break forth anew." Mr. Sumner, +Mr. Wade, and Mr. Chandler, the senators who were regarded as most +radical, desired more stringent provisions than they could secure. +The really able lawyers of the Senate, Mr. Fessenden and Judge +Collamer, repressed the extreme measures which but for their +interposition would have been enacted. As the bill was finally +perfected, Mr. Chandler and his colleague Mr. Howard voted against +it, as did also Mr. Browning of Illinois and the Border-State +Senators Davis of Kentucky, Henderson of Missouri, and Carlile of +Virginia. To the Michigan senators the bill was too weak; to the +others it was too strong. Mr. Willey of Virginia was the only +senator from a slave-holding State who voted on the radical side. +With the exceptions noted, Republican senators all voted for the +bill. + + CONFISCATION OF REBEL PROPERTY. + +A series of measures in the House relating to confiscation were +under discussion while the Senate was considering the same subject. +The House passed a more stringent bill than the Senate would accept, +and the subject was finally sent to a committee of conference, +which from the points of disagreement framed the measure that +ultimately became a law. As in the Senate, the Border-State men +opposed the measure, but were overborne by the popular opinion +which nearly consolidated the Republican vote of the North in favor +of it. It was however an undoubted weakness, morally and politically, +that such men as Crittenden and Mallory of Kentucky, James S. +Rollins of Missouri, and Francis Thomas and Edwin H. Webster of +Maryland were recorded against it. The bill was passed in the +House by a vote of 82 to 42. The conference report having somewhat +strengthened the original measure passed by the Senate, Messrs. +Howard and Chandler of Michigan gave it their support, but for the +same reason Mr. Cowan of Pennsylvania and Mr. Willey of Virginia +opposed it. The final vote was 27 in favor to 12 against it. + +The Act, as it finally passed, affixed to the crime of treason the +punishment of death, or, at the discretion of the court, imprisonment +for not less than five years and a fine of not less than ten thousand +dollars,--all the slaves, if any, to be declared free. "To insure +the speedy termination of the present rebellion" it was made the +duty of the President to cause the seizure of the estate and +property, money, stocks, credits, and effects of the following +classes of persons: First, all those hereafter acting as officers +of the army or the navy of the rebels in arms against the government +of the United States; second, of any person acting as President, +Vice-President, member of Congress, judge of any court, cabinet +officer, foreign minister, commissioner, or consul of the so-called +Confederate States; third, of any person acting as governor of a +State, member of a convention or Legislature, or judge of any court +of any of the so-called Confederate States of America; fourth, of +any person who having held an office of honor, trust, or profit in +the United States shall hereafter hold an office in the so-called +Confederate States; fifth, of any person hereafter holding any +office or agency under the so-called Confederate States or under +any of the several States of said Confederacy; sixth, of any person +who owning property in any loyal State or Territory of the United +States, or in the District of Columbia, shall hereafter assist and +give aid and comfort to the rebellion. "And all sales, transfers, +or conveyances of any such property shall be null and void; and it +shall be a sufficient bar to any suit brought by such persons for +the possession or use of such property, or any of it, to allege +and prove that he is one of the persons described in this section." + +In the provisions of the Act directly affecting slavery it was +declared that "All slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged +in rebellion against the Government of the United States or who +shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such +persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army, and all +slaves captured from such persons, or deserted by them and coming +under the control of the Government of the United States, and all +slaves of such persons found or being within any place occupied by +rebel forces and afterward occupied by the forces of the United +States, shall be deemed captives, shall be forever free of their +servitude, and not again held as slaves." This provision had a +very sweeping application. Even if the war had ended without a +formal and effective system of emancipation, it is believed that +this statute would have so operated as to render the slave system +practically valueless. When the war closed it is probable that +not less than one-half of all the slaves of the rebel States had +come within the scope of this statute, and had therefore been +declared legally free by the legislative power of the United States. + + CONFISCATION OF REBEL PROPERTY. + +Mr. Lincoln signed the Confiscation Act with reluctance. Indeed +he had prepared a veto, but a joint resolution had been passed in +order to remove the objections which in the President's view were +absolutely fatal to the original bill, either as regarded its +justice or its constitutionality. He had insisted to certain +senators that the Confiscation Law must in terms exclude the +possibility of its being applied to any act done by a rebel prior +to its passage, and that no punishment or proceeding under it should +be so construed as to work a forfeiture of the real estate of the +offender beyond his natural life. These, with some minor defects, +being corrected, the President affixed his signature and made public +proclamation of the intended enforcement of the Act as qualified +by the joint resolution approved on the same day. But there is +good reason for believing that Mr. Lincoln would have been glad to +confine its application to slave property, and he felt moreover +that he could deal with that subject without the co-operation of +Congress. The military situation was so discouraging that in the +President's view it would have been wiser for Congress to refrain +from enacting laws which, without success in the field, would be +null and void, and which, with success in the field, would be +rendered unnecessary. Congress adjourned on the same day that Mr. +Lincoln approved the bill, and on returning home the senators and +representatives found their constituents depressed, anxious, and +alarmed for the country. + +It cannot be said that the results flowing from this measure, either +in restraining the action of Southern men or in securing to the +National Treasury money derived from confiscated property, were at +all in proportion to the importance ascribed to it in the discussion +of both branches of Congress. Indeed the effect both morally and +materially was far short of expectation. It is highly probable +that if the stringent measure of the Confederate Congress and its +stringent enforcement under the vigorous administration of Attorney- +General Benjamin had not been attempted, the Congress of the United +States could not have been induced to enter upon a course of +legislation concerning which there existed much doubt and division +of opinion among the Republicans. It is at least certain that but +for the causes named, the scope of the Confiscation Act would have +been confined within those limits which would have directly influenced +the institution of Slavery, and would not have interfered with any +other species of property. Whatever distress therefore came to +Southern men, from the provisions in the Confiscation Act outside +of those relating to Slavery, may fairly and properly be traced to +the spirit of retaliation (always an effective weapon in time of +war) which naturally followed the causeless and cruel procedure of +the Confederate Government. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Ball's Bluff Disaster.--Mr. Conkling's Resolution of Inquiry.-- +Unsatisfactory Reply of Secretary Cameron.--Second Resolution.-- +Second Reply.--Incidental Debate on Slavery.--Arrest of General +Charles P. Stone.--His History.--His Response to Criticisms made +upon him.--Responsibility of Colonel Baker.--General Stone before +the Committee on the Conduct of the War.--His Examination.--Testimony +of Officers.--General Stone appears before the Committee a Second +Time.--His Arrest by Order of the War Department.--No Cause assigned. +--Imprisoned in Fort Lafayette.--Solitary Confinement.--Sees Nobody. +--His Wife denied Access to him.--Subject brought into Congress.-- +A Search for the Responsibility of the Arrest.--Groundless Assumption +of Mr. Sumner's Connection with it.--Mr. Lincoln's Message in Regard +to the Case.--General Stone's Final Release by an Act of Congress. +--Imprisoned for One Hundred and Eighty-nine Days.--Never told the +Cause.--Never allowed a Trial.--Appears a Third Time before the +Committee.--The True Responsibility for the Arrest.--His Restoration +to Service.--His Resignation.--Joins the Khedive's Service. + +On the day that Congress convened, (December 2, 1861,) Mr. Roscoe +Conkling offered a resolution which was unanimously agreed to by +the House, requesting "the Secretary of War, if not incompatible +with the public service, to report to the House whether any, and +if any, what, measures have been taken to ascertain who is responsible +for the disastrous movement of our troops at Ball's Bluff." A few +days later Mr. Chandler of Michigan offered a resolution in the +Senate, directing an inquiry by a committee of three "into the +disasters at Bull Run and Ball's Bluff." Mr. Grimes of Iowa offered +a substitute which, after various modifications, directed the +appointment of a "joint committee of three members of the Senate, +and four members of the House of Representatives, to inquire into +the conduct of the present war, with power to send for persons and +papers, and with leave to sit during the sessions of either branch +of Congress." The resolutions led to some debate. Mr. Chandler +maintained that "it is the duty of the Senate to ascertain who is +responsible for sending eighteen hundred men across the Potomac, +in two old scows, without any means of retreat." Mr. McDougall +thought a discussion of the question at that time was impolitic. +Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts, chairman of the Committee on Military +Affairs, while admitting that many mistakes had been made, asserted +the "the greatest error in the conduct of the war has been the +series of irresponsible proclamations issued by generals on the +field." The joint resolution was adopted by the Senate with only +three dissenting votes (Messrs. Latham, Carlile, and Rice) and by +the House unanimously. Mr. Wade of Ohio, Mr. Chandler of Michigan, +and Mr. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee on the part of the Senate, with +Mr. Gooch of Massachusetts, Mr. Covode of Pennsylvania, Mr. Julian +of Indiana, and Mr. Odell of New York on the part of the House, +constituted the committee. + + THE DISASTER AT BALL'S BLUFF. + +The Secretary of War, in answer to Mr. Conkling's resolution touching +the disaster at Ball's Bluff, stated that Major-General McClellan, +commanding the army, "is of opinion that an inquiry on the subject +of the resolution would at this time be injurious to the public +service." The answer did not satisfy Mr. Conkling. He immediately +moved another resolution declaring that the communication from the +Secretary of War was "not responsive nor satisfactory to the House, +and that the secretary be directed to return a further answer." +A spirited debate followed, taking a somewhat extended range. Mr. +Conkling said that his resolution related to "the most atrocious +military murder ever committed in our history as a people. It +relates to a lost field; to a disastrous and humiliating battle; +to a blunder so gross that all men can see it,--a blunder which +cost us confessedly nine hundred and thirty men, the very pride +and flower of the States from which they came." . . . "The Bluff +is a mile in length up and down the river, and the landing and +ascent were made in the middle of it. Behind this was a six-acre +lot skirted by woods on three sides. Into this burial-ground, one +by one, as the boat brought them over, went up the devoted seventeen +hundred. . . . Behind them rolled a deep river which could never +be repassed. Before them and surrounding them on every side was +a tree-sheltered and skulking foe, three or four times their +number. . . . In an hour, in less than an hour, the field was a +hell of fire raging from every side. The battle was lost before +it was begun. It was from the outset a mere sacrifice, a sheer +immolation, without a promise of success or a hope of escape." +. . . "On the same side of the river with Leesburg," said Mr. Conkling, +"within a day's march of that place, lay General McCall commanding +a division containing fifteen regiments which marched fully eleven +thousand men. If Leesburg were to be attacked, or if a reconnoissance +in force were to be made in that direction, one of the first wonders +in this case is, that the work should have been assigned to General +Stone's division, divided as it was from the scene of action by a +great river, when the division of General McCall was within a day's +march of the spot, with neither river, mountain, nor barrier to be +traversed." + +--Mr. Richardson of Illinois thought Mr. Conkling's resolution was +calculated "to raise an issue between the House of Representatives +and the army, and divide the country." He thought this would injure +the cause of the Union. In military matters he would "rather trust +the commanding general of the army than a committee of the House." + +--Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky protested against "the House interfering +in the conduct of the war and the management of the army by +investigating transactions which are in their nature purely military." +He maintained that "such a policy takes control out of the hands +of men supposed to be competent and puts it in the hands of men +supposed not to be competent." "If," continued Mr. Crittenden, +"we are to find fault with every movement, who not appoint a +committee of the House to attend the Commander-in-chief? Why not +send them with our army so that the power of Congress may be felt +in battle as well as in the halls of legislation?" + +--Mr. Lovejoy of Illinois gave a characteristic turn to the debate. +"I believe before God," said he,--"and if it be fanaticism now it +will not be when history traces the events of the day,--that the +reason why we have had Bull Run and Ball's Bluff and other defeats +and disasters is that God, in his providence, designs to arraign +us before this great question of human freedom, and make us take +the right position." Slavery, according to Mr. Lovejoy, was the +Jonah on board the National ship, and the ship would founder unless +Jonah were thrown overboard. "When Jonah was cast forth into the +sea, the sea ceased from raging." Our battles, in Mr. Lovejoy's +belief, "should be fought so as to hurt slavery," and enable the +President to decree its destruction. "To be President, to be king, +to be victor, has happened to many; to be embalmed in the hearts +of mankind through all generations as liberator and emancipator +has been vouchsafed to few." + + THE DISASTER AT BALL'S BLUFF. + +--Mr. Wickliffe of Kentucky believed we should "preserve the Union +and slavery under it." He wised to "throw the Abolitionists +overboard." + +--Mr. Mallory of Kentucky, while not believing slavery to be +incompatible with our liberty under the Constitution, declared that +so far as he understood the feeling of the people of Kentucky, "if +they ever come to regard slavery as standing in the way of the +Union, they will not hesitate to wipe out the institution." Loud +applause followed this remark. + +--Mr. McKee Dunn of Indiana, while believing that "if slavery stands +in the way of the Union it must be destroyed," was not yet "willing +to accept Mr. Lovejoy as prophet, priest, or king." He thought +"the gentleman from Illinois was not authorized to interpret God's +providence" in the affairs of men. + +--Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, in recalling the debate to the immediate +question before the House, took occasion to protest against the +doctrine of non-interference laid down by Mr. Crittenden. "Has it +come to this," said Mr. Stevens, "that Congress is a mere automaton, +to register the decrees of another power, and that we have nothing +to do but to find men and money? . . . This is the doctrine of +despotism, better becoming that empire which they are attempting +to establish in the South." + +The resolution offered by Mr. Conkling was adopted by a vote of 79 +to 54, on a call of the yeas and nays. The affirmative vote was +wholly Republican. A few Republicans voted with the Democrats in +the negative. The reply of Secretary Cameron was no more satisfactory +than to the first resolution. He informed the House that "measures +have been taken to ascertain who is responsible for the disastrous +movement of our troops at Ball's Bluff, but it is not deemed +compatible with the public interest to make known these measures +at the present time." The difference between this answer and the +first, was that the Administration assumed the responsibility of +withholding the information, and did not rest it upon the judgment +of the general in command of the army. + +Brigadier-General Charles P. Stone was a graduate of West Point +Military Academy, from Massachusetts. His family belongs to the +old Puritan stock of that commonwealth, and had been honorably +represented in every war in which the American people had engaged. +General Stone served as a lieutenant in the Mexican war with high +credit, and in 1855 resigned his commission and became a resident +of California. It happened that he was in Washington at the breaking +out of the civil war, and in response to the request of his old +commander, General Scott, took a prominent part in the defense of +the capital, considered to be in danger after the rising of the +Baltimore mob. His conduct was so admirable that when the President, +a few weeks later, directed the organization of eleven new regiments +in the Regular Army, he appointed General Stone to the Colonelcy +of the 14th United-States Infantry. After the battle of Bull Run, +when General McClellan was promoted to the command of the Army of +the Potomac, General Stone was selected to command a division which +was directed to occupy the valley of the Potomac above Washington, +as a corps of observation. The Union troops, engaged in the +disastrous battle of Ball's Bluff, belonged to his corps, but were +under the immediate command of Colonel E. D. Baker. The repulse +and slaughter on that melancholy field were followed by excitement +and indignation throughout the country quite as deep as that shown +in Congress. The details of the disaster were greatly exaggerated. +The official summary of losses, made up with care, showed that the +total number killed, including both officers and men, was 49; +wounded, 158; missing, 714, of whom a few were drowned, and the +great mass taken prisoners. The popular admiration for Colonel +Baker was unbounded, and the suspicion that his life had been +needlessly destroyed created such a feeling as demanded a victim. +General Stone was selected for the sacrifice, and popular wrath +was turned upon him with burning intensity. Rumors and exaggerations +filled the newspapers; and the public, in that state of credulity +which is an incident to the victim-hunting mania, accepted every +thing as true. It was widely believed that Colonel Baker said +mournfully, as he marched to the battle-field, "I will obey General +Stone's order, but it is my death-warrant." + + BALL'S BLUFF DISASTER INVESTIGATED. + +Goaded by these injurious and unfounded rumors, General Stone, in +a letter to the Adjutant-General of the army, written a fortnight +after the battle, deemed it his "duty to answer the persistent +attacks made through the press by the friends of the lamented +Colonel Baker." He called attention to the "distinct violations +by Colonel Baker of his orders and instructions," and declared that +he was left "to use his own discretion about crossing his force, +or retiring that already over." He found it "painful to censure +the acts of one who gallantly died on the field of battle," but +justice to himself required "that the full truth should be made to +appear." Colonel Baker did not receive the order "as a death- +warrant," for it was delivered to him "at his own request." That +"Colonel Baker was determined to fight a battle" was made evident +by the fact that "he never crossed to examine the field, never gave +an order to the troops in advance, and never sent forward to +ascertain their position, until he had ordered over his force, and +passed over a considerable portion of it." On the 5th of January, +1862, General Stone appeared before the Committee on the Conduct +of the War, and was examined under oath as to every detail of the +Ball's-Bluff disaster which could in any way, directly or remotely, +involve his responsibility as a commander. His answers were frank, +withholding nothing, and were evidently intended to communicate +every pertinent fact. So far as may be inferred from the questions +and comments, the evidence was entirely satisfactory to the +committee. + +After the examination of General Stone, many officers of his command +appeared before the committee. The captains and lieutenants, fresh +from private life, whose names he probably did not know, and with +whom he perhaps never exchanged a word, were summoned in large +number. They had remarkable stories to tell about General Stone's +disloyalty; about his holding secret correspondence with the enemy; +about his permitting letters and packages to be taken across the +line without examination; about his allowing rebels to go freely +back and forth; and finally about his passing within the rebel +lines to hold confidential interviews with the officers commanding +the force opposed to him. It is singular that men of the acuteness +and high character of those composing the committee did not carefully +sift the testimony and subject it to the test of a rigorous cross- +examination. The stories told by many of these swift witnesses +were on the surface absurd, and should have been exposed. Publicity +alone would have largely counteracted the evil effect of their +narratives, but the examination was secret, and the witnesses +evidently felt that the strongest bias against General Stone was +the proper turn to give their testimony. The atmosphere was, as +it often is in such cases, unfavorable to the suspected man; and +his reputation was mercilessly assailed where he could not reply, +and was not even allowed to hear. When officers of the higher +grades, who came near to General Stone, who shared his confidence +and assisted in his councils, were examined, the weight of the +testimony was markedly different. General F. W. Lander regarded +General Stone as "a very efficient, orderly, and excellent officer." +Colonel Isaac J. Wistar, who succeeded Colonel Baker in the command +of the California regiment, gave the highest testimony to General +Stone's loyalty, and to the "full confidence" reposed in him by +men of every rank in the brigade with which he was serving. Colonel +Charles Devens who, with his regiment, the Fifteenth Massachusetts +Infantry, had borne an honorable part on the bloody field, testified +that he and the officers of the Fifteenth "had confidence in General +Stone." Colonel James H. Van Allen, commanding a regiment of +cavalry in General Stone's division, gave the most cordial testimony +of his loyalty and high character. + +After the larger part of the evidence adverse to General Stone had +been heard, he received an intimation through General McClellan +that it might be well for him to appear again before the Committee +on the Conduct of the War. He obtained leave of absence from his +command, repaired to Washington, and presented himself before the +committee on the 31st of January, twenty-six days after his first +testimony had been given. For some reason which the committee did +not deem it necessary to explain, General Stone was not furnished +with the names of the witnesses who had testified against him in +the dark; their testimony was not submitted to him; it was not even +read in his hearing. He was simply informed by the chairman-- +Senator Wade of Ohio--that "in the course of our investigations +there has come out in evidence matters which may be said to impeach +you. I do not know that I can enumerate all the points, but I +think I can. In the first place is your conduct in the Ball's- +Bluff affair--your ordering your forces over without sufficient +means of transportation, and in that way endangering your army, in +case of a check, by not being able to re-enforce them. . . . Another +point is that the evidence tends to show that you have had undue +communication with the enemy by letters that have passed back and +forth, by intercourse with officers from the other side, and by +permitting packages to go over unexamined, to known Secessionists. +. . . The next and only other point that now occurs to me is that +you have suffered the enemy to erect formidable fortifications or +batteries on the opposite side of the river, within the reach of +your guns, and which you could easily have prevented." General +Stone's answer was as lucid, frank, and full as could be made to +charges of so sweeping a character. His explanations were unreserved, +and his justification apparently complete and unanswerable against +every form of accusation which the chairman submitted. To the +charge of disloyalty General Stone replied with much feeling, "That +is one humiliation I had hoped I should never be subjected to. I +thought there was one calumny that could not be brought against +me. Any other calumny I should expect after what I have received, +but that one I should have supposed that you personally, Mr. +Chairman, would have rejected at once. _You_ remember last spring +when the Government had so few friends here, when the enemy had +this city I might almost say in his power, I raised all the volunteer +troops that were here during the seven dark days. I disciplined +and posted those troops. I commanded them, and they were the first +to invade the soil of Virginia, and I led them." Mr. Wade here +interrupted, and said, "I was no so unjust as not to mention that +circumstance to the committee." General Stone resumed, "I could +have surrendered Washington. And now I will swear that this +government has not a more faithful soldier, of poor capacity it +may be, but not a more faithful soldier from the day I was called +into service to this minute." + + GENERAL CHARLES P. STONE ARRESTED. + +Subsequent developments proved that three days before this second +examination General McClellan had in his possession an order from +Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, directing him "to relieve +General Stone from his command of a division in the Army of the +Potomac, and that he be placed in arrest and kept in close custody +until further orders." It is evident therefore that so far as the +War Department was involved, the case had been prejudged, or judged +at least without giving the accused man an opportunity to be heard +in his own defense. It is difficult to understand why his testimony +did not have the effect to recall or suspend the order of arrest, +but despite the candor and evident honesty of his explanations, +the blow fell upon him. Early on Saturday the eighth day of February +General McClellan directed the provost marshal of the district, +General Andrew Porter, "to arrest Brigadier-General Charles P. +Stone at once, and to send him under close custody by first train +to Fort Lafayette, where he will be placed in charge of the commanding +officer, and have no communication with any one from the time of +his arrest." Brigadier-General Sykes, commanding the City Guard, +executed the order, taking General Stone from his bed at midnight +in the hotel where he was stopping, and making him a close prisoner. +Shortly after daylight the following morning General Stone addressed +a note to General Seth Williams, Adjutant-General on the staff of +General McClellan, informing him of his arrest, and adding, +"Conscious of having been at all times a faithful soldier of the +United States, I must respectfully request that I may be furnished +at an early a moment as practicable with a copy of whatever charges +may have been preferred against me, with the opportunity of promptly +meeting them." + +To this respectful communication no answer was made, and General +Stone was hurried off to Fort Lafayette, under strict guard, with +an order from General McClellan for his imprisonment. At the fort +the money which he had in his pockets was taken from him, and he +was placed in solitary confinement in a room ordinarily used for +quarters of enlisted men. No letter was allowed to leave him or +reach him without the most rigid inspection. Under this close +_surveillance_, with an armed sentinel pacing before the door of +his room, without opportunity for outdoor air or exercise, he was +kept for forty-nine days. He applied at different times to the +military authorities in Washington for a statement of the charges +against him, for a speedy trial, for access to the records of his +own office and his own headquarters, for a change of the place of +his confinement. To none of these applications was answer of any +kind returned. After he had been nearly two months in prison he +asked that his wife might be allowed to visit him. She was in the +deepest anguish, and her society in his imprisonment could have +subjected the government to no danger, because she would have been +under the same restraint and espionage as her husband. This natural +and reasonable request, made only after his confinement promised +to be indefinite, was peremptorily and curtly refused by the War +Department. + +On the fiftieth day the place of his imprisonment was changed from +Fort Lafayette to Fort Hamilton near by, and the opportunity for +open-air exercise within the fort was accorded him, though always +under the eye of a sentinel. Here he renewed his request for the +charges against him, without eliciting answer. He applied to the +officer in command of the fort to learn of what possible crime he +was accused, and the officer replied that he knew nothing of it; +he was absolutely ignorant of any ground for General Stone's +imprisonment. After striving for more than sixty days to ascertain +the nature of his offense, and secure an opportunity to vindicate +himself, the prisoner adopted another course. He applied for +suspension of arrest with liberty to join the army just setting +forth under General McClellan for the Peninsular campaign. No +reply was made to his request. A few weeks later, when the Union +forces under General Banks were defeated in the valley of the +Shenandoah, he again asked the privilege of active duty, and again +was treated with contemptuous silence. On the 4th of July he +telegraphed directly to President Lincoln, recalling the honorable +service in which he had been engaged just one year before. Reminding +the President of the pressing need which the country then had "of +the services of every willing soldier," he begged to be sent to +the field. With manly dignity he declared, "I am utterly unconscious +of any act, word, or design which should make me less eligible to +an honorable place among the soldiers of the Republic than upon +any day of my past life." + + GENERAL STONE'S CASE IN CONGRESS. + +Meanwhile the subject had forced itself upon the attention of +Congress. On the 24th of March, Senators Latham and McDougall of +California, the first a supporter of Breckinridge in 1860, the +other a supporter of Douglas, with Aaron A. Sargent, representative +from the same State and a most radical Republican, united in an +energetic memorial to Secretary Stanton, on behalf of General Stone +as a citizen of California. They stated that "the long arrest of +General Stone without military trial or inquiry has led to complaints +from many quarters. . . . Having known General Stone for years, +and never having had cause to doubt his loyalty, we feel it our +duty to inquire of the government through you for some explanation +of a proceeding which seems to us extraordinary." To this memorial +no reply was made, and after waiting nearly three weeks Mr. McDougall +introduced in the Senate a very searching resolution of inquiry, +requesting the Secretary of War to state upon whose authority the +arrest was made, and upon whose complaint; why General Stone had +been denied his rights under the articles of war; why no charges +and specifications of his offense had been made; whether General +Stone had not frequently asked to be informed of the charges against +him; and finally upon what pretense he was still kept in prison. +Mr. McDougall spoke in the Senate on the 15th of April in support +of his resolution, making some interesting personal statements. +General Stone was arrested on the night of Saturday, the 8th of +February. "On the Wednesday evening before that," said Mr. McDougall, +"I met General Stone, dressed as became a person of his rank, at +the house of the President, where no one went on that evening except +by special invitation. He was there mingling with his friends, +receiving as much attention and as much consideration from all +about him as any man there present. . . . Only two evenings after +that, if I remember right, he was the guest under similar circumstances +of the senior general in command of our army [McClellan], and there +again receiving the hospitalities of the men first in office and +first in the consideration of the country. On, I think, the very +day of his arrest he was in the War Department, and was received +by the head of that department as a man who had the entire confidence +of the government, and of himself as one of the government's +representatives. On that evening he was seized, taken from his +home and family at midnight, carried off to Fort Lafayette and +imprisoned, as are men convicted and adjudged guilty of the highest +offense known to the law. . . . I undertake to say upon good +authority that almost presently before his arrest he said to the +present Secretary of War [Stanton], 'Sir, I hear complaints about +my conduct as an officer at Ball's Bluff. I wish you to inquire +into it and have the matter determined.' He was assured that there +were no charges against him, and the secretary advised him in +substance in these words: 'There is no occasion for your inquiry; +go back to your command.' That was the day of the night on which +he was arrested." Mr. McDougall's statement, the accuracy of which +was not challenged by any one, disclosed the fact that while General +Stone was a guest at the White House and at the residence of General +McClellan, the latter had in his possession the order for arrest, +and had held it for several days. + +The resolution of Mr. McDougall was debated at some length in the +Senate, Mr. Wade making a fiery speech in defense of the course +pursued by the Committee on the Conduct of the War, and Mr. Browning +of Illinois defending the President, upon whom there had been no +imputation of any kind. Mr. Doolittle suggested that the resolution +be referred to a committee. Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts submitted +a substitute, simply requesting "the President of the United States +to communicate to the Senate any information touching the arrest +and imprisonment of General Stone, not deemed incompatible with +the public interest." Mr. Sumner had "no opinion to express in +the case, for he knew nothing about it;" but "it seemed clear" to +him "that General Stone ought to be confronted with his accusers +at an early day, unless there be some reason of an overbearing +military character which would render such a trial improper." Mr. +Sumner had "seen in various newspapers a most persistent attempt" +to connect him "with the credit or discredit of the arrest." He +declared that from the beginning he "had been an absolute stranger +to it." The arrest was made, he repeated, without his "suggestion +or hint, direct or indirect." He declared that he "was as free +from all connection with it" as "the intimate friends and family +relatives of the prisoner." At the close of the debate Mr. McDougall +accepted Mr. Wilson's resolution as a substitute for his, and on +the 21st of April the latter was adopted by general consent. + + SENATOR SUMNER AND GENERAL STONE. + +The unfounded assumption of Mr. Sumner's connection with the arrest +sprang perhaps from some censorious remarks in the Senate made by +him in December touching General Stone's alleged course in sending +back fugitive slaves. Subsequent intelligence indicated that Mr. +Sumner had been misinformed on this matter, and that the facts did +not inculpate General Stone. But instead of writing to Mr. Sumner +to correct the statements made in his speech, General Stone, most +unwisely and most reprehensibly, addressed to the senator on the +23d of December an ill-tempered and abusive letter. Mr. Henry +Melville Parker of Massachusetts investigated all the facts and +incidents of the case, and came to the conclusion that Mr. Sumner, +as an act of revenge for the insolent letter, had caused General +Stone's arrest. But the facts do not warrant Mr. Parker's conclusion. +Aside from Mr. Sumner's public denial on the floor of the Senate-- +which of itself closed the issue--he was never known to be guilty +of an act of revenge. That passion belongs to meaner natures. +The dates, moreover, remove the imputation of Mr. Parker. General +Stone's hasty and ill-considered letter was placed in Mr. Sumner's +hands on Christmas Day, 1861. The arrest was made on the 8th of +February, 1862--forty-six days later. The intervening circumstances +nowhere involve Mr. Sumner in the remotest degree. + +In answer to the call upon the President for information, Mr. +Lincoln sent a message to the Senate on the 1st of May, saying, +"General Stone was arrested and imprisoned under my general authority, +and upon evidence which, whether he be guilty or innocent, required, +as appears to me, such proceedings to be had against him for the +public safety." The President deemed it "incompatible with the +public interest, and perhaps unjust to General Stone, to make a +more particular statement of the evidence." After saying that +General Stone had not been tried because the officers to constitute +a court-martial could not be withdrawn from duty without serious +injury to the service, the President gave this public assurance: +"He will be allowed a trial without unnecessary delay: the charges +and specifications will be furnished him in due season, and every +facility for his defense will be afforded him by the War Department." +This message on its face bears evidence that it was prepared at +the War Department, and that Mr. Lincoln acted upon assurances +furnished by Mr. Stanton. The arrest was made upon his "general" +authority, and clearly not from any specific information he possessed. +But the effect of the message was to preclude any further attempt +at intervention by Congress. Indeed the assurance that General +Stone should be tried "without unnecessary delay" was all that +could be asked. But the promise made to the ear was broken to the +hope, and General Stone was left to languish without a word of +intelligence as to his alleged offense, and without the slightest +opportunity to meet the accusers who in the dark had convicted him +without trial, subjected him to cruel punishment, and exposed him +to the judgment of the world as a degraded criminal. + +Release from imprisonment came at last by the action of Congress, +coercing the Executive Department to the trial or discharge of +General Stone. In the Act of July 17, 1862, "defining the pay and +emolument of certain officers," a section was inserted declaring +that "whenever an officer shall be put under arrest, except at +remote military posts, it shall be the duty of the officer by whose +orders he is arrested to see that a copy of the charges shall be +served upon him within eight days thereafter, and that he shall be +brought to trial within ten days thereafter unless the necessities +of the service prevent such trial; and then he shall be brought to +trial within thirty days after the expiration of said ten days, or +the arrest shall cease." The Act reserved the right to try the +officer at any time within twelve months after his discharge from +arrest, and by a _proviso_ it was made to apply "to all persons +now under arrest and waiting trial." The bill had been pending +several months, having been originally reported by Senator Wilson +before General Stone's arrest. + +The provision of the Act applicable to the case of General Stone +was only a full enforcement by law of the seventy-ninth article of +war, which declared that "no officer or soldier who shall be put +in arrest shall continued in confinement more than eight days, or +until such time as a court-martial can be assembled." It was a +direct violation of the spirit of this article, and a cruel straining +of its letter, to consign General Stone to endless or indefinite +imprisonment. Any man of average intelligence in the law--and +Secretary Stanton was eminent in his profession--would at once say +that the time beyond the eight days allowed for assembling a court- +martial must be a reasonable period, and that an officer was entitled +to prompt trial, or release from arrest. The law now passed was +imperative. Withing eight days the arrested officer must be notified +of the charges against him, within ten days he must be tried, and +"if the necessities of the service prevent a trial" within thirty +days after the ten, the officer is entitled to an absolute discharge. +General Stone's case fell within the justice and the mercy of the +law. The eight days within which he should be notified of the +charges against him had been long passed; the ten days had certainly +expired; but by the construction of the War Department the victim +was still in the power that wronged him for thirty days more. From +the 17th of July, thirty days were slowly told off until the 16th +of August was at last reached, and General Stone was once more a +free man. He had been one hundred and eighty-nine days in prison, +and was at last discharged by the limitation of the statute without +a word of exculpation or explanation. The routine order simply +recited that "the necessities of the service not permitting the +trial, within the time required by law, of Brigadier-General Charles +P. Stone, now confined in Fort Lafayette, the Secretary of War +directs that he be released from arrest." + + GENERAL STONE FINALLY RELEASED. + +The order simply turned him adrift. He was a Colonel in the Regular +Army and a Brigadier-General in the volunteer service; and the +Secretary, according to the rule of the War Department, should have +given him some instruction,--either assigning him to duty or +directing him to report at some place and await orders. Thinking +it might be an omission, General Stone telegraphed the War Department +that he had the honor "to report for duty." He waited five days +in New York for an answer, and receiving none repaired to Washington. +Reporting promptly at the office of the Adjutant-General, he was +told they had no orders for him, and knew nothing about his arrest. +He then applied to General McClellan, on the eve of the Antietam +campaign, for permission to serve with the army. General McClellan +on the 7th of September wrote to Secretary Stanton that he would +be glad to avail himself of General Stone's services and that he +had "no doubt as to his loyalty and devotion." No answer was +returned by the War Department. On the 25th of September General +Stone, still eager to confront his accusers, applied to General-in- +Chief Halleck for a copy of any charges or allegations against him, +and the opportunity of promptly meeting them. He reminded the +general that two hundred and twenty-eight days had elapsed since +his arrest, and that if he were to be tried for any offense those +who had served under him must be the witnesses of his conduct, and +that from battle and disease these witnesses were falling by hundreds +and thousands; the casualties were so great indeed that his command +was already reduced one-half. General Halleck replied that he had +no official information of the cause of General Stone's arrest, +and that so far as he could ascertain no charges or specifications +were on file against him. + +Several weeks later, on the 1st of December, 1862, General Stone +applied to General McClellan, calling his attention to the Act of +July 17, under which any officer arrested had the right to "a copy +of the charges against him within eight days." He therefore +respectfully requested General McClellan, as the officer who ordered +the arrest, to furnish him a copy of the charges. General McClellan +replied on the 5th of December that the order for arrest had been +given him by the Secretary of War, who told him it was at the +solicitation of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, and based +on testimony taken by them. He further informed General Stone that +he had the order, in the handwriting of Secretary Stanton, several +days before it was carried into effect, and added the following +somewhat remarkable statement: "On the evening when you were +arrested I submitted to the Secretary of War the written result of +the examination of a refugee from Leesburg. This information to +a certain extent agreed with the evidence stated to have been taken +by the Committee, and upon its being imparted to the Secretary he +again instructed me to cause you to be arrested, which I at once +did." This discloses the fact that General McClellan was cognizant +of the character of the testimony submitted against General Stone, +and so rigidly withheld from the knowledge of the person most +interested. On receipt of General McClellan's note, General Stone +immediately asked him for the name of the Leesburg refugee and for +a copy of his statement. A member of General McClellan's staff +answered the inquiry, stating that the general "does not recollect +the name of the refugee, and the last time he recollects seeing +that statement was at the War Department immediately previous to +your arrest." General Stone, victim of the perversity which had +uniformly attended the case, was again baffled. He was never able +to see the statement of the "refugee" or even to get his name, +though, according to General McClellan, the testimony of the +refugee was the proximate and apparently decisive cause of General +Stone's arrest. + +General Stone applied directly to the President, asking "if he +could inform me why I was sent to Fort Lafayette." The President +replied that "if he told me all he knew about it he should not tell +me much." He stated that while it was done under his general +authority, he did not do it. The President referred General Stone +to General Halleck who stated that the arrest was made on the +recommendation of General McClellan. This was a surprise to General +Stone, for General McClellan had but recently written him that he +had full confidence in his devotion and loyalty. General Halleck +replied that he knew of that letter, and that "the Secretary of +War had expressed great surprise at it because he said that General +McClellan himself had recommended the arrest, and now seemed to be +pushing the whole thing on his [the secretary's] shoulders." The +search for the agency that would frankly admit responsibility was +rendered still more difficult by the denial of the Committee on +the Conduct of the War that the arrest had ever been recommended +by them, either collectively or individually. They had simply +forwarded to the Secretary of War such evidence as was submitted +to them. + + RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ARREST. + +General Stone appeared before the Committee on the Conduct of the +War on the 27th of February, 1863--nearly five months after his +release from imprisonment. He was allowed to see the testimony +which had hitherto been withheld from him, and answered all the +accusations in detail with convincing candor and clearness. As he +proceeded in his triumphant response to all the accusations against +him, the committee said "Why did you not give us these explanations +when you were here before?"--"Because," replied General Stone, "if +the chairman will remember, the committee did not state to me the +particular cases. . . . I gave general answers to general allegations." +General Stone stated further to the committee that he ought himself +to have asked for a Court of Inquiry after the reverse at Ball's +Bluff. "The reason why I did not," he continued, "was this: While +General McClellan was at Edward's Ferry, he showed me a telegram +which he had written to the President to the effect that he had +examined into the affair at Ball's Bluff and that General Stone +was entirely without blame." "After the expression of that opinion," +said General Stone, "it would not have been respectful to ask for +a Court of Inquiry. It was given by the highest authority and sent +to the highest authority, and as a soldier I had no right to ask +for justification except of my superiors." Subsequently, on the +occasion of Mr. Conkling's speech "severely criticising" General +Stone's conduct in connection with the affair at Ball's Bluff, the +General applied to the aide-de-camp of General McClellan, as likely +to be informed of the Commander's wishes, to know if he "should +ask for a Court of Inquiry," and the reply was "No." He then asked +if he should make a statement correcting the mistakes in Mr. +Conkling's speech. The reply was "Write nothing; say nothing; keep +quiet." The committee asked General Stone, as a military man, "Who +had the power to bring you to trial?" He answered "When I was +arrested, the General-in-Chief, General McClellan, had that power. +I know I should claim that power if any man under my command were +arrested." + + GENERAL STONE'S RESIGNATION. + +The responsibility for the arrest and imprisonment of General Stone +must, according to the official record of the case, rest on Secretary +Stanton, Major-General McClellan, and the Committee on the Conduct +of the War. It is very clear that Mr. Lincoln, pressed by a thousand +calls and placing implicit confidence in these three agencies, took +it for granted that ample proof existed to justify the extraordinary +treatment to which General Stone was subjected. General Stone is +not to be classed in that long list of private citizens temporarily +confined without the benefit of _habeas corpus_, on the charge of +sympathizing with the Rebellion. The situation of those persons +more nearly assimilates with that of prisoners of war. It differs +totally from the arrest of General Stone in that the cause of +detention was well known and very often proudly avowed by the person +detained. The key of their prison was generally in the hands of +those who were thus confined,--an honest avowal of loyalty and an +oath of allegiance to the National Government securing their release. +If they could not take the oath they were justifiably held, and +were no more injured in reputation than the millions with whose +daring rebellion they sympathized. But to General Stone the +government permitted the gravest crime to be imputed. A soldier +who will betray his command belongs by the code of all nations to +the most infamous class--his death but feebly atoning for the injury +he has inflicted upon his country. It was under the implied +accusation of this great guilt that General Stone was left in duress +for more than six weary months, deprived of all power of self- +defense, denied the inherited rights of the humblest citizen of +the Republic. In the end, not gracefully but tardily, and as it +seemed grudgingly, the government was compelled to confess its own +wrong and to do partial justice to the injured man by restoring +him to honorable service under the flag of the Nation. No reparation +was made to him for the protracted defamation of his character, no +order was published acknowledging that he was found guiltless, no +communication was ever made to him by National authority giving +even a hint of the grounds on which for half a year he was pilloried +before the nation as a malefactor. The wound which General Stone +received was deep. From some motive, the source of which will +probably remain a mystery, his persecution continued in many petty +and offensive ways, until he was finally driven, towards the close +of the war, when he saw that he could be no longer useful to his +country, to tender his resignation. It was promptly accepted. He +found abroad the respect and consideration which had been denied +him at home, and for many years he was Chief of the General Staff +to the Khedive of Egypt. + +It is not conceivable that the flagrant wrong suffered by General +Stone was ever designed by any one of the eminent persons who share +the responsibility for its infliction. They were influenced by +and largely partook of the popular mania which demanded a victim +to atone for a catastrophe. The instances in which this disposition +of the public mind works cruel injury are innumerable, and only +time, and not always time, seems able to render justice. Too often +the object of popular vengeance is hurried to his fate, and placed +beyond the pale of that reparation which returning reason is eager +to extend. Fortunately the chief penalty of General Stone was the +anguish of mind, the wounding of a proud spirit. His case will +stand as a warning against future violations of the liberty which +is the birthright of every American, and against the danger of +appeasing popular clamor by the sacrifice of an innocent man. +Throughout the ordeal, General Stone's bearing was soldierly. He +faced accusation with equanimity and endured suffering with fortitude. +He felt confident of ultimate justice, for he knew that it is not +the manner of his countrymen "to deliver any man to die before that +he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have license +to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him." + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +The National Finances.--Debt when the Civil War began.--Deadly Blow +to Public Credit.--Treasury Notes due in 1861.--$10,000,000 required. +--An Empty Treasury.--Recommendation by Secretary Dix.--Secretary +Thomas recommends a Pledge of the Public Lands.--Strange Suggestions. +--Heavy Burdens upon the Treasury.--Embarrassment of Legislators. +--First Receipts in the Treasury in 1861.--Chief Dependence had +always been on Customs.--Morrill Tariff goes into Effect.--It meets +Financial Exigencies.--Mr. Vallandigham puts our Revenue at +$50,000,000, our Expenditures at $500,000,000.--Annual Deficiency +under Mr. Buchanan.--Extra Session in July, 1861.--Secretary Chase +recommends $80,000,000 by Taxation, and $240,000,000 by Loans.-- +Loan Bill of July 17, 1861.--Its Provisions.--Demand Notes.--Seven- +thirties.--Secretary Chase's Report, December, 1861.--Situation +Serious.--Sales of Public Lands.--Suspension of Specie Payment.-- +The Loss of our Coin.--Its Steady Export to Europe. + +When the civil war began, the Government of the United States owed +a less sum than it owed under the administration of Washington +after the funding of the debt of the Revolution. The population +in 1861 was nine times as large, the wealth thirty times as great +as in 1791. The burden therefore was absolutely inconsiderable +when contrasted with our ability to pay. But there had been such +gross mismanagement of the Treasury, either from incompetency or +design, under the administration of Howell Cobb, that the credit +of the government was injured. There was embarrassment when there +should have been security; there was scarcity when the most ordinary +prudence would have insured plenty. So much depended at that moment +on the ability of the government to raise money by pledging its +faith, that Mr. Cobb perhaps thought he was dealing the deadliest +blow at the nation by depriving it of the good name it had so long +held in the money markets of the world. With unblemished credit +at the opening of the war, the government could have used its +military power with greater confidence, and consequently with +greater effectiveness. + + THE NATIONAL CREDIT INJURED. + +At the beginning of the year 1861 it was necessary for the government +to raise about $10,000,000 to meet Treasury notes outstanding and +the interest secured upon them. Congress had passed, on the 17th +of December, 1860, a law authorizing the issue of new Treasury +notes for this amount, bearing interest at the rate of six per +cent., and redeemable after one year; but the Secretary of the +Treasury was authorized to issue them, upon public notice, at the +best rates of interest offered by responsible bidders. Before the +close of the month negotiations were completed, after unusual +effort, and it was found that the notes were issued at various +rates, only $70,200 at six per cent., $5,000 at seven per cent., +$24,500 at eight per cent., $355,000 at rates between eight per +cent. and below ten per cent., $3,283,500 at ten per cent. and +fractions below eleven per cent., $1,432,700 at eleven per cent., +and by far the larger share, $4,840,000 at twelve per cent. The +average for the whole negotiation made the rate of interest ten +and five-eighths per cent. + +The Treasury was empty, for the nominal balance was only $2,233,220 +on the 1st of January. Obligations were accruing to such an extent +that General John A. Dix, as Secretary of the Treasury, informed +the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, +that the revenue exhibited, on the 1st of February, a deficit of +$21,677,524. The committee estimated that the sum needed to carry +on current operations was at least $5,000,000 in addition. A loan +of $25,000,000 was proposed, to meet these demands. Secretary Dix, +who felt the pulse of the financial centres, recommended in a letter +to the Ways and Means Committee that the several States be asked +to pledge the United-States "deposit funds" in their hands for the +security of the loan. His immediate predecessor, Philip F. Thomas, +had, in his annual report in the preceding December, urged that +the "public lands be unconditionally pledged for the ultimate +redemption of all the Treasury notes which it may become necessary +to issue." + +Such suggestions seem strange to the ears of those who were afterwards +accustomed to the unbounded credit of the Republic. But these +secretaries were called to hear from capitalists the declaration +that the national debt had increased from $28,460,958 on the 1st +of July, 1857, to $64,640,838 on the 1st of July, 1860, and that +the figures were still mounting upward. In the mean time the +revenues were falling off, the sales of public lands were checked, +and the estimates of customs for the current year were practically +overthrown by the secession of the Southern States and the denial +of the authority of the Union. + +The task of Congress might well strike some thoughtful legislators +as that of making bricks without straw. As the Rebellion took form +and organization, it became clear that the ability and willingness +of the people to raise large sums of money were vital factors in +the problem of the maintenance of the Union. It was well that no +one knew just how great were the burdens which the loyal people +must bear. It is no disparagement to the leading statesmen of that +era, that they did not at first propose measures adequate to the +emergency, because no standards existed by which the magnitude of +that emergency could be estimated. If Congress had understood on +the 1st of July, 1861, that the ordinary expenditures of the +government would be, within the fiscal years 1863 and 1864, more +than the entire expenditures of the National Government from the +foundation of the nation to that day, paralysis would have fallen +upon the courage of the bravest. If the necessity had been proclaimed +of raising by loans before the 1st of July, 1865, two thousand +millions of dollars more than the National Treasury had ever received +from loans and revenue combined, the audacity of the demand would +have forbidden serious consideration. If the Ways and Means +Committee had been notified that before the end of 1865, the annual +charge for interest on the national debt, for which provision must +be made, would reach $150,977,697, much more than twice the total +expenditure of the preceding year, skill and energy would have +undergone the crucial test. But the surprise of legislators would +have been equally great if they could then have unrolled the future +records of the Treasury, and have seen that in the year in which +the Rebellion would be suppressed, the receipts from customs would +attain the vast sum of $179,046,651, while from internal revenue, +a source not yet drawn upon, the enormous aggregate of $309,226,813 +would be contributed to maintain the public credit. + +We are so familiar with the vast sums which the war against the +Rebellion caused the National Government to disburse, that it is +difficult to appreciate the spirit with which the legislators of +1861 approached the impending burdens. They knew that their task +was great. They were in imminent peril, not only from open hostility, +but from doubt and fear. The resources of the Republic had not +been measured, the uprising of popular patriotism had not yet +astonished foreign foes and even the most sanguine of domestic +participants. With the information which was then before the world, +it may be questioned whether a complete scheme for providing the +money necessary for the struggle could have been passed through +Congress, or rendered effective with capitalists. The needs of +each crisis were supplied as each arose. Congress did not try to +look far into the future. It exerted itself to give daily bread +to the armies of the Union, to provide munitions of war, to build +and equip the navy. + + NATIONAL FINANCES IN 1861. + +The first receipts into the Treasury in 1861, other than from the +ordinary revenues under preceding statutes, came from the loan of +February 5, which authorized the issue of bonds bearing six per +cent. interest, payable within not less than ten, or more than +twenty years. The amount authorized was $25,000,000, and the +secretary was able to negotiate $18,415,000 at the average rate of +eighty-nine and three one-hundredths (89.03) per cent. + +The Congress which closed its session of the 4th of March, 1861, +among its final acts provided for a loan of $10,000,000 in bonds, +or the issue of a like sum in Treasury notes; and the President +was also empowered to issue Treasury notes for any part of loans +previously authorized. Under this statute, notes were issued to +the amount of $12,896,350, payable sixty days after date, and +$22,468,100 payable in two years. This measure indicated the +disposition to provide for pressing exigencies by devices which +covered only the present hour, and left heavier responsibilities +to the future. An incident of this period was the settlement of +the debt incurred in the war in Oregon against the Indians, by +giving to the claimants or their representatives six per cent. +bonds redeemable in twenty years. The bonds were taken to the +amount of $1,090,850, showing that such securities were welcome to +claimants even at par. + +The chief dependence of the United States for revenue had always +been upon customs. But no real test had ever been made of the sum +that might be collected from this source. The aim had been to see +with how small an amount the National Government could be supported, +not how large an amount might be collected. The time was now upon +us when this critical experiment was to be tried, and the initial +step in that direction was the Morrill Tariff which went into effect +on the first day of April. It radically changed the policy of our +customs duties from the legislation of 1846 and 1857, and put the +nation in the attitude of self-support in manufactures. Although +introduced before secession attained its threatening proportions, +it was well adapted to the condition in which the country was placed +at the time of its enactment. It was a measure carefully elaborated, +and based upon principles which were applied with studious accuracy +to all its parts. Under it the imposts which had averaged about +nineteen per cent. on dutiable articles, and fifteen per cent. on +the total importations, mounted to thirty-six per cent. on dutiable +articles, and to twenty-eight per cent. on the total importations. +Thus, although the goods brought into the country fell off unavoidably +by reason of the war, and especially of the difficulties encountered +by our vessels from the rebel privateers, the customs duties rather +increased than diminished, and something was thus secured in the +way of a basis of credit for the immense loans which became necessary. +The measure, Mr. Sherman of Ohio stated, would in ordinary times +produce an income of $65,000,000 a year to the Treasury. + +The Morrill Tariff was found to meet the exigencies of the situation +to such a degree that when Congress came together in response to +the call of President Lincoln, Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, as head of +the committee charged with the subject, informed the House that it +had been determined not to enter upon a general revision. He +reported a measure to extend the schedule of dutiable articles with +the view of adding immediately to the revenue about $22,250,000 +annually. After disagreement with the Senate his bill with slight +alteration was enacted and became the tariff on Aug. 5, 1861. In +Dec. 24, 1861, the duties on tea, coffee, and sugar were increased +directly as a war measure. During the consideration of this bill, +Mr. Morrill presented estimates showing that the revenue would be +increased by about $7,000,000, and Mr. Vallandigham of Ohio took +occasion to dwell on the falling off of importations, asking, "How +are you to have revenue from imports when nothing is imported? +Your expenditures are $500,000,000, your income but $50,000,000." +He was much nearer the actual figures than political rhetoric is +apt to be. Mr. Morrill's response was only to hope that the +gentleman from Ohio had some proposition to offer more acceptable +than the pending bill. That bill was indeed a reasonable, and, so +far as it went, an effective measure, and Mr. Vallandigham had no +substitute to offer. + + NATIONAL FINANCES IN 1861. + +In his annual report as Secretary of the Treasury, Howell Cobb had, +on the 4th of December, 1860, estimated that the receipts of the +Treasury for the fiscal year ending with June, 1862, would amount +to $64,495,891, while he reckoned that the expenditures would be +$68,363,726. With the prospect of peace and national unity he +predicted a deficiency of $3,867,834 for that year. His figures +were so preposterously incorrect as to justify the suspicion of +intentional misstatement. The deficiency for the four years of +Mr. Buchanan's administration had been, according to a statement +by Mr. Sherman of Ohio in the House of Representatives, almost +exactly $20,000,000 a year. This deficiency had been met by +continual borrowing. On the 11th of February Secretary Dix reported +to the Committee of Ways and Means that provision must be made +before the 4th of March for a final deficiency of $9,901,118. This +necessity was provided for by a clause in the Morrill Tariff Act; +and the authority to issue Treasury notes to the full amount of +loans previously permitted, gave to the administration of President +Lincoln the means to start upon its difficult career. + +With a revenue which no one estimated beyond $5,000,000 a month, +with a credit at the low ebb which the sales of its bonds had +already exhibited, the nation was to prepare for a war of untold +magnitude. Mr. Chase, as Secretary of the Treasury, began to try +the fruitfulness of the loan laws under which he must proceed. +April 2, 1861, he offered $8,000,000, but the prices were not +satisfactory to him, and he sold only $3,099,000 at the rate of +94.01. Nine days later he received bids for $1,000,000 of Treasury +notes bearing six per cent. interest, and with considerable exertion +he secured the increase of this sum to $5,000,000 at par. A +committee of the New-York Chamber of Commerce led in a movement, +representing the banks of some of the chief cities, to assist the +Treasury in borrowing the means required for its pressing exigencies. +By this co-operation Mr. Chase raised in May $7,310,000 on bonds +at rates from eighty-five to ninety-three per cent. and $1,684,000 +by Treasury notes at par. + +When Congress met in special session under the call of Mr. Lincoln +July 4, Secretary Chase found it necessary to declare that while +the laws still permitted loans amounting to $21,393,450, the +authority was unavailable because of the limitation that the +securities, whether bonds or Treasury notes, should be issued only +at par, on the basis of six per cent. interest. Practically +therefore no power existed to borrow money. While, on the first +of the month then current, there was a nominal balance in the +Treasury of $2,355,635, charges by reason of appropriations for +the account of the preceding fiscal year were outstanding to the +extent of $20,121,880. The short loans already made, constituted +also an immediate claim, and these amounted to $12,639,861. All +these burdens were to be borne in addition to the demands of the +year, which, as already demonstrated, would be one of extended +military operations and of costly preparations and movements at +sea. The total for which the secretary asked that Congress might +provide resources, reached according to his estimates the sum of +$318,519,581 for the fiscal year. Far-seeing men believed that +even this enormous aggregate would fall short of the actual demand. + +Mr. Chase proposed that $80,000,000 be raised by taxation, and +$240,000,000 by loans. The suggestion was already urged that even +a larger proportion of the money needed, should be raised by +taxation. But unwillingness to create friction and opposition +doubtless entered into the considerations which determined the +recommendations of the secretary. He proposed to rely upon the +tariff for a large share of the basis of credit, and, while adding +to its provisions, to impose a direct tax, and to levy duties upon +stills and distilled liquors, on ale and beer, on tobacco, spring- +carriages, bank-notes, silver ware, jewellery, and legacies. + +Congress made haste to consider and substantially to carry out the +recommendations of Secretary Chase. The legislators were not +inclined to go farther than the head of the Treasury suggested. +No practical proposition was made for a broader scheme of taxation. +The tariff, as has been indicated, was enlarged. A bill was passed, +levying a direct tax of $20,000,000, to be apportioned among all +the States, of which the sum of $12,000,000 was apportioned among +the States which had not seceded from the Union. Instead of the +scheme of internal taxes which Mr. Chase had proposed, an income +tax was substituted, to be collected on the results of the year +ending April 1, 1862, and assessed at three per cent. on all incomes +in excess of $800; but before any collections were made under it, +the broader internal-revenue system went into effect. Direct taxes +had been tried in 1800 and again in 1814, but the receipts had +always been disappointing. The results under Secretary Chase's +proposition were altogether unsatisfactory; and on the 1st of July, +1862, an Act was passed limiting the tax to one levy previous to +April 1, 1865, when the law should have full force. The estimates +of collections were set at $12,000,000 annually, or very near that +sum. For four years, 1862-1865 inclusive, the receipts were only +$4,956,657: in 1867 they became $4,200,233, and then dribbled away. + + THE NATIONAL LOAN ACT OF JULY, 1861. + +Inadequate as is now seen to be the legislation of 1861 with +reference to actual revenue, the receipts fell far below the +calculations of experts. For the fiscal year 1862 the customs +amounted to only $49,056,397, and the direct tax to $1,795,331; +and the total receipts, excluding loans, were only $51,919,261 +instead of $80,000,000, as expected under the estimates of the +Treasury. The plea may perhaps be pressed in defense of Congress, +that financial legislation, laggard as it was, ran before popular +readiness to raise money by taxes. There was a wide-spread opposition +among the strongest advocates of the war, to all measures which +would, at an early stage, render the contest pecuniarily oppressive, +and hence make it unpopular. + +President Lincoln in his message at the opening of the special +session had called upon Congress for $400,000,000 in money, and +400,000 men. Mr. Chase's figures were $320,000,000. He doubtless +deemed it wise to ask for no more than Congress would promptly +grant. As the struggle proceeded, it was demonstrated that those +calculated most justly who relied most completely on the popular +purpose to make every sacrifice to maintain the national integrity. +This was however the period of depression after the first battle +of Bull Run, of hesitation before casting every thing into the +scale for patriotism. + +The eloquent fact about the Loan Bill is that Congress made haste +to enact it. It was introduced into the House of Representatives +on the 9th of July. On the next day Mr. Stevens, chairman of the +Ways and Means Committee, called up the bill, and, upon going into +committee of the whole, induced the House to limit general debate +to one hour. In the committee the entire time was occupied by Mr. +Vallandigham of Ohio, in criticism on the President's message and +on the general questions involved in the prosecution of the war. +Mr. Holman of Indiana addressed to the gentleman from Ohio two +inquiries bearing on the purpose of the latter to aid in maintaining +the Union. No response was made to the speech of Mr. Vallandigham. +The committee rose, and the bill was passed by a vote of 105 to 5. +In the Senate no discussion took place, certain amendments looking +to the perfection of the measure were adopted, and the bill was +passed without division. The House at once concurred in the Senate +amendments, and the act was consummated by which the first of the +great war loans was authorized. + +This Act became law on the 17th of July. Its provisions created +a system by which the Secretary of the Treasury might offer bonds +not exceeding $250,000,000 in the aggregate at seven per cent. +interest, redeemable after twenty years; or he might issue Treasury +notes payable three years after date, and bearing seven and three- +tenths per cent. interest,--the notes not to be of less denomination +than fifty dollars. A separate section permitted the secretary to +offer not more than $100,000,000 abroad, payable in the United +States or in Europe. The same Act authorized for a part of the +sum not exceeding $50,000,000, the exchange for coin or the use in +payment of salaries or other dues, of notes of less denomination +than fifty dollars but not less than ten dollars, and bearing +interest at the rate of three and sixty-five one-hundredths per +cent. payable in one year; or these might be payable on demand and +without interest. This loan might therefore be in bonds for sale +in this country or in a different form for sale abroad; or, second, +it might be in Treasury notes of not less than fifty dollars each, +bearing seven and three-tenths per cent. interest; or, third, a +part of the loan not exceeding $50,000,000 might be in notes of +even as low denomination as ten dollars at three and sixty-five +one-hundredths per cent.; and, finally, this latter part might be +in notes without interest payable on demand. The bonds were to +run at least twenty years; the seven-thirties three years; and the +three-sixty-fives were payable in one year, and exchangeable into +seven-thirties at the pleasure of the holder. A supplementary Act +was passed Aug. 5, 1861, which permitted the secretary to issue +six per cent. bonds, payable at the pleasure of the United States +after twenty years, and the holders of seven-thirty notes were +allowed to exchange their notes for such bonds. The minimum of +the denominations of Treasury notes was reduced to five dollars, +and all the demand notes of less denomination then fifty dollars +were receivable for payment of public dues. By Act of Feb. 12, +1862, the limit of demand notes was raised to $60,000,000. In this +modified form the statute directed the movements of the Treasury +during the autumn of the first year of the Rebellion. + + SECRETARY CHASE'S REPORT, 1861. + +In his report, dated December 9, 1861, the Secretary of the Treasury +related the steps which he had taken to raise money under these +laws. Mr. Chase informed Congress that "his reflections led him +to the conclusion that the safest, surest, and most beneficial plan +would be to engage the banking institutions of the three chief +commercial cities of the seaboard to advance the amounts needed +for disbursement in the form of loans for three years' seven-thirty +bonds, to be reimbursed, as far as practicable, from the proceeds +of similar bonds, subscribed for by the people through the agencies +of the national loan; using, meanwhile, himself, to a limited +extent, in aid of these advances, the power to issue notes of +smaller denominations than fifty dollars, payable on demand." +Representatives of the banks of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia +united to give moneyed support to the government. The secretary +opened books of subscription throughout the country. The banks +subscribed promptly for $50,000,000, paying $5,000,000 at once in +coin, and agreeing the pay the balance, also in coin, as needed by +the government. For this loan the banks received seven-thirty +notes, and the proceeds of the popular loan were transferred to +them. The sales to the public amounted to little more than half +that sum; but the banks, when called upon, made a second advance +of $50,000,000. By these and other agencies, Mr. Chase was able +to present an encouraging summary of the Treasury operations. + +He stated that "there were paid to creditors, or exchanged for coin +at par, at different dates, in July and August, six per cent. two +years' notes, to the amount of $14,019,034.66; there was borrowed +at par. in the same months, upon sixty days' six per cent. notes, +the sum of $12,877,750; there were borrowed at par, on the 19th of +August, under three years' seven-thirty bonds, issued for the most +part to subscribers to the national loan, $50,000,000; there were +borrowed at par for seven per cent., on the 10th of November, upon +twenty years' six per cent. bonds, reduced to the equivalent of +sevens, including interest, $45,795,478.48; there have been issued, +and were in circulation and on deposit with the treasurer on the +30th of November, of United-States notes payable on demand, +$24,550,325,--making an aggregate realized from loans in various +forms of $197,242,588.14." The loan operations had therefore been +fairly successful, for they were still in progress; and President +Lincoln was justified in stating in his message that "the expenditures +made necessary by the Rebellion are not beyond the resources of +the loyal people, and the same patriotism which has thus far +sustained the government will continue to sustain it, till peace +and union shall yet bless the land." + +But the shadows were growing thick, and the situation was very +serious. Mr. Chase was compelled to report that his estimates of +revenue must be reduced below the figures which he gave in July by +$25,447,334: at the same time the expenditures must be reckoned at +an increase of $213,904,427. Predictions as to the speedy close +of the war had ceased. Provision must be made, not only for the +deficiencies presented, but for the ensuing year, during which the +secretary estimated that the expenditures would be $475,331,245. +He proposed to amend the direct tax law, so as to collect under it +$20,000,000; to establish a system of internal revenue as he had +suggested in July, and to increase some of the customs duties. +From these sources, united with the receipts from the public lands, +the revenue would be $95,800,000. With this basis, reliance must +be placed on loans for the enormous sum of $654,980,920, and under +existing laws he could borrow only $75,449,675. + +The sale of public lands had furnished some part of the resources +of the nation from an early day. The annual product had not been +large as a rule. In 1834 and 1835 the sales had been abnormal, +amounting in the latter year to $24,877,179, and only about +$10,000,000 less in the preceding year. They were $11,497,049 in +1855, but they had fallen until they were less than $2,000,000 in +1859. It was natural to consider whether any help could be derived +from this quarter in the hour of national necessity. A forced sale +of lands was impossible to any such extent as to affect the receipts +of the Treasury in the ratio of its demands. The pledge of the +domain as security for loans was suggested only to be rejected. +As was natural, purchases of the public domain ceased almost entirely +while the young men of the country were summoned to the national +defense, and the better strength went into the field of battle. +From the public lands therefore the Treasury could hope for little, +and very little was in fact received from them during the Rebellion. +Secretary Chase had estimated in July that $3,000,000 might be +annually derived from this source; but the receipts from the sales +of lands never reached even $1,000,000 a year until two years after +the Rebellion had been suppressed. Practically the public lands +passed out of consideration as a source of revenue. Unfortunately +also the attempt to levy a direct tax was received by the people +with grave manifestations of disapproval. Its enforcement was +likely to prove mischievous. The close of the year 1861 was +therefore heavy with discouragement to the government. The military +reverses at Bull Run and Ball's Bluff had outweighed in the popular +mind the advantages we had gained elsewhere; the surrender of +Slidell and Mason, though on every consideration expedient, had +wounded the national pride; and now the report of the Secretary of +the Treasury tended to damp the ardor of those who had with sanguine +temperament looked forward to an easy victory over the Rebellion. + + SUSPENSION OF SPECIE PAYMENT. + +It was felt by all that the National credit, which had been partially +restored under Mr. Chase's administration of the Treasury, could +not be maintained except from the pockets of the people, and that +every man must expect to contribute of his substance to the support +of the government in the great task it had assumed. Happily all +considerate and reflecting men saw that, desperate as the struggle +might be, it must be accepted with all its cost and all its woe. +They could at least measure it and therefore could face it. On +the side of defeat they could not look. That was a calamity so +great as to be immeasurable, and it left to the loyal millions no +choice. If the struggle then in progress had been with a foreign +power, popular opinion would have overthrown any administration +that would not at once make peace. But peace on the basis of a +dissevered Union, a disintegrated people, a dishonored nationality, +could not be accepted and would not be endured. + +The discouragement in financial circles produced by the Treasury +report of Mr. Chase, hastened if it did not cause the suspension +of specie payment by the banks of New-York City. Many country +banks had ceased to pay specie some time before; indeed, many had +been only on a nominal basis of coin since the financial crisis of +1857. So long however as the specie standard was upheld by the +New-York banks, the business of the country was securely maintained +on the basis of coin. It was therefore a matter of serious moment +and still more serious portent that the financial pressure became +so strong in the last days of the year 1861 as to force the banks +of the metropolis to confess that they could no longer maintain a +specie standard. It had been many years since the government had +paid any thing but coin over its counters, but Treasury notes had +just been issued payable on demand, and many millions were already +in circulation. They would now be presented for redemption, and +if promptly met, the Treasury would be rapidly drained of its +specie. There were twenty-five millions less of gold coin in the +government vaults than Secretary Chase had expected. This fact of +itself enforced a larger issue of demand notes than would otherwise +have been called for, and had thus doubly complicated the financial +situation. The Treasury had disbursed a large amount of demand +notes and received a smaller amount of gold coin than the well +considered estimates of the secretary had anticipated. + +The presumption was in favor of our being much stronger in coin +than we were found to be. The discovery of gold in California had +resulted in an enormous product,--surpassing any thing known in +the history of mining. But we had been encouraging the importation +of goods from Europe which were confessedly somewhat cheaper than +our own fabrics, and in amount largely in excess of our export of +cotton and cereals. We were therefore constantly paying the +difference in coin. The political economists who had been in +control of our finances insisted upon treating our gold as an +ordinary product, to be exported in the same manner that we exported +wheat and pork. The consequence was that during the decade preceding +the war our exports of specie and bullion exceeded our imports of +the same by the enormous aggregate of four hundred and fifty millions +of dollars. For that whole period there had been a steady shipment +of our precious metals to Europe at a rate which averaged nearly +four millions of dollars per month. + +Advocates of protection had found the drain of our specie the +proximate cause of the financial panic of 1857. They now believed +that the same cause had produced a suspension of coin payment at +a much earlier date than the war pressure alone would have brought +it about. They did not lose the opportunity of demonstrating that +a system of protection which would have manufactured more and +imported less, and which would thus have retained many millions of +our specie at home, would have enabled us to meet the trials of +the war with greater strength and confidence. If the Morrill Tariff +had been enacted four years before, it would have been impossible +for Secretary Cobb to stab the national credit. He would have been +dealing constantly with a surplus instead of a deficit, and could +not have put the nation to shame by forcing it to hawk its paper +in the money markets at the usurious rate of one per cent. a month. +One of the wisest financiers in the United States has expressed +the belief that two hundred millions of coin, which might easily +have been saved to the country by a protective tariff between 1850 +and 1860, would have kept the National debt a thousand millions +below the point which it reached. Of all the arguments with which +protectionists have arraigned free-traders, perhaps the most +difficult to answer is that which holds them responsible for the +weak financial condition of 1860-61 in that they had deliberately +driven our specie from the country for the ten preceding years. + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +The Legal-tender Bill.--National Finances at the Opening of the +Year 1862.--A Threefold Contest.--The Country thrown upon its own +Resources.--A Good Currency demanded.--Government takes Control of +the Question.--Authorizes the Issue of $150,000,000 of Legal-tender +Notes.--Mr. Spaulding the Author of the Measure.--His Speech.-- +Opposed by Mr. Pendleton.--Position of Secretary Chase.--Urges the +Measure upon Congress.--Speeches by Thaddeus Stevens, Mr. Vallandigham, +Mr. V. B. Horton, Mr. Lovejoy, Mr. Conkling, Mr. Hooper, Mr. Morrill, +Mr. Bingham, Mr. Shellabarger, Mr. Pike and Others.--Spirited and +Able Debate.--Bill passes the House.--Its Consideration by the +Senate.--Speeches by Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Sumner, Mr. +Bayard, Mr. Collamer and Others.--Bill passes the Senate.--Its +Weighty Provisions.--Secretary Chase on State Banks.--Policy of +the Legal-tender Bill.--Its Effect upon the Business and Prosperity +of the Country.--Internal Revenue Act.--Necessity of Large Sums +from Taxation.--Public Credit dependent on it.--Constitutional +Provisions.--Financial Policy of Alexander Hamilton.--Excises +Unpopular.--Whiskey Insurrection.--Resistance by Law.--Supreme +Court Decision.--Case of Hylton.--Provisions of New Act.--Searching +Character.--Great Revenue desired.--Credit due to Secretary Chase. + +At the opening of the year 1862, from causes narrated in the +preceding chapter, the government finances were in an embarrassed +and critical situation. In Europe the general opinion--founded in +many influential quarters on the wish--was that the Union would be +dissolved; that with the success of the South, there would be still +further division between the East and the West; and that the only +compact power would be the Confederacy founded on slavery, with +the world's great staples as the basis of its wealth and its assured +development. We had but recently and narrowly escaped war with +England on account of the Trent affair, and in the crafty and +adventurous Emperor of France we had a secret enemy who saw in our +downfall the possible extension of his power and the strengthening +of his throne. Confederate bonds were more popular in England that +the bonds of the United States. The world's treasures were closed +against us. The bankers of Europe, with the Rothschilds in the +lead, would not touch our securities. Their united clientage +included the investors of Great Britain and the Continent, and a +popular loan could not be effected without their aid and co-operation. +We were engaged therefore in a threefold contest,--a military one +with the Confederacy, and diplomatic and moral one with the +governments of England and France, a financial one with the money +power of Europe. + +These causes threw us upon our own resources. The problem to be +solved was the utilization of our wealth without the aid which +comes from the power to borrow foreign money. Congress had obviously +failed at the extra session of July to use the taxing power to the +extent which financial wisdom demanded, and though it was now +willing to correct the error, there was not enough time to wait +the slow process of enactment, assessment, and collection. Our +need was instant and pressing. The banks of the country, many of +them in reckless, speculative hands, were freed by the suspension +of specie payment from their just responsibility, and might flood +the country with worthless paper which would entail great distress +upon the people. The Treasury notes not being paid in coin on +demand, as promised on their face, became discredited to such a +degree that the banks of the leading commercial cities would receive +them only as a special deposit, and not as money of account. So +entirely were these notes distrusted in the opening month of 1862 +that in more than one instance State banks exchanged their own +bills for them as an act of patriotism, in order that the bounty +due to soldiers just recruited might be paid before they left their +State rendezvous to join the armies in the field. Troops already +in the service had seen more than one pay-day go by without sight +of the paymaster, and tens of millions were overdue to them. +Discontent in all the camps was the natural result. + +With no power to exchange our bonds for coin except at such rates +as would destroy national credit, with only a hundred millions of +coin in all our banks when the war began, and a hundred and fifty +millions hoarded among the people, with the lavish products of our +mines transferred to Europe to pay for articles which it would have +been wiser to manufacture at home, our situation was not merely +one of anxiety but of peril. Never in the history of national +progress through trials and crises, were wise statesmanship and +financial sagacity more imperatively demanded. The Rebels might +fight without money, for they had no national credit to protect; +but to the Union, bankruptcy meant final and hopeless ruin. + + LEGAL-TENDER CURRENCY PROPOSED. + +The first thing to be secured was a currency. That was demanded +to pay the debt of honor due to the soldiers; to remove stagnation +in business; to put the people in heart and hope. It had been +demonstrated that Treasury notes, without punctual and regular +redemption, would not circulate. When A paid them to B in satisfaction +of a debt, B had no assurance that he might in turn cancel an +obligation by paying them to C. It would perhaps occur to C, that +for a lawful debt he had the right to demand gold or silver; for +the law told him in explicit terms that nothing else constituted +a legal-tender. It was obviously impossible to conduct the business +of the country and to carry on the war, in coin payments, with the +small amount of coin at command. Few would insist upon coin, but +as the power to insist upon it was a legal right, it was a continuing +menace to the confidence of trade. + +In the opinion of the majority, the one imperative duty was that +the government should take control of the currency, issue its own +paper as a circulating medium, and make it equal and alike to all, +by declaring it to be a legal-tender in the payment of debts. It +was the most momentous financial step ever taken by Congress,--as +it is the one concerning which the most pronounced and even +exasperating difference of opinion was manifested at the time, has +since continued, and will probably never entirely subside so long +as the government keeps one legal-tender note in circulation. It +was admitted to be a doubtful if not dangerous exercise of power; +but the law of necessity overrides all other laws, and asserts its +right to govern. All doubts were decided in favor of the nation, +in the belief that dangers which were remote and contingent could +be more easily dealt with than those which were certain and +imminent. + +Relief came promptly. On the 22d of January, 1862, Mr. E. G. +Spaulding of New York reported the legal-tender bill to the House. +It had been maturely considered by the Committee of Ways and Means, +--a committee made up of very able men. Mr. Spaulding is entitled +to rank as the author of the measure. It is difficult to assign +absolute originality in any case where so many minds are at work +in the same field of investigation, and where, with an approximate +identity of date, there is a general similarity of conclusion. +But the formal proposition and the public advocacy belong to Mr. +Spaulding. He had been all his life engaged in financial affairs, +was a banker of recognized ability in the city of Buffalo, and +enjoyed a high reputation throughout the State of New York for +intelligence and probity. He had not waited for advice or even +for consultation, but on the thirtieth day of December, 1861,--the +day on which the banks of New York suspended specie payment,--he +introduced the original legal-tender bill in the House of +Representatives. + +The first provision of the bill now reported, was for the issue of +$150,000,000 of Treasury notes, differing from those previously +authorized by being declared a legal-tender for all obligations, +public and private, except duties on imports and interest on the +public debt. The notes were also to be exchangeable into six per +cent. bonds, redeemable at the pleasure of the United States after +five years. In reporting the bill, Mr. Spaulding called it "a war +measure, a measure of necessity not of choice, to meet the most +pressing demands upon the Treasury, to sustain the army and navy +until they can make a vigorous advance upon the traitors and crush +out the Rebellion." He argued, "These notes will find their way +into all the channels of trade among the people; and as they +accumulate in the hands of capitalists, they will exchange them +for the six per cent. twenty years' bonds:" the notes will "be +equally as good, and in many cases better, than the present +irredeemable circulation issued by the banks." Mr. Spaulding argued +that the Constitution justified such legislation in the emergency, +and he declared that by this plan "the government will be able to +get along with its immediate and pressing necessities without being +obliged to force its bonds on the market at ruinous rates of +discount: the people under heavy taxation will be shielded against +high rates of interest, and capitalists will be afforded fair +compensation for the use of their money during the pending struggle +for national existence." + +Mr. Spaulding admitted that "a suspension of specie payment is +greatly to be deplored," but he contended that "it is not a fatal +step in an exigency like the present. The British Government and +the Bank of England remained under suspension from 1797 to 1821- +22, a period of twenty-five years. During this time England +successfully resisted the power of the Emperor Napoleon, and +preserved her own imperiled existence. As a measure of necessity, +she made the Bank of England notes virtually a legal-tender by +suspending the specie restriction. Throughout this period the +people of Great Britain advanced in wealth, population, and +resources." Mr. Spaulding maintained that "gold is not as valuable +as the production of the farmer and the mechanic, for it is not as +indispensable as are food and raiment. Our army and navy must have +what is far more valuable to them than gold or silver. They must +have food, clothing, and the material of war. Treasury notes, +issued by the government on the faith of the whole people, will +purchase these indispensable articles." + + MR. CHASE FAVORS LEGAL-TENDER. + +When the bill was taken up for consideration on the 29th of January, +the objections which had been raised in the public press were elaborated +in the Committee of the Whole. Mr. Pendleton of Ohio was the first +in opposition. In beginning a long argument, he insisted that "the +feature of this bill which first strikes every thinking man, even +in these days of novelties, is the proposition that these notes +shall be made a legal-tender in discharge of all pecuniary obligations, +as well those which have accrued in virtue of contracts already +made as those which are yet to accrue in pursuance of contracts +which shall hereafter be made. Do gentlemen appreciate the full +import and meaning of that clause? Do they realize the full extent +to which it will carry them? Every contract for the purchase of +money is in legal contemplation a contract for the payment of gold +and silver coin. Every promissory note, every bill of exchange, +every lease reserving rent, every loan of money reserving interest, +every bond issued by this government, is a contract to which the +faith of the obligor is pledged, that the amount, whether rent, +interest, or principal, shall be paid in the gold and silver coin +of the country." Mr. Pendleton deemed it a very serious matter +that "the provisions of this bill contemplate impairing the obligation +of every contract of that kind, and disturbing the basis upon which +every judgment and decree and verdict have been entered." He +concluded by referring to the depreciated paper of the French +Revolution, to the long suspension of specie currency in England, +and the throes attending return to it in 1822. Quoting Daniel +Webster's words that "gold and silver currency is the law of the +land at home, the law of the world abroad: there can, in the present +condition of the world, be no other currency," Mr. Pendleton made +an earnest appeal to the House "to heed this lesson of wisdom." + +Repeated declarations were made during the debate that the Secretary +of the Treasury had not given his approval of the pending measure. +This impression was seriously impeding the progress of the bill, +and, if it had been confirmed, would probably have defeated it. +A belief was prevalent that Mr. Chase would be glad to have the +advantage of the measure in the management of the Treasury without +assuming the responsibility of its recommendation. But it was soon +evident that he could not remain in a passive and receptive position +without defeating the bill. Its real opponents took advantage of +the rumors; and its supporters, annoyed if not angered, by the +suggestion of hostility on the part of the Treasury, were determined +that Secretary Chase should take open ground. The embarrassment +was relieved by a letter from the Secretary to the Committee of +Ways and Means, dated Jan. 29, and read in the House on the 4th of +February by Mr. Spaulding. The letter had great influence on +Congress. Without it, the measure would probably have been +defeated. + +Mr. Chase, assuming that "the provision making United-States notes +a legal-tender has doubtless been well considered by the committee," +deemed it his duty to say that "in respect to the provision his +reflections had conducted him to the same conclusions the committee +had reached." He did not wish to conceal that he felt "a great +aversion to making any thing but coin a legal-tender in payment of +debts." He had been anxious "to avoid the necessity of such +legislation." He found it however "impossible, in consequence of +the large expenditures entailed by the war and the suspension of +the banks, to procure sufficient coin for disbursements." He +declared therefore that it "had become indispensably necessary that +we should resort to the issue of United-States notes. Making them +a legal-tender might however still be avoided, if the willingness +manifested by the people generally, by railroad companies, and by +many of the banking institutions, to receive and pay them as money +in all transactions were absolutely or practically universal; but +unfortunately there are some persons and some institutions that +refuse to receive and pay them, and their action tends, not merely +to the unnecessary depreciation of the notes, but to establish +discriminations in business against those, who, in this matter, +give a cordial support to the government, and in favor of those +who do not. Such discrimination should if possible be prevented; +and the provision making the notes a legal-tender, in a great +measure at least, prevents it by putting all citizens in this +respect on the same level, both of rights and duties." In addition +to this official communication, Mr. Spaulding felt justified in +reading a personal note from Mr. Chase, in which he said that he +"came with reluctance to the conclusion that the legal-tender clause +is a necessity," but that he "came to it decidedly and supported +it earnestly." + + THADDEUS STEVENS IN THE DEBATE. + +Thaddeus Stevens threw the whole weight of his influence in favor +of the measure. To alternative propositions which had been submitted, +he made strenuous objection. Certain bankers of New York had +suggested that the immediate wants of the government might be +supplied by pledging seven and three-tenths per cent. bonds with +a liberal margin, payable in one year, to the banks, which would +advance a portion in gold and the rest in currency. Mr. Stevens +argued that "the effect of this would be that the government would +pay out to its creditors the depreciated notes of non-specie-paying +banks. And as there is no possibility that the pledges would be +redeemed when due, they would be thrown into the market and sold +for whatever the banks might choose to pay for them. The folly of +this scheme needs no illustration." Another proposition, pressed +very earnestly, was to strike out the legal-tender clause, and make +the notes receivable for all taxes and public dues, but not to make +any provision for redeeming them in coin on demand. Mr. Stevens +did not "believe that such notes would circulate anywhere except +at a ruinous discount. Notes not redeemable on demand, and not +made a legal-tender, have never been kept at par." Even those who +could use them for taxes and duties would, in Mr. Stevens's opinion, +"discredit them that they might get them low." He was convinced +that "if soldiers, mechanics, contractors, and farmers were compelled +to take them from the government, they must submit to a heavy shave +before they could use them. The knowledge that they were provided +for by taxation, and would surely be paid twenty years hence, would +not sustain them." + +To two prominent amendments which had been submitted, Mr. Stevens +manifested earnest opposition. He said "the one moved by the +gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Vallandigham) proposes the same issue of +notes, but objects to legal-tender, and does not provide for their +redemption in coin. He fears our notes would depreciate. Let him +who is sharp enough, instruct the House how notes that every man +must take can be less valuable than the same notes that no man need +take and few would, since they are irredeemable on demand." As to +the constitutionality of the bill, he thought that whoever "admits +our power to emit bills of credit, nowhere expressly authorized by +the Constitution, is an unreasonable doubter when he denies the +power to make them a legal-tender." "The proposition of the +gentleman from New York" (Mr. Roscoe Conkling), continued Mr. +Stevens, "authorizes the issuing of seven per cent. bonds, payable +in thirty-one years, to be sold ($250,000,000 of it) or exchanged +for the currency of the banks of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. +This suggestion seems to lack every element of wise legislation. +Make a loan payable in irredeemable currency, and pay that in its +depreciated condition to our contractors, soldiers, and creditors +generally! The banks would issue unlimited amounts of what would +become trash, and buy good hard-money bonds of the nation. Was +there ever such a temptation to swindle? The gentleman from New +York further proposes to issue $200,000,000 United-States notes, +redeemable in coin in one year. Does he not know that such notes +must be dishonored, and the plighted faith of the government be +broken? If we are to use suspended notes to pay our expenses, why +not use our own?" + +The minority of the Ways and Means Committee, through Mr. V. B. +Horton of Ohio, had submitted a plan, as Mr. Stevens characterized +it, "to issue United-States notes, not a legal-tender, bearing an +interest of three and sixty-five hundredths per cent., and fundable +in seven and three-tenths per cent. bonds, not payable on demand, +but at the pleasure of the United States. This gives one and three- +tenths per cent. higher interest than our loan, and, not being +redeemable on demand, would share the fate of all non specie-paying +notes not a legal-tender." Mr. Stevens believed that the government +was reduced to a narrow choice. It must either throw bonds at six +or seven per cent. on the market within a few months in amount +sufficient to raise at least $600,000,000 in money,--$557,000,000 +being already appropriated,--or it must issue United-States notes, +not redeemable in coin, but fundable in specie-paying bonds at +twenty years; such notes either to be made a legal-tender, or to +take their chance of circulation by the voluntary act of the people. +The sturdy chairman of Ways and Means maintained that "the highest +rate at which we could sell our bonds would be seventy-five per +cent., payable in currency, itself at a discount, entailing a loss +which no nation or individual doing a large business could stand +for a single year." He contended that "such issue, without being +made legal-tender, must immediately depreciate, and would go on +from bad to worse. If made a legal-tender, and not issued in excess +of the legitimate demand, the notes will remain at par, and pass +in all transactions, great and small, at the full value of their +face; we shall have one currency for all sections of the country, +and for every class of people, the poor as well as the rich." + + MR. LOVEJOY AND MR. CONKLING. + +Mr. Owen Lovejoy of Illinois on the other hand marked out a very +different plan. He advocated as the first step, "adequate taxation, +if need be to the extent of $200,000,000." In the next place, he +would so legislate as to "compel all banking institutions to do +business on a specie basis. Every piece of paper that claimed to +be money but was not, he would chase back to the man or corporation +that forged it, and visit upon the criminal the penalties of the +law. He would not allow a bank note to circulate that was not +constantly, conveniently, and certainly convertible into specie." +In the third place, he would issue interest-paying bonds of the +United States, and "go into the market and borrow money and pay +the obligations of the government. This would be honest, business- +like, and in the end economical. This could be done. Other channels +of investment are blocked up, and capital would seek the bonds as +an investment." As contrasted with the measure proposed by the +Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Lovejoy intimated that his represented +"the health and vigor of the athlete;" the other, "the bloated +flesh of the beer-guzzler." + +Mr. Roscoe Conkling of New York expressed hearty agreement with +Mr. Lovejoy. He agreed "with some other gentleman who said that +his bill was a legislative declaration of national bankruptcy." +He agreed "with still another gentleman who said that we were +following at an humble and disgraceful distance the Confederate +Government, as it is called, which has set up the example of making +paper a legal-tender, and punishing with death those who deny the +propriety of the proposition." Mr. Conkling declared that "insolvency +is ruin and dissolution;" and he believed that "in passing this +bill, as was said by the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Thomas], +we are to realize the French proposition about virtue,--that it is +the first step that costs. Another and another and another +$100,000,000 of this issue will follow. We are plunging into an +abyss from which there are to be no resuscitation and no resurrection." +Mr. Conkling thought "it right to learn of an enemy," and already +"the _London Times_ hails this $150,000,000 legal-tender bill as +the dawn of American bankruptcy, the downfall of American credit." +The public debt by the first of the ensuing July, within less than +a year from the first battle of the war, was already estimated at +$806,000,000. "Who can credit these figures," said Mr. Conkling, +"when he remembers that the world's greatest tragedian closed his +bloody drama at St. Helena leaving the public debt of France less +than seventy million of pounds?" He believed that "all the money +needed can be provided by means of unquestionable legality and +safety." He believed the substitute he had offered would effect +that result. + +Mr. Hooper of Massachusetts, a man of large experience in financial +and commercial affairs, spoke ably in support of the legal-tender +clause. "No one," said he, "supposes for one moment that government +notes will be sold for coined money, or that coined money will be +borrowed on them. It is fair to suppose that the opponents of the +administration well understand that this would be the effect of +accepting the amendment to strike out the legal-tender clause from +the bill; and that their object, while they talk about coined money +to deceive some of our friends, is to oblige the government to give +up the sub-treasury, and to use for its payment the depreciated +bills of the suspended banks; thereby flooding the whole country +with these irredeemable notes, and producing, in time, a state of +financial confusion and distress that would ruin any administration. +The proposed issue of government notes guards against this effect +of inflating the currency by the provision to convert them into +government bonds, the principal and interest of which, as before +stated, are payable in specie." + +Mr. Morrill of Vermont supported the bill proposed by the minority +of the Ways and Means Committee. He described the legal-tender +features as "not blessed by one sound precedent, but damned by +all." As a war measure he thought "it was not waged against the +enemy, but might well make him grin with delight." He would as +soon provide "Chinese wooden guns for the army as paper money alone +for the Treasury." Mr. Morrill declared that there never was a +greater fallacy than to pretend that as "the whole United States +are holden for the redemption of these notes, they will, if made +a legal-tender, pass at par." He contended that, as currency, "no +more of them can be used than enough to fill the demands of commerce." +He directed attention to the fact that of the Treasury notes already +issued, payable in specie on demand, "the government succeeded in +circulating but $27,000,000 of the $50,000,000 authorized, and of +these the banks had held $7,000,000." The sanguine feeling in +regard to the length of the war was disclosed by Mr. Morrill. +Speaking on the 4th of February, 1862, he ridiculed the suggestion +that "the war would be prolonged until July 1, 1863." He declared +that "we could close the war by the thirtieth day of July next, as +well as in thirty years.' This opinion was the one commonly accepted +at the time in Congressional circles, though discountenanced by +the wisest among those holding important commands in the army. + +Mr. Bingham of Ohio spoke earnestly in favor of the bill. He could +not "keep silent" when he saw "efforts made to lay the power of +the American people to control their currency, a power essential +to their interest, at the feet of brokers and of city bankers who +have not a tittle of authority save by the assent of forbearance +of the people to deal in their paper issues as money." Mr. Bingham +argued that as there "is not a line or word or syllable in the +Constitution which makes any thing a legal-tender,--gold or silver +or any thing else,--it follows that Congress, having 'the power to +regulate commerce,' may determine what shall be a lawful tender in +the discharge of obligations payable in money only." The "limitation +of the power to impair the obligation of contracts," as Mr. Bingham +pointed out, was "a limitation upon the States only, and did not +restrain the action of Congress." + +Mr. Sheffield of Rhode Island argued earnestly against the bill, +and predicted the same fate for it, if enacted, that overcame a +similar attempt in his State during the Revolutionary war "to make +paper a legal-tender." The people would not submit to it, and "the +courts set it aside as an unlawful exercise of legislative power." + + ABLE SPEECH BY MR. PIKE. + +Mr. Frederick A. Pike of Maine made one of the clearest and ablest +speeches delivered in the House in favor of the bill. He regarded +it as an experiment forced upon the country by necessity. "We +issue $150,000,000," said Mr. Pike, "on a venture." We measure it +"with population and wealth and existing currency. We compare it +with the action of the past." The issue of Continental notes had +reached $20,000,000 by the month of April, 1777, besides a large +amount of currency by the States. "And yet," said Mr. Pike, "no +marked signs of depreciation had appeared." The whole property of +the country did not at that time in his judgment "exceed five +hundred millions." From these facts he deduced our ability to +stand the proposed issue of paper. Mr. Pike had little faith in +the infallibility of any one's judgment as to the ultimate result +of financial experiments. He recalled the circumstance that Sir +Robert Peel's famous bank bill was introduced in Parliament in 1844 +with the confident declaration by Her Majesty's Government that +"inquiry had been exhausted." But in the "first mercantile pinch" +the measure which was "the embodiment of financial wisdom" did not +work favorably, and "the government was compelled to interpose on +behalf of the bank and of the business community." "Tax, fight, +and emancipate," Mr. Pike declared to be "the Trinity of our +situation." + +Mr. Valentine B. Horton of Ohio was opposed to giving the legal- +tender quality to government paper. He said "the country was never +so wealthy as to-day; never was so little due to foreign countries; +never were the people so free from embarrassment. The one drawback +is that the Treasury wants money to an immense amount." He believed +that an appeal to the capitalists would call forth "gold in the +utmost abundance." To pass the legal-tender bill would, in his +judgment, be "a legislative declaration that the administration is +not equal to the occasion for which it was elected." He thought +"the time for oracular utterances about a great movement," by which +bankers had been inspired with undue hope, had passed by, and that +something practical and actual would soon be accomplished. + +Mr. John B. Alley supported the bill by arguments which came from +his own wide experience in business. The choice, he said, was +between notes of the government and "an irredeemable bank currency, +a great deal of which will be found, as it was after the war of +1812, utterly worthless." + +Mr. Charles W. Walton of Maine spoke briefly but ably on the +constitutional power of Congress to pass the bill. He contended +that the authority to declare a legal-tender "was an implied and +not a direct power;" that, admitting it to belong to the Government, +it exists "without limitation." The question before the House, +therefore, is "one of expediency only," and on that ground he +earnestly supported the measure. + +Mr. Shellabarger of Ohio answered the "charges of bad faith and +injustice" which had been brought against the bill by its opponents. +The cry of ruin to the country he compared with similar fears for +England on the part of her economists, and showed how, in every +case, they had been disproved by the rising power and growing wealth +of that kingdom. He said the legal-tender notes would be "borne +up by all the faith and all the property of the people, and they +will have all the value which that faith untarnished and that +property inestimable can given them." + +Mr. John Hickman of Pennsylvania, having no doubt as to the power +of Congress to pass the bill, supported it as a governmental +necessity. + + MR. FESSENDEN OPPOSES LEGAL-TENDER. + +The debate in the House was able and spirited throughout. Judging +by the tone and number of the Republicans who spoke against the +bill, a serious party division seemed to be impending. The measure +came to a vote on the 6th of February, the interest in the discussion +continuing to the last. Mr. Owen Lovejoy sought occasion to give +the measure a parting malediction, declared that "there is no +precipice, no chasm, no yawning bottomless gulf before this nation, +so terrible, so appalling, so ruinous, as the bill before the +House," and Mr. Roscoe Conkling sought the floor to say that he +concurred "in every word" Mr. Lovejoy had spoken. Mr. Conkling +said the debate had been allowed to close "without pretext of solid +argument by any member in favor of the constitutionality of the +one feature of the bill." + +The essential difference between the plan of the minority and that +of the committee had reference to the legal-tender clause. In fact +the other details of the Loan Bill could have been agreed upon in +a single day's discussion, and the delay was occasioned solely by +the one feature of legal-tender. On substituting the measure of +the minority the vote was 55 yeas to 95 nays. The bill was then +passed by a vote of 93 to 59. The yeas were all Republican. Among +the nays--principally Democrats--were found some of the ablest and +most influential members of the Republican party. Valentine B. +Horton of Ohio, Justin S. Morrill of Vermont, Roscoe Conkling, F. +A. Conkling, and Theodore M. Pomeroy of New York, Albert G. Porter +of Indiana, Owen Lovejoy of Illinois, William H. Wadsworth of +Kentucky, Benjamin F. Thomas of Massachusetts, and Edward H. Rollins +of New Hampshire, were conspicuous for their hostility to the legal- +tender clause. + +The Senate received the bill on the next day, and on the 10th it +was reported from the Finance Committee for immediate action. Mr. +Fessenden explained the amendments which the committee had embodied +in the House Bill. In the first section they provided that the +interest on the national debt should be paid in coin. Upon this +point Mr. Fessenden considered that the public credit, in large +degree, depended. As to the legal-tender feature of the notes, he +could not make up his mind to support it. "Will your legal-tender +clause," he inquired, "make your notes any better? Do you imagine +that because you force people to take these notes they are to be +worth the money, and that no injury is to follow? What is the +consequence? Does not property rise? You say you are injuring +the soldier if you compel him to take a note without its being a +legal-tender; but will not the sutler put as much more on his goods? +And if the soldier sends the notes to his wife to be passed at a +country store for necessaries for his family, what will be the +result? The goods that are sold are purchased in New York; the +price is put on in New York; a profit is added in the country; and +thus the soldier loses just as much. You are not saving any thing +for any body." + +Mr. Fessenden then inquired, "What do we offer without the legal- +tender clause? We are offering notes, with the interest secured +beyond a question if the amendments proposed by the Committee on +Finance of the Senate are adopted, based on the national faith, +and with the power to deposit and receive five per cent. interest +in any sub-treasury, and the power of the government to sell the +stock at any price, to meet whatever it may be necessary to meet. +Will notes of this kind stand better when going out, if you put +the confession upon their face, that they are discarded by you, +and that you know they ought not to be received, and would not be, +unless their reception is compelled by legal enactment?" + +The argument against this view, according to Mr. Fessenden, "is +simply that the banks will not take the notes unless they are made +a legal-tender, and therefore they will be discredited. It was +thus reduced to a contest between the government and the banks; +and the question is whether the banks have the will and the power +to discredit the notes of the United-States Treasury." With all +his objections to the legal-tender feature,--and they were very +grave,--Mr. Fessenden intimated his willingness to vote for it if +it were demonstrated to be a necessity. On the constitutional +question involved he did not touch. He preferred, he said, "to +have his own mind uninstructed" upon that aspect of the case. + +In illustration of the doubt and diversity of opinion prevailing, +Mr. Fessenden stated that on a certain day he was advised very +strongly by a leading financial man that he must at all events +oppose the legal-tender clause, which he described as utterly +destructive. On the same day he received a note from another +friend, assuring him that the legal-tender bill was an absolute +necessity to the government and the people. The next day the first +gentleman telegraphed that he had changed his mind, and now thought +the legal-tender bill peremptorily demanded by public exigency. +On the ensuing day the second gentleman wrote that he had changed +his mind, and now saw clearly that the legal-tender bill would ruin +the country. There can be no harm in stating that the authors of +these grotesque contradictions were Mr. James Gallatin and Mr. Morris +Ketchum of New York. + + MR. COLLAMER AND MR. SHERMAN. + +Mr. Collamer of Vermont followed Mr. Fessenden in an exhaustive +argument against the bill as a violation of the Constitution. He +believed "in the power of the government to sustain itself in the +strife physically and pecuniarily." He was not willing to say to +a man," Here is my note: if I do not pay it, you must steal the +amount from the first man you come to, and give him this note in +payment." He would not be governed in this matter, as Mr. Fessenden +intimated he might be, "by necessity." He had taken an oath to +support the Constitution, and he believed this bill violated it. +He "would not overthrow the Constitution in the Senate Chamber +while the rebels are endeavoring to overthrow it by war." + +Senator Wilson looked upon the contest as one "between the men who +speculate in stocks, and the productive, toiling men of the country." +He believed "the sentiment of the nation approaches unanimity in +favor of this legal-tender clause." He had received letters from +large commercial houses in Massachusetts, representing millions of +capital, and "they declare that they do not know a merchant in the +city of Boston engaged in active business who is not for the legal- +tender bill." + +Senator Sherman of Ohio urged the adoption of the measure, because +"all the organs of financial opinion in this country agree that +there is a majority" for it; and he cited the New-York Chamber of +Commerce, the Committee on Public Safety in New York, and the +Chambers of Commerce of Boston and Philadelphia, as taking that +ground. He proceeded "to show the necessity of it from reason." +He stated that the government must "raise and pay out of the Treasury +of the United States before the first day of July next, according +to the estimate of the Committee of Ways and Means, the sum of +$343,235,000. Of this sum $100,000,000 is now due and payable to +soldiers, contractors, to the men who have furnished provisions +and clothing for the army; to officers, judges, and civil magistrates." +Mr. Sherman argued that "a question of hard necessity presses upon +the government. This money cannot be obtained from the banks. +With a patriotic feeling not usually attributed to money corporations, +the banks have already exhausted their means. The aggregate capital +of the banks of the three principal cities of the United States is +but $105,000,000, and they have taken more than their capital in +bonds of the United States." It was, therefore, idle to look to +the banks for relief. "They have," continued the senator, "already +tied up their whole capital in the public securities. They ask +this currency to enable them to assist further in carrying on the +government. Among others, the cashier of the Bank of Commerce, +the largest bank corporation in the United States and one that has +done much to sustain the government, appeared before the Committee +on Finance, and stated explicitly that his bank, as well as other +banks of New York, could not further aid the government, unless +its currency was stamped by, and invested with, the legal form and +authority of lawful money, which they could pay to others as well +as receive themselves." + +Senator James A. Bayard of Delaware argued that the proposed measure +violated the Constitution. "No one," said he, "can deny the fact +that in the contracts between man and man, and in government +contracts to pay money, the obligation is to pay intrinsic value. +If you violate that by this bill, which you certainly do, how can +you expect that the faith of the community will be given to the +law which you now pass, in which you say that you will pay hereafter +the interest on your debt in coin? Why should they give credit to +that declaration? If you can violate the Constitution of the United +States, in the face of your oaths, in the face of its palpable +provision, what security do you offer to the lender of money?" + +Senator Sumner did not join his colleague in enthusiastic support +of the bill. He was indeed much troubled by its provisions. "Is +it necessary," he inquired, "to incur all the unquestionable evils +of inconvertible paper, forced into circulation by Act of Congress, +to suffer the stain upon our national faith, to bear the stigma of +a seeming repudiation, to lose for the present that credit which +in itself is a treasury, and to teach debtors everywhere that +contracts may be varied at the will of the stronger? Surely there +is much in these inquiries which may make us pause. If our country +were poor or feeble, without population and without resources; if +it were already drained by a long war; if the enemy had succeeded +in depriving us of the means of livelihood,--then we should not +even pause. But our country is rich and powerful, with a numerous +population, busy, honest, and determined, and with unparalleled +resources of all kinds, agricultural, mineral, industrial, and +commercial. It is yet undrained by the war in which we are engaged, +nor has the enemy succeeded in depriving us of any of the means of +livelihood." But he concluded, "whatever may be the national +resources, they are not now within reach except by summary process." +He consented "reluctantly, painfully, that the process should +issue." He could not however "give such a vote without warning +the government against the danger of such an experiment. The +medicine of the Constitution must not become its daily bread." + + SENATE VOTES ON LEGAL-TENDER. + +The bill came to a vote in the Senate on the 13th of February. +The government exigency was so pressing that the Senate discussion +was limited to four days. On the motion of Mr. Collamer to strike +out the legal-tender clause, the vote stood 17 yeas to 23 nays. +Anthony of Rhode Island, Collamer and Foot of Vermont, Fessenden +of Maine, King of New York, Cowan of Pennsylvania, Foster of +Connecticut, and Willey of Virginia, among the Republicans, voted +to strike out. The vote to retain the legal-tender feature was +Republican, with the exception of Garrett Davis of Kentucky, +McDougall of California, Rice of Minnesota, and Wilson of Missouri. +This question being settled, the bill, with the legal-tender clause +embodied, passed by a vote fo 30 to 7. Mr. Anthony of Rhode Island +stated that, having voted against the legal-tender provision, he +"could not take the responsibility of voting against the only +measure which is proposed by the government, and which has already +passed the House of Representatives." Three Republicans, Collamer, +Cowan, and King, and four Democrats, Kennedy, Pearce, Powell, and +Saulsbury, were the senators who voted against the bill on its +final passage. + +The bill was returned to the House of Representatives the next day. +The Senate amendments were taken up on the 19th. Mr. Spaulding +objected to them generally, and especially to the provisions for +selling the bonds at the market price and for paying the interest +in coin. Mr. Pomeroy of New York advocated concurrence in the +amendments of the Senate, as did Mr. Morrill of Vermont. Upon the +amendment to pay interest in coin, the House divided, with 88 ayes +to 56 noes. Upon the clause allowing the secretary to sell bonds +at the market value, there were 72 ayes to 66 noes. A conference +on the points of difference between the two Houses was managed by +Senators Fessenden, Sherman, and Carlile, and Representatives +Stevens, Horton, and Sedgwick. The report of the Conferees was +agreed to in both Houses, and the Act was approved and became a +law on the 25th of February. Its leading provisions were for the +issue of legal-tender notes, on which the debate chiefly turned, +and of coupon or registered bonds not to exceed $500,000,000 in +the aggregate, bearing six per cent. interest, redeemable at the +pleasure of the United States after five years, and payable twenty +years after date. The bonds were to be sold at their market value +for coin or Treasury notes, and the notes to be exchangeable into +them in sums of fifty dollars, or any multiple of fifty. These +securities became widely known and popular as the five-twenties of +1862. The fourth section allowed deposits of United-States notes +with designated depositories to draw interest at five per cent., +and to be paid after ten days' notice, but the total of such deposits +was not to exceed $25,000,000 at any time. By the fifth section, +duties on imported goods were required to be paid in coin, and the +proceeds were pledged, first, to the payment in coin of the interest +on the bonds of the United States; and second, to a sinking-fund +of one per cent. of the entire debt for its ultimate payment. + +Certificates of indebtedness were authorized by Act of Congress +passed without debate and approved on the first day of March. +These could be granted to any creditor whose claim had been audited, +and they drew six per cent. interest, payable at first in coin, +but by Act of March 3, 1863, lawful money was substituted for +interest. By Act of March 17, 1862, these certificates could be +given in discharge of checks drawn by disbursing officers, if the +holders of the latter chose to accept them. The secretary was +clothed with power by the Act of March 17, 1862, to buy coin with +any bonds or notes on such terms as he might deem advantageous. +The same Act gave legal-tender value to the demand notes previously +authorized. The limitation upon temporary deposits was also raised +to $50,000,000. + +Mr. Chase, by a communication of June 7 (1862), asked for a further +issue of legal-tender notes to the amount of $150,000,000, and he +urged that the limit of five dollars be removed, and denominations +as low as a single dollar be permitted. He declared that it was +impossible to obtain coin necessary to pay the soldiers, and that +the plan proposed would remove from disbursing officers the temptation +to exchange coin for small bank notes. A reserve of one-third of +the temporary deposits would take $34,000,000, and the replacement +of the demand notes $56,500,000 more, so that for immediate use +the Treasury would get only $59,500,000 of the sum asked for. Mr. +Spaulding of New York on the 17th of June presented the measure as +reported from the Ways and Means Committee. He argued that this +form of loan was "so popular with the people and so advantageous +to the government, that it should be extended so far as it could +be done safely." Objections such as were offered to the original +policy were presented to the additional notes. It was already +suggested to authorize notes for fractions of a dollar, but the +majority decided against it. The bill passed the House of +Representatives on the 24th of June. In the Senate, Mr. Sherman +of Ohio attempted to add a clause for the taxation of the circulation +of banks, but it was not received with favor. With certain amendments +the bill passed the Senate on the 2d of July. On a disagreement +which ensued, the conferees were Senators Fessenden, Sherman, and +Wright, and Representatives Stevens, Spaulding, and Phelps of +Missouri. By their action the volume of notes of denominations +less than five dollars was restricted to $35,000,000, and the +reserve for meeting deposits was fixed at $75,000,000. While +exchangeable into six per cent. bonds, the notes might also be paid +in coin under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury. The +report was accepted by the Senate on the 7th of July, and by the +House on the 8th. It became a law by the President's approval on +the 11th of July. + + SECRETARY CHASE ON THE BANKS. + +On the 14th of July, Secretary Chase called the attention of Congress +to the great evils arising from the issue by non specie-paying +banks and unauthorized persons of depreciated currency, and the +consequent disappearance of small coin. As a remedy an Act was +passed, and approved July 17, for the use of postage and other +stamps in payment of fractional parts of a dollar. These stamps +were made exchangeable by assistant treasurers for United-States +notes in sums not less than five dollars. Banks and persons were +forbidden, from the first day of the ensuing August, to make or +issue any note or token for a less sum than one dollar, intended +to be used as money, under the penalty of a fine not exceeding +$500, or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both. "Shinplasters" +had become almost like the frogs of Egypt for multitude. They were +in every man's hand and were of all degrees of value. They were +sometimes issued for purposes of fraud. Silver had become lost to +view, and business houses resorted to the use of their own notes +as a convenience. The government stamps were not well adapted to +circulate as currency, and they soon gave way to notes of handsome +design which came into universal use as the "small change" of the +country. + +The proper order of the leading measures of finance has always been +a subject of contention. Grave differences of opinion exist, even +to this day, concerning the necessity and expediency of the legal- +tender provision. The judgment of many whose financial sagacity +is entitled to respect is, that if the internal tax had been first +levied, and the policy adopted of drawing directly upon the banks +from the Treasury for the amounts of any loans in their hands, the +resort by the government to irredeemable paper might at least have +been postponed and possibly prevented. The premium on gold became +the measure of the depreciation of the government credit, and +practically such premiums were the charge made for every loan +negotiated. In his report of December, 1862, Secretary Chase +justified the legal-tender policy. He explained that by the +suspension of specie payments the banks had rendered their currency +undesirable for government operations, and consequently no course +other than that adopted was open. Mr. Chase declared that the +measures of general legislation had worked well. "For the fiscal +year ending with June," he said, "every audited and settled claim +on the government and every quartermaster's check for supplies +furnished, which had reached the Treasury, had been met." For the +subsequent months, the secretary "was enabled to provide, if not +fully, yet almost fully, for the constantly increasing disbursements." + +The political effects of the legal-tender bill were of large +consequence to the Administration and to the successful conduct of +the war. If it had been practicable to adhere rigidly to the specie +standard, the national expenditure might have been materially +reduced; but the exactions of the war would have been all the time +grating on the nerves of the people and oppressing them with +remorseless taxation. Added to the discouragement caused by our +military reverses, a heavy financial burden might have proved +disastrous. The Administration narrowly escaped a damaging defeat +in 1862, and but for the relief to business which came from the +circulation of legal-tender notes, the political struggle might +have been hopeless. But as trade revived under the stimulus of an +expanding circulation, as the market for every species of product +was constantly enlarging and prices were steadily rising, the +support of the war policy became a far more cheerful duty to the +mass of our people. + +This condition of affairs doubtless carried with it many elements +of demoralization, but the engagement of the people in schemes of +money-making proved a great support to the war policy of the +government. We saw the reproduction among us of the same causes +and the same effects which prevailed in England during her prolonged +contest with Napoleon. Money was superabundant, speculation was +rife, the government was a lavish buyer, a prodigal consumer. +Every man who could work was employed at high wages; every man who +had commodities to sell was sure of high prices. The whole community +came to regard the prevalent prosperity as the outgrowth of the +war. The ranks of the army could be filled by paying extravagant +bounty after the ardor of volunteering was past, and the hardship +of the struggle was thus in large measure concealed if not abated. +Considerate men knew that a day of reckoning would come, but they +believed it would be postponed until after the war was ended and +the Union victorious. + +The policy of the legal-tender measure cannot therefore be properly +determined if we exclude from view that which may well be termed +its political and moral influence upon the mass of our people. It +was this which subsequently gave to that form of currency a strong +hold upon the minds of many who fancied that its stimulating effect +upon business and trade could be reproduced under utterly different +circumstances. Argument and experience have demonstrated the +fallacy of this conception, and averted the evils which might have +flowed from it. But in the judgment of a large and intelligent +majority of those who were contemporary with the war and gave +careful study to its progress, the legal-tender bill was a most +effective and powerful auxiliary in its successful prosecution. + + + THE INTERNAL-REVENUE SYSTEM. + +Grateful as was the relief to the people from legal-tender notes, +it was apparent to Congress that a government cannot, any more than +an individual, maintain a state of solvency by the continuous +issuing of irredeemable paper. Money must not merely be promised, +it must be paid. The Government therefore required a strong, +efficient system of taxation--one that would promptly return large +sums to the Treasury. From customs, an increasing revenue was +already enriching the Government vaults, but the amount derivable +from that source was limited by the ability of the people to consume +foreign goods, and wise economists did not desire an enlarged +revenue the collection of which was at war with so many domestic +interests. The country therefore turned by common instinct to a +system of internal duties,--to incomes, to excise, to stamps. In +the extra session of the preceding year, Congress had, by the Act +of August 5, 1861, laid the foundation for a system of internal +revenue by providing for a direct tax of twenty millions of dollars +on the real estate of the country, and for an income tax of three +per cent. on all incomes in excess of eight hundred dollars per +annum. But the appointment of assessors and collectors under the +bill had been postponed "until after the second Tuesday of February, +1862," which was practically remanding the whole subject to the +further consideration of Congress before any man should be asked +to pay a dollar of tax under the law. The intervening months had +not decreased but had on the contrary largely developed the +necessities of the National Treasury, and enhanced the necessity +of a stable revenue system. The exigency had become so great that +Congress was compelled for the first time in our history, to resort +to the issue of government notes as a legal-tender currency. +Promptness and decision were essential to the preservation of the +National credit. The sources, the extent, the limitations of the +taxing power were closely examined by Secretary Chase in his report +and the subject was remanded to Congress for determination. + +The Constitution gives to Congress to power to levy imposts, and +prohibits it to the States. It gives also to Congress the power +to levy internal taxes and excises, leaving to the States the right +to do the same. It is one of the traditions of the Convention +which met in Philadelphia in 1787 to frame the Federal Constitution, +that Mr. Hamilton remarked in a conference of its leading members +that if the power to levy impost and excise should be given to the +new government, it would prove strong and successful. If the power +were not to be given he did not desire to waste his time in repeating +the failure of the old Confederation, and should return at once to +New York. It was undoubtedly his influence which secured the wide +and absolute field of taxation to the General Government. He well +knew that direct taxes are onerous, and as the majority insisted +on levying them in proportion to population, as in the old +Confederation, their use as a resource to the General Government +was practically nullified. Such a system involved the absurdity +that men taken _per capita_ average the same in respect to wealth, +and that one hundred thousand people in New York should pay no more +tax than the same number in Arkansas. Statesmen and financiers +saw from the first that the direct tax clause in the Constitution +would be valuable only in forcing the use of the excise. But for +the dread of this, the States would not have yielded all the sources +of indirect taxation to the National Government. + +When appointed Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Hamilton insisted +upon the prompt levy of excises. He induced the first Congress to +lay a tax on all distilled spirits. If made from molasses or sugar +or other foreign substance, the tax should be from eleven to thirty +cents per gallon according to the percentage above or below proof. +If made from domestic products, the tax should be from nine to +twenty-five cents per gallon. The first was practically a tax on +rum, the second on whiskey. This excise was followed in subsequent +years by duties on carriages, on snuff, on property sold at auction, +on refined sugar, and by the sale of stamps. Other articles were +in after years added to the list, and to aid the Treasury during +the period of the second war with Great Britain, a heavy imposition +of internal duties was resorted to as the most prompt and efficient +mode of replenishing the hard pressed Treasury. + + THE INTERNAL-REVENUE SYSTEM. + +The excise was from the first unpopular. The men who insisted that +"black quart-bottles" should be admitted free of duty when the +first tariff bill was passed, did not relish the levying of a heavy +tax on the whiskey that was to fill them. The exciseman was to +their view precisely what Dr. Johnson had defined him in his +dictionary: "an odious wretch, employed to collect an unjust tax." +Revolutionary proceedings had been inaugurated by resistance to a +tax on tea. But tea at that day was looked upon as a luxury in +which only a few could indulge, while whiskey was regarded as a +necessity, of universal consumption. Resistance went so far as to +organize an insurrection in Western Pennsylvania against the official +authority which attempted to collect the tax. The outbreak was +promptly suppressed by the power of the General Government but the +result of the agitation was a deep-seated prejudice against the +Federal party. Pennsylvania sympathized with the more liberal +views of Jefferson, and in the Presidential election of 1796 gave +him fourteen of her fifteen electoral votes. John Adams received +the other vote, and as he was chosen by a majority of one, his +Pennsylvania support, small as it was, proved timely and valuable. + +Resistance to internal duties was tried by legal methods. A heavy +duty had been laid on carriages--two dollars per year for those of +simplest form and fifteen dollars for the most costly. The tax +applied to all carriages for the conveyance of persons, whether +kept for private use or for public hire. One Daniel Lawrence Hylton +of Virginia resisted the payment of the tax and the case was +ultimately heard before the Supreme Court in the February term of +1796. Mr. Hamilton who had resigned from the Treasury Department +the preceding year, argued the case for the Government in conjunction +with the Attorney-General, Charles Lee. Mr. Campbell, Attorney +for the Virginia District and Mr. Ingersoll, the Attorney-General +of Pennsylvania, appeared for the plaintiff. The case turned wholly +upon the point whether the tax, on carriages kept for private use, +was a direct tax. If not a direct tax, it was admitted to be +properly levied according to that clause in the Constitution which +declares that "all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform +throughout the United States." If a direct tax it was wrongfully +levied because the Constitution declares that "no capitation or +other direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to the census +or enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States." + +The well-known decision of the court, delivered by Judge Samuel +Chase, pronounced the tax to be constitutional. Justice James +Wilson who concurred in the decision had taken a very prominent +part as a delegate from Pennsylvania in the convention which framed +the Constitution, and ranked at that time as one of the ablest +lawyers in the Union. The opinion of the judges seemed to be, +though no formal decision was rendered to that effect, that a tax +on land, and a capitation or poll tax, are the only levies which +within the terms of the Constitution are to be considered _direct_ +taxes. The decision was one of extraordinary interest to the +Government, as, had it been the other way, one great resource for +the raising of money, indeed the greatest resource, would have been +taken from the Federal Government. The appearance of Mr. Hamilton +was an indication of the dignity and importance which were attached +to the case by Washington's Administration. + +A singular feature of the proceedings was the allegation by Mr. +Hylton that he "owned, possessed, and kept one hundred and twenty- +five chariots for the conveyance of persons--exclusively for his +own separate use and not to let out to hire, or for the conveyance +of persons for hire." What particular necessity a Virginia gentleman +of the last century had for that number of chariots "for his own +separate use" is nowhere explained. It may have been the mere +filling of the blanks in a legal declaration in which the declarant +was permitted a free use of figures, but as it stands in the reports +of Supreme Court decisions, it seems to be one of the odd incidents +that make up the humor of the Law. + +The system of internal duties and excises continued in various +forms for thirty years, practically disappearing at last in 1821. +But for the financial demands precipitated by the war of 1812 and +the period of depression which ensued, the system would have been +abolished at an earlier date. During the period of their existence, +from 1790 to 1820, the internal taxes had yielded to the Government +the gross sum of $22,000,000, an average of a little more than +$700,000 per annum. It thus proved a very valuable resource to +the Republic in the period of its early financial troubles. + + COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM OF TAXES. + +Congress now determined under the recommendation of Secretary Chase +to use this great source of revenue to the fullest practicable +extent. Immediately after the passage of the Legal-tender Act the +subject of internal revenue was taken up, elaborately investigated +by committees, exhaustively discussed in both Senate and House. +The final result was the enactment of a bill "to provide internal +revenue to support the Government and to pay interest on the public +debt," which received the President's approval on the first day of +July (1862). It was one of the most searching, thorough, comprehensive +systems of taxation ever devised by any Government. Spiritous and +malt liquors and tobacco were relied upon for a very large share +of revenue; a considerable sum was expected from stamps; and three +per cent. was exacted from all annual incomes over six hundred +dollars and less than ten thousand, and five per cent.--afterwards +increased to ten per cent.--on all incomes exceeding ten thousand +dollars. Manufactures of cotton, wool, flax, hemp, iron, steel, +wood, stone, earth, and every other material were taxed three per +cent. Banks, insurance and railroad companies, telegraph companies, +and all other corporations were made to pay tribute. The butcher +paid thirty cents for every beef slaughtered, ten cents for every +hog, five cents for every sheep. Carriages, billiard-tables, +yachts, gold and silver place, and all other articles of luxury +were levied on heavily. Every profession and every calling, except +the ministry of religion, was included within the far-reaching +provisions of the law and subjected to tax for license. Bankers +and pawnbrokers, lawyers and horse-dealers, physicians and +confectioners, commercial brokers and peddlers, proprietors of +theatres and jugglers on the street, were indiscriminately summoned +to aid the National Treasury. The law was so extended and so minute +that it required thirty printed pages of royal octavo and more than +twenty thousand words to express its provisions. + +Sydney Smith's striking summary of English taxation was originally +included in a warning to the United States after the war of 1812 +against indulging a marital spirit or being inflamed with a desire +for naval renown. "Taxes," said the witty essayist in the _Edinburgh +Review_, "are the inevitable consequences of being too fond of +glory." He bade us beware of Essex, Porter, and Stephen Decatur. +Even in the second year of the civil war in which we were struggling +for life rather than for glory, we had come to realize every exaction +ascribed to the British system. We were levying "taxes upon every +article which enters into the mouth or covers the back or is placed +under the foot; taxes on every thing which it is pleasant to see, +hear, feel, smell, or taste; taxes upon warmth, light, and locomotion; +taxes on every thing on earth and the waters under the earth; taxes +on every thing that comes from abroad or is grown at home; on the +sauce which pampers man's appetite and on the drug that restores +him to health; on the ermine which decorates the judge and the rope +which hangs the criminal; on the poor man's salt and the rich man's +spice; on the brass nails of the coffin and the ribbons of the +bride." + +The system of internal revenue of which the foregoing is no +exaggeration proved in all respects effective. Congress rendered +the taxes more palatable and less oppressive to the producers by +largely increasing the duties on imports by the Tariff Act of July +14, 1862, thus shutting out still more conclusively all competition +from foreign fabrics. The increased cost was charged to the +consumer, and taxes of fabulous amount were paid promptly and with +apparent cheerfulness by the people. The internal revenue was +bounteous from the first, and in a short period increased to a +million of dollars per day for every secular day of the year. The +amount paid on incomes for a single year reached seventy-three +millions of dollars, the leading merchant of New York paying in +one check a tax of four hundred thousand dollars on an income of +four millions. Mr. Webster said that "Hamilton smote the rock of +the National resources and abundant streams of revenue gushed +forth." But Hamilton's Funding Bill was not more powerful in +establishing the credit of the young Republic after the Revolution +than was the Internal-revenue Act in imparting strength to the +finances of the matured Nation in the throes and agonies of civil +war. It was the crowning glory of Secretary Chase's policy, and +its scope and boldness entitle him to rank with the great financiers +of the world. + + +CHAPTER XX. + +Elections of 1862.--Mr. Lincoln advances to Aggressive Position on +Slavery.--Second Session of Thirty-seventh Congress adjourns.-- +Democratic Hostility to Administration.--Democratic State Conventions. +--Platforms in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.--Nomination +of Horatio Seymour for Governor of New York.--The President prepares +for a Serious Political Contest.--The Issue shall be the Union or +Slavery.--Conversation with Mr. Boutwell.--Proclamation of +Emancipation.--Meeting of Governors at Altoona.--Compensated +Emancipation proposed for Border States.--Declined by their Senators +and Representatives.--Anti-slavery Policy apparently Disastrous +for a Time.--October Elections Discouraging.--General James S. +Wadsworth nominated against Mr. Seymour.--Illinois votes against +the President.--Five Leading States against the President.-- +Administration saved in Part by Border States.--Last Session of +Thirty-seventh Congress.--President urges Compensated Emancipation +again.--Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863.--Long Controversy +over Question of Compensation for Slaves.--Test Case of Missouri. +--Fourteen Million Dollars offered her.--General Pope's Campaign. +--Army of the Potomac.--Battle of Antietam.--McClellan removed.-- +Burnside succeeds him.--Defeat at Fredericksburg.--Hooker succeeds +Burnside.--General Situation.--Arming of Slaves.--Habeas Corpus.-- +Conscription Law.--Depressed and Depressing Period. + +Popular interest in the summer of 1862 was divided between events +in the field and the election of Representatives to the Thirty- +eighth Congress. A year before, the line of partisan division had +been practically obliterated in the Loyal States--the whole people +uniting in support of the war. The progress of events had to a +large extent changed this auspicious unanimity, and the Administration +was now subjected to a fight for its life while it was fighting +for the life of the Nation. + +The conservatism which Mr. Lincoln had maintained on the Slavery +question had undoubtedly been the means of bringing to the support +of the war policy of his Administration many whom a more radical +course at the outset would have driven into hostility. As he +advanced however towards a more aggressive position, political +divisions became at each step more pronounced. The vote on the +question of abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia had been +strictly on the line of party, and the same is true of the proposition +for compensated emancipation in the Border States, and of the Act +confiscating the property of Rebels. Not a single Democrat in the +Senate or House sustained one of these measures. They were all +passed by Republican votes alone, the Democratic minority protesting +each time with increasing earnestness and warmth. + +The second session of the Thirty-seventh Congress adjourned on the +17th of July, 1862, but long before that date the excitement +prevailing in Congress had extended to the people, and political +divisions were every day growing more earnest, partisan leaders +every day more active, their followers every day more excited. +The Slavery question was the source of the agitation, and by a +common instinct throughout the free States, the Democrats joined +in the cry against an Abolition war. They were as ready, they +declared, as on the day after the firing on Sumter, to uphold all +measures necessary for the defense of the Government and the +maintenance of the Union, and they demanded that the Republicans +should restrict the war to its legitimate ends--as defined by the +supporters of the Administration in July, 1861, by the unanimous +adoption of the Crittenden Resolution. They would not listen to +any change of action based on change of circumstances, and they +prepared to enforce at the ballot-box their opinions touching the +new departure of Congress and the President. + +The Democratic State Conventions in Pennsylvania and Ohio, both +held on the 4th of July, reflected the feeling which so largely +pervaded the ranks of the party throughout the North. In Pennsylvania +the Convention unanimously declared that "the party of fanaticism +or crime, whichever it may be called, that seeks to turn loose the +slaves of the Southern States to overrun the North and to enter +into competition with the white laboring masses, thus degrading +their manhood by placing them on an equality with negroes, is +insulting to our race and merits our most emphatic and unqualified +condemnation." They further declared that "this is a government +of white men and was established exclusively for the white race"; +that "the negroes are not entitled to and ought not to be admitted +to political and social equality with the white race." + + DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS IN 1862. + +The Democratic Convention of Ohio made an equally open appeal to +race prejudice. They avowed their belief that the Emancipation +policy of the Republican party if successful "would throw upon the +Border free States an immense number of negroes to compete with +and under-work the white laborers and to constitute in various ways +an unbearable nuisance"; and that "it would be unjust to our gallant +soldiers to compel them to free the negroes of the South, and +thereby fill Ohio with a degraded population to compete with these +same soldiers upon their return to the peaceful avocations of life." +It was not by mere chance that the Democratic party of these two +great States held their conventions on the National Anniversary. +It had been carefully pre-arranged with the view of creating a +serious impression against the Administration. + +The Democrats of Indiana went beyond their brethren of Ohio and +Pennsylvania in the vigor with which they denounced the anti-slavery +policy of the President. Their convention was held a month later, +and unanimously demanded that "the public authorities of Indiana +should see that the constitution and laws of the State are enforced +against the entrance of free negroes and mulattoes," declaring that +"when the people of Indiana adopted the negro exclusion clause in +their constitution by a majority of ninety-four thousand votes they +meant that the honest laboring white man should have no competitor +in the black race; that the soil of Indiana should belong to the +white man, and that he alone was suited to the form of her +institutions." In Illinois the Democratic party adopted substantially +the same platform as that proclaimed in Indiana. They made the +distinct and unmistakable issue that a war for the abolition of +slavery could not have their support; that the Government of the +United States was made for white men, and that negroes could not +be admitted to terms of equality in civil rights. + +The most important election of the year was that to be held in New +York, not merely because of the prestige and power of the State, +but on account of the peculiar elements that entered into the +contest. The Democratic party proceeded in the selection of +candidates and in the definition of issues with great circumspection. +They avoided the rancorous expressions used in Pennsylvania and +Ohio, declared that they would continue to render the government +their sincere and united support in the use of all legitimate means +to suppress the rebellion, and cited the Crittenden Resolution, +unanimously passed by Congress in July, 1861, as embodying the +principles upon which they appealed for popular support. They +expressed their "willingness to withhold their views upon all +questions not rendered imperative by the imperiled condition of +the country." The had not one word to say on the subject of slavery, +and they avowed their readiness to act in the coming election with +any class of loyal citizens who agreed with them in the principles +embodied in their platform. This last clause related to a third +party, the remnant of those who had supported Mr. Bell in 1860 and +who had just held a convention at Troy. They had comprised their +entire platform in "the Constitution, the Union and the enforcement +of the laws," and had nominated Horatio Seymour for governor. + +It was not difficult to see that politically the case was well +managed, and that the most partisan of partisans in the person of +Mr. Seymour, was enabled to appear before the voters of New York +in the attitude of one who could graciously correct the errors of +the Administration, and direct the course of the war in channels +of patriotism that would harmonize the entire people. The nomination +of Mr. Seymour was made with great enthusiasm by the Democracy, +and the policy of the National Administration was thus challenged +in the leading State of the Union. Mr. Lincoln looked upon the +situation as one of exceeding gravity. The loss to the Administration, +of the House of Representatives in the Thirty-eighth Congress, +would place the control of the war in the hands of its opponents, +and, as the President believed, would imperil the fate of the +National struggle. The power of the purse controls the power of +the sword. The armies in the field required a vast and constant +expenditure, and to secure the money a rigorous system of taxation +must be enforced. A House of Representatives controlling the power +to tax and the power to appropriate could, if hostile to the war, +neutralize and destroy all the efforts of the Executive. + +The President measured the extent of the danger and prepared to +meet it. He clearly read the signs of the times. He saw that the +anti-slavery policy of Congress had gone far enough to arouse the +bitter hostility of all Democrats who were not thoroughly committed +to the war, and yet not far enough to deal an effective blow against +the institution. He saw that as the Administration was committed +to the partial policy which involved all the danger of a re-action +and a retreat, it would be wise to commit it to the bold, far- +reaching, radical and aggressive policy from which it would be +impossible to turn without deliberately resolving to sacrifice our +nationality. He determined therefore to lay before the people a +choice between the Union and Slavery. He would persuade them that +both could not be saved and that they must choose the one which +they regarded as the more worthy of preservation. Slavery was not +only the inciting cause of the rebellion but was its chief strength +and support in the South and at the same time a weakening element +to the Union cause in the Loyal States. No man had looked at the +question in all its bearings so closely as Mr. Lincoln. He had +studied the consequences of every step and had proceeded with the +utmost caution. + + THE PRESIDENT'S MONITORY PROCLAMATION. + +The President kept his own counsels so closely, and relied so +confidently upon his own conclusions, that it is not possible to +say when he first seriously entertained the thought of general +emancipation as a war measure. Mr. George S. Boutwell of Massachusetts +who enjoyed Mr. Lincoln's confidence and who at this period of the +contest was appointed Commissioner of Internal Revenue, is authority +for some interesting statements. About the time that the anti- +slavery legislation now under discussion was in progress Mr. Lincoln +received a letter written by a loyal citizen of Louisiana, containing +a strong argument against emancipation. He depicted in vivid colors +the bad results to flow from it and appealed earnestly to the +President not to take so dangerous a step. Without combating in +detail the arguments of his correspondent who personally enjoyed +his confidence, Mr. Lincoln said, "You must not expect me to give +up this government without playing my last card." + +During an interview with Mr. Lincoln after the adjournment of +Congress in July, and when military disasters were falling thick +and fast upon us, Mr. Boutwell suggested to the President that we +could not hope to succeed until the slaves were emancipated. To +which Mr. Lincoln answered, "You would not have it done now, would +you? Had we not better wait for something like a victory?" The +statement, widely made in the autumn of 1862, that Mr. Lincoln had +been frightened or driven into the issuing of the proclamation by +the meeting of the governors of the Loyal States at Altoona, had +no foundation in fact. When the President's attention was called +to it, he said, "The truth is, I never thought of the meeting of +the governors at all. When Lee came over the Potomac I made a +resolve that if McClellan drove him back I would send the proclamation +after him. The battle of Antietam was fought Wednesday, but I +could not find out until Saturday whether we had won a victory or +lost a battle. It was then too late to issue it that day, and on +Sunday I fixed it up a little, and on Monday I let them have it." +This colloquial style was characteristic of Mr. Lincoln, and the +frankness with which it was spoken disposes utterly of the claims +made in behalf of Mr. Chase and Mr. Sumner that they contributed +to the text of the Monitory Proclamation of 1862. + +Two months before issuing the Proclamation Mr. Lincoln had urgently +requested the senators and representatives of the Border States to +give their effective co-operation in aid of compensated emancipation. +In his letter of July 12 he said "Before leaving the Capitol, +consider and discuss this subject among yourselves. You are patriots +and statesmen, and as such I pray you to consider this proposition +and at least commend it to the consideration of your States and +people. As you would perpetuate popular government, I beseech you +that you do in no wise omit this. Our common country is in great +peril, demanding the loftiest views and boldest action to bring a +speedy relief. Once relieved, its form of government is saved to +the world, its beloved history and cherished memories are vindicated, +its happy future assured and rendered inconceivably grand. To you +more than to any others the privilege is given to assure that +happiness, to swell that grandeur, to link your own names therewith +forever." + +The majority of the senators and representatives from the Border +States did not concur with Mr. Lincoln's views and did not respond +favorably to his earnest appeal. The Maryland delegation in +Congress, the Kentucky delegation with one exception, and the +Missouri delegation with one exception, entered into a long argument +dissenting from the conclusions of the President. The West Virginia +men (with the exception of Mr. Carlile), Mr. Casey of Kentucky, +Mr. John W. Noell of Missouri, Mr. George P. Fisher of Delaware, +together with Mr. Horace Maynard and Mr. A. J. Clements from +Tennessee (not a Border State), expressed their readiness to co- +operate with Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Maynard wrote a separate letter +distinguished by breadth of view and strength of expression. It +is impossible to comprehend the determination of the Border State +men at that crisis. Having resisted in vain the aggressive +legislation of Congress already accomplished, they could hardly +fail to see that the institution of slavery was threatened with +utter destruction. It seems absolutely incredible that, standing +on the edge of the crater, they made no effort to escape from the +upheaval of the volcano, already visible to those who stood afar +off. + + THE PRESIDENT'S ANTI-SLAVERY POLICY. + +The Monitory Proclamation of Emancipation was issued on the 22d of +September. It gave public notice that on the first day of January, +1863--just one hundred days distant--"all persons held as slaves +within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof +shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then +thenceforward and forever free." It was a final tribute to those +engaged in rebellion that every agency, every instrumentality would +be employed by the government in its struggle for self-preservation. +It brought--as Mr. Lincoln intended it should bring--the seriousness +of the contest to the hearts and consciences of the people in the +Loyal States. He plainly warned them that every thing was at stake +and that if they were unwilling to meet the trial with the courage +and the sacrifice demanded, they were foredoomed to disaster, to +defeat, to dishonor. He knew that the policy would at first +encounter the disapproval of many who had supported him for the +Presidency, and that it would be violently opposed by the great +mass of the Democratic party. But his faith was strong. He believed +that the destruction of slavery was essential to the safety of the +Union, and he trusted with composure to the discerning judgment +and ultimate decision of the people. If the Administration was to +be defeated, he was determined that defeat should come upon an +issue which involved the whole controversy. If the purse of the +Nation was to be handed over to the control of those who were not +ready to use the last dollar in the war for the preservation of +the Union, the President was resolved that every voter in the Loyal +States should be made to comprehend the deadly significance of such +a decision. + +The effect of the policy was for a time apparently disastrous to +the Administration. The most sagacious among political leaders +trembled for the result. Only the radical anti-slavery men of the +type of Sumner and Stevens and Lovejoy were strong and unyielding +in faith. They could not doubt, they would not doubt the result. +For many weeks the elections in the North promised nothing but +adversity. Maine voted a few days before the Proclamation was +issued. Ever since the repeal of the Missouri Compromise the +majorities against the Democrats in that State had varied from ten +to nineteen thousand. Under the pressure of military reverses and +the cry of an abolition war, the majority for Abner Coburn, the +Republican candidate for governor, was a little over four thousand; +and for the first time in ten years one of the districts returned +a Democratic representative to Congress in the person of L. D. M. +Sweat. Vermont, contrary to the tide of opinion elsewhere, increased +her majority for the Administration--an event due in large part to +the loyal position taken by Paul Dillingham who had been the leader +of the Democratic party in the State. + +The October elections were utterly discouraging. In Ohio the +Democrats prevailed in fourteen of the Congressional districts, +leaving the Republicans but five,--registering at the same time a +popular majority of some seven thousand against the Administration. +The extent of this reverse may be measured by the fact that in the +preceding Congressional election Republican representatives had +been chosen in thirteen districts. In Indiana the result was +overwhelming against the President. The Republicans had held their +convention early in the summer and had re-affirmed the Crittenden +Resolution as embodying their platform of principles. They were +not in position therefore to withstand the furious onslaught made +by the Democrats on the Slavery question. Of the eleven Congressional +districts the Republicans secured but three, and the Democrats had +a large majority on the popular vote.--In Pennsylvania whose election +was usually accepted as the index to the average public opinion of +the country, the Democrats secured a majority of four thousand, +and elected one-half the delegation to Congress. In November, +1860, Mr. Lincoln had received a majority of sixty thousand in +Pennsylvania, and this change marked the ebb of popular favor +created by the anti-slavery policy of the Administration. + +Against the candidacy of Mr. Seymour for the governorship of New +York, the Republicans nominated James S. Wadsworth, formerly a +partisan of Mr. Van Buren and Silas Wright. He was a gentleman of +the highest character, of large landed estate which he had inherited, +and of wide personal popularity. He had volunteered for the war and +was then in the service, with the rank of Brigadier-General. The +convention which nominated him assembled after Mr. Lincoln's decisive +action. They hailed "with the profoundest satisfaction the recent +proclamation of the President declaring his intention to emancipate +the slaves of all rebels who did not return to their allegiance by +the 1st of January, 1863," and they urged upon the National Government +"to use all the means that the God of battles had placed in its +power against a revolt so malignant and so pernicious." Lyman +Tremaine, a distinguished citizen who had been theretofore connected +with the Democratic party, was nominated for Lieutenant-Governor. + +The contest was extremely animated, enlisting the interest of the +entire country. The result was a victory for Mr. Seymour. His +majority over General Wadsworth was nearly ten thousand. His vote +almost equaled the total of all the Democratic factions in the +Presidential election of 1860, while Mr. Wadsworth fell nearly +seventy thousand behind the vote given to Mr. Lincoln. The +discrepancy could be well accounted for by the greater number of +Republicans who had gone to the war, and for whose voting outside +the State no provision had been made. No result could have been +more distasteful to the Administration than the triumph of Mr. +Seymour, and the experience of after years did not diminish the +regret with which they had seen him elevated to a position of power +at a time when the utmost harmony was needed between the National +and State Governments. + + REPUBLICAN DEFEAT IN ILLINOIS. + +To the President the most mortifying event of the year was the +overwhelming defeat in Illinois. Great efforts were made by the +Republican party to save the State. Personal pride entered into +the contest almost as much as political principle, but against all +that could be done the Democrats secured a popular majority of +seventeen thousand, and out of the fourteen representatives in +Congress they left but three to the Republicans. They chose a +Democratic Legislature, which returned William A. Richardson to +the Senate for the unexpired term of Mr. Douglas,--filled since +his death by O. H. Browning who had been appointed by the Governor. +The crushing defeat of Mr. Lincoln in his own State had a depressing +effect upon the party elsewhere, and but for the assurance in which +the Administration found comfort and cheer, that the Democrats were +at home to vote while the Republicans were in the field to fight, +the result would have proved seriously discouraging to the country +and utterly destructive of the policy of emancipation as proclaimed +by the President. + +In the five leading free States, the Administration had thus met +with a decisive defeat. The Democratic representatives chosen to +Congress numbered in the aggregate fifty-nine, while those favorable +to the Administration were only forty. In some other States the +results were nearly as depressing. New Jersey, which had given +half its electoral vote to Mr. Lincoln two years before, now elected +a Democratic governor by nearly fifteen thousand majority, and of +her five representatives in Congress only one was friendly to the +policy of the Administration. Michigan, which had been Republican +by twenty thousand in 1860, now gave the Administration but six +thousand majority, though Senator Chandler made almost superhuman +efforts to bring out the full vote of the party. Wisconsin, which +had given Mr. Lincoln a large popular majority, now gave a majority +of two thousand for the Democrats, dividing the Congressional +delegation equally between the two parties. + +If this ratio had been maintained in all the States, the defeat of +the war party and of the anti-slavery policy would have been +complete. But relief came and the Administration was saved. The +New-England States which voted in November stood firmly by their +principles, though with diminished majorities. The contest in +Massachusetts resulted in the decisive victory of Governor Andrew +over General Charles Devens, who ran as a Coalition candidate of +the Democrats and Independents against the emancipation policy of +the Administration. New Hampshire which voted the ensuing spring +had the benefit of a Loyal re-action and sustained the Administration. +In the West, Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota cheered the Administration +with unanimous Republican delegations to Congress, and on the +Pacific coast California and Oregon stood firmly by the President. + +The result in the Border slave States amply vindicated the sagacity +and wisdom of the President in so constantly and carefully nurturing +their loyalty and defending them against the inroads of the +Confederates. They responded nobly, and in great part repaired +the injury inflicted by States which were presumptively more loyal +to the Administration, and which had a far larger stake in the +struggle for the Union. Delaware's one representative was Republican, +Missouri elected a decisive majority of friends to the Administration, +and in the ensuing year Kentucky, West Virginia, and Maryland +materially increased the strength of the government. The Administration +was finally assured that it would be able to command a majority of +about twenty in the House. But for the aid of the Border slave +States the anti-slavery position of Mr. Lincoln might have been +overthrown by a hostile House of Representatives. It is true +therefore in a very striking sense that the five slave States which +Mr. Lincoln's policy had held to their loyalty, were most effectively +used by him in overpowering the eleven slave States which had +revolted against the Union. + + COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION URGED. + +The third and last session of the Thirty-seventh Congress assembled +four weeks after the close of the exciting contest for the control +of the next House of Representatives. The message of Mr. Lincoln +made no reference whatever to the political contest in the country, +and unlike his previous communications to Congress gave no special +summary of the achievements by our forces either upon the land or +the sea. He contended himself with stating that he transmitted +the reports of the Secretaries of War and of the Navy, and referred +Congress to them for full information. He dwelt a length upon the +total inadequacy of Disunion as a remedy for the differences between +the people of the two sections, and quoted with evident satisfaction +the declarations he had made in his Inaugural address upon that +point. In his judgment "there is no line, straight or crooked, +suitable for a National boundary upon which to divide. Trace it +through from east to west upon the line between the free and the +slave country, and we shall find a little more than one-third of +its length are rivers easy to be crossed; and populated, or soon +to be populated, thickly on both sides, while nearly all its +remaining length are merely surveyor's lines over which people may +walk back and forth without any consciousness of their presence. +No part of this line can be made any more difficult to pass by +writing it down on paper or parchment as a National boundary." In +the President's view "a nation may be said to consist of its +territory, its people, and its laws. The territory is the only +part which is of certain durability. That portion of the earth's +surface which is inhabited by the people of the United States is +well adapted for the home of one National family, but it is not +well adapted for two or more." + +Mr. Lincoln was still anxious that the Loyal slave States should +secure the advantage of compensated emancipation which he had +already urged, and he recommended an amendment to the Constitution +whereby a certain amount should be paid by the United States to +each State that would abolish slavery before the first day of +January, A. D. 1900. The amount was to be paid in bonds of the +United States on which interest was to begin from the time of actual +delivery to the States. The amendment was further to declare, that +"all slaves who enjoyed actual freedom by the chances of war at +any time before the end of the rebellion shall be forever free," +but the individual owners, if loyal, shall be compensated at the +same rate that may be paid to those in States abolishing slavery. +The amendment also proposed to give to "Congress the right to +appropriate money for the colonization of the emancipated slaves, +with their own consent, at any place outside of the United States." + +Congress had scarcely time to consider this grave proposition when +the President issued on the first day of the new year (1863) his +formal Proclamation abolishing slavery in all the States in rebellion +against the Government, with the exception of Tennessee, and of +certain parishes in Louisiana and certain counties in Virginia +whose population was considered loyal to the Government. Tennessee +was excepted from the operation of the Proclamation at the urgent +request of Andrew Johnson who, after the fall of Nashville in the +preceding spring, had resigned from the Senate to accept the +appointment of military governor of his State. His service in the +Senate, with his State in flagrant rebellion, was felt to be somewhat +anomalous and he was glad to accept a position in which he could +be more directly helpful to the loyal cause. He possessed the +unbounded confidence of Mr. Lincoln who yielded to his views +respecting the best mode of restoring Tennessee to the Union, and +her inhabitants to their duty to the National Government. There +is good reason for believing that both Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Johnson +afterwards regarded the omission of Tennessee from the Proclamation +of Emancipation as a mistake, honestly made in the first place by +Governor Johnson and too readily acceded to by the President. + +The recommendation of Mr. Lincoln for a system of compensated +emancipation was taken up promptly and cordially by the Republican +members of both branches of Congress. The House appointed a special +committee on the subject. With but little delay a bill was passed +appropriating to Missouri, the first State considered, ten millions +of dollars with the restriction that the money should be paid only +to the loyal slave-holders. The Senate increased the amount to +fifteen millions of dollars and returned it to the House for +concurrence in the amendment. The measure had been thus passed in +both branches but with stubborn opposition on the part of some +prominent Democratic leaders from Missouri. John B. Henderson in +the Senate and John W. Noell in the House labored earnestly to +secure the compensation for their State, but the bill was finally +defeated in the House. By factious resistance, by dilatory motions +and hostile points of order, the Democratic members from Missouri +were able to force the bill from its position of parliamentary +advantage, and to prevent its consideration within the period in +which a majority of the House could control its fate. The just +responsibility for depriving Missouri of the fifteen millions of +dollars must be charged in an especial degree to Thomas L. Price, +Elijah H. Norton, and William A. Hall, representatives from that +State, who on the 25th of February, 1863, by the use of objectionable +tactics deprived the House of the opportunity even to consider a +bill of such value and consequence to their constituents. A large +majority stood ready to pass it, but the determined hostility of +the Democratic members from Missouri defeated the kindly and generous +intentions of Congress towards their own State. At a later period +in the session the attempt was made to pass the bill by a suspension +of the Rules, but this motion though it received the support of a +majority was defeated for the lack of two-thirds of the votes as +required. The Democratic members of Missouri were again active in +resisting the boon which was offered to their State and so earnestly +pressed by the Republicans of the House. + + MISTAKE OF BORDER STATE MEN. + +The course of the Missouri representatives was sustained by the +solid vote of the Democratic members from the free States, and +received the co-operation of a majority of representatives from +the Border slave States. If the bill for Missouri had passed, a +similar relief would have been offered to Kentucky, West Virginia, +Maryland and Delaware. Mr. Crittenden whose influence with the +representatives from these States was deservedly great could not +be persuaded to adopt the President's policy. The consideration +which influenced him and other Border State men to the course which +subsequent events proved to be unwise, was their distrust of the +success of the Union arms. The prospect had grown steadily +discouraging ever since the adjournment of Congress in the preceding +July, and with the exception of General McClellan's success at +Antietam there had been nothing to lighten the gloom which deeply +beclouded the military situation. The daily expenditures of the +nation were enormous, and the Secretary of the Treasury had at the +opening of the season estimated that the National debt at the close +of the current fiscal year would exceed seventeen hundred millions +of dollars. The Border State men chose therefore to maintain +possession of their four hundred thousand slaves, even with the +title somewhat shaken by war, rather than to part with them for +the bonds of a Government whose ability to pay they considered +extremely doubtful. + +They could readily have secured, indeed they were urged to accept, +fifty millions of dollars, the equivalent of gold coin, in securities +which became in a few years the favorite investment of the wisest +capitalists in the world. Such opportunities are never repeated. +The magnanimous policy of the President and the wise liberality of +the Republican party were precisely adapted, if the Border State +men could have seen it, to the critical situation of the hour. +Subsequent events prevented the repetition of the offer, and the +slave-holders were left to thank themselves and their representatives +for the loss of the munificent compensation proffered by the +Government. They could not believe Mr. Lincoln when at the pressing +moment he pleaded with them so earnestly to accept the terms, and +flavored his appeal with the humorous remark to Mr. Crittenden: +"You Southern men will soon reach the point where bonds will be a +more valuable possession than bondsmen. Nothing is more uncertain +now than two-legged property." + + +After the unfortunate issue of the Peninsular campaign and in the +fear that Lee might turn directly upon Washington, a new army was +organized on the 27th of June, 1862, and placed under the command +of Major-General John Pope. It included the forces which had been +serving under Frémont, Banks and McDowell, and was divided into +three corps with these officers respectively in command. General +Frémont considering the designation below his rank asked to be +relieved from the service, and his corps was assigned to General +Rufus King, and soon after to General Sigel. General Pope took +the field on the 14th of July with a formidable force. General +McClellan was still within twenty-five miles of Richmond, and with +Pope in front of Washington, the Confederate authorities were at +a standstill and could not tell which way to advance with hope of +success or even with safety. + +If the army of Lee should move towards Washington he might be +compelled to fight General Pope protected by the extensive +fortifications on the south side of the Potomac, leaving Richmond +at the same time uncovered, with the possibility that McClellan, +re-enforced by Burnside's corps which lay at Fortress Monroe, would +renew his attack with an army of ninety thousand men. But as soon +as the Confederates ascertained that McClellan was ordered back to +the Potomac, they saw their opportunity and made haste to attack +Pope. Fault was found with the slowness of McClellan's movements. +His judgment as a military man was decidedly against the transfer +of his army from the point it occupied near Richmond, and it cannot +be said that he obeyed the distasteful order with the alacrity with +which he would have responded to one that agreed with his own +judgment. + + AGGRESSIVE COURSE OF THE CONFEDERATES. + +No reason can be assigned why if the Army of the Potomac was to be +brought back in front of Washington it should not have been +transferred in season to re-enforce General Pope and give a crushing +blow to Lee. General McClellan was directed on the third day of +August to withdraw his whole army to Acquia Creek, and as General +Halleck declares, "in order to make the movement as rapidly as +possible General McClellan was authorized to assume control of all +the vessels in the James River and Chesapeake Bay, of which there +was then a vast fleet." General McClellan did not begin the +evacuation of Harrison's Landing until the 14th of August--eleven +days after it was ordered. General Burnside's corps was ordered +on the 1st of August to move from Newport News to Acquia Creek, +and an estimate of the transportation facilities at command of +General McClellan, may be formed from the fact that Burnside's +whole corps reached their destination in forty-eight hours. General +Lee knew at once by this movement that it was not the design to +attack Richmond, and he made haste to throw his army on Pope before +the slow moving army from Harrison's Landing could re-enforce him. +General McClellan did not himself reach Acquia Creek until the 24th +of August. The disasters sustained by General Pope in the month +of August could not have occurred if the forces of the Union, +readily at command, had been brought seasonably to his aid. It +was at this crisis that the unfortunate movements were made, the +full responsibility for which, perhaps the exact character of which, +may never be determined, but the sorrowful result of which was that +the Union forces, much larger in the aggregate than Lee's, were +divided and continually outnumbered on the field of battle. + +Flushed with success the Confederate authorities pushed their +fortunes with great boldness. General Bragg invaded Kentucky with +a large army and General Lee prepared to invade Pennsylvania. The +cruel defeat of General Pope disabled him for the time as a commander, +and the Administration, fearing for the safety of Washington, and +yielding somewhat to the obvious wishes of the soldiers, ordered +General McClellan on September 2 to assume command of all troops +for the defense of the Capital. General Lee avoiding the fortifications +of Washington, passed over to Maryland, and prepared to invade +Pennsylvania with a force formidable in numbers and with the added +strength of a supreme confidence in its invincibility. General +McClellan moved promptly westward to cut off Lee's progress northward. +After preliminary engagements the main battle of Antietam was fought +on the 17th of September, resulting in a Union victory. Lee was +severely repulsed and retreated across the Potomac. + +General McClellan fought the battle of Antietam under extraordinary +embarrassment caused by the surrender of Harper's Ferry to the +Confederates on the 13th, with a loss to the Union army of more +than twelve thousand men. Could he have had the advantage of this +force on the battle-field, under a competent commander, at the +critical moment, his victory over Lee might have been still more +decisive. His success however was of overwhelming importance to +the National Government and put a stop to an invasion of Pennsylvania +which might have been disastrous in the extreme. He was blamed +severely, perhaps unjustly, for not following Lee on his retreat +and reaping the fruits of his victory. He had the misfortune to +fall into a controversy once more with the authorities at Washington. +After a correspondence with the War Department he was peremptorily +ordered by the General-in-Chief Halleck on the 6th of October in +these words: "The President directs that you cross the Potomac +and give battle to the enemy or drive him south. Your army must +move now while the roads are good. . . . I am directed to add that +the Secretary of War and the General-in-Chief fully concur with +the President in these instructions." The order was not promptly +obeyed. The Army of the Potomac--as those who spoke for General +McClellan maintained--had been for six months engaged in a laborious +campaign in which they had fought many battles and experienced much +hardship. They needed rest, recruitment, clothes, shoes, and a +general supply of war material before setting out on what would +prove a winter march. The authorities at Washington asserted, and +apparently proved on the testimony of Quartermaster-General Meigs, +a most accomplished, able, and honorable officer, that the Army of +the Potomac, when it received its first orders to move in October, +was thoroughly and completely equipped. General McClellan thought +however that if intrusted with the command of the army he should +be allowed to direct its movements. He crossed the Potomac near +Harper's Ferry in the last week of October, and began an advance +through Virginia which effectually covered Washington. He had +reached Warrenton, and, before the plan of his campaign was developed, +received at midnight, on the 7th of November, a direct order from +President Lincoln to "surrender the command of the army to General +Burnside, and to report himself immediately at Trenton, the capital +of New Jersey." + + GENERAL McCLELLAN'S MILITARY CAREER. + +The reasons for this sudden and peremptory order were not given, +and if expressed would probably have been only an assertion of the +utter impossibility that the War Department and General McClellan +should harmoniously co-operate in the great military movements +which devolved upon the Army of the Potomac. But the time of +removal was not opportunely selected by the Administration. After +General McClellan's failure on the Peninsula, a large proportion +of the Northern people clamored for his deposition from command, +and it would have been quietly acquiesced in by all. At the end +of those disastrous days when he was falling back on the line of +the James River, General McClellan had telegraphed the Secretary +of War "If I save this army now, I tell you plainly that I owe no +thanks to you or to any persons in Washington. You have done your +best to sacrifice this army." Perhaps no such dispatch was ever +before sent by a military officer to the Commander-in-Chief of the +army--to the ruler of the nation. In any other country it would +have been followed with instant cashiering. Mr. Lincoln, with his +great magnanimity, had however condoned the offense, and after the +defeat of Pope the Administration had enlarged the command of +McClellan and trusted the fortunes of the country to his generalship. +The trust had not been in vain. He had rolled back the tide of +invasion by a great battle in which for the first time the army of +Lee had been beaten. He was now marching forward with his army +strengthened for another conflict, and without explanation to the +country or to himself was deprived of his command. A large part +of the people and of the public press and an overwhelming majority +in the army were dissatisfied with the act, and believed that it +would entail evil consequences. + +This ended the military career of General McClellan which throughout +its whole period had been a subject of constant discussion--a +discussion which has not yet closed. The opinion of a majority of +intelligent observers, both civil and military, is that he was a +man of high professional training, admirably skilled in the science +of war, capable of commanding a large army with success, but at +the same time not original in plan, not fertile in resource, and +lacking the energy, the alertness, the daring, the readiness to +take great risks for great ends, which distinguish the military +leaders of the world. For a commander of armies, in an offensive +campaign, his caution was too largely developed. He possessed in +too great a degree what the French term the _defensive instinct of +the engineer_, and was apparently incapable of doing from his own +volition what he did so well on the bloody field of Antietam, when +under the pressure of an overwhelming necessity. + +General Burnside assumed the command with diffidence. After a +consultation with General Halleck he moved down the Rappahannock +opposite Fredericksburg where he confronted General Lee's army on +the 13th of December, and made an attack upon it under great +disadvantages and with the legitimate result of a great defeat. +The total loss of killed and wounded of the Union army exceeded +ten thousand men. The public mind was deeply affected throughout +the North by this untoward event. All the prestige which Lee had +lost at Antietam had been regained, all the advantage we had secured +on that field was sacrificed by the disaster on the still bloodier +field of Fredericksburg. It added immeasurably to the gloom of a +gloomy winter, and in the rank and file of the army it caused a +dissatisfaction somewhat akin to mutiny. So pronounced did this +feeling become and so plainly was it manifested that the subject +attracted the attention of Congress and led to some results which, +despite the seriousness of the situation, were irresistibly amusing. + +On the 23d of January Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts offered a somewhat +extraordinary resolution,--instructing the Committee on the Conduct +of the War to "inquire whether Major-General Burnside has since +the battle of Fredericksburg formed any plans for the movement of +the Army of the Potomac or any portion of the same, and if so +whether any subordinate generals of said army have written to or +visited Washington, to oppose or interfere with the execution of +such movements, and whether such proposed movements have been +arrested or interfered with, and if so by what authority." The +consideration of the resolution was postponed under the rule, and +three days later it was called up by Mr. Anthony of Rhode Island +and its adoption urged "with the view of finding out whether officers +were coming up here from the Army of the Potomac to interfere with +the plans of General Burnside." There was indeed no doubt that +some of the general officers connected with the army had been in +Washington, and confidentially informed the President of the +dispirited and depressed condition of the whole force. + + GENERAL BURNSIDE AND GENERAL HOOKER. + +General Burnside's character was one of great frankness, truth, +and fidelity. He was full of courage and of manliness, and he +conceived from circumstances within his knowledge, that certain +officers in his command were gradually undermining and destroying +him in the confidence of the army and of the public. He had not +desired the position to which the President called him as the +successor of General McClellan. He did not feel himself indeed +quite competent to the task of commanding an army of one hundred +thousand men. But there as in every other position in life he +would try to do his best. He failed and failed decisively. It +would probably have been wise for him to resign his command +immediately after the defeat at Fredericksburg. On January 23, +the Friday before the Senate resolution was adopted, General +Burnside, highly incensed by the injury which he thought had been +done him, wrote an order peremptorily "dismissing, subject to the +approval of the President, Major-General Joseph E. Hooker from the +Army of the United States, for having been guilty of unjust and +unnecessary criticism of his superior officers, and for having by +the general tone of his conversation endeavored to create distrust +in the minds of officers who have associated with him, and for +having habitually spoken in disparaging terms of other officers." +The order declared that General Hooker was dismissed "as a man +unfit to hold an important commission during a crisis like the +present when so much patience, charity, confidence, consideration, +and patriotism is due from every person in the field." The same +order dismissed Brigadier-General John Newton and Brigadier-General +John Cochrane for going to the President with criticisms on the +plans of the commanding officer, and relieved Major-General William +B. Franklin, Major-General W. F. Smith, Brigadier-General Sturgis +and several others from further service in the Army of the Potomac. + +The outcome of this extraordinary proceeding was very singular. +General Burnside took the order, before its publication, to the +President who instead of approving it, very good-naturedly found +a command for the General in the West, and on the very day that +the Senate passed the resolution of inquiry, two orders were read +at the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac,--one from General +Burnside announcing that Major-General Joseph E. Hooker was assigned +to the command of the Army of the Potomac and asking the army to +"give to the brave and skillful General, who is now to command you, +your full and cordial support and co-operation;" the other from +General Hooker assuming command of the Army of the Potomac by +direction of the President and conveying to the late commander, +General Burnside, "the most cordial good wishes of the whole army." + +In the South-West where General Grant, General Sherman, and General +Rosecrans were stubbornly contesting the ground, no decisive results +were attained. The army went into winter quarters, with a general +feeling of discouragement pervading the country. A substantial +advantage was gained by General Buell's army in driving Bragg out +of Kentucky, and a very signal and helpful encouragement came to +the Government from the fact that the public manifestations in +Kentucky were decisively adverse to the Confederates, and that +Lee's army in Maryland met no welcome from any portion of the +population. General McClellan's army was cheered everywhere in +Maryland as it marched to the field of Antietam; and as Bragg +retreated through the mountain sections of Kentucky his stragglers +were fired upon by the people, and the women along the route +upbraided the officers with bitter maledictions. Perhaps the +feature of the two invasions most discouraging to the Confederates +was the condition of the popular mind which they found in the Border +States. They had expected to arouse fresh revolt, but they met a +people tired of conflict and longing for repose under the flag of +the Nation. + +Congress felt that the situation was one of uncertainty if not of +positive adversity. They did not however abate one jot or tittle +of earnest effort in providing for a renewal of the contest in the +ensuing spring. They appropriated some seven hundred and forty +millions of dollars for the army and some seventy-five millions +for the navy, and they took the very decisive step of authorizing +"the President to enroll, arm, equip, and receive into the land +and naval service of the United States such number of volunteers +of African descent as he may deem useful to suppress the present +Rebellion for such term of service as he may prescribe, not exceeding +five years." The enactment of this bill was angrily resisted by +the Democratic party and by the Union men of the Border States. +But the Republicans were able to consolidate their ranks in support +of it. In the popular opinion it was a radical measure, and therein +lay its chief merit. Aside from the substantial strength which +the accession of these colored men to the ranks would give to the +Union army, was the moral effect which would be produced on the +minds of Southern men by the open demonstration that the President +did not regard the Proclamation of Emancipation as _brutum fulmen_, +but intended to enforce it by turning the strong arm of the slave +against the person of the master. It was a policy that required +great moral courage, and it was abundantly rewarded by successful +results. It signalized to the whole world the depth of the +earnestness with which the Administration was defending the Union, +and the desperate extent to which the contest would be carried +before American nationality should be surrendered. The measure +had long been demanded by the aggressive sentiment of the North, +and its enactment was hailed by the mass of people in the Loyal +States as a great step forward. + + SUSPENSION OF HABEAS CORPUS. + +A subject of striking interest at this session of Congress was the +passage of the "Act relating to _habeas corpus_, and regulating +judicial proceedings in certain cases." The President had ordered +for the public safety, and as an act necessary to the successful +prosecution of the war, the arrest and confinement of certain +persons charged with disloyal practices. No punishment was attempted +or designed except that of confinement in a military fortress of +the United States. It became a matter of argument not only in +Congress but throughout the country, whether the President was +authorized by the Constitution to suspend the writ of _habeas +corpus_. In order to set the question at rest it was now proposed +to pass an Act of indemnity for past acts to all officers engaged +in making arrests, and also to confirm to the President by law the +right which he had of his own power been exercising. The bill +declared that "during the present Rebellion the President of the +United States, whenever in his judgment the public safety may +require it, is authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of +_habeas corpus_ in any case throughout the United States or any +part thereof; and wherever the said writ shall be suspended no +military or other officer shall be compelled, in answer to any writ +of _habeas corpus_, to return the body of any person or persons +detained by him by authority of the President." + +The bill was stubbornly resisted by the Democratic party, and after +its passage by the House thirty-six Democratic representatives +asked leave to enter upon the Journal a solemn protest against its +enactment. They recited at length their grounds of objection, the +principal of which was "the giving to the President the right to +suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_ throughout the limits of the +United States, whereas by the Constitution the power to suspend +the privilege of that writ is confided to the discretion of Congress +alone and is limited to the place threatened by the dangers of +invasion or insurrection," and also because "the bill purports to +confirm and make valid by act of Congress arrests and imprisonments +which were not only not warranted by the Constitution of the United +States but were in palpable violation of its express prohibitions." +Mr. Thaddeus Stevens peremptorily moved to lay the request on the +table, and on a call of the ayes and noes the motion prevailed by +a vote of 75 to 41. The division in the House by this time amounted +to a strict line, on one side of which was the war party and on +the other side the anti-war party. + +The crowning achievement of the session in aid of the Union was +the passage of an "Act for enrolling and calling out the National +forces and for other purposes." By its terms all able-bodied +citizens of the United States between the ages of twenty and forty- +five years, with a few exemptions which were explicitly stated, +were declared to "constitute the National forces and shall be +employed to perform military duty in the service of the United +States when called on by the President for that purpose." Volunteering +was not to be relied upon as the sole means of recruiting the army, +but the entire population within the arms-bearing age was now to +be devoted to the contest. Taken in connection with other legislation +already adverted to--the enormous appropriations for the forthcoming +campaign, the organization of African regiments, the suspension of +the writ of _habeas corpus_ at the President's discretion--this +last measure was the conclusive proof of the serious determination +with which Congress and the people would continue the contest. +The spirit with which the President and Congress proceeded in that +depressing and depressed period proved invaluable to the country. +The situation had so many elements of a discouraging character that +the slightest hesitation or faltering among those controlling the +administration of the Government would have been followed by distrust +and dismay among the people. + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +The President's Border-State Policy.--Loyal Government erected in +Virginia.--Recognized by Congress and Senators admitted.--Desire +for a New State.--The Long Dissatisfaction of the People of Western +Virginia.--The Character of the People and of their Section.--Their +Opportunity had come.--Organization of the Pierpont Government.-- +State Convention and Constitution.--Application to Congress for +Admission.--Anti-slavery Amendment.--Senate Debate: Sumner, Wade, +Powell, Willey, and Others.--House Debate: Stevens, Conway, Bingham, +Segar.--Passage of Bill in Both Branches.--Heavy Blow to the Old +State.--Her Claims deserve Consideration.--Should be treated as +generously at least as Mexico. + +The great importance attached by Mr. Lincoln to the preservation +of Loyalty in the line of slave States which bordered upon the free +States was everywhere recognized. As Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, +and Missouri had been promptly placed under the control of governments +friendly to the Union, there remained of the States in rebellion +only Virginia with territory adjacent to the Loyal States. Virginia +bordered on the Ohio River for two hundred and fifty miles; she +was adjacent to Pennsylvania for a distance of one hundred and +twenty miles, half on the southern, half on the western line of +that State. Her extreme point stretched to the northward of +Pittsburg, and was within twenty-five miles of the parallel of +latitude that marks the southern boundary of New England. The +continued exercise of even a nominal jurisdiction so far North, by +the State which contained the capital of the Rebel Confederacy, +would be a serious impeachment of the power of the National +Government, and would detract from its respect at home and its +prestige abroad. But the National Government was of itself capable +only of enforcing military occupation and proclaiming the jurisdiction +of the sword. What the President desired was the establishment of +civil government by a loyal people, with the reign of law and order +everywhere recognized. Happily the disposition of the inhabitants +was in harmony with the wishes of the Administration and the +necessities of the Union. + +After the adoption of the Secession Ordinance by the Virginia +Convention on the 17th of April, the loyal people of the Western +section of the State were prompt to act. As early as the 13th of +May--a fortnight before the day appointed for the popular vote on +the Secession Ordinance in Virginia--five hundred staunch Union +men came together in a Convention at Wheeling, denounced the +Ordinance of Secession and pledged their loyalty to the National +Government and their obedience to its laws. If the Ordinance should +be approved by the popular vote of Virginia, this preliminary +conference requested the people in all the counties represented, +to appoint delegates on the fourth day of June to a General Convention +to assemble in Wheeling on the 11th of the same month. These Union- +loving men were energetic and zealous. They realized that with +the secession of Virginia, completed and proclaimed, they must do +one of two things--either proceed at once to organize a State +government which would be faithful to the National Constitution, +or drift helplessly into anarchy and thus contribute to the success +of the rebellion. Their prompt and intelligent action is a remarkable +illustration of the trained and disciplined ability of Americans +for the duties of self-government. + +The members of the Convention which was organized on the 11th of +June were even more determined than those who had assembled the +preceding month. Without delay they declared the State offices of +Virginia vacant because of the treason and disloyalty of those who +had been elected to hold them, and they proceeded to fill them and +form a regular State organization of which Francis H. Pierpont was +appointed the executive head. They did not assume to represent a +mere section of the State, but in the belief that the loyal people +were entitled to speak for the whole State they declared that their +government was the Government of Virginia. This Western movement +was subsequently strengthened by the accession of delegates from +Alexandria and Fairfax Counties in Middle Virginia and from Accomac +and Northampton Counties on the Eastern Shore. Thus organized, +the Government of the State was acknowledged by Congress as the +Government of Virginia and her senators and representatives were +admitted to seats. + +Notwithstanding the compliance with all the outward forms and +requirements, notwithstanding the recognition by Congress of the +new government, it was seen to be essentially and really the +Government of West Virginia. It was only nominally and by construction +the Government of the State of Virginia. It did not represent the +political power or the majority of the people of the entire State. +That power was wielded in aid of the rebellion. The senators and +representatives of Virginia were in the Confederate Congress. The +strength of her people was in the Confederate Army, of which a +distinguished Virginian was the commander. The situation was +anomalous, though the friends of the Union justified the irregularity +of recognizing the framework of government in the hands of loyal +men as the actual civil administration of the State of Virginia. + + CHARACTER OF WEST VIRGINIA. + +The people of the Western section of Virginia realized that the +position was unnatural,--one which they could not sustain by popular +power within the limits of the State they assumed to govern, except +for the protection afforded by the military power of the National +Government. Between the two sections of the State there had long +been serious antagonisms. Indeed from the very origin of the +settlement of West Virginia, which had made but little progress +when the Federal Constitution was adopted, its citizens were in +large degree alienated from the Eastern and older section of the +State. The men of the West were hardy frontiersmen, a majority of +them soldiers of the Revolution and their immediate descendants, +without estates, with little but the honorable record of patriotic +service and their own strong arms, for their fortunes. They had +few slaves. They had their land patents, which were certificates +of patriotic service in the Revolutionary war, and they depended +upon their own labor for a new home in the wilderness. A population +thus originating, a community thus founded, were naturally uncongenial +to the aristocratic element of the Old Dominion. They had no trade +relations, no social intercourse, with the tide-water section of +the State. Formidable mountain ranges separated the two sections, +and the inhabitants saw little of each other. The business interests +of the Western region led the people to the Valley of the Ohio and +not to the shores of the Chesapeake. The waters of the Monongahela +connected them with Pennsylvania and carried them to Pittsburg. +All the rivers of the western slope flowed into the Ohio and gave +to the people the markets of Cincinnati and Louisville. Their +commercial intercourse depended on the navigation of Western waters, +and a far larger number had visited St. Louis and New Orleans than +had ever seen Richmond or Norfolk. The West-Virginians were aware +of the splendid resources of their section and were constantly +irritated by the neglect of the parent State to aid in their +development. They enjoyed a climate as genial as that of the +Italians who dwell on the slopes of the Apennines; they had forests +more valuable than those that skirt the upper Rhine; they had +mineral wealth as great as that which has given England her precedence +in the manufacturing progress of the world. They were anxious for +self-government. Their trustworthy senator, Waitman T. Willey, +declared that the people west of the Alleghany range had for sixty +years "desired separation." The two sections, he said, had been +time and again on the eve of an outbreak and the Western people +could with difficulty be held back from insurrection. Criminations +and recriminations had been exchanged at every session of the +Legislature for forty years and threats of violence had been hurled +by one section at the other. + +The opportunity for a new State had now come. Its organization +and admission to the Union would complete the chain of loyal +Commonwealths on the south side of Mason and Dixon's line, and +would drive back the jurisdiction of rebellious Virginia beyond +the chain of mountains and interpose that barrier to the progress +of the insurrectionary forces Westward and Northward. The provision +in the Federal Constitution that no new State shall be formed within +the jurisdiction of any other State without the consent of the +Legislature of the State as well as of Congress, had always been +the stumbling-block in the way of West Virginia's independence. +Despite the hostilities and antagonisms of the two populations, +Virginia would insist on retaining this valuable section of country +within her own jurisdiction. But now, by the chances of war, the +same men who desired to create the new State were wielding the +entire political power of Virginia, and they would naturally grant +permission to themselves to erect a State that would be entirely +free from the objectionable jurisdiction which for the time they +represented. They were not slow to avail themselves of their +opportunity. + + ADMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA TO THE UNION. + +The Pierpont Government, as it was now popularly termed, adopted +an Ordinance on the 20th of August, 1861, providing "for the +formation of a new State out of a portion of the territory of this +State." The Ordinance was approved by a vote of the people on the +fourth Thursday of October, and on the 26th of November the Convention +assembled in Wheeling to frame a constitution for the new government. +The work was satisfactorily performed, and on the first Thursday +of April, 1862, the people approved the constitution by a vote fo +18,862 in favor of it with only 514 against it. The work of the +representatives of the projected new State being thus ratified, +the Governor called the Legislature of Virginia together on the +sixth day of May, and on the 13th of the same moth that body gave +its consent, with due regularity, to "the formation of a new State +within the jurisdiction of the said State of Virginia." A fortnight +later, on the 28th of May, Senator Willey introduced the subject +in Congress by presenting a memorial from the Legislature of Virginia +together with a certified copy of the proceedings of the Constitutional +Convention and the vote of the people. + +The constitution was referred to the Committee on Territories and +a bill favorable to admission was promptly reported by Senator Wade +of Ohio. The measure was discussed at different periods, largely +with reference to the effect it would have upon the institution of +slavery, and Congress insisted upon inserting a provision that "the +children of slaves, born in the State after the fourth day of July, +1863, shall be free; all slaves within the said State who shall at +that time be under the age of ten years shall be free when they +arrive at the age of twenty-one years; all slaves over ten and +under twenty-one shall be free at the age of twenty-five years; +and no slave shall be permitted to come into the State for permanent +residence therein." This condition was to be ratified by the +Convention which framed the constitution, and by the people at an +election held for the purpose, and, upon due certification of the +approval of the condition to the President of the United States, +he was authorized to issue his proclamation declaring West Virginia +to be a State of the Union. + +Mr. Sumner was not satisfied with a condition which left West +Virginia with any form of slavery whatever. He said there were +"twelve thousand human beings now held in bondage in that State, +and all who are over a certain age are to be kept so for their +natural lives." He desired to strike out the provision which +permitted this and to insert on in lieu thereof, declaring that +"within the limits of the said State there shall be neither slavery +nor involuntary servitude otherwise than in the punishment of crime +whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." Mr. Sumner's +amendment was opposed by some of the most radical anti-slavery men +in the Senate, notably by Collamer and Foot of Vermont, by Wade of +Ohio, and by Howe of Wisconsin. They believed that the convictions +of the people of West Virginia had developed to the point embodied +in the bill, and that to attempt the immediate extirpation of +slavery might lead to re-action and possibly to the rejection of +the constitution. Mr. Sumner's amendment was therefore defeated +by 24 votes against 11. Of the 24 votes 17 were given by Republican +senators. + +Mr. Powell of Kentucky vigorously opposed the bill in all its parts. +He contended that "if the cities of New York and Brooklyn, with +the counties in which they are located, were to get up a little +bogus Legislature and say they were the State of New York, and ask +to be admitted and cut off from the rest of the State, I would just +as soon vote for their admission as to vote for the pending bill." +No senator, he said, could pretend to claim that "even a third part +of the people of Virginia have ever had any thing to do with +rendering their assent to the making of this new State within the +territorial limits of that ancient Commonwealth." He declared this +to be "a dangerous precedent which overthrows the Constitution and +may be fraught with direful consequences." "Out of the one hundred +and sixty counties that compose the State of Virginia," he continued, +"less than one-fourth have assumed to act for the entire State; +and even within the boundaries of the new State more than half the +voters have declined to take part in the elections." + +Mr. Willey argued that the Legislature represented the almost +unanimous will of all the loyal people of West Virginia. He said +that "besides the 19,000 votes cast, there were 10,100 men absent +in the Union army, and that, the conclusion being foregone, the +people had not been careful to come out to vote, knowing that the +constitution would be overwhelmingly adopted." On the 14th of +July, three days before Congress adjourned, the bill passed the +Senate by a vote of 23 to 17. Mr. Rice of Minnesota was the only +Democrat who favored the admission of the new State. The other +Democratic senators voted against it. Mr. Chandler and Mr. Howard +of Michigan voted in the negative because the State had voluntarily +done nothing towards providing for the emancipation of slaves; Mr. +Sumner and Mr. Wilson, because the State had rejected the anti- +slavery amendment; Mr. Trumbull and Mr. Cowan, because of the +irregularity of the whole proceeding. + + ADMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA TO THE UNION. + +The bill was not considered in the House until the next session. +It was taken up on the 9th of December and was vigorously attacked +by Mr. Conway of Kansas. He questioned the validity of the Pierpont +Government and asked whether the law which gave him his warrant of +authority had come from "a mob or from a mass-meeting." He said +he had "serious reason to believe that it is the intention of the +President to encourage the formation of State organizations in all +the seceded States, and that a few individuals are to assume State +powers wherever a military encampment can be effected in any of +the rebellious districts." Mr. Conway denounced this scheme as +"utterly and flagrantly unconstitutional, as radically revolutionary +in character and deserving the reprobation of every loyal citizen." +It aimed, he said, at "an utter subversion of our constitutional +system and will consolidate all power in the hands of the Executive." +He was answered with spirit by Mr. Colfax of Indiana, who reviewed +the successive steps by which the legality of the Virginia government +had been recognized by the President and by all the departments of +the executive government. He argued that West Virginia had taken +every step regularly and complied with every requirement of the +Constitution. + +Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky said the Wheeling government could be +regarded as the government of the whole State of Virginia "only by +a mere fiction. We _know_ the fact to be otherwise." He said it +was the party applying for admission that consented to the admission, +and that was the whole of it. When the war should cease and the +National authority should be re-established he wanted the Union as +it was. This would be "a new-made Union--the old majestic body +cut and slashed by passion, by war, coming to form another government, +another Union. The Constitution gives us no power to do what we +are asked to do." Mr. Maynard said there were "two governors and +two Legislatures assuming authority over Virginia simultaneously. +The question here is which shall the Government of the United States +recognize as the true and lawful Legislature of Virginia?" He +contended that it had already been settled, by the admission of +members of both branches of Congress under the Pierpont Government. +Mr. Dawes affirmed that "nobody has given his consent to the division +of the State of Virginia and the erection of a new State who does +not reside within the new State itself." He contended therefore +that "this bill does not comply with the spirit of the Constitution. +If the remaining portions of Virginia are under duress while this +consent is given, it is a mere mockery of the Constitution." Mr. +Brown of Virginia, from that part which was to be included in the +new State, corrected Mr. Dawes, but the latter maintained that +while a member of the Legislature "was picked up in Fairfax and +two or three gentlemen in other parts of the State, they protested +themselves that they did not pretend to represent the counties from +which they hailed." + +Mr. Thaddeus Stevens said he did not desire to be understood as +"sharing the delusion that we are admitting West Virginia in +pursuance of any provision of the Constitution." He could "find +no provision justifying it, and the argument in favor of it originates +with those who either honestly entertain an erroneous opinion, or +who desire to justify by a forced construction an act which they +have predetermined to do." He maintained that it was "but mockery +to say that the Legislature of Virginia has ever consented to the +division. Only two hundred thousand out of a million and a quarter +of people have participated in the proceedings." He contended that +"the State of Virginia has a regular organization, and by a large +majority of the people it has changed its relations to the Federal +Government." He knew that this was treason in the individuals who +participated in it; but so far as the State was concerned, it was +a valid act. Our government, he argued, "does not act upon a State. +The State, as a separate distinct body, is the State of a majority +of the people of Virginia, whether rebel or loyal, whether convict +or free men. The majority of the people of Virginia is the State +of Virginia, although individuals have committed treason." "Governor +Pierpont," continued Mr. Stevens, "is an excellent man, and I wish +he were the Governor elected by the people of Virginia. But +according to my principles operating at the present time I can vote +for the admission of West Virginia without any compunctions of +conscience--only with some doubt about the policy of it. None of +the States now in rebellion are entitled to the protection of the +Constitution. These proceedings are in virtue of the laws of war. +We may admit West Virginia as a new State, not by virtue of any +provision of the Constitution but under our absolute power which +the laws of war give us in the circumstances in which we are placed. +I shall vote for this bill upon that theory, and upon that alone. +I will not stultify myself by supposing that we have any warrant +in the Constitution for this proceeding." + + ADMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA TO THE UNION. + +Mr. Bingham of Ohio made an able argument principally devoted to +rebutting the somewhat mischievous ground assumed by Mr. Stevens. +He affirmed that "the minority of the people of the State cannot +be deprived of their rights because the majority have committed +treason." He argued that, the majority of the people of Virginia +having become rebels, the State was in the hands of the loyal +minority, who in that event had a right to administer the laws, +maintain the authority of the State government, and elect a State +Legislature and a Governor, through whom they might call upon the +Federal Government for protection against domestic violence, +according to the express guaranty of the Constitution. "To deny +this proposition," continued Mr. Bingham, "is to say that when the +majority in any State revolt against the laws, the State government +can never be re-organized nor the rights of the minority protected +so long as the majority are in revolt." He contended that the +doctrine he advocated was not a new one, that it was as old as the +Constitution, and he called attention to the remarkable letter of +"The Federalist," addressed by Mr. Madison to the American people +in which "he who is called the author of the Constitution" asked: +"Why may not illicit combinations for purposes of violence be formed +as well by a majority of a State as by a majority of a county or +district of the same State? And if the authority of the State +ought in the latter case to protect the local magistrate, ought +not the Federal authority in the former case to support the State +authority?" + +Mr. Segar, who represented the district including Fortress Monroe, +pleaded very earnestly against the dismemberment of his State and +he argued, as Mr. Powell had argued in the Senate, that there was +no evidence that a majority of the people within the counties which +were to compose the new State had ever given their assent to its +formation. The ordinary vote of those counties he said was 48,000 +while on the new State question the entire vote cast was only +19,000. He named ten counties included in the new State organization +in which not a single vote had been cast on either side of the +question at the special election. Though loyal to the Union and +grieving over the rebellious course of Virginia he begged that this +humiliation might be spared her. "Let there not be two Virginias; +let us remain one and united. Do not break up the rich cluster of +glorious memories and associations which gather over the name and +the history of this ancient and once glorious Commonwealth." + +On the passage of the bill the ayes were 96 and the noes were 55. +The ayes were wholly from the Republican party, though several +prominent Republicans opposed the measure. Almost the entire +Massachusetts delegation voted in the negative, as did also Mr. +Roscoe Conkling, Mr. Conway of Kansas and Mr. Francis Thomas of +Maryland. The wide difference of opinion concerning this act was +not unnatural. But the cause of the Union was aided by the addition +of another loyal commonwealth, and substantial justice was done to +the brave people of the new State who by their loyalty had earned +the right to be freed from the domination which had fretted them +and from the association which was uncongenial to them. + + +To the old State of Virginia the blow was a heavy one. In the +years following the war it added seriously to her financial +embarrassment, and it has in many ways obstructed her prosperity. +As a punitive measure, for the chastening of Virginia, it cannot +be defended. Assuredly there was no ground for distressing Virginia +by penal enactments that did not apply equally to every other State +of the Confederacy. Common justice revolts at the selection of +one man for punishment from eleven who have all been guilty of the +same offense. If punishment had been designed there was equal +reason for stripping Texas of her vast domain and for withdrawing +the numerous land grants which had been generously made by the +National Government to many of the States in rebellion. But Texas +was allowed to emerge from the contest without the forfeiture of +an acre, and Congress, so far from withdrawing the land grants by +which other Southern States were to be enriched, took pains to +renew them in the years succeeding the war. The autonomy of Virginia +alone was disturbed. Upon Virginia alone fell the penalty, which +if due to any was due to all. + + THE PUBLIC DEBT OF VIRGINIA. + +Another consideration is of great weight. An innocent third party +was involved. Virginia owed a large debt, held in great part by +loyal citizens of the North and by subjects of foreign countries. +The burden was already as heavy as she could bear in her entirety, +and dismemberment so crippled her that she could not meet her +obligations. The United States might well have relieved Virginia +and have done justice to her creditors by making some allowance +for the division of her territory. Regarding her only as entitled +to the rights of a public enemy so long as she warred upon the +Union, we may confidently maintain that she is entitled at least +to as just and magnanimous treatment as the National Government +extends to a foreign foe. In our war with Mexico it became our +interest to acquire a large part of the territory owned by that +republic. We had conquered her armies and were in possession of +her capital. She was helpless in our hands. But the high sense +of justice which has always distinguished the United States in her +public policies would not permit the despoilment of Mexico. We +negotiated therefore for the territory needed, and paid for it a +larger price than would have been given by any other nation in the +world. The American Government went still farther. Many of our +citizens held large claims against Mexico, and the failure to pay +them had been one of the causes that precipitated hostilities. +Our government in addition to the money consideration of fifteen +millions of dollars which we paid for territory, agreed to exonerate +Mexico from all demands of our citizens, and to pay them from our +own Treasury. This supplementary agreement cost the National +Treasury nearly four million dollars. + +If the United State were willing to place Virginia on the basis on +which they magnanimously placed Mexico after the conquest of that +Republic, a sufficient allowance would be made to her to compensate +at least for that part of her public debt which might presumptively +be represented by the territory taken from her. If it be said in +answer to such a suggestion that it would be fairer for West Virginia +to assume the proportional obligation thus indicated, the prompt +rejoinder is that in equity her people are not held to such +obligation. The public improvements for which the debt was in +large part incurred had not been so far completed as to benefit +West Virginia when the civil war began,--their advantages being +mainly confined to the Tide-water and Piedmont sections of the +State. There is indeed neither moral nor legal responsibility +resting upon West Virginia for any part of the debt of the old +State. + +In determining the relative obligations of the National Government +and of the government of West Virginia, concerning the debt, it is +of the first importance to remember that the new State was not +primarily organized and admitted to the Union for the benefit of +her own people, but in far larger degree for the benefit of the +people of the whole Union. The organic law would not have been +strained, legal fictions would not have been invented, contradictory +theories would not have been indulged, if a great national interest +had not demanded the creation of West Virginia. If it had not been +apparent that the organization of West Virginia was an advantage +to the loyal cause; if the border-State policy of Mr. Lincoln, so +rigidly adhered to throughout the contest, had not required this +link for the completion of its chain,--the wishes of the people +most directly involved would never have had the slightest attention +from the Congress of the United States. Strong and equitable as +was the case of West Virginia, irritating and undesirable as her +relations to the older State might be, advantageous to the people +as the new government might prove, these considerations would not +of themselves have offered sufficient inducement to engage the +attention of Congress for an hour at that critical period. They +would have been brushed aside and disregarded with that cool +indifference by which all great legislative bodies prove how easy +it is to endure the misery of other people. West Virginia indeed +got only what was equitably due, and what she was entitled to claim +by the natural right of self-government. The war brought good +fortune to her as conspicuously as it brought ill fortune to the +older State from which she was wrenched. West Virginia is to be +congratulated, and her creditable career and untiring enterprise +since she assumed the responsibilities of self-government show how +well she deserved the boon. But the wounds inflicted on the mother +State by her separation will never be healed until Virginia is +relieved from the odium of having been specially selected from the +eleven seceding States for the punishment that struck at once +against her prosperity and against her pride of empire. + +Nor should it be forgotten that the State of Virginia before the +war might well be regarded as the creditor and not the debtor of +the National Government. One of her earliest acts of patriotism as +an independent State was the cession to the General Government of +her superb domain on the north side of the Ohio River, from the +sale of which more than one hundred millions of dollars have been +paid into the National Treasury. A suggestive contrast is presented +to-day between the condition of Virginia and the condition of Texas +and Florida. It was the aggressive disunionism of the two latter +States which aided powerfully in dragging Virginia into rebellion. +But for the urgency of the seven original Confederate States, in +which Texas and Florida were numbered, Virginia Loyalists would +have been able to hold their State firm in her National allegiance. +Since the war Texas has traveled the highway to wealth and power, +founded on the ownership of her public lands, of which the National +Government could have deprived her with as little difficulty as was +found in dividing Virginia. Florida has likewise enjoyed general +prosperity, and secured rapid development from the resources of +land which the National Government had generously given her before +the war and of which she was not deprived for her acts of rebellion. +True-hearted Americans rejoice in the prosperity of these States +which adorn the southern border of the Republic; but they cannot +help seeing, and seeing with regret, how differently the ancient +Commonwealth of Virginia has fared at the hands of the National +Government. + + EQUITABLE CONSIDERATIONS INVOLVED. + +If the hurt to Virginia were of a general character, which could +not be specified or defined, her case might be passed over with +the plea of _damnum absque injurid_. But, unfortunately,--or it +may be fortunately,--the detriment to her public credit can be +stated with substantial precision, and can be traced directly to +her despoilment. That took from her the power to pay her debt. +If the harm resulting therefrom were confined to the State and to +the holders of her securities, the National Government might the +more easily disregard the equities of the case. But Virginia's +embarrassment is of wide-spread concern, and injuriously affects +the public credit of other States. Nor can it be said that the +precedent of aiding Virginia could be quoted for aid to every State +that might get into financial trouble. It could be quoted only +for the case--which will perhaps never again occur--where the +National Government shall strip the State of a large and valuable +part of her territory, and thus take from her the ability to meet +her obligations. The precedent might then be quoted, and should +be unhesitatingly followed. + +In the formal and necessarily austere administration of public +affairs there is little room for the interposition of sentiment. +Yet sentiment has its place. We stimulate the ardor of patriotism +by the mere display of a flag which has no material force, but +which is emblematic of all material force, and typifies the glory +of the Nation. We stir the ambition of the living by rearing costly +monuments to the heroic dead. It may surely be pardoned if Americans +shall feel a deep personal interest in the good name and good +fortune of a State so closely identified with the early renown of +the Republic,--a State with whose soil is mingled the dust of those +to whom all States and all generations are debtors,--the Father of +his Country, the author of the Declaration of Independence, the +chief projector of the National Constitution. + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +National Currency and State Bank Currency.--In Competition.--Legal- +tender Bill tended to expand State Bank Circulation.--Secretary +Chase's Recommendation.--Favorably received.--State Bank Circulation, +$150,000,000.--Preliminary Bill to establish National Banks.-- +Fessenden.--Sherman.--Hooper.--National Bank System in 1862.-- +Discussed among the People.--Recommended by the President.--Mr. +Chase urges it.--Bill introduced and discussed in Senate.--Discussion +in the House.--Bill passed.--Hugh McCulloch of Indiana appointed +Comptroller of the Currency.--Amended Bank Act.--To remedy Defects, +Circulation limited to $500,000,000.--National Power.--State Rights. +--Taxation.--Renewed Debate in Senate and House.--Bill passed.-- +Merits of the System.--Former Systems.--First Bank of the United +States.--Charters of United-States banks, 1791-1816.--National +Banks compared with United-States Banks.--One Defective Element.-- +Founded on National Debt. + +The Secretary of the Treasury had not failed to see that a constant +conflict and damaging competition must ensue between the currency +of the Nation and the currency of the State banks. It was the +course of the banks more than any other agency that had discredited +the "demand notes" and demonstrated to the Treasury Department and +to Congress the absolute necessity of imparting the legal-tender +quality to the paper issued by the government. As this paper took +the place of gold and silver in the payment of every obligation, +both corporate and individual,--except duties on imports and interest +on the National debt,--it was made easy for the State banks to +extend their circulation. It was quite practicable for them to +keep a sufficient amount of legal-tender paper in their vaults to +meet all the probable requirements of redemption, and they were +thus tempted to expand their loans and issue their own bills to a +dangerous extent. It was indeed hardly necessary to provide legal- +tender notes to redeem their own bills. One kind of paper money, +to a large proportion of the public, was practically as good as +another. Coin redemption being abandoned, the banks in a certain +sense lost all moral and legal restraint. The enactment of the +Legal-tender Bill had not therefore given the control of the currency +to the government. It had only increased the dangers of inflation +by the stimulus it imparted and the protection it afforded to the +circulation of State bank notes. + + SECRETARY CHASE'S RECOMMENDATION. + +Secretary Chase had grasped the situation earlier than the experienced +financiers who assumed to be his special advisers, and while he +was, in the opinion of unjust critics, completely in the hands of +the State banks, he surprised the country by recommending in his +report of December, 1861, the establishment of a National system +that should give the General Government complete control of the +currency. The State bank circulation in the loyal States he +estimated at $150,000,000. "The whole of it," he regarded as "a +loan without interest from the people to the banks." The secretary +thought "it deserves consideration whether sound policy does not +require that the advantages of this loan be transferred from the +banks, representing the interest of stockholders, to the government +representing the aggregate interest of the whole people." Attention +was called to the fact that "the existing circulation depends on +the laws of thirty-four States and the character of some sixteen +hundred private corporations." It was somewhat startling to learn +that "the circulation is usually furnished in greatest proportion +by institutions of least actual capital and is commonly in the +inverse ratio of solvency." + +The bold and comprehensive recommendation of Mr. Chase was favorably +received by many of the leading men in Congress and by many of the +ablest financiers of the country. The committees of both Senate +and House were well disposed, but preferred time for consultation +and deliberation. The Secretary of the Treasury, with the aid of +Mr. E. G. Spaulding, Mr. Sherman, and Mr. Samuel Hooper, engaged +in the preparation of a bank bill which in due time was submitted +to the Committee of Ways and Means. The committee was at that +moment engaged on the Internal-revenue Bill, the important character +of which absorbed the attention of Congress. The adjustment of +the tariff duties to the excise taxes was also a serious labor +which left no adequate time to mature a bank bill in season for +its consideration at that session. Indeed the committee was not +able to report the bill to the House until the 12th of July, 1862, +when five thousand extra copies were printed for distribution among +the financial institutions of the country. It was deemed wise to +give the people time to consider so important a measure, and with +that end in view all further action was postponed to the next +session. + +Meanwhile the bill was published in the leading papers of the loyal +States and elicited the most diverse opinion. It was however +received with favor by the public. Those interested in the State +banks were at first exceedingly hostile to it. The proposition to +tax their circulation two per cent. in addition to the three per +cent. imposed upon incomes by the new law was considered harsh and +unjust. The object was to compel the retirement of the State bank +circulation. In no other way could a national system be at once +generally instituted. The courts had repeatedly held the authority +of the States to charter banks with power to issue and circulate +notes as money, to be constitutional. Congress could not abridge +this right in any way by direct legislation. Its power to tax was +however undoubted. The friends of the State bank system claimed +that the indirect method of destroying the institution by taxing +its notes out of existence was an arbitrary exercise of questionable +power. + +The advocates of a uniform and stable system of banking to cure +the manifold evils then prevailing, admitted that the prerogative +of the States could not be questioned, but urged that the exercise +of it had invariably increased and often produced the financial +troubles which had afflicted the country in the past. If the States +would not surrender their prerogative, the National Government +would be compelled to exercise its larger prerogative embodied in +the power to tax. The right of the nation to do this had been +asserted by the head of the Treasury under a Democratic administration +some years before. Recognizing as he did the necessity of a reform +in the system of banking, Secretary Guthrie in his report to Congress +in 1855 declared that "if the States shall continue the charter +and multiplication of banks with authority to issue and circulate +notes as money, and fail to apply any adequate remedy to the +increasing evil, and also fail to invest Congress with the necessary +power to prohibit the same, Congress may be justified in the exercise +of the power to levy an excise upon them, and thus render the +authority to issue and circulate them valueless." + + THE SYSTEM OF NATIONAL BANKS. + +During the autumn of 1862 the bank question was subjected to a +thorough discussion among the people. The legal-tender notes had +already become popular, and were evidently preferred by the public +to the notes of local banks. The depression naturally incident to +continued reverses in the field led to the defeat of the Administration +in many of the State elections, but despite the operation of all +adverse causes the general trade of the country was good. The +crops had been abundant and prices were remunerative. All that +had been claimed for the legal-tender bill by its most sanguine +advocates had been realized in the business of the country. The +one disappointment was their failure to keep at par with gold; but +even this, in the general prosperity among the people, did not +create discouragement. The Internal-revenue system had but just +gone into operation, and the only feature embarrassing to the people +was the requirement that the taxes should be paid in the legal- +tender paper of the government. No provision of law could have +operated so powerfully for a system of National banks. The people +were subjected to annoyance and often to expense in exchanging the +notes of their local banks for the government medium. The internal +fiscal machinery of the government evidently required places of +deposit. The tax-collectors could not intrust the funds in their +hands to State banks except at their own risk. The money of the +government was thus liable to loss from the absence of responsible +agencies under the control of National power. The fact that the +bills of State banks were not receivable for taxes tended constantly +to bring them into disrepute. The refusal of the government to +trust its funds in the keeping of the State banks was nothing less +than the requirement of the Sub-treasury Act, but to the popular +apprehension it was a manifestation of distrust which did the banks +great harm. The total revenue of the National Government had before +the war been collected at a few custom-houses on the coast, and +the public had not been generally familiar with the mode of its +safe-keeping. The system of internal taxes now reached the interior, +and the people were made daily witnesses of the fact that the +government would not trust a dollar of its money in the vaults of +a State bank. + +Under the influences thus at work, the friends of the State banks +plainly saw that the National system was growing in favor, and they +began to admit that its creation might facilitate the financial +operations of the country. Many of them were willing to give it +a fair trial. The advocates of the National system constantly +pressed their cause among the people. The five-twenty six per +cent. bonds, into which the legal tenders were convertible, offered, +as they explained, an excellent basis for banking. Their absorption +for that purpose would create not only a market for that class of +securities but inevitably cause them to appreciate in value. The +government would thus be largely benefitted, and its cause would +be strengthened by the silent influence of self-interest which +would certainly be developed by the general distribution of its +bonds as the basis of a national currency. It was also urged that +the existing banks could with great facility and without sacrifice +re-organize under the proposed national law. + +The popular mind having been thus favorably turned towards the +system of national banks, the President specifically approved it +in his message to Congress in December, 1862. Expressing his doubts +"whether a circulation of United-States notes, payable in coin, +and sufficiently large for the wants of the people, can be permanently, +usefully, and safely maintained," Mr. Lincoln asked if there was +"any other mode by which necessary provision for the public wants +can be made, and the great advantage of a safe and uniform currency +secured?" He declared that he knew of none "which promises so +certain results, and is at the same time so unobjectionable, as +the organization of banking associations under a general law of +Congress well guarded in its provisions." Mr. Chase elaborated +his recommendation of the preceding year to the same effect. He +asked that "a tax might be imposed on the notes of existing banks +such as would practically exclude them from circulation." In their +stead the legal-tender notes would be used, but he preferred "a +circulation furnished by the government but issued by banking +associations organized under a general Act of Congress." + +Mr. Chase said "the central idea of the proposed measure is the +establishment of one uniform circulation, of equal value throughout +the country, upon the foundation of national credit combined with +private capital." He suggested that "these associations be entirely +voluntary. Any persons desirous of employing real capital in +sufficient amounts, can, if the plan be adopted, unite together +under proper articles, and having contributed the requisite capital +can invest such part of it, not less than a fixed minimum, in United- +States bonds, and having deposited these bonds with the proper +officer of the United States can receive United-States notes in +such denominations as may be desired, and employ them as money in +discounts and exchanges." As a further inducement, the secretary +said "the stockholders of any existing banks can in like manner +organize under the Act, and transfer, by such degrees as may be +found convenient, the capital of the old to the use of the new +associations. The notes thus put into circulation will be payable +until resumption in United-States notes, and after resumption in +specie, by the association which issues them, on demand, and if +not so paid will be redeemable at the Treasury of the United States +from the proceeds of the bonds pledged in security." The secretary +thought it would be "difficult to conceive of a note circulation +which will combine higher local and general credit than this. +After a few years no other circulation would be used, nor could +the issues of the national circulation be easily increased beyond +the legitimate demands of business. Every dollar of circulation +would represent real capital actually invested in national stocks, +and the total amount issued could at all times be easily and quickly +ascertained from the books of the Treasury." + + SENATE DISCUSSES THE BANKING SYSTEM. + +The bill to carry out these suggestions was introduced in the Senate +on the 26th of January, 1863, by Mr. Sherman, and was reported from +the Finance Committee on the 2d of February. On the 9th the Senate +took it up for consideration. Mr. Sherman advocated the proposed +system in an elaborate argument on several distinct grounds: "The +banks would furnish a market for United-States bonds; they would +absorb the circulation of the State banks gradually and without +harsh measures; they would create a community of interest between +the stockholders of the banks, the people, and the government, +where now there existed a great contrariety of opinion and a great +diversity of interests; adequate safeguards would be established +against counterfeiting; the currency proposed would be uniform and +would take the place of the notes of sixteen hundred banks, differing +in style, and so easily imitated and altered that while notes of +one-sixth of the existing banks had been counterfeited, 1,861 kinds +of imitations were afloat, and 3,039 alterations, in addition to +1,685 spurious notes, in which hardly any care had been taken to +show any resemblance to the genuine." The national banks would be +depositories of public moneys and their notes would be receivable +for taxes. He concluded by declaring that "we cannot maintain our +nationality unless we establish a sound and stable financial system, +and as the basis of it we must have a uniform national currency." +Accordingly he deemed the passage of the pending bill "more important +than any other measure now pending either in Senate or House." + +--Mr. Henderson of Missouri sought to limit the system to banks +with a capital not less then $300,000, and thought "it would be +infinitely better that all the banks should be established in New +York, Philadelphia, Boston, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and such cities +as those." He said "they had had some experience in the West with +banking laws which permitted the organization of banks in out-of- +the-way places, obscure villages, and unknown cross-roads." + +--Mr. Powell of Kentucky, who was most persistent in his advocacy +of a currency based on gold and silver coin, moved to "strike from +the bill the words which prevented the acceptance of the National +bank notes for duties on imports." These duties were payable in +coin in order to secure gold with which to pay the interest on the +public debt. In supporting his amendment, Senator Powell said that +if the bill became a law the fact that they could not be received +for customs would tend to depreciate the notes, and he wanted the +credit of the paper money kept up if the country was to have no +other. His motion was defeated. + +--Mr. Ira Harris of New York secured the adoption of three sections, +to be added at the end of the bill, which would enable State banks +to accept its provisions and become National institutions more +readily and more easily. He said that he was not opposed to a fair +trial of the new system, but he doubted very much whether the banks +of New York could be induced to abandon their State charters. "The +banking system of New York was the best in the world. The banks +enjoyed privileges which they could not be induced to surrender +and the people would be reluctant to trust any others." + +--Mr. John Carlile of West Virginia voted against all amendment +because he wanted the bill to kill itself, which would happen if +it were not improved. He voted against Senator Henderson's amendment +to limit charters to banks with $300,000 capital. If the bill +passed as it came from the Finance Committee there "will be banks +established at every cross-road in the country. The State banks +will be destroyed, and widows and orphans whose all is invested in +the stock of these institutions will be impoverished." + +--Mr. Clark of New Hampshire thought the proposed system might be +improved by providing "that there shall be a visitation on the part +of the States." He thought it would give confidence to the banks +if the States "had the right to know how they stood." + +--Mr. Pomeroy of Kansas thought the right to organize with a capital +as low as $50,000 was a good provision and would "tend to popularize +and extend the National banks throughout the country." + + SENATE DISCUSSES THE BANKING SYSTEM. + +--Mr. Howard of Michigan opposed the bill because he thought its +effect would be to "wage a very unnecessary and dangerous war upon +the State institutions," and also because he deplored "the contest +which will probably arise out of it in our local politics." + +--Mr. Garrett Davis, avowing himself an advocate of the old United- +States Bank which President Jackson destroyed, was opposed to the +pending bill because "it does not provide for the convertibility +of its paper into coin." The "system is based on government bonds, +and they sold in New York yesterday at a discount of fifty-three +percent." + +--Mr. Chandler of Michigan corrected Mr. Davis. "Gold sold at +fifty-three per cent. premium, but that did not mean a discount of +fifty-three per cent. on the bonds." + +--Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts pertinently asked Mr. Davis "if the +credit of the government is not good enough, where is there left +in the country any thing good enough to bank on? If the government +goes down, there is not a considerable bank in America that does +not go down with it." + +--Mr. Doolittle of Wisconsin regarded it as "a necessity that the +government should take control of the paper currency of the country. +In some way we must restrain the issues of State banks. If we +permit these banks to flood the channels of circulation, we destroy +ourselves." + +--Mr. Collamer of Vermont denied the right to tax the State banks +out of existence, and to establish corporations in the State and +Territories. Independently of the power of visitation by those +States and Territories, he objected to making the government +responsible for the ultimate redemption of the bills by the securities +deposited. He inquired in what respect the promises of the National +banks would be better than the notes of the government, and why +should they be substituted for them? + +--Mr. Chandler of Michigan claimed that when the whole system was +in operation the government would borrow $300,000,000 at four per +cent. per annum, because, while the bonds deposited with the banks +would draw six per cent., the tax would bring back two per cent. +He did not know how far the bill would go, but "all that is in it +is good." + +The bill came to a vote in the Senate on the 12th of February, and +narrowly escaped defeat. The yeas were twenty-three, the nays +twenty-one. The senators from Oregon, Nesmith and Harding, were +the only Democrats who voted in the affirmative. Nine Republican +senators voted against it. + +The House of Representatives received the bill on the 19th. Mr. +Spaulding of New York advocated it very earnestly. He stated that +its principle was based on the free banking law of New York, which +had been in successful operation since 1838. He dwelt upon the +national character of the proposed notes, on their use in payment +of taxes, and on the advantage to accrue from the exemption of the +banking associations from State and United-States taxation. + +--Mr. Fenton of New York expressed the belief that the measure +would aid in extricating the government from the financial difficulties +in which it was involved, and pronounced it "one of the most potent +means by which the representatives could strengthen the government +and the people in the struggle to put down the enemies of the +country, and give hope and courage to the hearts of those brave +men who have gone forth to battle." Considerable opposition was +offered, chiefly on details and by amendments. But the House +sustained the measure as it came from the Senate, and passed it on +the 20th of February, by the close vote of 78 to 64, on the call +of the ayes and noes. It was approved by the President on the 25th. + +The Currency Bureau of the Treasury Department provided for in the +National Banking Act was organized by the appointment of Hugh +McCulloch, who was then at the head of one of the largest State +banking institutions in Indiana. He was recognized as possessing +executive capacity and large experience in financial affairs. He +had originally been opposed, as were many others interested in +State banks, to the National Banking Act, but, as he says, the more +he examined "the system" the more it "grew into favor with him day +by day." This appears to have been the result with all who gave +the question a fair and candid consideration, even when biased by +personal interests or political prejudice. The law was defective +in many particulars and some of its provisions made it difficult +for existing State banks to accept charters under it. The first +annual report of the comptroller of the currency shows that by Nov. +28, 1863, 134 banks had been organized under the Act. Fourteen of +these were in the New-England States, sixteen in New York, twenty +in Pennsylvania, twenty in Indiana, thirty-eight in Ohio; New +Jersey, the District of Columbia, and Kentucky each had one; Illinois +seven, Iowa six, Michigan and Wisconsin four each, and Missouri +two. Their total capital was $7,184,715. The bonds deposited with +the Treasurer of the United States were $3,925,275, their deposits +$7,467,059, and their loans and discounts $5,413,963. + + THE AMENDED BANK BILL OF 1864. + +In his report Mr. McCulloch pointed out defects of the law which +had become apparent by the test of experience, and made many +suggestions for its improvement. The whole subject was taken into +consideration by the Ways and Means Committee of the House at the +first session of the Thirty-eighth Congress. An amended bill, +which repealed the Act of February 25, 1863, and supplied its place, +was reported from the committee March 14, 1864. It was carefully +considered in the committee of the whole, section by section, and +against the protest of its advocates an amendment was ingrafted +upon it giving to the States the right to impose taxes on the bank +shares for State and municipal purposes to the same degree that +taxes were imposed upon the property of other moneyed corporations. +This bill was reported to the House from the committee of the whole +on the 16th of April, when Mr. Stevens moved a substitute in which +the tax amendment was left out. The substitute was defeated, and +thereupon the immediate friends of the bill united with the opposition +and laid the whole subject on the table. Mr. Stevens was totally +opposed to the exercise of any power whatever by the States over +banks established by National authority. + +In the height of the war excitement, when men's minds were inflamed +by a just resentment toward the Southern theory of States' rights, +there was a tendency to go to extremes in the other direction. +Some of the Republican leaders, notably Mr. Stevens, were very +radical in their views in this respect, and would scarcely have +hesitated at the abolition of all the checks upon Federal power +which the Constitution wisely gives to the States. But apart from +considerations of this character it was believed by many of the +friends of the national banking system that the imposition of State +taxes, in addition to those to be imposed by the General Government, +would defeat the object of the bill. Others in their anxiety to +strengthen the National Government were anxious to reserve to it +exclusively the largest possible scope of taxation. It soon became +apparent however that some concession must be made to those of both +political parties who believed that the States could not constitutionally +be deprived of the right to levy uniform taxes on property within +their jurisdiction. To meet the views of these gentlemen the Ways +and Means Committee reported a bill with a provision intended to +reconcile all differences of opinion. This gave to the State the +power to tax the capital stock, circulation, dividends, or business +of national banks at no higher rate than was imposed upon the same +amount of moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of +the State, provided no tax was imposed upon that part of the capital +invested in United-States bonds. This was adopted by a vote of 70 +to 60 on the 18th of April, 1864. + +The opposition to the bill in all other respects save this question +of taxation was confined mainly to the Democratic members of the +House. The measure was by this time regarded favorably by all +Republicans. It was considered to be a part of the Administration +policy, and one that would contribute largely to strengthen the +government in its struggle. Its success thus far had demonstrated +that under a perfected law it would soon become the general and +popular banking system of the country. It was daily growing in +favor with business men, and there was no longer doubt that a large +proportion of the surplus capital of the nation would be invested +in United-States bonds and in the stock of National banks. In the +debate in the House which was prolonged, two speeches of particular +interest were elicited. Mr. James Brooks of New York, as the leader +of the Democratic minority on the question, ably summarized the +objections of his party. He was a man of education and great +intelligence. He had traveled extensively and was a close observer. +He had been a writer for the metropolitan press for many years, +and was familiar with the political and financial history of the +country from an early period. He was an effective speaker. On +the occasion he was in large part supplied with facts by Mr. James +Gallatin, who as president of one of the principal banks of New- +York City had unsuccessfully attempted to dictate the financial +policy of the government in 1861. Mr. Gallatin had conceived an +intense hostility to Mr. Chase, and inspired Mr. Brooks to make in +the course of the debate on the bank bill some unfounded charges +against the Secretary. The speech of Mr. Brooks was a general +attack upon the financial policy of the administration directed +principally against the Legal-tender Act, and at the same time a +qualified defense of the State bank system. He asserted that the +government could have successfully carried on the war upon a specie +basis, but his authority for this claim was Mr. Gallatin. Mr. +Samuel Hooper at the close of the debate defended the financial +policy of the Administration and disposed of the argument of Mr. +Brooks. He asserted that Mr. Gallatin had induced the banks of +New-York City on December 30, 1861, to suspend specie payments, +and briefly related his presumptuous attempt to dictate to the +Secretary of the Treasury the financial policy of the Nation. He +declared that the issue of legal-tender notes was the only resource +left to the government, and "was wise as well as necessary." In +his review of the financial history of the country he dealt +unsparingly with the old State-bank system, and exposed in a masterly +manner its inherent defects even in those States where the greatest +care had been exercised by the Legislative power to hedge it about +with limitations. + + THE AMENDED BANK BILL OF 1864. + +In the Senate the debate on the House bill was chiefly confined to +amendments proposed by the Finance Committee. The provision +incorporated by the House in regard to taxation was amplified so +as to make it more specific and definite. Considerable opposition +was shown to this action, but Mr. Fessenden, chairman of Finance, +defended the recommendation of his committee and successfully +replied to the arguments against it. An efforts was made by Senators +Doolittle, Henderson, and Trumbull on the Republican side to prevent +the establishment of any more banks under this law than were in +existence in May, 1864, unless they redeemed their notes in coin. +The banks then organized, possessed an aggregate capital of about +$36,000,000, with bonds deposited to secure circulation to the +extent of a little more than $33,000,000. The argument was that +this addition to the legal-tender notes already in circulation +supplied an ample currency for the business of the country. The +issue of the whole $300,000,000 of National bank notes authorized +by the bill, these senators claimed, would be such an expansion of +the currency as would sink its value to almost nothing. They +proposed also to compel the State banks to retire their circulation, +but permitted them to organize on the specie basis as National +banks. Mr. John P. Hale of New Hampshire thought that "it would +be much simpler to incorporate in the bill a provision abolishing +all such instruments as had previously been known as State +constitutions." Senator Collamer proposed to require the banks to +retain in their vaults one-fourth of all the gold they received as +interest on their bonds deposited to secure circulation until the +resumption of specie payments. + +These amendments were voted down, and the bill finally passed the +Senate on the 10th of May by a vote of 30 to 9, ten senators being +absent or not voting. A conference committee of the two Houses +agreed upon the points of difference. The report was adopted and +the bill was approved by the President on the 3d of June, 1864. +By the end of November 584 National banks had been organized, with +an aggregate capital of $108,964,597.28, holding $81,961,450 of +the bonds of the United States to secure a circulation of $65,864,650. +These banks at once became agencies for the sale of the government's +securities, and their officers being usually the men of most +experience in financial affairs in their respective communities, +gave encouragement and confidence to their neighbors who had money +to invest. The sale of government bonds was in this way largely +increased. The National banks thus became at once an effective +aid to the government. By the close of the fiscal year 1864 +$367,602,529 of bonds were disposed of by the banks. During the +fiscal year 1865 bonds to the amount of $335,266,617 were sold over +their counters. On the 1st of October, 1865, there were in existence +1,513 National banks, with an aggregate capital of $395,729,597.83, +with $276,219,950 of bonds deposited with the Treasurer of the +United States to secure circulation. + +Experience has justified the authors and promoters of the national +banking system. Originally the circulation was limited to a total +volume of $300,000,000, apportioned, one-half according to +representative population, and the remainder by the Secretary of +the Treasury among associations with "due regard to the existing +banking capital, resources, and business of the respective States, +Districts, and Territories." Complaint arose that by such limitation +and apportionment injustice was done and monopolies created. After +the war this restriction was removed and banking under the national +system became entirely free. The advantages of uniform circulation +on a basis of undoubted strength and availability have won almost +universal favor among business men and prudent thinkers. The +restoration of the multiform State system, with notes of varying +value and banks of doubtful solvency, would receive no support +among the people. + +The National bank system with all its merits has not escaped serious +opposition. The Bank of the United States, as twice established, +incurred the hostility of the Democratic party,--their two greatest +leaders, Jefferson and Jackson, regarding the creation of such an +institution as not warranted by the Constitution. A persistent +attempt has been made by certain partisans to persuade the people +that the national banks of to-day are as objectionable as those +which encountered serious hostility at earlier periods in our +history. An examination into the constitution of the banks formerly +organized by direct authority of the General Government will show +how wide is the difference between them and the present system of +national banks. It will show that the feature of the earlier banks +which evoked such serious opposition and ultimately destroyed them +is not to be found in the present system and could not be incorporated +in it. It was from the first inapplicable and practically +impossible. + + THE BANK OF NORTH AMERICA. + +The most important financial institution established in the United +States before the adoption of the Constitution was the Bank of +North America, still doing business in Philadelphia, with unbroken +career through all the mutations of the eventful century which has +passed since it was called into existence. It had its origin in +1780, when certain patriotic citizens of Philadelphia resolved to +"open a security subscription of three hundred thousand pounds _in +real money_," the object being to procure supplies for the army, +"then on the point of mutiny for lack of the common necessaries of +life." The enterprising men who had the matter in hand addressed +themselves to the task of providing three million rations and three +hundred hogsheads of rum for the famished troops. The Continental +Congress recognized their patriotic conduct and pledged "the faith +of the government for the effectual reimbursement of the amount +advanced." It fell to Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finance +for the government, to organize the bank which owed its origin to +these circumstances. While engaged in this arduous task he received +two letters of advice from an anonymous source, ably written, and +displaying considerable knowledge of the science of banking, then +almost unknown in America. Indeed the methods of banking--it might +be proper to say its secrets--were jealously guarded by the +capitalists who monopolized it in the financial centres of Europe. +Mr. Morris was struck by the ability and originality of his unknown +correspondent, and was amazed to find that Alexander Hamilton, then +but twenty-three years of age, was the author of the letters. It +was the first exhibition of that mastery of finance which gave Mr. +Hamilton his enduring fame. + +When Mr. Hamilton assumed control of the Treasury Department under +the Presidency of Washington he found that the Bank of North America +had accepted a State charter from Pennsylvania and was not therefore +in a position to fulfil the functions of a National bank which he +desired to establish as an aid to the financial operations of the +government. After his funding of the Revolutionary debt he applied +to Congress for the charter of a National bank, with a capital of +$10,000,000, twenty-five per cent. of which must be paid in coin +and the remainder in the bonds of the United States. The government +was to own $2,000,000 of the stock of the bank and was obviously +to become its largest borrower. The measure encountered the +determined opposition of the Secretary of State, Jefferson, and +the Attorney-General, Edmund Randolph, and it finally became an +almost distinctly sectional issue--the Northern members of Congress +with few exceptions sustaining it; the Southern members under the +lead of Mr. Madison almost wholly opposing it. It became a law on +the 25th of February, 1791. + +When the charter of the bank--which was granted for twenty years-- +expired in 1811 the administration of Mr. Madison favored its +renewal. The eminent financier, Albert Gallatin, then Secretary +of the Treasury, informed Congress that the bank had been "wisely +and skillfully managed." The hostility to it originated in political +considerations. It was regarded as an aristocratic institution, +was violently opposed by the State banks which by this time had +become numerous, and notwithstanding the change of Mr. Madison in +its favor, the bill to re-charter was defeated. The contest however +was severe. In the House the opponents of the bill had but one +majority, and there being a tie in the Senate the re-charter was +defeated by the casting vote of George Clinton the Vice-President. +By this course Congress gave to the State banks a monopoly of the +circulating medium. The war of 1812 followed, and in the sweep of +its disastrous influence a large majority of these banks were +destroyed, their notes never redeemed, and great distress consequently +inflicted upon the people. + +It was this result which disposed Congress, as soon as the war was +over, to establish for the second time a Bank of the United States. +The charter was drawn by Alexander J. Dallas who had succeeded Mr. +Gallatin at the Treasury. In the main it followed the provisions +of the first bank, but owing to the growth of the country the +capital stock was enlarged to twenty-five millions, of which the +government subscribed for one-fifth, payable wholly in its own +bonds. Individual subscribers were required to pay one-fourth in +coin and three-fourths in government bonds. The charter was again +limited to twenty years. It was this bank which encountered the +bitter opposition of President Jackson, and which was seriously +injured by his order to the Secretary of the Treasury, Roger B. +Taney, in 1834, to withhold the deposit of government funds from +its vaults. The act of President Jackson is usually referred to +as "a removal of the deposits." This is incorrect. The government +deposits were not removed from the United-States Bank, except in +the ordinary course of business for the needs of the Treasury. +But the order of the President prevented further deposits of +government money being made, and thus destroyed one of the principal +resources upon which the bank had been organized. A short time +before the charter of the United-States Bank expired, a State +charter was obtained from the Legislature of Pennsylvania, under +which the bank continued business until 1841, when its affairs were +wound up with heavy loss to the stockholders. + + THE UNITED-STATES BANKS,--1791-1816. + +These brief outlines of the charters of the United-States banks of +1791 and 1816 show how entirely dissimilar they were in many +essentials from the system of national banks established under the +Acts of 1863 and 1864. In the first the government was a large +stockholder and the officers of the Treasury practically directed +all the operations and all the details of the bank. In the system +now prevailing the government cannot be a stockholder, and takes +no part in the management of banks except to see that the laws are +complied with and that the safeguards for the public are rigidly +maintained. An especially odious feature in the United-States Bank +was the favoritism shown in its loans, by which it constantly tended +to debauch the public service. Political friends of the institution +were too often accommodated on easy terms, and legitimate banking +was thus rendered impossible. No such abuse is practicable under +the present system. Indeed there is such an entire absence of it +that the opponents of the National banks have not even brought the +accusation. + +There was special care taken to place the Currency Bureau entirely +beyond partisan influence. The misfortunes which had come upon +the United-States Bank from its connection with party interests +were fully appreciated by the wise legislators who drafted the +National Bank Act. They determined to guard against the recurrence +of the calamities which destroyed the former system. The original +Act of 1863, organizing the National system, provided that the +Comptroller of the Currency should be appointed by the President +upon the nomination of the Secretary of the Treasury, and, unlike +any other Federal officer at that time, his term was fixed at five +years. This period of service was established in order that it +should not come to an end with the Presidential term. It was also +specifically provided, long in advance of the tenure-of-office Act, +that the President could not remove the Comptroller unless with +the advice and consent of the Senate. The Comptroller was thus +excepted by statute from that long list of officers who were for +many years subjected to change upon the incoming of each Administration. +From the organization of the National Banking system to this time +(1884) there have been four Comptrollers,--three of whom voluntarily +resigned. The present incumbent of the office, Mr. John Jay Knox, +has discharged his important duties with great satisfaction for +twelve years, and with his predecessors has conclusively established +in practice the non-partisan character which is indispensable to +the successful administration of the Bureau. + +The division and distribution of bank capital under the National +system do not merely carry its advantages to every community, but +they afford the most complete guaranty against every abuse which +may spring from a large aggregation of capital. The Bank of the +United States in 1816 had a capital of thirty-five millions of +dollars. If a similar institution were established to-day, bearing +a like proportion to the wealth of the country, it would require +a capital of at least six hundred millions of dollars--many fold +larger than the combined wealth of the Bank of England and the Bank +of France. It is hardly conceivable that such a power as this +could ever be intrusted to the management of a Secretary of the +Treasury or to a single board of directors, with the temptations +which would beset them. It is the contemplation of such an enormous +power placed in the hands of any body of men that gives a more +correct appreciation of the conduct and motives of General Jackson +in his determined contest with the United-States Bank. His instincts +were correct. He saw that such an institution increasing with the +growth of the country would surely lead to corruption, and by its +unlimited power would interfere with the independence of Congress +and with the just liberty of the people. + + MERITS OF NATIONAL BANK SYSTEM. + +The single feature of resemblance between the Bank of the United +States and the system of National banks is found in the fact that +Government bonds constitute the foundation of each. But the use +to which the bonds are devoted in the new system in entirely +different from that of the old. The United-States Bank retained +its bonds in its own vaults, liable to all the defalcation and +mismanagement which might affect the other assets. In the present +system the National Bank deposits its bonds with the Treasury +Department, where they are held as special security for the redemption +of the bills which the bank puts in circulation. The United-States +Bank circulated its bills according to its own discretion, and +there was no assurance to the holder against an over-issue and no +certainty of ultimate redemption. The National Bank can issue no +bills except those furnished by the Treasury Department in exchange +for the bonds deposited to secure prompt redemption. In the former +case there was no protection to the people who trusted the bank by +taking its bills. In the case of the National Bank, the government +holds the security in its own hands and protects the public from +the possibility of loss. + +The one defective element in the National bank system is that it +requires the permanence of National debt as the basis of its +existence. In a Republican government the people naturally oppose +a perpetual debt, and could with difficulty be persuaded to consent +to it for any incidental purpose however desirable. But so long +as a National debt exists no use has been found for it more conducive +to the general prosperity than making it the basis of a banking +system in which flexibility and safety are combined to a degree +never before enjoyed in this country and never excelled in any +other. In no other system of banking have the bills had such wide +circulation and such absolute credit. They are not limited to the +United States. They are current in almost every part of the American +continent, and are readily exchangeable for coin in all the marts +of Europe. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +Depression among the People in 1863.--Military Situation.--Hostility +to the Administration.--Determination to break it down.--Vallandigham's +Disloyal Speech.--Two Rebellions threatened.--General Burnside +takes Command of the Department of the Ohio.--Arrests Vallandigham. +--Tries him by Military Commission.--His Sentence commuted by Mr. +Lincoln.--Habeas Corpus refused.--Democratic Party protests.-- +Meeting in Albany.--Letter of Governor Seymour.--Ohio Democrats +send a Committee to Washington.--Mr. Lincoln's Replies to Albany +Meeting and to the Ohio Committee.--Effect of his Words upon the +Country.--Army of the Potomac.--General Hooker's Defeat at +Chancellorsville.--Gloom in the Country.--The President's Letters +to General Hooker.--General Meade succeeds Hooker in Command of +the Army.--Battle of Gettysburg.--Important Victory for the Union. +--Relief to the Country.--General Grant's Victory at Vicksburg.-- +Fourth of July.--Notable Coincidence.--State Elections favorable +to the Administration.--Meeting of Thirty-eighth Congress.--Schuyler +Colfax elected Speaker.--Prominent New Members in Each Branch.--E. +D. Morgan, Alexander Ramsey, John Conness, Reverdy Johnson, Thomas +A. Hendricks, Henry Winter Davis, Robert C. Schenck, James A. +Garfield, William B. Allison.--President's Message.--Thirteenth +Amendment to the Constitution.--First proposed by James M. Ashley. +--John B. Henderson proposes Amendment which passes the Senate.-- +Debate in Both Branches.--Aid to the Pacific Railroads.--Lieutenant- +General Grant. + +At no time during the war was the depression among the people of +the North so great as in the spring of 1863. When the Thirty- +seventh Congress came to its close on the 3d of March, partisan +feeling was so bitter that a contest of most dangerous character +was foreshadowed in the Loyal States. The anti-slavery policy of +the President was to be attacked as tending to a fatal division +among the people; the conduct of the war was to be arraigned as +impotent, and leading only to disaster. Circumstances favored an +assault upon the Administration. The project of freeing the slaves +had encountered many bitter prejudices among the masses in the +Loyal States, and reverses in the field had created a dread of +impending conscriptions which would send additional thousands to +be wasted in fruitless assaults upon impregnable fortifications. +General Hooker had succeeded to the command of the Army of the +Potomac, still sore under the cruel sacrifice of its brave men in +the previous December. General Grant was besieging Vicksburg, +which had been fortified with all the strength that military science +could impart, and was defended by a very strong force under the +command of J. C. Pemberton, a graduate of West Point, and a lieutenant- +general in the Confederate army. + + CRUSADE AGAINST THE PRESIDENT. + +The opponents of the Administration intended to press the attack, +to destroy the prestige of Mr. Lincoln, to bring hostilities in +the field to an end, to force a compromise which should give +humiliating guaranties for the protection of Slavery, to bring the +South back in triumph, and to re-instate the Democratic party in +the Presidential election of the ensuing year for a long and peaceful +rule over a Union in which radicalism had been stamped out and +Abolitionists placed under the ban. Such was the flattering prospect +which opened to the view of the party that had so determinedly +resisted and so completely defeated the Administration in the great +States of the Union the preceding year. The new crusade against +the President was begun by Mr. Vallandigham, who if not the ablest +was the frankest and boldest member of his party. He took the +stump soon after the adjournment of the Thirty-seventh Congress. +It was an unusual time of the year to begin a political contest; +but the ends sought were extraordinary, and the means adopted might +well be of the same character. On the first day of May Mr. +Vallandigham made a peculiarly offensive, mischievous, disloyal +speech at Mount Vernon, Ohio, which was published throughout the +State and widely copied elsewhere. It was perfectly apparent that +the bold agitator was to have many followers and imitators, and +that in the rapidly developing sentiment which he represented, the +Administration would have as bitter an enemy in the rear as it was +encountering at the front. The case was therefore critical. Mr. +Lincoln saw plainly that the Administration was not equal to the +task of subduing two rebellions. While confronting the power of +a solid South he must continue to wield the power of a solid North. + +After General Burnside had been relieved from the command of the +Army of the Potomac he was sent to command the Department of Ohio. +He established his headquarters at Cincinnati in April (1863). He +undoubtedly had confidential instructions in regard to the mode of +dealing with the rising tide of disloyalty which, beginning in +Ohio, was sweeping over the West. The Mount-Vernon speech of Mr. +Vallandigham would inevitably lead to similar demonstrations +elsewhere, and General Burnside determined to deal with its author. +On Monday evening the 4th of May he sent a detachment of soldiers +to Mr. Vallandigham's residence in Dayton, arrested him, carried +him to Cincinnati, and tried him by a military commission of which +a distinguished officer, General Robert B. Potter, was president. +Mr. Vallandigham resisted the whole proceeding as a violation of +his rights as a citizen of the United States, and entered a protest +declaring that he was arrested without due process of law and +without warrant from any judicial officer, that he was not in either +the land or naval forces of the United States nor in the militia +in actual service, and therefore was not triable by a court-martial +or military commission, but was subject only, by the express terms +of the Constitution, to be tried on an indictment or presentment +of a grand jury. Of the offense charged against him there was no +doubt, and scarcely a denial; and the commission, brushing aside +his pleas, convicted him, and sentenced him to be placed in close +confinement, during the continuance of the war, in some fortress +of the United States--the fortress to be designated by the commanding +officer of the department. General Burnside approved the proceeding, +and designated Fort Warren in the harbor of Boston as the place of +Mr. Vallandigham's detention. + + THE ARREST OF VALLANDIGHAM. + +The President, with that sagacity which was intuitive and unfailing +in all matters of moment, disapproved the sentence, and commuted +it to one sending Mr. Vallandigham beyond our military lines to +his friends of the Southern Confederacy. The estimable and venerable +Judge Leavett of the United-States District Court was applied to +for a writ of _habeas corpus_, but he refused to issue it. The +judge declared that the power of the President undoubtedly implies +the right to arrest persons who by their mischievous acts of +disloyalty impede or hinder the military operations of the government. +The Democratic party throughout the Union took up the case with +intemperate and ill-tempered zeal. Meetings were held in various +places to denounce it, and to demand the right of Vallandigham to +return from the rebel lines within which he had been sent. Governor +Seymour of New York in a public letter denounced the arrest as "an +act which had brought dishonor upon our country, and is full of +danger to our persons and our homes. If this proceeding is approved +by the government and sanctioned by the people it is not merely a +step towards revolution, it is revolution; it will not only lead +to military despotism, it establishes military despotism. In this +respect it must be accepted, or in this respect it must be rejected. +If it is upheld our liberties are overthrown." Waxing still bolder +Governor Seymour said "the people of this country now wait with +the deepest anxiety the decision of the Administration upon these +acts. Having given it a generous support in the conduct of the +war, we now pause to see what kind of government it is for which +we are asked to pour out our blood and our treasure. The action +of the Administration will determine, in the minds of more than +one-half of the people of the Loyal States, whether this war is +waged to put down rebellion in the South or to destroy free +institutions at the North." + +The evil effect upon the public opinion of the North of such language +from a man of Governor Seymour's high personal character and +commanding influence with his party can hardly be exaggerated. It +came at a time when the Administration was sorely pressed and when +it could not stand an exasperating division in the North. The +governor's letter was publicly read at a large meeting of the +Democratic party in Albany, presided over by Erastus Corning, and +called to consider the act of the Administration. A long series +of resolutions denouncing Vallandigham's arrest were adopted and +forwarded to the President. But Mr. Lincoln rose to the occasion +as if inspired, and his letter of June 12 to the Albany Committee +turned the popular tide powerfully in favor of the Administration. +One of the points presented made a deep impression upon the +understanding and profoundly stirred the hearts of the people. +"Mr. Vallandigham was not arrested," said the President, "because +he was damaging the political prospects of the Administration or +the personal interests of the commanding general, but because he +was damaging the army, upon the existence and vigor of which the +life of this Nation depends. . . . If Mr. Vallandigham was not +damaging the military power of the country, then his arrest was +made on mistake of facts, which I would be glad to correct on +reasonable, satisfactory evidence. I understand the meeting whose +resolutions I am considering, to be in favor of suppressing the +Rebellion by military force--by armies. Long experience has shown +that armies cannot be maintained unless desertion shall be punished +by the severe penalty of death. The case requires, and the law +and the Constitution sanction, this punishment. Must I shoot a +simple-minded soldier-boy who deserts, while I must not touch a +hair of the wily agitator who induces him to desert? This is none +the less injurious when effected by getting father or brother or +friend into a public meeting, and there working upon his feelings +until he is persuaded to write the soldier-boy that he is fighting +in a bad cause, for a wicked Administration of a contemptible +government, too weak to arrest and punish him if he shall desert. +I think that in such a case to silence the agitator and to save +the boy is not only constitutional, but is withal a great mercy." +No other man in our history has so fully possessed the power of +presenting an argument in concrete form, overthrowing all the logic +of assailants, and touching the chords of public feeling with a +tenderness which becomes an irresistible force. + +The Democrats of Ohio took up the arrest of Vallandigham with +especial earnestness, and were guilty of the unspeakable folly of +nominating him as their candidate for governor. They appointed an +imposing committee--one from each Congressional district of the +State--to communicate with the President in regard to the sentence +of banishment. They arrived in Washington about the last of June, +and addressed a long communication to Mr. Lincoln, demanding the +release and return of Mr. Vallandigham. They argued the case with +ability. No less than eleven of the committee were or had been +members of Congress, with George H. Pendleton at their head. Mr. +Lincoln's reply under date of June 29 to their communication was +as felicitous, as conclusive, as his reply to the Albany Committee. +He expressed his willingness in answer to their request, to release +Mr. Vallandigham without asking pledge, promise, or retraction from +him, and with only one simple condition. That condition was that +"the gentlemen of the committee themselves, representing as they +do the character and power of the Ohio Democracy, will subscribe +to three propositions: _First_, That there is now a rebellion in +the United States, the object and tendency of which are to destroy +the National Union, and that in your opinion an army and navy are +constitutional means for suppressing that rebellion. _Second_, +That no one of you will do any thing which in his own judgment will +tend to hinder the increase or favor the decrease or lessen the +efficiency of the army and navy while engaged in the effort to +suppress that rebellion. And _Third_, That each of you will in +his sphere do all he can to have the officers, soldiers, and seamen +of the army and navy, while engaged in the effort to suppress the +Rebellion, paid, fed, clad, and otherwise well provided for and +supported." + +Mr. Lincoln sent duplicates of these three conditions to the +committee, one of which was to be returned to him indorsed with +their names as evidence of their agreement thereto, the publication +of which indorsement should be of itself a revocation of the order +in relation to Mr. Vallandigham. If the Ohio gentlemen subscribed +to these conditions as essential and obligatory, they thereby +justified the arrest of Vallandigham for resisting each and every +one of them. If they would not subscribe to them they placed +themselves before the people of Ohio in an attitude of hostility +to the vigorous and successful conduct of the war, on which the +fate of the Union depended. The committee made a very lame rejoinder +to the President. He had in truth placed them in a dilemma, from +which they could not extricate themselves, and they naturally fell +under popular condemnation. Mr. Lincoln's hit had indeed been so +palpable that its victims were laughed at by the public, and their +party was foredoomed by their course to political annihilation in +the coming election. + + + THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE. + +While these interesting events were in progress the military exigency +was engaging the attention of the people with an interest almost +painfully intense. There was an urgent demand for an early movement +by the Army of the Potomac. Mr. Lincoln realized that prompt +success was imperatively required. The repetition of the disasters +of 1862 might fatally affect our financial credit, and end with +the humiliation of an intervention by European Powers. General +Hooker was impressed by Mr. Lincoln with the absolute necessity of +an early and energetic movement of the Army of the Potomac. On +the 2d and 3d of May he fought the battle of Chancellorsville. He +had as large a force as the Union army mustered on a single battle- +field during the war,--not less perhaps than one hundred and twenty +thousand men. He made a lamentable failure. Without bringing more +than one-third of his troops into action he allowed himself to be +driven across the Rappahannock by Lee, who, on the 7th of May, +issued a highly congratulatory and boastful order detailing his +victory. + +In the issuing of orders General Hooker was one day in advance of +Lee. He tendered to the soldiers his "congratulations on the +achievements of the past seven days," and assured them that "if +all has not been accomplished that was expected, the reasons are +well known to the army." He further declared that "in withdrawing +from the south bank of the Rappahannock before delivering a general +battle to our adversaries, the army has given renewed evidence of +its confidence in itself and its fidelity to the principles it +represents. Profoundly loyal and conscious of its strength," the +General continued, "the Army of the Potomac will give or decline +battle whenever its interest or its honor may demand." The General +thought "the events of the past week may swell with pride the heart +of every officer and soldier in the army. By your celerity and +secrecy of movement our advance was undisputed; and on our withdrawal, +not a rebel ventured to follow." The questionable character of +these compliments exposed General Hooker to ridicule, and increased +the public sense of his unfitness for high command, though he was +a gallant and brave soldier and admirably fitted for a division or +a corps. The Union loss was serious. The killed and wounded +exceeded eleven thousand. The year thus opened very inauspiciously. +The gloom of 1862 was not dispelled. The shadows had not lifted. +The weightiest anxiety oppressed both the government and the people. +The Confederacy had sustained a heavy loss in the death of Stonewall +Jackson. He had a genius for war, and in a purely military point +of view it would perhaps have been better for the Confederates to +lose the battle than to lose the most aggressive officer in their +Army. + +The spirit of the Confederates rose high. They believed they would +be able to hold the line of the Mississippi against the army of +Grant, and in the defeat and demoralization of the army of the +Potomac they saw their way clear to an invasion of Pennsylvania, +for which General Lee began his preparations with leisure and +completed them with thoroughness. After General Hooker's failure +at Chancellorsville, and his remarkable order which followed it, +he evidently lost the confidence of the President. Some of the +hasty notes and telegrams sent to General Hooker after his defeat +are in Mr. Lincoln's most characteristic vein. June 5 the President +wrote, "If you find Lee coming to the north of the Rappahannock, +I would by no means cross to the south of it. . . . In one word, +I would not take any risk of being entangled up on the _river like +an ox jumped half over a fence, liable to be torn by dogs, front +and rear, without a fair chance to gore one way or kick the other_." +Later, on June 10, the President wrote, "Lee's Army and not Richmond +is your true objective point. If he comes towards the upper Potomac, +follow on his flank on the inside track, shortening your lines +while he lengthens his. Fight him when opportunity offers. If he +stays where he is _fret him and fret him_."* Lee was, by the date +of this note, well on his way towards the North, and the military +situation grew every hour more critical. + + THE THREE DAYS' BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. + +The indispensable requisite to Union success was a commander for +the Army of the Potomac in whose competency the Administration, +the people, and most of all the soldiers would have confidence. +In the judgment of military men it was idle to intrust another +battle to the generalship of Hooker; and as the army moved across +Maryland to meet Lee on the soil of Pennsylvania, General Hooker +was relieved and the command of the army assigned to General George +G. Meade. This change of commanders was made by order of the +President on the 28th of June, only two days before the opening +engagement of the great battle of Gettysburg. By the middle of +June the advance guard of Lee's army had reached the upper Potomac, +and on its way had literally destroyed the division of the Union +army commanded by General Milroy and stationed at Winchester. The +agitation throughout the country was profound. On the 15th of June +as the magnitude of Lee's movement became more apparent, the +President issued a proclamation stating that "Maryland, West +Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio were threatened with invasion and +required an immediate addition to the military forces." He called +therefore for one hundred thousand militia from these four States +to serve for six months; ten thousand each from Maryland and West +Virginia, thirty thousand from Ohio, and fifty thousand from +Pennsylvania. All the surrounding States were aroused. Governor +Seymour sent fifteen thousand extra men from New York. Governor +Parker sent a valuable contingent from New Jersey. Western Maryland +was occupied at various points as early as the 20th of June, and +during the last week of that month rebel detachments were in the +southern counties of Pennsylvania committing depredations and +exacting tribute,--in York, Cumberland, Franklin, Fulton and Adams. + +The two armies finally converged at Gettysburg, and on the 1st, +2d, and 3d of July the battle was fought which in many of its +aspects was the most critical and important of the war. The +Confederates began with the self-assurance of victory; and with +victory they confidently counted upon the occupation of Philadelphia +by Lee's army, upon the surrender of Baltimore, upon the flight of +the President and his Cabinet from Washington. It was within the +extravagant and poetic dreams of the expectant conquerors to proclaim +the success of the Confederacy from the steps of Independence Hall, +and to make a treaty with the fugitive Government of the United +States for half the territory of the Republic. But it was not so +fated. The army under Meade proved unconquerable. In conflicts +on Virginia soil the army of Lee had been victorious. Its invasion +of the North the preceding year had been checked by McClellan before +it reached the border of the free States. It was now fighting on +ground where the spirit which had nerved it in Virginia was +transferred to the soldiers of the Union. With men of the North +the struggle was now for home first, for conquest afterwards, and +the tenacity and courage with which they held their ground for +those three bloody days attest the magnificent impulse which the +defense of the fireside imparts to the heart and to the arm of the +soldier. + +General Meade had not been widely known before the battle, but he +was at once elevated to the highest rank in the esteem and love of +the people. The tide of invasion had been rolled back after the +bloodiest and most stubbornly contested field of the war. The +numbers on each side differed but little from the numbers engaged +at Waterloo, and the tenacity with which the soldiers of the British +Isles stood that day against the hosts of Napoleon, was rivaled on +the field of Gettysburg by men of the same blood, fighting in the +ranks of both armies. + +The relief which the victory brought to the North is indescribable. +On the morning of the Fourth of July a brief Executive order was +telegraphed from the Executive mansion to all the free States, +announcing the triumph, for which "the President especially desires +that on this day, He whose will, not ours, should ever be done, be +everywhere remembered and reverenced with the profoundest gratitude." +By one of those coincidences that have more than once happened in +our history, the Fourth of July of this year was made especially +memorable. Rejoicings over the result at Gettysburg had scarcely +begun when word came from General Grant that the Confederate forces +at Vicksburg had surrendered, and that at ten o'clock of the Fourth, +the very hour when Mr. Lincoln issued the bulletin proclaiming the +victory of Gettysburg, General Pemberton's forces marched out and +stacked arms in front of their works, prisoners of war to General +Grant. The city of Vicksburg was immediately occupied by the Union +troops, the first division of which was commanded by General John +A. Logan. Jackson, the Capital of Mississippi, defended by General +Joseph E. Johnston, capitulated a few days later to General Sherman, +and the Confederate forces at Port Hudson surrendered to the army +of General Banks. This was the last obstruction to the navigation +of the Mississippi, and the great river flowed unvexed to the sea. + +The entire situation was changed by these important victories. +Heart and spirit were given to the people, hope grew into confidence, +the strength of the Government was vastly increased, the prestige +of the Administration was greatly heightened. Could the election +for the Thirty-eighth Congress have taken place in the autumn of +1863, and not in the autumn of 1862, instead of being a close +struggle it would have been an overwhelming triumph for the war +policy which had wrought out such splendid results. The popular +re-action was attested in every State where an election gave +opportunity. Governor Curtin was re-chosen by a large majority in +Pennsylvania over Judge George W. Woodward, who had pronounced a +judicial decision against the constitutionality of the proscription +law; the course of Governor Seymour was rebuked in New York by the +thirty thousand majority given to the Republican State ticket, +which was headed by the brilliant Chauncey M. Depew, then but twenty- +nine years of age; while in Ohio the Democratic party was overwhelmed +by an avalanche of popular indignation which responded to the +nomination of Vallandigham with a majority of a hundred and one +thousand for the Administration. + + + MEETING OF THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. + +The Thirty-eighth Congress met on the first Monday of December, +1863. The House was promptly organized by the election of Schuyler +Colfax to the Speakership. He received 101 votes; all other +candidates 81. Mr. Samuel S. Cox received 42 votes, the highest +given to any candidate of the opposition. The vote for Mr. Colfax +was the distinctive Republican strength in the House. On issues +directly relating to the war the Administration was stronger than +these figures indicate, being always able to command the support +of Mr. Stebbins, Mr. Odell, and Mr. Griswold of New York, and of +several members from the Border States. + +Schuyler Colfax was especially fitted for the duties of the Chair. +He had been a member of the House for eight years, having been +chosen directly after the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. He +came from good Revolutionary stock in New Jersey, but had been +reared in the West; had learned the trade of a printer, and had +edited a successful journal at South Bend. He was a paragon of +industry, with keen, quick, bright intellect. He mingled freely +and creditably in the debates. With a wisdom in which many able +members seem deficient, he had given studious attention to the +Rules of the House, and was master of their complexities. Kindly +and cordial by nature it was easy for him to cultivate the art of +popularity, which he did with tact and constancy. He came to the +Chair with absolute good will from both sides of the House, and as +a presiding officer proved himself able, prompt, fair-minded, and +just in all his rulings. + +The political re-action of 1862 had seriously affected the membership +of the House. Many of those most conspicuous and influential in +the preceding Congress had either been defeated or had prudently +declined a renomination. E. G. Spaulding, Charles B. Sedgwick, +Roscoe Conkling, and A. B. Olin did not return from New York; John +A. Bingham and Samuel Shellabarger were defeated in Ohio; Galusha +A. Grow was not re-elected in Pennsylvania, and lost in consequence +a second term as Speaker; Albert G. Porter and McKee Dunn gave way +to Democratic successors in Indiana. In the delegations of all +the large States radical changes were visible, and the narrow escape +of the Administration from total defeat in the preceding year was +demonstrated afresh by the roll-call of the House. + + MEMBERS OF THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. + +But the loss of prominent members was counterbalanced by the +character and ability of some of the new accessions. Henry Winter +Davis took his seat as representative from one of the districts of +the city of Baltimore. He had been originally elected to the House +as a member of the American party in 1854, and had been re-elected +in 1856 and 1858. He had not co-operated with the Republican party +before the war, and had supported Mr. Bell for the Presidency in +1860. He was always opposed to the Democratic party, and was under +all circumstances a devoted friend of the Union, an arch-enemy of +the Secessionists. Born a Southern man, he spoke for the South,-- +for its duty to the Federal Government, for its best and highest +destiny. To him before and above all other men is due the maintenance +of loyalty in Maryland. His course was censured by the Democratic +Legislature of his State in the winter preceding the Rebellion. +He replied through an address "to the voters of Maryland," which +for eloquence of expression, force, and conclusiveness of reasoning +is entitled to rank in the political classics of America as the +Address to the Electors of Bristol ranks in the political classics +of England. As a debater in the House Mr. Davis may well be cited +as an exemplar. He had no boastful reliance upon intuition or +inspiration or the spur of the moment, though no man excelled him +in extempore speech. He made elaborate preparation by the study +of all public questions, and spoke from a full mind with complete +command of premise and conclusion. In all that pertained to the +graces of oratory he was unrivaled. He died at forty-eight. Had +he been blessed with length of days, the friends who best knew his +ability and his ambition believed that he would have left the most +brilliant name in the Parliamentary annals of America. + +Robert C. Schenck was an invaluable addition to the House. He had +been serving in the field since the outbreak of the war, but had +been induced to contest the return of Vallandigham to Congress. +His canvass was so able and spirited that though in other parts of +the State the Democrats captured eight Republican districts, he +defeated Vallandigham in a Democratic district. Mr. Schenck had +originally entered Congress in 1843 at thirty-four years of age, +and after a distinguished service of eight years was sent by +President Fillmore as Minister-Plenipotentiary to Brazil. After +his return he had taken no part in political affairs until now. +His re-appearance in Congress was therefore significant. He was +at once placed at the head of the Committee on Military Affairs, +then of superlative importance, and subsequently was made chairman +of Ways and Means, succeeding Mr. Stevens in the undoubted leadership +of the House. He was admirably fitted for the arduous and difficult +duty. His perceptions were keen, his analysis was extraordinarily +rapid, his power of expression remarkable. On his feet, as the +phrase went, he had no equal in the House. In the five-minute +discussion in Committee of the Whole he was an intellectual marvel. +The compactness and clearness of his statement, the facts and +arguments which he could marshal in that brief time, were a constant +surprise and delight to his hearers. No man in Congress during +the present generation has rivaled his singular power in this +respect. He was able in every form of discussion, but his peculiar +gift was in leading and controlling the Committee of the Whole.** + + MEMBERS OF THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. + +Several new members entered the Thirty-eighth Congress who were +destined to long service and varying degrees of prominence. James +A. Garfield came from Ohio with a valuable reputation acquired in +the Legislature of his State and with a good military record, +established in the war and recognized by the conferment of a Major- +General's commission which he had won on the field. William B. +Allison, John A. Kasson and Hiram Price of Iowa, John A. J. Creswell +of Maryland, Glenni W. Scofield of Pennsylvania, all earned honorable +distinction in after years. George S. Boutwell entered from +Massachusetts at forty-five years of age. Twelve years before, as +a radical Democrat and Free-Soiler, he had been chosen governor of +his State. James G. Blaine entered from Maine at thirty-three +years of age. Among the new members on the Democratic side of the +House were Samuel J. Randall, with the reputation of conspicuous +service in the Pennsylvania Legislature, and William R. Morrison, +fresh from his duty in the field as colonel of an Illinois regiment, +and, though still young, old enough to have served with credit in +the Mexican war. Fernando Wood, who had been elected a member of +the House in 1840, and had served one term, now entered again. +Francis Kernan appeared in public life for the first time, having +defeated Roscoe Conkling in the Utica district. Charles A. Eldridge +of Wisconsin became one of the ablest parliamentarians of the House. + +In the Senate some important changes were made. Governor Morgan +entered from New York as the successor of Preston King; Governor +Sprague came from Rhode Island, and Governor Ramsey from Minnesota. +These elections were all made in direct recognition of the valuable +service which these Republican War-Governors had rendered the +country. John Conness, a follower of Douglas, who had done much +for the cause of the Union on the Pacific coast, now bore the +credentials of California. B. Gratz Brown came from Missouri as +pledge of the radical regeneration of that State. + +To the Democratic side of the chamber three able men were added. +Reverdy Johnson of Maryland succeeded to the seat made vacant the +preceding autumn by the death of James Alfred Pearce. Mr. Johnson +had long been eminent at the Bar of the Supreme Court. He was a +warm supporter of Mr. Clay, and was chosen to the Senate as a Whig +in 1845. He was attorney-general in the Cabinet of President +Taylor, and after the defeat of the Whigs in 1852 had co-operated +with the Democrats. He had stood firmly by the Union, and his re- +appearance in the Senate added largely to the ability and learning +of that body. Thomas A. Hendricks entered from Indiana as the +successor of Jesse D. Bright, who had been expelled upon a charge +of disloyalty. Mr. Hendricks had served in the House of Representatives +from 1851 to 1855. He was but thirty-one years of age when first +chosen and his record in the House had not prepared the public to +expect the strength and ability which he displayed as senator. He +was in the full maturity of his powers when he took his seat, and +he proved able, watchful, and acute in the discharge of his public +duties. He was always at his post, was well prepared on all +questions, debated with ability, and rapidly gained respect and +consideration in the Senate. Charles R. Buckalew of Pennsylvania +succeeded David Wilmot. Both he and Mr. Hendricks were fruits of +the violent re-action against the Administration the preceding +year. Mr. Buckalew came with high reputation, but did not gain so +prominent a position in the Senate as his friends had anticipated. +He did not seem ambitious, was not in firm health, and though his +ability was recognized, his service did not strengthen his party +either in the Senate or in his State. A Democrat from Pennsylvania +is somewhat out of harmony with the members of his party elsewhere, +on account of the advocacy of the Protective system to which he is +forced by the prevailing opinion among his constituents. + + THE MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +Congress assembled in December, 1863, in very different spirit from +that which prevailed either at the opening or at the adjournment +of the preceding session. The President in his annual message +recognized the great change for which "our renewed and profoundest +gratitude to God is due." Referring to the depressing period of +the year before, he said "The tone of public feeling at home and +abroad was not satisfactory. With other signs the popular elections +then just passed indicated uneasiness among ourselves, while amid +much that was cold and menacing, the kindest words coming from +Europe were uttered in accents of pity, that we were too blind to +surrender a hopeless cause. Our commerce was suffering greatly by +a few armed vessels built upon and furnished from foreign shores, +and we were threatened with such additions from the same quarter +as would sweep our trade from the sea and raise the blockade. We +had failed to elicit from European governments any thing hopeful +on this subject. . . . + +"We are now permitted to take another view. The rebel borders are +pressed still further back, and by the complete opening of the +Mississippi the country, dominated by the Rebellion, is divided +into distinct parts with no practical communication between them. +Tennessee and Arkansas have been substantially cleared of insurgent +control, and influential citizens in each,--owners of slaves and +advocates of slavery at the beginning of the Rebellion,--now declare +openly for emancipation in their respective States. Of those States +not included in the Emancipation Proclamation, Maryland and Missouri, +neither of which three years ago would tolerate any restraint upon +the extension of slavery into new territories, only now dispute as +to the best mode of removing it within their own limits." The +President dwelt with much satisfaction upon the good behavior of +the slave population. "Full one hundred thousand of them are now +in the United-States military service, about one-half of which +number actually bear arms in the ranks, thus giving a double +advantage,--of taking so much labor from the insurgents' cause, +and supplying the places which otherwise might be filled with so +many white men. So far as tested it is difficult to say that they +are not as good soldiers as any. No servile insurrection or tendency +to cruelty has marked the measures of emancipation and the arming +of the blacks. . . . Thus we have a new reckoning. The crisis +which threatened to divide the friends of the Union is past." + + +The Thirty-seventh Congress was distinguished for its effective +legislation on all subjects relating to the finances and to the +recruitment of a great army. It was reserved to the Thirty-eighth +Congress to take steps for the final abolition of slavery by the +submission to the States of a Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. +The course of events had prepared the public mind for the most +radical measures. In the short space of three years, by the +operation of war, under the dread of national destruction, a great +change had been wrought in the opinions of the people of the Loyal +States. When the war began not one-tenth of the citizens of those +States were in favor of immediate and unconditional emancipation. +It is very doubtful whether in September, 1862, the proclamation +of the President would have been sustained by the majority of the +Northern people. In every instance the measures of Congress were +in advance of public opinion, but not so far in advance as to invite +a calamity through re-action. The President was throughout more +conservative than Congress. He had surprised every one with the +Emancipation Proclamation, but he was so anxious for some arrangement +to be made for compensating the Border States for their loss of +slaves, that he did not at once recommend the utter destruction of +the institution by an amendment to the Fundamental Law of the +Republic. He left Congress to take the lead. + +Mr. James M. Ashley of Ohio is entitled to the credit of having +made the first proposition to Congress to amend the Constitution +so as to prohibit slavery throughout the United States. During +the entire contest Mr. Ashley devoted himself with unswerving +fidelity and untiring zeal to the accomplishment of this object. +He submitted his proposition on the fourteenth day of December. +Mr. Holman of Indiana objected to the second reading of the bill, +but the speaker overruled the objection and the bill was referred +to the Committee on the Judiciary. Mr. Wilson of Iowa, chairman +of the Judiciary Committee, and Mr. Arnold of Illinois subsequently +introduced joint resolutions proposing a like amendment to the +Constitution. Mr. Holman moved to lay the resolution of Mr. Arnold +on the table. The motion failed by a vote of 79 nays to 58 ayes. +The vote thus disclosed was so far from the two-thirds necessary +to carry the constitutional amendment as to be discouraging to the +supporters of the measure. + + AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION. + +On the thirteenth day of January, 1864, Mr. Henderson of Missouri +introduced in the Senate a joint resolution proposing a complete +abolition of slavery by an amendment to the Constitution, and on +the tenth day of February Mr. Trumbull, chairman of the Judiciary +Committee, reported the proposition to the Senate in these words: +"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as a punishment +for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall +exist in the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction." +Mr. Garrett Davis of Kentucky proposed to amend the resolution so +as to exclude the descendants of negroes on the maternal side from +all places of office and trust under the government of the United +States. Mr. Davis betrayed by this motion his apprehension that +freedom to the negro would be followed by the enjoyment of civil +rights and the exercise of political power. Mr. Davis proposed at +the same time to amend the Constitution so as to consolidate New +England into two States to be called East New England and West New +England, the evident attempt being to avenge the overthrow of the +slave system by the degradation of that section of the country in +which the anti-slavery sentiment had originated and received its +chief support. + +--It fell to Mr. Trumbull, as the senator who had reported the +resolution, to open the debate. He charged the war and all its +manifold horrors upon the system of slavery. He stated with +clearness the views of the opposition in regard to the legal effect +of the proclamation of emancipation, and with eloquent force of +logic he portrayed the necessity of universal freedom as the chief +means of ending not only the controversy on the battle-field, but +the controversy of opinion.--Mr. Willard Saulsbury of Delaware on +the 31st of March replied to Mr. Trumbull, and discussed the subject +of slavery historically, citing the authority of the old and the +new dispensations in its support.--Mr. Hendricks of Indiana objected +to a proposition to amend the Constitution while eleven States of +the Union were unable to take part in the proceedings. He wished +a constitution for Louisiana as well as for Indiana, for Florida +as well as for New Hampshire.--Mr. Clark of New Hampshire criticised +the Constitution, and traced the woes which the country was then +enduring to the recognition of slavery in that instrument. From +the twenty-eighth day of March until the eighth day of April, when +the final vote was taken, the attention of the Senate was given to +the debate, with only unimportant interruptions. Upon the passage +of the resolution, the yeas were 38, and the nays 6. The nays were +Messrs. Garrett Davis, Hendricks, McDougall, Powell, Riddle, and +Saulsbury. Upon the announcement of the vote, Mr. Saulsbury said, +"I bid farewell to all hope for the reconstruction of the American +Union." + +When the joint resolution, passed by the Senate, was read in the +House, Mr. Holman objected to the second reading, and on the +question, "Shall the joint resolution be rejected?" the yeas were +55 and the nays 76, an even more discouraging vote than the first. +With 55 members opposed to the amendment, it would require 110 to +carry it, or 34 more than the roll-call had disclosed. The debate +was opened by Mr. Morris of New York who treated the abolition of +slavery as a necessary preliminary to the reconstruction of the +Union. + +--Mr. Fernando Wood denounced the movement as "unjust in itself, +a breach of good faith utterly irreconcilable with expediency." + +--Mr. Ebon C. Ingersoll of Illinois made a strong and eloquent +appeal for the passage of the amendment and the liberation of the +slave. With the accomplishment of that grand end, said he, "our +voices will ascend to Heaven over a country re-united, over a people +disinthralled, and God will bless us." + +--Mr. Samuel J. Randall of Pennsylvania argued earnestly against +the amendment. He regarded it as the beginning of radical changes +in our Constitution, and the forerunner of usurpation. The policy +pursued was uniting the South and dividing the North. + +--Mr. Arnold of Illinois said, "in view of the long catalogue of +wrongs which it has inflicted upon the country, I demand to-day +the death of African slavery." + +--Mr. Mallory of Kentucky maintained that Mr. Lincoln had been +forced to issue the Proclamation of Emancipation by the governors +who met at Altoona. He was answered by Mr. Boutwell of Massachusetts, +who most effectively disproved the charge. + +--Mr. Pendleton of Ohio maintained that three-fourths of the States +possessed neither the power to establish nor to abolish slavery in +all the States. He contended that the power to amend did not carry +with it the power to revolutionize and subvert the form and spirit +of the government. + +The vote on the passage of the amendment was taken on the fifteenth +day of June. The yeas were 93, the nays were 65. The yeas were +27 short of the necessary two-thirds. Mr. Ashley of Ohio, who had +by common consent assumed parliamentary charge of the measure, +voted in the negative, and in the exercise of his right under the +rules, entered upon the journal a motion to reconsider the vote. +This ended the contest in the first session of the Thirty-eighth +Congress. Mr. Ashley gave notice that the question would go to +the country, and that upon the re-assembling of Congress in December +he should press the motion to reconsider, and he expected that the +amendment would be adopted. This result forced the question into +the Presidential canvass of 1864, and upon the decision of that +election depended the question of abolishing slavery. The issue +thus had the advantage of a direct submission to the votes of the +people before it should go to the State Legislatures for ultimate +decision. + + + PUBLIC AID TO THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. + +In the previous Congress an Act had been passed which was approved +by the President on the first day of July, 1862, to aid in the +construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri +River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the government the +use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes. The +company authorized to build it was to receive a grant of public +land amounting to five alternate sections per mile on each side of +the road. In addition to the lands the Government granted the +direct aid of $16,000 per mile in its own bonds, payable upon the +completion of each forty miles of the road. The bill was passed +by a vote which in the main but not absolutely was divided on the +line of party. The necessity of communication with our Pacific +possessions was so generally recognized that Congress was willing +to extend generous aid to any company which was ready to complete +the enterprise. The association of gentlemen who had organized +under the provisions of the Act, were unable, as they reported, to +construct the road upon the conditions prescribed and the aid +tendered. It was impossible to realize money from the lands under +the grant, as they were too remote for settlement, and $16,000 per +mile was declared insufficient to secure the means requisite for +the construction of the road across trackless plains, and through +rugged passes of the Rocky Mountains. + +The corporators had accordingly returned to Congress in 1864 for +further help, and such was the anxiety in the public mind to promote +the connection with the Pacific that enlarged and most generous +provision was made for the completion of the road. The land-grant +was doubled in amount; the Government for certain difficult portions +of the road allowed $32,000 per mile, and for certain mountainous +sections $48,000 per mile. The whole of this munificent grant was +then subordinated as a second mortgage upon the road and its +franchise, and the company was empowered to issue a first mortgage +for the same amount for each mile--for $16,000, $32,000 and $48,000, +according to the character of the country through which the road +was to pass. Mr. Washburne of Illinois and Mr. Holman of Indian +made an earnest fight against the provisions of the bill as needlessly +extravagant, and as especially censurable in time of war when our +resources were needed in the struggle for our national life. Mr. +Washburne had sustained the original bill granting the aid of lands +and of bonds. He alleged, and produced a tabular statement in +support of the assertion, that the Government was granting $95,000,000 +to the enterprise, besides half of the land in a strip twenty miles +wide from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. + + PUBLIC AID TO THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. + +So earnest however was the desire of the Government to secure the +construction of the road that the opponents of the bill were unable +to make any impression upon the House. On an amendment by Mr. +Holman declaring that "the roads constructed under the Act shall +be public highways and shall transport the property and the troops +of the United States, when transportation thereof shall be required, +free of toll or other charge," there could be secured but 39 votes +in the affirmative. On an amendment by Mr. Washburne to strike +out the section which subordinated the government mortgage to that +of the railroad company on the lands and the road, but 38 voted in +the affirmative and the bill passed without a call of the yeas and +nays. In the Senate there were only five votes against the bill. +Mr. Ten Eyck of New Jersey was the only Republican senator who +voted in the negative. Whatever may have subsequently occurred to +suggest that the grant was larger than was needed for the construction +of the highway to the Pacific, there can be no doubt that an +overwhelming sentiment, not only in Congress but among the people, +was in favor of the bountiful aid which was granted. The terrible +struggle to retain the Southern States in the Union had persuaded +the Administration and the Government that no pains should be spared +and no expenditure stinted to insure the connection which might +quicken the sympathy and more directly combine the interests of +the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States. A more +careful circumspection might perhaps have secured the same work +with less expenditure; but even with this munificent aid a full +year passed before construction began from the eastern end of the +road, and for a considerable period it was felt that the men who +embarked their money in the enterprise were taking a very hazardous +task on their hands. Many capitalists who afterwards indulged in +denunciations of Congress for the extravagance of the grants, were +urged at the time to take a share in the scheme, but declined +because of the great risk involved. + +Two organizations, composed of powerful men, were formed to prosecute +the work. The California Company, with Governor Leland Stanford +and the indomitable C. P. Huntington at the head, constructed the +thousand miles stretching from the Bay of San Francisco to Salt +Lake, and a company headed by Oakes Ames and Oliver Ames, two +Massachusetts men noted for strong business capacity, industry, +and integrity, constructed the thousand miles from the Missouri +River to the point of junction. In the history of great enterprises, +no parallel can be found to the ability and energy displayed in +the completion of this great work. With all the aids and adjuncts +of surrounding civilization, there had never been two thousand +miles of rail laid so rapidly as this was across trackless plains, +over five rugged ranges of mountains, through a country without +inhabitants, or inhabited only by wild Indians who offered obstruction +and not help. + + +On the first day of the session, December 7, 1863, Mr. Elihu B. +Washburne of Illinois introduced a bill to empower the President +to appoint a Lieutenant-General for all our forces. It was avowedly +intended for General Grant who had already been appointed a Major- +General in the Regular Army. Some opposition was shown to the +measure, when it was formally reported from the Military Committee +by Mr. Farnsworth of Illinois who ably supported it. Mr. Thaddeus +Stevens indicated his intention to oppose it and was followed by +Mr. Garfield who thought the action premature. Mr. Schenck also +intimated that it might be difficult at that moment to say who +would in the end command precedence among our generals. Eighteen +months before, McClellan would have been chosen; after Gettysburg +Meade would have been selected; at one time in the midst of his +successes in the South-West Rosecrans might have been appointed. +As a matter of course Grant would now be selected. Mr. Schenck +however announced his intention to support the measure. + +Mr. Washburne closed the debate with an impressive plea for the +bill. He avowed that it meant General Grant who had been "successful +in every fight from Belmont to Lookout Mountain. The people of +this country want a fighting general to lead their armies, and +General Grant is the man upon whom we must depend to fight out this +rebellion in the end." Mr. Washburne gave a unique description of +General Grant in the critical campaign below Vicksburg: "General +Grant did not take with him the trappings and paraphernalia so +common to many military men. As all depended on celerity of movement +it was important to be encumbered with as little baggage as possible. +General Grant took with him neither a horse nor an orderly nor a +servant nor a camp-chest nor an overcoat nor a blanket nor even a +clean shirt. His entire baggage for six days--I was with him at +the time--was a tooth-brush. He fared like the commonest soldier +in his command, partaking of his rations and sleeping upon the +ground with no covering except the canopy of heaven." The speech +of Mr. Washburne was very earnest and very effective, and, the vote +coming at its conclusion, the House passed the bill by 96 yeas to +41 nays. It was not strictly a party vote. Randall of Pennsylvania, +Morrison of Illinois, Eldridge of Wisconsin, Voorhees of Indiana +and several other Democratic partisans supported the measure, while +Thaddeus Stevens, Winter Davis, Garfield, Broomall of Pennsylvania +and others among the Republicans opposed it. + +The bill was desired by the President who approved it on the 29th +of February, 1864, and immediately nominated Ulysses S. Grant to +be Lieutenant-General. Mr. Lincoln saw the obvious advantage of +placing a man of General Grant's ability in command of all the +armies. The General was ordered to Washington at once, and arrived +at the capital on the eighth day of March. Mr. Lincoln had never +before seen him, though both were citizens of Illinois and General +Grant had been distinguished in the field for more than two years. +A new era opened in our military operations and abundant vigor was +anticipated and realized. General Sherman was left in command of +the great army in the West. He had up to this time been serving +with General Grant but was now to assume command of an enormous +force and to engage in one of the most arduous, heroic, and successful +campaigns in the military history of the country. The march from +Vicksburg to Chattanooga, thence to Atlanta, to Savannah, and +Northward to the Potomac, is one of the longest ever made by an +army. From Vicksburg to Chattanooga the army was under command of +General Grant, but the entire march of the same body of troops must +have exceeded two thousand miles through the very heart of the +insurrectionary country. But the great operations of both Grant +and Sherman were incomplete when Congress adjourned on the Fourth +of July. Its members returned home to engage in a canvass of +extraordinary interest and critical importance. + + + CHARACTER OF GENERAL SHERMAN. + +The character and ability of General Sherman were not fully +appreciated until the second year of the war. He had not aimed to +startle the country at the outset of his military career with any +of the brilliant performances attempted by many officers who were +heard of for a day and never afterwards. With the true instinct +and discipline of a soldier, he faithfully and skillfully did the +work assigned to him, and he gained steadily, rapidly, and enduringly +on the confidence and admiration of the people. He shared in the +successful campaigns of General Grant in the South-West, and earned +his way to the great command with which he was now intrusted,--a +command which in one sense involved the prompt success of all the +military operations of the Government. Disaster for his army did +not of course mean the triumph of the Rebellion, but it meant fresh +levies of troops, the prolongation of the struggle, and a serious +increase to the heavy task that General Grant had assumed in +Virginia. + +General Sherman was a graduate of West Point, and while still a +young man had served with marked credit for some twelve years in +the army. But he had more than a military education. Through a +checkered career in civil life, he had enlarged his knowledge of +the country, his acquaintance with men, his experience in affairs. +He had been a banker in California, a lawyer in Kansas, President +of a college in Louisiana, and, when the war began, he was about +to take charge of a railroad in Missouri. It would be difficult, +if not impossible to find a man who has so thorough, so minute a +knowledge of every State and Territory of the Union. He has made +a special study of the geography and products of the country. Some +one has said of him, that if we should suddenly lose all the maps +of the United States, we need not wait for fresh surveys to make +new ones, because General Sherman could reproduce a perfect map in +twenty-four hours. That this is a pardonable exaggeration would +be admitted by any one who had conversed with General Sherman in +regard to the topography and resources of the country from Maine +to Arizona. + +General Sherman's appearance is strongly indicative of his descent. +Born in the West, he is altogether of Puritan stock, his father +and mother having emigrated from Connecticut where his family +resided for nearly two centuries. All the characteristics of that +remarkable class of men re-appear in General Sherman. In grim, +determined visage, in commanding courage, in mental grasp, in +sternness of principle, he is an Ironside Officer of the Army of +Cromwell, modified by the impulsive mercurial temperament which +eight generations of American descent, with Western birth and +rearing, have impressed upon his character. + +[* The Italicized words were underscored in the original letters +of the President.] + +[** THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. +REPUBLICANS IN ROMAN; DEMOCRATS IN ITALIC. + +The Senate was composed of same members as in Thirty-seventh Congress +(given on pp. ----), with the following exceptions:-- +ILLINOIS.--_William A. Richardson_ succeeded O. H. Browning. +INDIANA.--_Thomas A. Hendricks_ succeeded _David Turpie_. +MAINE.--Nathan A. Farwell succeeded William Pitt Fessenden. +MARYLAND.--_Reverdy Johnson_ succeeded _James Alfred Pearce_. +MINNESOTA.--Alexander Ramsey succeeded _Henry M. Rice_. +MISSOURI.--B. Gratz Brown succeeded _Robert Wilson_. +NEW JERSEY.--_William Wright_ succeeded _James W. Wall_. +NEW YORK.--Edwin D. Morgan succeeded Preston King. +PENNSYLVANIA.--_Charles R. Buckalew_ succeeded David Wilmot. +RHODE ISLAND.--William Sprague succeeded Samuel G. Arnold. +»Waitman T. Willey and Peter G. Van Winkle were admitted as the + first senators from West Virginia. Lemuel J. Bowden took Mr. + Willey's place as senator from Virginia, and colleague of John + Carlile. The political power of West Virginia was thus actually + represented at one time by four senators. +»James W. Nye and William M. Stewart took their seats Feb. 1, 1865, + as senators from the new State of Nevada. +»Ten States were unrepresented. + +HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + +CALIFORNIA.--Cornelius Cole, William Higby, Thomas B. Shannon. +CONNECTICUT.--Augustus Brandegee, Henry C. Deming, _James E. + English_, John H. Hubbard. +DELAWARE.--Nathaniel B. Smithers. +ILLINOIS.--_James C. Allen; William J. Allen_; Isaac N. Arnold; + _John R. Eden_; John F. Farnsworth; _Charles M. Harris_; Ebon C. + Ingersoll, elected in place of Owen Lovejoy, deceased; _Anthony L. + Knapp_; Owen Lovejoy, died March 25, 1864; _William R. Morrison; + Jesse O. Norton; James C. Robinson; Lewis W. Ross; John T. Stuart_; + Elihu B. Washburne. +INDIANA.--Schuyler Colfax, _James A. Cravens_, Ebenezer Dumont, + _Joseph K. Edgerton, Henry W. Harrington, William S. Holman_, George + W. Julian, _John Law, James F. McDowell_, Godlove S. Orth, _Daniel + W. Voorhees_. +IOWA.--William B. Allison, Joseph B. Grinnell, Asahel W. Hubbard, + John A. Kasson, Hiram Price, James F. Wilson. +KANSAS.--A. Carter Wilder. +KENTUCKY.--Lucien Anderson, Brutus J. Clay, Henry Grider, Aaron + Harding, Robert Mallory, William H. Randall, Green Clay Smith, + _William H. Wadsworth_, George H. Yeaman. +MAINE.--James G. Blaine, Sidney Perham, Frederick A. Pike, John H. + Rice, _Lorenzo D. M. Sweat_. +MARYLAND.--John A. J. Creswell, Henry Winter Davis, _Benjamin G. + Harris_, Francis Thomas, Edwin H. Webster. +MASSACHUSETTS.--John R. Alley, Oakes Ames, John D. Baldwin, George + S. Boutwell, Henry L. Dawes, Thomas D. Eliot, Daniel W. Gooch, + Samuel Hooper, Alexander H. Rice, William B. Washburn. +MICHIGAN.--Augustus C. Baldwin, Fernando C. Beaman, John F. Driggs, + Fracis W. Kellogg, John W. Longyear, Charles Upson. +MINNESOTA.--Ignatius Donnelly, William Windom. +MISSOURI.--Francis P. Blair, Jr., seat successfully contested by + Samuel Knox; Henry T. Blow, Sempronius H. Boyd; _William A. Hall; + Austin A. King_; Samuel Knox, seated in place of Mr. Blair, June + 15, 1864; Benjamin Loan; Joseph W. McClurg; James S. Rollins, _John + G. Scott_. +NEVADA.--Henry G. Worthington, seated Dec. 21, 1864. +NEW HAMPSHIRE.--_Daniel Marcy_, James W. Patterson, Edward H. + Rollins. +NEW JERSEY.--_George Middleton, Nehemiah Perry, Andrew J. Rogers_, + John F. Starr, _William G. Steele_. +NEW YORK.--_James Brooks; John W. Chanler_; Ambrose W. Clark; + Freeman Clarke; Thomas T. Davis; Reuben E. Fenton, resigned Dec. + 10, 1864; Augustus Frank; _John Ganson_; John A. Griswold; _Anson + Herrick_; Giles W. Hotchkiss; Calvin T. Hulburd; _Martin Kalbfleisch_; + Orlando Kellogg; _Francis Kernan_; De Witt C. Littlejohn; James M. + Marvin; Samuel F. Miller; Daniel Morris; _Homer A. Nelson; Moses + F. Odell_; Theodore M. Pomeroy; _John V. L. Pruyn; William Radford; + Henry G. Stebbins_, resigned 1864; _John B. Steele; Dwight Townsend_, + elected in place of Mr. Stebbins; Robert B. Van Valkenburgh; _Elijah + Ward; Charles H. Winfield; Benjamin Wood; Fernando Wood_. +OHIO.--James M. Ashley, _George Bliss, Samuel S. Cox_, Ephraim B. + Eckley, _William E. Finck_, James A. Garfield, _Wells A. Hutchins, + William Johnson, Francis C. LeBlond, Alexander Long, John F. + McKinney, James R. Morris, Warren P. Noble, John O'Neill, George + H. Pendleton_, Robert C. Schenck, Rufus P. Spaulding, _Chilton A. + White, Joseph W. White_. +OREGON.--John R. McBride. +PENNSYLVANIA.--_Sydenham E. Ancona, Joseph Baily_, John M. Broomall, + _Alexander H. Coffroth, John L. Dawson, Charles Denison, James T. + Hale, Philip Johnson_, William D. Kelley, _Jesse Lazear, Archibald + McAllister, William H. Miller_, James K. Moorhead, Amos Myers, + Leonard Myers, Charles O'Neill, _Samuel J. Randall_, Glenni W. + Scofield, Thaddeus Stevens, _John D. Stiles, Myer Strouse_, M. + Russell Thayer, Henry W. Tracy, Thomas Williams. +RHODE ISLAND.--Nathan F. Dixon, Thomas A. Jenckes. +VERMONT.--Portus Baxter, Justin S. Morrill, Fred. E. Woodbridge. +WEST VIRGINIA.--Jacob B. Blair, William G. Brown, Killian V. Whaley. +WISCONSIN.--_James T. Brown_, Amasa Cobb, _Charles A. Eldridge_, + Walter D. McIndoe, Ithamar C. Sloan, _Ezra Wheeler_. + +TERRITORIAL DELEGATES. +ARIZONA.--Charles D. Poston. +COLORADO.--Hiram P. Bennett. +DAKOTA.--William Jayne, _John B. S. Todd_. +IDAHO.--William H. Wallace. +MONTANA.--_Samuel McLean_, seated June 6, 1865. +NEBRASKA.--Samuel G. Daily. +NEVADA.--Gordon N. Mott. +NEW MEXICO.--Francisco Perea. +UTAH.--John F. Kenney. +WASHINGTON.--_George E. Cole_.] + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Presidential Election of 1864.--Preliminary Movements.--General +Sentiment favors Mr. Lincoln.--Some Opposition to his Renomination. +--Secretary Chase a Candidate.--The "Pomeroy Circular."--Mr. Chase +withdraws.--Republican National Convention.--Baltimore, June 7.-- +Frémont and Cochrane nominated.--Speech of Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge. +--Mr. Lincoln renominated.--Candidates for Vice-President.--Andrew +Johnson of Tennessee nominated.--Democratic National Convention.-- +Chicago, August 29.--Military Situation discouraging.--Character +of the Convention.--Peace Party prevails.--Speeches of Belmont, +Bigler, Hunt, Long, Seymour.--Nomination of General McClellan for +President.--George H. Pendleton for Vice-President.--Platform.-- +Suits Vallandigham.--General McClellan accepts, but evades the +Platform.--General Frémont withdraws.--Success of the Union Army. +--Mr. Lincoln's Popularity.--General McClellan steadily loses +Ground.--Sheridan's Brilliant Victories.--General McClellan receives +the Votes of only Three States.--Governor Seymour defeated in New +York. + +The Presidential election of 1864 was approaching, with marked +political fluctuations and varying personal prospects. The tide +of public feeling ebbed or flowed with the disasters or the victories +of the war. The brilliant military triumphs of the summer of 1863 +had quelled political opposition, and brought overwhelming success +to the Republican party. This period of heroic achievement and +popular enthusiasm was followed in the winter of 1863-64 by a +dormant campaign, a constant waste, and an occasional reverse which +produced a corresponding measure of doubt and despondency. The +war had been prolonged beyond the expectation of the country; the +loss of blood and of treasure had been prodigious; the rebels still +flaunted their flag along the Tennessee and the Rappahannock; the +public debt was growing to enormous proportions; new levies of +troops were necessary; the end could not yet be seen; and all these +trials and sacrifices and uncertainties had their natural effect +upon the temper of the public and upon the fortunes of the war. + +The preliminary movements connected with the Presidential canvass +began in this period of doubt. The prevailing judgment of the +Union-Republican party, with full trust in the President's sagacity +and clear recognition of the injurious construction that would be +put upon a change, pointed unmistakably to the renomination of Mr. +Lincoln. But this predominant sentiment encountered some vigorous +opposition. A part of the hostility was due to a sincere though +mistaken impatience with Mr. Lincoln's slow and conservative methods, +and a part was due to political resentments and ambitions. The +more radical element of the party was not content with the President's +cautious and moderate policy, but insisted that he should proceed +to extreme measures or give way to some bolder leader who would +meet this demand. Other individuals had been aggrieved by personal +disappointments, and the spirit of faction could not be altogether +extinguished even amid the agonies of war. There were civil as +well as military offices to be filled, and the selection among +candidates put forward in various interests could not be made +without leaving a sense of discomfiture in many breasts. + +These various elements of discontent and opposition clustered about +Secretary Chase, and found in him their natural leader. He was +the head of the radical forces in the Cabinet, as Mr. Seward was +the exponent of the conservative policy. He had been one of the +earliest and most zealous chiefs of the Free-soil party, and ranked +among the brightest stars in that small galaxy of anti-slavery +senators who bore so memorable a part in the Congressional struggles +before the war. He was justly distinguished as a political leader +and an able and a versatile statesman. For the part he was now +desired and expected to play he had a decided inclination and not +a few advantages. Keenly ambitious, he was justified by his talents, +however mistaken his time and his methods, in aspiring to the +highest place. His sympathies were well understood. By his +unconcealed views and his direct expressions he had encouraged the +movement against Mr. Lincoln. A year in advance of the Presidential +election he had announced his conviction that no President should +be re-elected, and had added the opinion that a man of different +qualities from those of Mr. Lincoln would be needed for the next +four years. + + MR. CHASE A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE. + +Apart from the influence of his known attitude and of his recognized +leadership, the opponents of Mr. Lincoln were naturally attracted +to Mr. Chase by the fact that he was at the head of the department +which was most potential in the distribution of patronage. If the +purpose was not avowed, the inference was suggested that no man +could do more to help himself. There had been sharp contention +over the important Treasury offices in New York, in which Mr. Chase +appeared on the one side and the rival influences in the Administration +on the other, and this contest was interpreted as a part of the +political and Presidential struggle. Mr. Chase having consented +to the use of his name as a candidate, his friends began active +work on his behalf. Early in the winter of 1863-64 what was known +as the "Pomeroy circular" was sent out, ostensibly as a confidential +paper, but promptly finding its way into print. It derived its +name from the Kansas senator who was prominent in the advocacy of +Mr. Chase's nomination. The circular represented that Mr. Lincoln's +re-election was impossible; that his "manifest tendency toward +compromises and temporary expedients of policy" rendered it +undesirable; that Mr. Chase united more of the qualities needed in +a President for the next four years than were combined in any other +available candidate; and that steps should be taken at once to +effect a general organization to promote his nomination. + +But the effort met with small response. It aroused no popular +sympathy. Its chief effect indeed was to call forth the always +constant if sometimes latent attachment of the people to Mr. Lincoln, +and to develop an irresistible desire for his re-election. A few +days after the issue of the "Pomeroy circular" the Republican +members of the Ohio Legislature passed a resolution in favor of +Mr. Lincoln's renomination, and Mr. Chase availed himself of this +unmistakable action in his own State to withdraw his name as a +candidate. The signal failure of the movement however did not +entirely arrest the effort to prevent Mr. Lincoln's renomination. +Restless spirits still persisted in an opposition as destitute of +valid reason as it was abortive in result. With the view of promptly +settling the disturbing question of candidates and presenting an +undivided front to the common foe, the Republican National Convention +had been called to meet on the 7th of June. The selection of this +early date, though inspired by the most patriotic motives, was made +an additional pretext for factious warfare. An address was issued +inviting the "radical men of the nation" to meet at Cleveland on +the 31st of May, with the undisguised design of menacing and +constraining the Republican Convention. This call passionately +denounced Mr. Lincoln by implication as prostituting his position +to perpetuate his own power; it virulently assailed the Baltimore +Convention, though not yet held, as resting wholly on patronage; +it challenged the rightful title of that authoritative tribunal of +the party, and declared for the principle of one term. There had +been no election of delegates to this Cleveland assemblage, and it +possessed no representative character. It was simply a mass +convention, and numbered about a hundred and fifty persons claiming +to come from fifteen different States. + +The platform adopted by the Convention was brief, and in some +directions extreme. It demanded that the rebellion be suppressed +without compromise, and that the right of _habeas corpus_ and the +privilege of asylum be held inviolate; declared for the Monroe +doctrine and for constitutional amendments prohibiting the re- +establishment of Slavery and providing for the election of President +for one term only and by direct vote of the people; and finally +advocated the confiscation of the lands of rebels and their +distribution among the soldiers and actual settlers. General +Frémont was selected as the candidate for President, and General +John Cochrane of New York for Vice-President. General Frémont +hurried forward his letter of acceptance, which was dated only four +days after his nomination and three days before the Baltimore +Convention. It repudiated the proposed confiscation, but approved +the remainder of the platform. It was chiefly devoted to a vehement +attack upon Mr. Lincoln's Administration, which was charged with +incapacity and with infidelity to the principles it was pledged to +maintain. General Frémont further hinted that if the Baltimore +Convention would select some candidate other than Mr. Lincoln he +would retire from the contest, but plainly declared that if the +President were renominated there would be no alternative but to +organize every element of opposition against him. + +Three days before the Baltimore Convention, a mass meeting was held +in New York to give public voice to the gratitude of the country +to General Grant and his command, for their patriotic and successful +services. While this was the avowed object of the demonstration, +there was a suspicion that it had a political design and that its +real purpose was to present General Grant as a Presidential candidate. +If such were the intent, it was effectually frustrated both by the +emphatic refusal of General Grant to countenance the use of his +name, and by the admirable and impressive letter of Mr. Lincoln. +Paying a warm tribute to the heroic commander of the army, the +President said appealingly, "He and his brave soldiers are now in +the midst of their great trial, and I trust that at your meeting +you will so shape your good words that they may turn to men and +guns, moving to his and their support." This patriotic singleness +of thought for the country's safety defeated and scattered all more +political plans, and the hearts of the people turned more and more +to Mr. Lincoln. He had been steadily growing in the esteem of his +countrymen. The patience, wisdom, and fidelity with which he had +guided the government during its unprecedented trials and dangers +had won the profound respect and affection of the people. Besides +this deepening sentiment of personal devotion and confidence, there +was a wide conviction that, in his own expressive phrase, "it is +not wise to swap horses while crossing the stream." + + REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION. + +Under these circumstances the Union-Republican National Convention +met in Baltimore. The feeling with which it convened was one of +patriotic and exultant confidence. The doubts prevailing a few +months before had been dissipated. The accession of General Grant +to the command of all our armies, and the forward movement both in +the East and in the West, inspired faith in the speedy and complete +triumph of the Union cause. Many eminent men were included in the +roll of delegates to the Convention. Not less than five of the +leading War Governors were chosen to participate in its councils. +Vermont sent Solomon Foot who had stood faithful in the Senate +during the struggles before the war. Massachusetts had commissioned +her eloquent Governor John A. Andrew; the delegation from New York +embraced Henry J. Raymond; Daniel S. Dickinson, who was to be +prominently named for Vice-President; and Lyman Tremain who, like +Dickinson, was one of the able war Democrats that had joined the +Republican party. New Jersey and Ohio each sent two ex-governors +--Marcus L. Ward and William A. Newell from the former, and William +Dennison and David Tod from the latter. Simon Cameron, Thaddeus +Stevens, and Ex-Speaker Grow of Pennsylvania; Governor Blair and +Omer D. Conger of Michigan; Angus Cameron of Wisconsin and George +W. McCrary of Iowa were among the other delegates who have since +been identified with public affairs and have occupied positions of +responsibility. + +In calling the Convention to order Governor Morgan of New York made +a brief speech advocating a constitutional amendment abolishing +slavery. Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge of Kentucky was chosen temporary +chairman. The appearance on the platform of this venerable and +venerated divine was in itself an event of great interest. By +birth and association he was connected with the aristocratic class +which furnished the pillars of the Confederacy; he belonged to a +family conspicuously identified with the rebellion; yet among his +own order he was the strongest and sturdiest champion of the Union +cause south of the Ohio. His pointed eloquence was equaled by his +indomitable courage. The aggressive qualities of his staunch Scotch +ancestry shone in his own resolute and unyielding character, and +he was distinguished both in Church and in State as an able and +uncompromising controversialist. His years and his history inspired +a general feeling of reverence; and as he was conducted to the +chair of the Convention, his tall figure, strong face, and patriarchal +beard imparted to him something of personal majesty. His speech +well illustrated his rugged attributes of character. It was sharp, +sinewy, and defiant. At the beginning he hurled out the declaration +that "the nation shall not be destroyed;" and referring to the plea +which treated the Constitution as the sacred shield of the system +that was waging war on the Union and which insisted that it must +remain untouched, he proclaimed that "we shall change the Constitution +if it suits us to do so." He solemnly affirmed "that the only +enduring, the only imperishable cement of all free institutions +has been the blood of traitors." He alluded to the fact that he +had lived amid the surroundings of slavery, and had been among +those who sustained and upheld the system; but, recognizing that +it was this institution which had lifted the sword against the +Union, he aroused the enthusiasm of his vast audience by his +unhesitating declaration that we must "use all power to exterminate +and extinguish it." Next to the official platform itself, the +speech of Dr. Breckinridge was the most inspiring utterance of the +Convention. + +When the question of calling the roll of the Southern States and +of receiving their delegates was reached, Thaddeus Stevens objected +on the ground that such an act might be regarded as recognizing +the right of States in rebellion to participate in the Electoral +College. The Convention decided however to call the roll of all +the States, and to refer the question of admitting their delegates +to the Committee on Credentials. Ex-Governor Dennison of Ohio was +elected permanent president. Preston King of New York from the +Committee on Credentials reported in favor of admitting the Radical +Union delegation from Missouri, and excluding the Conservative +Union or Blair delegation. It was proposed to amend by admitting +both delegations to seats; but the recognition of the Radical Union +delegation was urged on the ground not only that they were regularly +elected, but that it was the duty of the Convention to strengthen +the advanced Union sentiment of the South, and that their admission +would be the practical adhesion of the national party to the broad +anti-slavery policy which was essential to the salvation of the +country. This view prevailed by a vote of 440 to 4. The admission +of the delegations from Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana was a +question of no less interest. It involved the effect of the +rebellion upon the relation of the rebelling States to the Union. +Could they have a voice in public affairs without specific measures +of restoration, or were the acts of secession a nullity without +influence upon their legal status? The committee reported in favor +of admitting the delegations from these States, without the right +to vote. The chairman, Mr. King, was the only member who dissented, +and he moved to amend by admitting them on the same footing as all +the other delegates. The question was first taken on Tennessee, +and the amendment was carried by a vote of 310 to 153--a decision +which had an important bearing on the subsequent nomination for +Vice-President. The delegates from Arkansas and Louisiana were +given the right to vote by 307 to 167. The Territories of Colorado, +Nebraska, and Nevada were soon to enter the Union as States, and +their delegates were allowed to vote. The remaining Territories +and the States of Virginia and Florida were admitted without the +right to vote. + + THE PLATFORM AND THE CANDIDATE. + +With the completion of the organization the Committee on Resolutions +made their report through Mr. Henry J. Raymond. The platform upon +which it had unanimously agreed was a trenchant and powerful +declaration of policy. Its tone was elevated, its expression was +direct and unequivocal. It pledged every effort to aid the Government +in quelling by force of arms the rebellion against its authority; +it approved "the determination of the government not to compromise +with rebels nor to offer them any terms of peace except such as +may be based upon an unconditional surrender of their hostility +and a return to their just allegiance to the Constitution and laws +of the United States;" and it called upon the government to prosecute +the war with the utmost possible vigor to the complete suppression +of the Rebellion. It resolved that "as slavery was the cause and +now constitutes the strength of this Rebellion, and as it must be +always and everywhere hostile to the principles of Republican +government, justice and the national safety demand its utter and +complete extirpation from the soil of the Republic;" and it declared +for "such an amendment to the Constitution as shall terminate and +forever prohibit the existence of slavery within the limits or +jurisdiction of the United States." The heroism of the soldiers +and sailors of the Republic was gratefully acknowledged. The +wisdom, patriotism, and fidelity of President Lincoln, and his +measures for the defense of the nation were approved. A general +expression that harmony should prevail in the national councils +was interpreted as contemplating a possible reconstruction of the +Cabinet. Declarations for the encouragement of foreign immigration +by a liberal policy, for the speedy construction of a Pacific +railroad, for the inviolability of the National faith, and for the +re-assertion of the Monroe doctrine, completed a platform which in +all its parts was pervaded by the most vigorous spirit. Its +commanding feature was its explicit demand for the abolition of +slavery. The President's Proclamation of Emancipation had been +issued more than a year before, but this was the first National +assemblage with power to make it the fixed policy of a party. The +Baltimore platform, which was adopted by acclamation, made this +the paramount issue, and from that hour Freedom and the Union were +inseparably associated. + +The nomination for President being in order, there was a strife +for the honor of naming Mr. Lincoln. General Simon Cameron offered +a resolution declaring Abraham Lincoln the choice of the Union +party for President, and Hannibal Hamlin its candidate for Vice- +President. To this proposition the immediate objection was made that +it might be open to the misconstruction of not permitting a free +vote, and that it complicated the selection for the first place +with a contest over the second. After some discussion General +Cameron withdrew his resolution, and on a general demand, in order +to remove all ground for the charge that the nomination was forced, +the roll of the Convention was called. Abraham Lincoln was named +by 497 delegates,--all of the Convention except the 22 from Missouri, +who under instructions voted for General Grant. Amid great enthusiasm +Mr. Lincoln's nomination was then declared to be unanimous. + + CANDIDATES FOR THE VICE-PRESIDENT. + +The Vice-Presidency had excited an animated contest. While many +felt that the old ticket should remain unbroken, and that Mr. Hamlin +should continue to be associated with Mr. Lincoln, there was a wide +sentiment in favor of recognizing the war Democrats, who had acted +with the Union party, by selecting one of their number for the +second place. Two prominent representatives of this class were +suggested,--Daniel S. Dickinson of New York and Andrew Johnson of +Tennessee. One was identified with the patriotic Democrats of the +North and the other with the sturdy and intrepid Unionists of the +South. Mr. Dickinson, by reason both of his earnest loyalty and +of his coming from the important State of New York, was regarded +in many quarters with special favor. The Massachusetts delegation +early declared their preference, and sent a message to the New-York +delegation announcing their purpose to vote for him if New York +would present him as a candidate. Had New York given him a united +support his nomination would not have been doubtful. But the very +reasons which commended him in other sections excited jealousy in +his own State, and prompted an opposition which led to his defeat. + +Mr. Dickinson's career had been long and honorable. He had been +chosen to the State Senate in 1837, and quickly attained a leading +place. After serving as lieutenant-governor, he was in 1844 +appointed United-States senator by Governor Bouck to fill a vacancy, +and was subsequently elected by the Legislature for a full term. +Appearing in the Senate at the important juncture when the annexation +of Texas and the Mexican war were agitating the country, he soon +took an active part in the discussions. He was particularly +distinguished for his aptness in repartee, and for his keen and +incisive humor. Politically he belonged to the conservative or +_Hunker_ wing of the Democracy. Entering the Senate just as Silas +Wright was leaving it to assume the Governor's chair, he joined +Secretary Marcy and the influences that moulded Polk's Administration, +against the able and powerful statesman who had so long held sway +over the Democratic party in New York. Mr. Dickinson's talent made +him the leader of the Hunkers, and in 1852 he was one of their +candidates for President. When the war came, he declared himself +unreservedly on the side of the Government, and rendered valuable +service to the Union party. He was especially effective on the +stump. His sharp wit, his rich fund of anecdotes, his sparkling +humor, his singular felicity and aptness of biblical illustration, +which had earned for him the popular name of "Scripture Dick," +served to give him wonderful command over an audience, and the +effect was heightened by his personal appearance, which his long, +flowing silvery locks made strikingly impressive. + +The suggestion of Mr. Dickinson's name for Vice-President was +cordially received by many delegates. But some of the controlling +influences among the New-York Republicans were not well disposed +towards the advancement of those who came from the Democratic ranks. +They feared, besides, that if the candidate from Vice-President +were taken from New York, it might prejudice her claims for the +Cabinet, and might endanger Mr. Seward's position as Secretary of +State. For these reasons their influence was thrown against Mr. +Dickinson's nomination. On a test-vote in the New-York delegation, +Dickinson received 28, Johnson 22, and Hamlin 6. This result was +fatal to Mr. Dickinson's chances, and brought Mr. Johnson prominently +forward. His record and character had much to attract the patriotic +respect of the country. The vigor and boldness with which, though +a Southern senator, he had denounced secession at the beginning of +the outbreak, had taken strong hold of the popular heart. The +firmness and unyielding loyalty he had displayed as Military Governor +of Tennessee greatly deepened the favorable impression. The +delegates from his own and other Southern States had been admitted +to the Convention as an evidence that the Republican party honored +the tried and faithful loyalists of the South, and many felt that +the nomination of Mr. Johnson would emphasize this sentiment, and +free the party from the imputation of sectional passion and purpose. +The ballot for Vice-President gave Johnson 200; Dickinson 113; +Hamlin 145; General B. F. Butler 26; General L. H. Rousseau 21; +with a few scattering votes. Before the final announcement, several +delegations changed to Johnson, until as declared the ballot stood, +Johnson 492; Dickinson 17; Hamlin 9. Mr. Johnson was then unanimously +nominated. The Convention had completed its work, and the results +were hailed with satisfaction throughout the country. + +The Republicans had been compelled in 1856 and 1860 to nominate +their candidates both for President and Vice-President from the +North. This was contrary to the patriotic traditions of the country +with which a single exception had in all parties divided the +candidates between the two great sections of the country. Strangely +enough both parties violated the practice in the exciting canvass +of 1828, when Jackson and Calhoun were the candidates of the +Democratic party and Adams and Rush were the candidates of the +National Republican party. The nomination now of Andrew Johnson +from the South tended, in the phrase of the day, to _nationalize_ +the Republican party, and this consideration gave it popularity +throughout the North. It was nevertheless felt by many of Mr. +Hamlin's friends to be an injustice to him. But it did him no +injury. He accepted the result in a cordial manner and worked +earnestly for the success of the nominees. The whole country saw +that the grounds upon which Mr. Hamlin was superseded were not in +derogation of the honorable record he had made in his long and +faithful public career. + + + DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, 1864. + +The Democratic National Convention was held nearly three months +after the Republican Convention had renominated Mr. Lincoln, and +only two months prior to the election. It had originally been +called to meet in Chicago on the 4th of July; but as the time +approached, the brighter military prospects and the rekindled +national hopes left a darker Democratic outlook, and the assembling +of the Convention had been delayed to the 29th of August. Several +reasons had combined to secure the selection of this unusually late +day. It gave longer opportunity to observe the course of the +military campaign, and to take advantage of any unfavorable +exigencies; it allowed more time to compose Democratic dissensions; +and it furnished more scope for the party, whose chances rested +solely upon the degree of popular discontent, to seize upon any +disturbed state of the public mind, and turn it to account. + +The delay of nearly two months had been accompanied by a marked +change in the situation. The advance of the Union cause which had +depressed Democratic expectations in the spring, had been succeeded +by inactivity and doubts which revived Democratic hopes in August. +The postponement which had been ordered that they might avail +themselves of any unfavorable course of affairs, thus deluded them +into a bold abandonment of all reserve. Changes in the military +situation were sometimes sudden and swift. Had the Convention been +postponed another week, its tone and action might have been +essentially different; for its tumultuous session had scarcely +closed before the clouds that hung over the country during the +summer were scattered, and our armies entered upon the most brilliant +movements and triumphs of the war--triumphs which did not cease +until the surrender at Appomattox. + +But the Convention assembled at a time of uncertainty if not of +gloom and depression. The issue of the great struggle was not yet +clear. General Grant, with his unquailing resolution "to fight it +out on this line," had cut his way through the Wilderness over the +bloody field of Spotsylvania, and against the deadly lines of Cold +Harbor. He had fastened his iron grip upon Petersburg, and there +the opposing armies were still halting in their trenches. In the +Shenandoah Valley, Early was defiant and aggressive. In the West, +the delay at Kennesaw, the fall of the heroic McPherson, and other +reverses had marked a campaign of slow advances. The assaults upon +Mr. Lincoln's Administration had been renewed with increased venom +and persistence. Mistaken and abortive peace negotiations with +pretended rebel commissioners at Niagara Falls had provoked much +criticism and given rise to unfounded charges. The loyal spirit +and purpose of the people were unshaken; but there was some degree +of popular impatience with the lack of progress, and it was the +expectation of the Democratic managers that the restive feeling +might be turned into the channel of opposition to the Administration. + +The Convention included among its delegates many of the most +distinguished leaders of the Democratic party. Massachusetts sent +Josiah G. Abbott and George Lunt. The credentials of Connecticut +were borne by the positive and aggressive William W. Eaton. Among +the representatives of New York were the accomplished Governor +Seymour; the acute Dean Richmond; Samuel J. Tilden, who had not +yet achieved his national distinction; Sanford E. Church, who +afterwards became chief judge of the Court of Appeals; and Ex- +Governor Washington Hunt, whose Silver-Gray conservatism had carried +him into the Democratic party. Ohio counted on the roll of her +delegates William Allen, who had been the contemporary of Webster +and Clay in the Senate; George H. Pendleton and Allen G. Thurman, +who were yet to take high rank in that body; and Clement L. +Vallandigham, just then more prominent with a doubtful celebrity +than any one of his abler colleagues. Pennsylvania contributed Ex- +Governor Bigler, and William A. Wallace already showing the political +talent which afterwards gave him a leading position. The Indiana +delegation was led by Joseph E. McDonald, and the Kentucky delegation +by Governor Powell, James Guthrie, and by Ex-Governor Wickliffe who +had been driven by Mr. Lincoln's anti-slavery policy into the ranks +of his most bitter opponents. In ability and leadership the +Convention fairly represented the great party whose principles and +policy it had met to declare. Besides the accredited delegates, +it brought together a large number of the active and ruling members +of the Democratic organization. The opposition to the war was +stronger in the West than in the East, and the presence of the +Convention in the heart of the region where disloyal societies were +rife, gathered about it a large and positive representation of the +Peace party, which manifested itself in public meetings and in +inflammatory utterances. + + DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, 1864. + +The representatives inside and outside of the Convention were united +in opposing the War and in demanding Peace. But there were different +shades of the Peace sentiment. One portion of the Convention, led +chiefly by the adroit New-York managers, arraigned the whole conduct +and policy of the Administration, and insisted upon a cessation of +hostilities, but at the same time modified the force and effect of +this attitude by urging the nomination of General McClellan for +President. They concurred in the demand for an armistice, but made +a reservation in favor of continuing the war in case the rebels +refused to accept it. Another portion sought to make the declaration +against the war so broad and emphatic that neither General McClellan +nor any man who had been identified with the struggle for the Union +could become the candidate. Both divisions agreed in denouncing +the war measures of the Administration, in resisting emancipation, +in calling for immediate cessation of military movements, and in +opposing the requirement of any conditions from the Southern States. +They differed only in the degree of their hostility to the war. +The faction peculiarly distinguished as the Peace party was led by +Mr. Vallandigham of Ohio, who was the central figure of the +Convention. He had been conspicuous in Congress as the most vehement +and violent opponent of every measure for the prosecution of the +war. Subsequent events had increased his notoriety, and given +explicit significance to his participation in the National Convention +of his party. + +The Convention, meeting in the same city where Abraham Lincoln had +first been nominated four years before, struck its keynote in +opposition to his Administration. Mr. August Belmont, Chairman of +the National Committee, opened the proceedings with a violent +speech. "Four years of misrule," he said, "by a sectional, fanatical, +and corrupt party have brought our country to the very verge of +ruin. . . . The past and present are sufficient warnings of the +disastrous consequences which would befall us if Mr. Lincoln's re- +election should be made possible by our want of patriotism and +unity." In still more explicit terms he went on to picture the +direful effects of that catastrophe. "The inevitable results of +such a calamity," he said, "must be the utter disintegration of +our whole political and social system amid bloodshed and anarchy, +with the great problems of liberal progress and self-government +jeopardized for generations to come." + +Ex-Governor Bigler of Pennsylvania was made temporary chairman, +and followed in a speech which expressed similar sentiments in more +discreet and temperate language than Mr. Belmont had used. He +contented himself with general utterances, and was not betrayed +into personal reflections or prophecies of ruin. The organization +was promptly completed, and the character of the platform was +foreshadowed when it was known that Mr. Vallandigham was a ruling +spirit in the Committee on Resolutions. It was a suggestive incident +that Ex-Governor Wickliffe of Kentucky presented letters from two +delegates chosen to represent that State, explaining their absence +by the fact that they were imprisoned by the Union Government, +without cause, as they alleged, but presumably for disloyal conduct. +Various individual propositions were then brought forward. The +temper and purpose of the Convention may be judged from the offer +of a resolution by so conservative and moderate a man as Ex-Governor +Hunt of New York, declaring in favor of an armistice and of a +convention of States "to review and amend the Constitution so as +to insure to each State the enjoyment of all its rights and the +constitutional control of its domestic concerns,"--meaning in +plainer words the perpetuation and protection of slavery. This +policy aimed to stop the Rebellion by conceding what the rebels +fought for. Then came a characteristic proposition from Alexander +Long of Ohio. Mr. Long was a member of Congress, and next to Mr. +Vallandigham had been most active in resisting war measures. For +a speech which was treasonable in tone he had been publicly censured +by the House. His proposition provided for the appointment of a +committee to proceed at once to Washington, and urge President +Lincoln to stop the draft until the people could decide the question +of peace or war. These various propositions, following the usual +course, were referred to the Committee on Resolutions. + + THE PEACE POLICY PROCLAIMED. + +Governor Horatio Seymour of New York was chosen president, and on +taking the chair made the most elaborate and important address of +the Convention. He was exceedingly popular with his party, and +was justly recognized as among the ablest defenders of its views. +By virtue both of his official position and of his personal strength +he was looked to more than any other leader for the exposition of +Democratic policy. Singularly prepossessing in manner, endowed +with a rare gift of polished and persuasive speech, he put in more +plausible form the extreme and virulent utterances of intemperate +partisans. He was skilled in dialectics, and his rhetorical +dexterity had more than once served him and his friends in good +stead. He was well-nigh the idol of his party, and no other man +could so effectively rally its strength or direct its policy. His +address as presiding officer was intended to be free from the +menacing tone which marked most of the speeches of the Convention, +but it veiled the same sentiment in more subtle and specious phrase. +He charged both the cause and the continuance of the war upon the +Republican party. "Four years ago," he said, "a convention met in +this city when our country was peaceful, prosperous, and united. +Its delegates did not mean to destroy our government, to overwhelm +us with debt, or to drench our land with blood; but they were +animated by intolerance and fanaticism, and blinded by an ignorance +of the spirit of our institutions, the character of our people, +and the condition of our land. They thought they might safely +indulge their passions, and they concluded to do so. Their passions +have wrought out their natural results." Governor Seymour had no +criticism for those who had drawn the sword against the government; +he did not impute to them any responsibility for the war; but he +charged the wrong upon those who were defending the Union. In +advocating an armistice which would involve a practical surrender +of the contest he said: "The Administration will not let the +shedding of blood cease, even for a little time, to see if Christian +charity or the wisdom of statesmanship may not work out a method +to save our country. Nay, more, they will not listen to a proposal +for peace which does not offer that which this government has no +right to ask." It was the abolition of slavery which "this government +has no right to ask." As he advanced towards his conclusion +Governor Seymour grew more pronounced and less discreet. "But as +for us," he said, "we are resolved that the party which has made +the history of our country since its advent to power seem like some +unnatural and terrible dream, shall be overthrown. We have forborne +much because those who are now charged with the conduct of public +affairs know but little about the principles of our government." +The entire speech was able, adroit, and mischievous. + +In the preparation of the platform the champions of the peace policy +had their own way. The friends of General McClellan were so +anxious to secure his nomination and to conciliate the opposition +that they studiously avoided provoking any conflict with the +predominant peace sentiment. The substance and vital spirit of +the platform were contained in the second resolution as follows: +"That this Convention does explicitly declare as the sense of the +American people, that after four years of failure to restore the +Union by the experiment of war, during which under the pretense of +a military necessity of a war power higher than the Constitution, +the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and +public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material +prosperity of the country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, +liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be +made for a cessation of hostilities with a view to an ultimate +convention of all the States, or other peaceable means, to the end +that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on +the basis of the Federal Union of the States." The few remaining +resolutions pledged fidelity to the Union, condemned the alleged +interference of the military authority with certain State elections, +denounced what were recited as arbitrary acts of Administrative +usurpation, reprobated "the shameful disregard of the Administration +of its duty in respect to our fellow-citizens who now are and long +have been prisoners of war," and declared the sympathy of the +Democratic party with the soldiers of the Republic. + +The extreme Peace party having carried the platform, the less +radical section of the Convention secured the candidate for President. +But General McClellan was not nominated without a vehement protest. +The presentation of his name was the signal for a stormy debate. +Mr. Harris of Maryland passionately declared that one man named as +a candidate "was a tyrant." "He it was," continued the speaker, +"who first initiated the policy by which our rights and liberties +were stricken down. That man is George B. McClellan. Maryland +which has suffered so much at the hands of that man will not submit +in silence to his nomination." This attack produced great confusion, +and to justify his course Mr. Harris read General McClellan's order +for the arrest of the Maryland Legislature. He proceeded, "All the +charges of usurpation and tyranny that can be brought against +Lincoln and Butler can be made and substantiated against McClellan. +He is the assassin of State rights, the usurper of liberty, and if +nominated will be beaten everywhere, as he was at Antietam." + +General Morgan of Ohio warmly defended McClellan. He declared that +there was a treasonable conspiracy in Maryland to pass an ordinance +of secession, and that McClellan had thwarted it. Mr. Long espoused +the other side. "You have arraigned Lincoln," he said, "as being +guilty of interfering with the freedom of speech, the freedom of +elections, and of arbitrary arrests, and yet you propose to nominate +a man who has gone even farther than Lincoln has gone in the +perpetration of similar tyrannical measures. McClellan is guilty +of the arrest of the Legislature of a sovereign State. He has +suspended the writ of _habeas corpus_, and helped to enforce the +odious Emancipation Proclamation of Lincoln, the wiling instrument +of a corrupt and tyrannical administration. He has aided while +possessing military power all its efforts to strip American freemen +of their liberties." + +The heated debate lasted till darkness forced an adjournment, and +on re-assembling in the morning a ballot was immediately taken. +General McClellan received 162 votes, and 64 votes were divided +among Horatio Seymour, Thomas H. Seymour of Connecticut and others; +but before the result was announced several changes were made, and +the vote as finally declared as 202˝ for McClellan and 23˝ for +Thomas H. Seymour. For Vice-President two ballots were taken. On +the first, James Guthrie of Kentucky had 65˝ votes; George H. +Pendleton of Ohio, 54˝; Governor Powell of Kentucky, 32˝; George +W. Cass of Pennsylvania, 26. Mr. Guthrie had been identified with +the war party; Mr. Pendleton as a member of Congress had opposed +the war and was the favorite of the Peace party; and on the second +ballot Mr. Guthrie's name was withdrawn and Mr. Pendleton unanimously +nominated. This act completed the work of the Convention. + + RE-ACTION AGAINST THE DEMOCRACY. + +The response of the country to the action of the Democratic +representatives was an immediate outburst of indignant rebuke. +There were thousands of patriotic Democrats who deeply resented +the hostility of the Convention to the loyal sentiment of the +people, and who felt that it was as fatal as it was offensive. +The general expression of condemnation, and the manifestations on +all sides foreshadowed the doom of the Chicago ticket. General +McClellan and his friends felt the necessity of doing something to +placate the aroused sentiment which they could not resist, and he +vainly sought to make his letter of acceptance neutralize the +baneful effect of the Democratic platform. + +In truth General McClellan practically disavowed the platform. He +ignored the demand for a cessation of hostilities and the declaration +that the war was a failure. "The re-establishment of the Union," +he said, "in all its integrity is and must continue to be the +indispensable condition in any settlement. So soon as it as clear, +or even probable, that our present adversaries are ready for peace +upon the basis of the Union, we should exhaust all the resources +of statesmanship practiced by civilized nations and taught by the +traditions of the American people, consistent with the honor and +interests of the country, to secure such peace, re-establish the +Union, and guarantee for the future the constitutional rights of +every State. The Union is the one condition of peace. We ask no +more." While thus proposing to "exhaust the resources of statesmanship" +to secure peace, he indicated that if such efforts were unavailing +the responsibility for consequences would fall upon those who +remained in arms against the Union. But the letter failed to attain +its object. Its dissent from the dangerous and obnoxious propositions +of the platform was too guarded and reserved to be satisfactory. +The people felt moreover that the deliberate declarations of the +Convention and not the individual expressions of the candidate +defined the policy of the party. + +One of the first results of the Democratic position was the withdrawal +of General Frémont from the canvass. As a loyal man he could not +fail to see that his position was entirely untenable. Either Mr. +Lincoln or General McClellan would be the next President and his +duty was made so plain that he could not hesitate. The argument +for Mr. Lincoln's re-election addressed itself with irresistible +force to the patriotic sentiment and sober judgment of the country. +Apart from every consideration growing out of the disloyal attitude +of the Democratic Convention, it was felt that the rejection of +Mr. Lincoln would be regarded by the rebels as the condemnation of +the war policy and would encourage them to renewed, prolonged, and +more desperate resistance. This conviction appealed to patriotic +men of all parties. Mere political feeling largely subsided, and +the people were actuated by a higher sense of public duty. Especially +was every effort made to remove all grounds of difference which +had divided members of the Union party. The Baltimore platform +indicated some dissatisfaction with the Cabinet, and, acting upon +this suggestion, the President requested and received the resignation +of Postmaster-General Blair. It is but just to Mr. Blair to say +that he gave to Mr. Lincoln his earnest and faithful support in +the election. + +From the hour of the Chicago Convention the whole course of events +steadily strengthened the canvass for Mr. Lincoln. The turn of +the political tide came with sudden and overpowering force. The +news of the capture of Fort Morgan burst upon the Democratic +Convention while it was declaring the war a failure, and the day +after its adjournment brought the still more inspiring intelligence +that Sherman had taken Atalanta. The swift successes of Farragut +in Mobile Bay, following the fall of the rebel stronghold in the +South, filled the country with joy. Within two days from the hour +when the Chicago delegates separated with the demand for a practical +surrender to the rebellion, President Lincoln was able to issue a +proclamation for thanksgiving in all the churches for the great +Union triumphs; and this was followed by national salutes from +every navy-yard and arsenal and from all military headquarters. +The political effect of the victories was instantaneous and +overwhelming. As Secretary Seward expressed it in a public speech, +"Sherman and Farragut have knocked the planks out of the Chicago +platform." + + GREAT VICTORY FOR MR. LINCOLN. + +The tide of victory swept on. While Grant was holding Lee as in +a vise at Petersburg, and Sherman was breaking the shell of the +Confederacy at Atlanta, Sheridan was dashing through the Shenandoah +Valley. Three striking victories crowned his bold and brilliant +progress. The battles of Winchester and Fisher's Hill came within +three weeks of Atlanta and within three days of each other. The +third exploit at Cedar Creek was still more dramatic and thrilling. +The succession of matchless triumphs was the theme of every journal +and every orator, and the North was aflame with the enthusiasm it +kindled. In the light of the answer flashed back from a score of +battle-fields, the Chicago declaration that the war was a failure +was not only seen to be unpatriotic and mischievous but was made +contemptible by universal ridicule and obloquy. + +The political effect of these victories was precisely what Mr. +Lincoln had foreseen and foretold. Speaking of the issue to a +friend, he said, "With reverses in the field the case is doubtful +at the polls. With victory in the field the election will take +care of itself." And so it was. Vermont and Maine in September, +Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana in October, registered in advance +the edict of the people in regard to the Presidency. The result +in November was an overwhelming triumph for Mr. Lincoln. Of the +twenty-two States participating in the election, General McClellan +received the electoral vote of but three. It is perhaps a still +stronger statement to say that of the eighteen free States he +received the vote of but one. New Jersey gave him her electors, +and Kentucky and Delaware, angered by the impending destruction of +Slavery, turned against the Administration and against the prosecution +of the war. Maryland had escaped from all influences connected +with Slavery by its abolition the preceding October, and now cast +her vote for Mr. Lincoln. Missouri and West Virginia, the only +other slave States loyal to the Union, stood firmly by the President. +Mr. Lincoln received two hundred and twelve electoral votes and +General McClellan received twenty-one. + +The chief interest of the whole country for the last month of the +campaign had centred in New York. As nearly as Mr. Lincoln was +willing to regard a political contest as personal to himself, he +had so regarded the contest between Mr. Seymour and Mr. Fenton. +Governor Seymour's speech in the Chicago Convention had been an +indictment of a most malignant type against the Administration. +The President felt that he was himself wholly wrong or Governor +Seymour was wholly wrong, and the people of New York were to decide +which. They rendered their verdict in the election of Reuben E. +Fenton to the Governorship by a majority of thousands over Mr. +Seymour. Without that result Mr. Lincoln's triumph would have been +incomplete. For its accomplishment great credit was awarded to +the Republican candidate for the admirable thoroughness of his +canvass and for the judicious direction of public thought to the +necessity of vindicating the President against the aspersions of +Mr. Seymour. The victory in the Nation was the most complete ever +achieved in an election that was seriously contested. + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +President's Message, December, 1864.--General Sherman's March.-- +Compensated Emancipation abandoned.--Thirteenth Amendment.--Earnestly +recommended by the President.--He appeals to the Democratic Members. +--Mr. Ashley's Energetic Work.--Democratic Opportunity.--Unwisely +neglected.--Mr. Pendleton's Argument.--Final Vote.--Amendment +adopted.--Cases arising under it.--Supreme Court.--Change of Judges +at Different Periods.--Peace Conference at Fortress Monroe.-- +Secretary Chase resigns.--Mr. Fessenden succeeds him.--Mr. Fessenden's +Report.--Surrender of Lee.--General Grant's Military Character.-- +Assassination of President Lincoln.--His Characteristics.--Cost of +the War.--Compared with Wars of Other Nations.--Our Navy.--Created +during the War.--Effective Blockade.--Its Effect upon the South.-- +Its Influence upon the Struggle.--Relative Numbers in Loyal and +Disloyal States.--Comparison of Union and Confederate Armies.-- +Confederate Army at the Close of the War.--Union Armies compared +with Armies of Foreign Countries.--Area of the War.--Its Effect +upon the Cost.--Character of Edwin M. Stanton. + +Sustained by so emphatic a vote of popular confidence, President +Lincoln greeted Congress on the first Monday of December, 1864, +with a hopeful and cheerful message. He reported that our armies, +holding all the lines and positions gained, "have steadily advanced, +thus liberating the regions left in the rear." The President +regarded "General Sherman's march of three hundred miles directly +through an insurgent country" as the "most remarkable feature in +the military operations of the year." It was in progress when the +President delivered his message, and "the result not yet being +known, conjecture in regard to it cannot be here indulged." The +President reported that the actual disbursements in money from the +Treasury for the past fiscal year were $865,234,087.86. + +Mr. Lincoln had finally abandoned the project of compensating the +Border States for their loss of property in slaves. The people of +those States had, through their representatives, blindly and +willfully rejected the offer when it was urged upon them by the +Administration, and had defeated the bill embodying the proposition +on the eve of its passage in the House when it had already passed +the Senate. The situation was now entirely changed. Maryland, +without waiting for National action and regardless of compensation, +had in the preceding October taken the matter under her own control +and deliberately abolished slavery. Mr. Lincoln now announced the +State as "secure to liberty and union for all the future. The +genius of rebellion will no longer claim Maryland. Like another +foul spirit being driven out, it may seek to tear her, but it will +woo her no more." There was no reason why the other Border States +should not follow her example--and there was the strongest argument +against compensating another State for doing what Maryland had done +of her own free will and from an instinct of patriotism, as the +one act which would conclusively separate her from all possibility +of sympathy with the rebellion. + +Freed thus from what he may have regarded as the obligations of +his Border-State policy and upheld by the great popular majority +which he had received in the election, the President warmly +recommended to Congress the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment +to the Constitution. He called attention to the fact that it had +already received the sanction of the Senate, but failed in the +House for lack of the requisite two-thirds vote. There was no +doubt that the large Republican majority, already elected to the +Thirty-ninth Congress, would adopt the Amendment, but such adoption +implied postponement for a whole year, with loss of the moral +influence which would be gained by prompter action. It implied +also that the Amendment would depend solely upon Republican votes, +and the President was especially anxious that it should receive +Democratic support. Still another reason wrought upon the President's +mind. He believed the rebellion to be near its end, and no man +could tell how soon a proposition might come for the surrender of +the Confederate Armies and the return of the Rebel States to their +National allegiance. If such a proposition should be made, Mr. +Lincoln knew that there would be a wild desire among the loyal +people to accept it, and that in the forgiving joy of re-union they +would not insist upon the conditions which he believed essential +to the future safety and strength of the National Government. +Slavery had been abolished in the District of Columbia by a law of +Congress, and in Maryland by her own action. It still existed in +the other Border States and in Tennessee, and its abolition in the +remaining States of the Confederacy depended upon the validity of +the President's Proclamation of Emancipation. + + THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT. + +Without discussing the validity of the Proclamation Mr. Lincoln +incidentally assumed it, with an emphatic assertion of his own +position, which came nearer the language of threat than his habitual +prudence and moderation had ever permitted him to indulge. "In +presenting the abandonment of armed resistance on the part of the +insurgents as the only indispensable condition to ending the war," +said the President, "I retract nothing heretofore said as to slavery. +. . . While I remain in my present position I shall not attempt to +retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation. Nor shall I return +to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that Proclamation +or by any of the Acts of Congress. _If the people should, by +whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to re-enslave +such persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to +perform it._." This was fair notice by Mr. Lincoln to all the +world that so long as he was President the absolute validity of +the Proclamation would be maintained at all hazards. + +This position enabled the President to plead effectively with +Congress for the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment and the +consequent avoidance of all possible conflicts between different +departments of the Government touching the legal character of the +Proclamation. Recognizing the fact that he was addressing the same +House of Representatives which had already rejected the anti-slavery +amendment, he made a special appeal, though without using partisan +names, to the Democratic members. "Without questioning the wisdom +or patriotism of those who stood in opposition," said the President, +"I venture to recommend the reconsideration and passage of the +measure at the present session. Of course the abstract question +is not changed, but an intervening election shows almost certainly +that the next Congress will pass the measure if this Congress does +not. Hence there is only a question of time as to when the proposed +amendment will go to the States for their action, and as it is to +go at all events, may we not agree that the sooner the better?" +He urged the argument still more closely upon the Democratic members. +"In a great national crisis like ours, unanimity of action among +those seeking a common end is very desirable, almost indispensable, +and yet no approach to such unanimity is attainable unless some +deference shall be paid to the will of the majority." Mr. Lincoln +found much encouragement in the fact that in the national election +"no candidate for any office whatever, high or low, ventured to +seek votes on the avowal that he was in favor of giving up the +Union. . . . In the distinct issue of Union or no Union the +politicians have shown their instinctive knowledge that there is +no diversity among the people." + +The proposed Constitutional amendment was brought before the House +on the 6th of January by Mr. Ashley of Ohio, upon whose motion to +reconsider the adverse vote of the preceding session, the question +continued to have a parliamentary status. He made a forcible speech +in support of the amendment, but the chief value of his work did +not consist in speaking, but in his watchful care of the measure, +in the quick and intuitive judgment with which he discerned every +man on the Democratic side of the House who felt anxious as to the +vote he should give on the momentous question, and in the pressure +which he brought to bear upon him from the best and most influential +of his constituents. The issue presented was one that might well +make thoughtful men pause and consider. The instant restoration +to four millions of human beings of the God-given right of freedom +so long denied them, depended upon the vote of the House of +Representatives. It addressed itself to the enlightened judgment +and to the Christian philanthropy of every member. Each one had +to decide for himself whether so far as lay in the power of his +own vote he would give liberty to the slave, or forge his fetters +anew. The constitutional duty of not interfering with slavery in +the States could not be pleaded at the bar of conscience for an +adverse vote. There was no doubt that under the terms of the +Constitution such interference was unwarranted. But this was a +question of changing the Constitution itself so as to confer upon +Congress the express power to enlarge the field of personal liberty +and make the Republic free indeed. It came therefore as an original +and a distinct question whether millions of people with their +descendants for all time should be doomed to slavery or gifted with +freedom. + +It was a singular opportunity for the Democratic party. Its members +had always professed to be endued with a broader spirit of liberty +than their opponents who under various organizations had confronted +them in the political contests of the preceding half-century. In +their evangelization of Liberty the Democrats had halted at the +color-line, but, as they alleged, only because the solemn obligations +of the Constitution forbade a step beyond. Here by the converging +exigencies of war it became of vast interest to the white race that +slavery should be smitten and destroyed. Its destruction was indeed +the deadliest blow that could be given to the Rebellion which was +threatening destruction to the Republic. It was not unfair to say, +as was said by many during the crisis, that it was brought to every +man's conscience to decide whether he would continue to imperil +the fate of the Union by refusing the enfranchise the slave. + + THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT. + +It fell to Mr. George H. Pendleton to play an important part in +this crisis. His leadership on the Democratic side of the House +had been confirmed by the popular voice of his party in the nomination +for the Vice-Presidency, and though he had been defeated in the +election he returned to the House with increased prestige among +his own political associates. The argument he had made the preceding +session was now repeated with earnest spirit and in plausible form. +He maintained that "three-fourths of the States do not possess the +constitutional power to pass this amendment." A colleague from +Ohio (Mr. S. S. Cox) had made a radical argument in the other +direction, asserting that "three-fourths of the States have the +right to amend the Constitution in every particular except the two +specified in the instrument; they have the right to do any thing, +even to erect a monarchy!" Without carrying the argument so far, +Mr. Cox might well have reminded his colleague that four years +before, in the winter of compromise preceding the war, the one +point sought to be gained by all who asked additional guaranties +for slavery was that the power to abolish the institution by +constitutional amendment should be taken from the States. It would +have been a precious consolation at the time to Mr. Pendleton's +Southern friends, to hear from him the argument that no such power +existed and that slavery was in no danger from its attempted +exercise. Such action by the Federal Government was the one thing +which the South had especially dreaded and which all the amendments +to the Constitution proposed by the Peace Congress of 1861 aimed +to prevent. Mr. Pendleton omitted his argument therefore at the +most pertinent time for its submission, but he made it now with +freshness and vigor and with evident effect upon his political +associates. + +Mr. Pendleton was very effectively answered by many members on the +Republican side of the House; by General Garfield elaborately, by +Mr. Boutwell briefly but most pointedly. The debate was prolonged +and able. At least one-third of the entire House took part in it. +The ground was somewhat beaten, but many of the arguments were of +permanent historic interest. Among the most valuable were the +speeches of Mr. Glenni W. Scofield of Pennsylvania, Mr. John A. +Kasson of Iowa, and Mr. James S. Rollins of Missouri. As the +representative of a slave-holding constituency the argument and +vote of Mr. Rollins were of special weight. The tone and temper +of the speeches exhibited assurance on one side and failing confidence +on the other. The moral pressure was steadily for the Amendment +and its strength grew rapidly both in Congress and the country. +It had been borne into the minds of the people that slavery had +produced the war, and it seemed a righteous retribution that slavery +should end with the war. It had drawn the sword; let it perish by +the sword. + +When the hour arrived for the final struggle, on Tuesday, January +31, 1865, the galleries of the House were filled in every part, +largely no doubt by friends of the measure. There were eight +absentees, without pairs. They were all Democrats. It may be +assumed that they assented to the amendment, but that they were +not prepared to give it positive support. This list comprised +Jesse Lazear of Pennsylvania, John F. McKinney and Francis C. Le +Blond of Ohio, Daniel W. Voorhees and James F. McDowell of Indiana, +George Middleton and A. J. Rogers of New Jersey, and Daniel Marcy +of New Hampshire. The members of the Democratic party who gave +their votes for the amendment, and thus secured its passage by the +Thirty-eighth Congress, were James E. English of Connecticut, Anson +Herrick, William Radford, Homer A. Nelson, John B. Steele and John +Ganson of New York, A. H. Coffroth and Archibald McAllister of +Pennsylvania, Wells A. Hutchins of Ohio, and Augustus C. Baldwin +of Michigan. Mr. Nelson had not voted at the first session, but +all the others are recorded against the proposition. With the aid +of these eleven, the vote was 119 yeas to 56 nays--more than the +constitutional two-thirds. When the announcement was made, the +Speaker became powerless to preserve order. The members upon the +Republican side sprang upon their seats cheering, shouting, and +waving hands, hats, and canes, while the spectators upon the floor +and in the galleries joined heartily in the demonstration. Upon +the restoration of order Mr. Ingersoll of Illinois rose and said, +"Mr. Speaker, in honor of this immortal and sublime event, I move +that this House do now adjourn." The Speaker declared the motion +carried, but Mr. Harris of Maryland demanded the ayes and noes, +and the House adjourned by a vote of 121 to 24. + +The great act of Liberation, so far as Congress could control it, +was complete. The amendment was at once submitted to the States, +and by official proclamation of December 18, 1865,--less than eleven +months after Congress had spoken,--the Secretary of State announced +that it had been ratified by the Legislatures of twenty-seven States +and was a part of the Constitution. The result was attained by +the united action of one party and the aid of a minority of the +other party. The co-operation of the Democratic members had gained +for the cause of emancipation a whole year. The action was of +transcendent importance,--lofty in conception, masterful in execution. +Slavery in the United States was dead. To succeeding and not +distant generations its existence in a Republic, for three-quarters +of a century, will be an increasing marvel. + + THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT IN COURT. + +The language of the Thirteenth Amendment is so comprehensive and +absolute that vital questions of law are not likely at any time to +arise under it. The Article is in two parts. _First_, "Neither +slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime +whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within +the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. +_Second_, Congres shall have power to enforce this Article by +appropriate legislation." By this Amendment the relation between +the National and State Governments, respecting the question of +Human Liberty, was radically changed. Before its adoption slavery +could be established or abolished in any State at the will of the +majority. The National prohibition now extended everywhere that +the flag floated; freedom of the person became thenceforth a matter +of National concern. The power of the State was subordinated to +the continuing and supreme authority of the Nation. + +The Supreme Court has had occasion in a few cases only to deal with +the Thirteenth Amendment, and in those cases the questions raised +did not touch the validity or scope of the Article. In the case +of _White_ v. _Hart_, reported in 13 _Wallace_, the Court held that +a note given for slaves at a time prior to emancipation was a valid +contract and could be enforced. This judgment was rendered in the +face of the fact that the Reconstructed Constitution of the State +of Georgia, where the contract was made, contained a provision that +no Court should have or take "jurisdiction in any case of debt the +consideration of which was a slave or the hire thereof." The Court +held that the provision in the Georgia Constitution was invalid as +to all agreements made prior to its adoption, upon the ground that +it was a violation of the Constitution of the United States which +provides that no State shall make any law "impairing the obligation +of contracts." In the case of _Osborne_ v. _Nicholson_, 13 _Wallace_, +where the cause of action was a note given for a slave in Arkansas, +March 20, 1861, the Court held that the Thirteenth Amendment did +not constitute a bar to the claim. These cases serve to show the +narrow and restricted character of the issues made under the Article +--issues long since passed by the limitation of time. + +One point in the adoption of the Amendment caused much speculation +at the time, not unaccompanied with anxiety. The whole number of +States was thirty-six. The assent of three-fourths of that number +was required to amend the Constitution. Twenty-seven States voted +through their Legislatures in favor of the Amendment--precisely +the requisite number. But of these, nine had been in rebellion +and had not at the time been restored to the enjoyment of their +rights as States in the Union. They had not been re-admitted to +representation either in the House or the Senate. The majority of +these States were not considered to be entitled to representation +in Congress for three years after they had given their formal assent +to the Thirteenth Amendment. The question as to whether they could +give valid assent to an amendment to the Constitution was one which +might possibly be raised. If they were not in condition to enjoy +representation in Congress, it might be asked how they could be in +condition to perform a much higher function. If they could not +participate in the enactment of Statute Law, how could they +participate in the far weightier duty of framing the Organic Law +of the Republic? + +If the same judges who pronounced the Dred Scott decision had been +still on the Bench, serious trouble might have arisen. But there +had been a radical change in the Judicial Department, not simply +in the _personnel_ of the judges but in the views they entertained +touching the functions, powers, and duties of the Federal Government. +It fell to Mr. Lincoln's lot to appoint a majority of the judges +and thus practically to constitute a new Court. Washington, the +elder Adams, and Jackson were the only Presidents before him who +had appointed a Chief Justice, and when he nominated Mr. Chase, +there had been only one other chief justice named for sixty-three +years. He appointed as associate justices Noah Swayne of Ohio, +Samuel F. Miller of Iowa, David Davis of Illinois, all in 1862, +and Stephen J. Field of California the year following. Mr. Lincoln's +sound judgment was apparent in this as in other great duties. +There are single judges in our history who, in point of learning, +rank higher in the estimation of the legal profession, but perhaps +never a majority of the court who were superior in all the qualities +which adorn the Judicial character. + + THE JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT. + +Considering that the tenure is for life, it seemed as if an +extraordinary number of Judicial appointments fell to one President. +But as the eminence which fits a man for the high station is not +attained until past the middle period of life, the changes are +necessarily somewhat rapid. Washington in his Presidency of eight +years nominated, for a Court of six members, eleven judges who +served, besides one who declined and one who was rejected. Down +to this period in our history (1884) it has fallen to the lot of +each of our twenty-one Presidents except Harrison, Tyler, and +Johnson, to nominate at least one associate justice. Under Jackson +and Van Buren the entire Court was revolutionized. A Chief Justice +and six associates were appointed, selected exclusively from their +political supporters. From that time onward until the Administration +of Mr. Lincoln, every judge was selected from the Democratic party, +with the exception of Benjamin R. Curtis who was appointed by +President Fillmore. When Mr. Lincoln entered upon his official +duties, the Judicial Department of the Government differenced in +every conceivable way from his construction of the Constitution in +so far as the question of slavery was involved. But one judge +could be expected to look with favor upon the course he would +pursue. The venerable John McLean, though placed on the Bench by +Jackson, had changed his political views and relations, and he +alone of all the justices sympathized with Mr. Lincoln. + +The Southern States prior to 1860 had secured a large majority of +appointments on the Supreme Bench. In originally constituting the +Court Washington had equally divided the judges between the slave +States and the free States. After his Administration and until +the incoming of President Lincoln, the Court uniformly contained +a majority of Southern men. From the beginning of the Government +until the election of Mr. Lincoln, there had been eighteen associate +justices appointed from the slave States, and but fifteen from the +free States. The average term of service of the judges from the +South had been about fourteen years; from the North about twelve +years. From 1789 to 1860, the Chief Justice had been from the +South during the whole period with the exception of twelve years. +It is a fact worth noting that neither the elder nor the younger +Adams appointed a Northern man to the Bench. They appointed three +from the South. It is not among the least of the honors belonging +to the elder Adams that he gave to the country the illustrious +Chief Justice Marshall. + +Directly after the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment came a wide- +spread rumor that negotiations for peace were in progress which +might interfere with the anti-slavery action of Congress. On the +8th of February Mr. Thaddeus Stevens moved and the House unanimously +adopted a resolution requesting "the President to communicate to +the House such information as he may deem not incompatible with +the public interest relative to the recent conference between +himself and the Secretary of State and Messrs. Alexander H. Stephens, +Robert M. T. Hunter, and John A. Campbell in Hampton Roads." Mr. +Lincoln replied at once, giving in detail every step which had led +to the conference, and all that was accomplished by it. It was +brought about by the elder Francis P. Blair, who under a flag of +truce had visited Richmond early in January. Mr. Lincoln had +steadily insisted on three preliminary conditions: First, the +absolute restoration of the national authority in all the States; +second, no receding from the positions taken on the slavery question; +third, no cessation of military operations on the part of the +Government till the hostile forces surrendered and disbanded. On +these conditions the Confederate agents could not treat, and the +conference came to no agreement. In his message Mr. Lincoln made +one significant remark. "By the other party it was not said that +in any event or on any condition they would ever consent to re- +union; and yet they equally omitted to declare that they would not +so consent." The proceedings left no special interest, except one +characteristic anecdote of Mr. Lincoln. The Confederate agents +desired the recognition of the power of "President" Davis to make +a treaty. Mr. Lincoln would not consent to this, would not in any +event or in any way recognize another "President" within the +territory of the United States. Mr. Hunter cited the example of +Charles I. treating with rebels in his own kingdom. Mr. Lincoln +replied that his only distinct recollection of that matter was that +Charles lost his head! + + + MR. FESSENDEN IN THE TREASURY. + +Soon after the Baltimore Convention, Mr. Chase resigned his position +as Secretary of the Treasury. The relations between himself and +the President had become personally somewhat unpleasant, but that +there had been no loss of confidence or respect was proven by the +President's nomination of Mr. Chase to be Chief Justice of the +United States as the successor of the venerable Roger B. Taney, +who died on the 12th of October (1864). William Pitt Fessenden +succeeded Mr. Chase in the Treasury, and entered upon his duties +on the fifth day of July. He was admirably fitted by every mental +and moral quality for the position, but he did not possess the +physical strength necessary for the arduous labor which it imposed. +He consented in response to the very earnest request of Mr. Lincoln +to accept the trust for a brief period. It was of great importance +to the country, to the Administration, and to Mr. Lincoln personally +that Mr. Chase should be succeeded by a man of no less eminent +character. + +In his report of December 6, 1864, Mr. Fessenden discussed the +financial situation with comprehensive ability. He urged additional +taxation, some plan for making the public lands available as a +source of revenue, and arrangements for carrying out the laws for +a sinking-fund. He opposed the suggestion of resorting to foreign +loans for any part of the money needed. He said, "This nation has +been able thus far to conduct a domestic war of unparalleled +magnitude and cost without appealing for aid to any foreign people. +It has chosen to demonstrate its power to put down insurrection by +its own strength, and furnish no pretense for doubt of its entire +ability to do so, either to domestic or foreign foes. The people +of the United States have felt a just pride in this position before +the world. In the judgment of the secretary it may well be doubted +whether the national credit abroad has not been strengthened and +sustained by the fact that foreign investments in our securities +have not been sought by us, and whether we have not found a pecuniary +advantage in self-reliance." Reciting the steps which he had taken +for placing loans, he declared; "These negotiations have afforded +satisfactory evidence not only of the ability of the people to +furnish at a short notice such sums as may be required but of the +entire confidence felt in the national securities. After nearly +four years of a most expensive and wasting war, the means to continue +it seem apparently undiminished, while the determination to prosecute +it with vigor to the end is unabated." + +Liberal response was made by Congress to Mr. Fessenden's request +for enlarged power to borrow money. The internal revenue was made +more stringent, the tariff was amended and made still more protective, +and to facilitate the raising of troops the Conscription Act was +made more severe and exacting. Congress proceeded as if the war +were still to continue for years. Nothing was neglected, nothing +relaxed. But every one could see that the Confederacy was tottering +to its fall. Sherman's magnificent march across Georgia, to which +the President referred as in progress when he sent his message to +Congress, had been completed with entire success, with an _éclat_ +indeed which startled Europe as well as America. He had captured +Savannah, and was marching North driving the army of General Joseph +E. Johnston before him. General Grant meanwhile was tightening +his hold on Richmond and on the army of General Lee. From his camp +on the James he was directing military operations over an area of +vast extent. The great victory which General Thomas had won over +Hood's army in the preceding December at Nashville had effectually +destroyed the military power of the Confederacy in the South-West, +and when Congress adjourned on the day of Mr. Lincoln's second +inauguration there was in the mind of the people everywhere a +conviction that the end was near. + +The President himself spoke guardedly in his Inaugural address. +He simply said that "the progress of our armies is reasonably +satisfactory and encouraging. With high hope for the future, no +prediction in regard to it is ventured." The tone of the address, +so far from being jubilant as the mass of his hearers felt, was +ineffably sad. It seemed to bear the wail of an oppressed spirit. +The thought and the language were as majestic as those of the +ancient prophets. As if in agony of soul the President cried out: +"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge +of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue +until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty +years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of +blood drawn with the lash shall be paid with another drawn with +the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must +be said that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous +altogether." + +The fall of the military power of the rebellion was in the end more +rapid and more complete than the most sanguine had dared to expect. +The month of March was one of great activity with our military +forces. Three weeks after his inauguration the President went to +City Point, Virginia, partly to escape the pressure of duty at +Washington and party to be near the scene of the final triumph to +settle any important questions that might arise, if an offer of +surrender should be made by the Confederate commander. On the day +before his inauguration he had directed the Secretary of War to +say to General Grant that he wished him to "have no conference with +General Lee unless for the capitulation of his army or for some +purely military matter." The President did "not wish General Grant +to decide, discuss or confer upon any political question." He +would not submit such questions "to military conferences or +conventions." He returned to Washington on the 8th of April and +on the succeeding day the Army of Lee surrendered to General Grant. + + THE SURRENDER OF GENERAL LEE. + +The rejoicing throughout the Loyal States cannot be pictured. +Congratulation was universal. The end had come. Sympathy with +the South in her exhausted and impoverished condition mingled +largely with the exultant joy over a restored Union, a triumphant +flag, an assured future of National progress. Admiration was not +withheld from the soldiers of the Confederacy, who had borne their +banner so bravely against every discouragement on a hundred fields +of battle. The bearing of General Grant and General Lee at the +final surrender was marked by a spirit of chivalric dignity which +was an instructive lesson to all their countrymen--alike to the +victor and to the vanquished. + +General Grant's active service in the field closed with the surrender +of Lee. All the commanders of Confederate forces followed the +example of their General-in-Chief, and before the end of the month +the armed enemies of the Union had practically ceased to exist. +The fame of General Grant was full. He had entered the service +with no factitious advantage, and his promotion, from the first to +the last, had been based on merit alone,--without the aid of +political influence, without the interposition of personal friends. +Criticism of military skill is but idle chatter in the face of an +unbroken career of victory. General Grant's campaigns were varied +in their requirements and, but for the fertility of his resources +and his unbending will, might often have ended in disaster. Courage +is as contagious as fear, and General Grant possessed in the highest +degree that faculty which is essential to all great commanders,-- +the faculty of imparting throughout the rank and file of his army +the same determination to win with which he was himself always +inspired. + +One peculiarity of General Grant's military career was his constant +readiness to fight. He wished for no long periods of preparation, +lost no opportunity which promptness could turn to advantage. He +always accepted, without cavil or question, the position to which +he might be assigned. He never troubled the War Department with +requests or complaints, and when injustice was inflicted upon him, +he submitted silently, and did a soldier's duty. Few men in any +service would have acquiesced so quietly as did General Grant, when +at the close of the remarkable campaign beginning at Fort Henry +and ending at Shiloh, he found himself superseded by General Halleck, +and assigned to a subordinate command in an army whose glory was +inseparably associated with his own name. Self-control is the +first requisite for him who aims to control others. In that +indispensable form of mental discipline General Grant exhibited +perfection. + +When he was appointed Lieutenant-General, and placed in command of +all the armies of the Union, he exercised military control over a +greater number of men than has any general since the invention of +fire-arms. In the campaigns of 1864 and 1865, the armies of the +Union contained in the aggregate not less than a million of men. +The movements of all the vast forces were kept in harmony by his +comprehensive mind, and in the grand consummation which insured +Union and Liberty, his name became inseparably associated with the +true glory of his country. + + +Six days after the surrender of Lee, the Nation was thrown into +the deepest grief by the assassination of the President. The gloom +which enshrouded the country was as thick darkness. The people +had come, through many alterations of fear and hope, to repose the +most absolute trust in Mr. Lincoln. They realized that he had seen +clearly where they were blind, that he had known fully where they +were ignorant. He had been patient, faithful, and far-seeing. +Religious people regarded him as one divinely appointed, like the +prophets of old, to a great work, and they found comfort in the +parallel which they saw in his death with that of the leader of +Israel. He too had reached the mountain's top, and had seen the +land redeemed unto the utmost sea, and had then died. + + CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +Mr. Lincoln had been some time in the Presidency before the public +estimate of him was correct or appreciative. The people did not +at first understand him. In the glamour of the Presidential canvass +they had idealized him,--attributing to him some traits above and +many below his essential qualities. After his election and before +his inauguration there was a general disposition to depreciate him. +He became associated in the popular mind with an impending calamity, +and tens of thousands who had voted for him, heartily repented the +act and inwardly execrated the day that committed the destinies of +the Union to his keeping. The first strong test brought upon Mr. +Lincoln was this depressing re-action among so many of his supporters. +A man with less resolute purpose would have been cast down by it, +but Mr. Lincoln preserved the _mens aequa in arduis_. Through the +gloom of the weeks preceding his inauguration he held his even way. +Perhaps in the more terrible crises through which he was afterwards +called to pass, a firmer nerve was required, but not so rare a +combination of qualities as he had shown in the dismal months with +which the year 1861 opened. + +Mr. Lincoln united firmness and gentleness in a singular degree. +He rarely spoke a harsh word. Ready to hear argument and always +open to conviction, he adhered tenaciously to the conclusions which +he had finally reached. Altogether modest, he had confidence in +himself, trusted to the reasoning of his own mind, believed in the +correctness of his own judgment. Many of the popular conceptions +concerning him are erroneous. No man was farther than he from the +easy, familiar, jocose character in which he is often painted. +While he paid little attention to form or ceremony he was not a +men with whom liberties could be taken. There was but one person +in Illinois outside of his own household who ventured to address +him by his first name. There was no one in Washington who ever +attempted it. Appreciating wit and humor, he relished a good story, +especially if it illustrated a truth or strengthened an argument, +and he had a vast fund of illustrative anecdote which he used with +the happiest effect. But the long list of vulgar, salacious stories +attributed to him, were retailed only by those who never enjoyed +the privilege of exchanging a word with him. His life was altogether +a serious one--inspired by the noblest spirit, devoted to the +highest aims. Humor was but an incident with him, a partial relief +to the melancholy which tinged all his years. + +He presented an extraordinary combination of mental and moral +qualities. As a statesman he had the loftiest ideal, and it fell +to his lot to inaugurate measures which changed the fate of millions +of living men, of tens of millions yet to be born. As a manager +of political issues and master of the art of presenting them, he +has had no rival in this country unless one be found in Jefferson. +The complete discomfiture of his most formidable assailants in +1863, especially of those who sought to prejudice him before the +people on account of the arrest of Vallandigham, cannot easily be +paralleled for shrewdness of treatment and for keen appreciation +of the reactionary influences which are certain to control public +opinion. Mr. Van Buren stands without rival in the use of partisan +tactics. He operated altogether on men, and believed in self- +interest as the mainspring of human action. Mr. Lincoln's ability +was of a far higher and broader character. There was never the +slightest lack of candor or fairness in his methods. He sought to +control men through their reason and their conscience. The only +art the employed was that of presenting his views so convincingly +as to force conviction on the minds of his hearers and his readers. + +The Executive talent of Mr. Lincoln was remarkable. He was +emphatically the head of his own Administration, ultimate judge at +all points and on all occasions where questions of weight were to +be decided. An unwise eulogist of Mr. Seward attributes to him +the origination and enforcement of the great policies which +distinguished the Administration. So far is this from the truth +that in more than one instance the most momentous steps were taken +against the judgment and contrary to the advice of the Secretary +of State. The position of control and command so firmly held by +Mr. Lincoln was strikingly shown when the Peace Conference was +about to assemble at Fortress Monroe. He dispatched Mr. Seward to +the place of meeting in advance of his own departure from Washington, +giving him the most explicit instructions as to his mode of action, +--prescribing carefully the limitations he should observe, and +concluding with these words: "_You will hear all they may choose +to say, and report it to me. You will not assume to definitely +consummate any thing_." Assuredly this is not the language of +deference. It does not stop short of being the language of command. +It is indeed the expression of one who realized that he was clothed +with all the power belonging to his great office. No one had a +more sincere admiration of Mr. Seward's large qualities than the +President; no one more thoroughly appreciated his matchless powers. +But Mr. Lincoln had not only full trust in his own capacity, but +a deep sense of his own responsibility--a responsibility which +could not be transferred and for which he felt answerable to his +conscience and to God. + + CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +There has been discussion as to Mr. Lincoln's religious belief. +He was silent as to his own preference among creeds. Prejudice +against any particular denomination he did not entertain. Allied +all his life with Protestant Christianity, he thankfully availed +himself of the services of an eminent Catholic prelate--Archbishop +Hughes of New York--in a personal mission to England, of great +importance, at a crisis when the relations between the two countries +were disturbed and threatening. Throughout the whole period of +the war he constantly directed the attention of the nation to +dependence on God. It may indeed be doubted whether he omitted +this in a single state paper. In every message to Congress, in +eery proclamation to the people, he made it prominent. In July, +1863, after the battle of Gettysburg he called upon the people to +give thanks because "it had pleased Almighty God to hearken to the +supplications and prayers of an afflicted people and to vouchsafe +signal and effective victories to the Army and Navy of the United +States," and he asked the people "to render homage to the Divine +Majesty and to invoke the influence of his Holy Spirit to subdue +the anger which has produced and so long sustained a needless and +cruel rebellion." On another occasion, recounting the blessings +which had come to the Union, he said, "No human counsel hath devised, +nor hath any mortal hand worked out, these great things. They are +the gracious gifts of the Most High God who, while dealing with us +in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy." +Throughout his entire official career,--attended at all times with +exacting duty and painful responsibility,--he never forgot his own +dependence, or the dependence of the people, upon a Higher Power. +In his last public address, delivered to an immense crowd assembled +at the White House on the 11th of April, to congratulate him on +the victories of the Union, the President, standing as he unconsciously +was in the very shadow of death, said reverently to his hearers, +"In the midst of your joyous expression, He from whom all blessings +flow must first be remembered"! + + +Not only in life but in treasure the cost of the war was enormous. +In addition to the large revenues of the Government which had been +currently absorbed, the public debt at the close of the struggle +was $2,808,549,437.55. The incidental losses were innumerable in +kind, incalculable in amount. Mention is made here only of the +actual expenditure of money--estimated by the standard of gold. +The outlay was indeed principally made in paper, but the faith of +the United States was given for redemption in coin--a faith which +has never been tarnished, and which in this instance has been +signally vindicated by the steady determination of the people. +Never, in the same space of time, has there been a National +expenditure so great. + +Other nations have made costly sacrifices in struggles affecting +their existence or their master passions. In the memorable campaigns +of the French in 1794, when the Republic was putting forth its most +gigantic energies, the expenses rose to 200,000,000 francs a month, +or about $450,000,000 a year. For the three years of the rebellion, +after the first year, our War Department alone expended $603,314,411.82, +$690,391,048.66, and $1,030,690,400 respectively. The French +Directory broke down under its expenditures by its lavish issue of +_assignats_ and the French Republic became bankrupt. Our Government +was saved by its rigorous system of taxation imposed upon the people +by themselves. Under Napoleon, in addition to the impositions on +conquered countries, the budgets hardly exceeded in francs the +charges of the United States for the rebellion, in dollars. Thus +in 1805 the French budget exhibited total expenditures of 666,155,139 +francs, including 69,140,000 francs for interest on the debt. In +the same year the minister stated to the Chambers that income was +derived from Italy of 30,000,000 francs, and from Germany and +Holland 100,000,000, leaving 588,998,705 to be collected from +France. In 1813 the French expenditures had risen to 953,658,772 +francs, and the total receipts from French revenue were 780,959,847 +francs. The French national debt has been measured since 1797 by +the interest paid, fixed at that time at five per cent. From 1800 +to 1814, the period of the Consulate and the Empire, this interest +was increased by 23,091,635 francs, indicating an addition of twenty +times that sum to the principal of the debt. The Government of +the Restoration added in 1815, 101,260,635 francs to the annual +interest. Thus the cost of the Napoleonic wars to France may be +stated at about $487,000,000 added to the principal of the debt, +or less than one-fifth of the increment of our national obligations +on account of the rebellion. The French burdens were extended over +the whole period from 1800 to 1814. Our own were concentrated into +the space of four years. + + NATIONAL EXPENDITURES IN THE WAR. + +The total expenditures of Great Britain during the French Revolution +and the career of Napoleon were Ł1,490,000,888, or nearly five +times that sum in dollars. The largest expenditures in any single +year were in 1815, Ł130,305,958, or in dollars, $631,976,894. +After 1862 our expenditures were not so low as that in any year, +and they were more than double that sum in the closing year of the +war when the great armies were mustered out of service and final +payment was made to all. + +The British expenditures in the war against the French during the +period of the Revolution were a little more than Ł490,000,000 and +against Napoleon a little less than Ł1,000,000,000; or $4,850,000,000 +in the aggregate, for twenty-three years. The total outlay was +therefore larger than our payments on account of the rebellion. +But there was no period of ten years in her wars with the French, +in which Great Britain expended so much as the United States expended +in four years. The loss of Great Britain by discounts in raising +money or by the use of depreciated paper was greater than that +incurred by the United States. A leading English authority says +that of the vast burden up to 1816, the "artificial enhancements +due to discounts in raising money were so great that for every Ł100 +received into the treasury a national debt of Ł173 was created." + +No other wars than those of England and France can be compared with +ours in point of expenditure. For the war between France and +Germany in 1870 the indemnity demanded by the conqueror was +5,000,000,000 francs, equivalent in American money to $930,000,000. +This sum was much in excess of the outlay of Germany. The expenses +of France on her own account in that contest were 1,873,238,000 +francs, or $348,432,068, and this is only from one-half to one- +third of the annual outlay of the United States during the rebellion. +France added to the interest charge at this time 349,637,116 francs, +indicating that the whole sum of the indemnity and other war +expenditures has passed into the principal of the permanent debt +of the country. + +The one grand feature of this lavish expenditure of wealth by the +Government of the United States is that it was directed and enforced +by the people themselves. No imperial power commanded it, no kingly +prerogative controlled it. It was the free, unbiased, unchangeable +will of the Sovereign People. They declared at the ballot-box, by +untrammeled popular suffrage, that the war must go on. "The American +people,"--said Henry Winter Davis in the House of Representatives +at one of the most exciting periods of the struggle,--"the American +people, rising to the height of the occasion, dedicate this generation +to the sword, and, pouring out the blood of their children, demand +that there be no compromise; that ruin to the Republic or ruin to +the Rebel Confederacy are the only alternatives; that no peace +shall be made except under the banner of Victory. Standing on this +great resolve to accept nothing but Victory or ruin, Victory is +ours!" + + +At the outbreak of hostilities the Government discovered that it +had no Navy at its command. The Secretary, Mr. Welles, found upon +entering his office but a single ship in a Northern port fitted to +engage in aggressive operations. In the beginning of the great +contest which was at once to be waged upon the seas, wherein the +Government proposed to close Southern ports, and the South to +destroy Northern commerce, the advantage was clearly with the South. +From Cape Henry to the Rio Grande the Navy of the United States +was called upon to create an effective blockade against all ingress +and egress. The conformation of the coast, which along great +distances prevented the entrance and exit of ocean-going vessels, +materially aided in the task, but it was still such a one as had +never before been attempted in the naval history of the world. +The line to be subjected to blockade was as long as the line from +the Bay of Biscay to the Golden Horn and in many respects it was +far more difficult to control. + +This blockade was an absolute necessity imposed on the United +States. The South relied with implicit faith upon its ability to +secure by the sale of cotton the means of carrying on the war. +The Confederate Government did not believe that the United States +would hazard a conflict with the manufacturing nations of Europe, +by attempting a blockade that would prevent the export of the +staple; or if they did believe it, they looked upon it as the +fatuous step on the part of the National Government that would +promptly induce intervention by the combined power of England and +France. This reliance was explicitly stated in advance by Mr. +Hammond of South Carolina, who three years before the inauguration +of Mr. Lincoln, on the fourth day of March, 1858, made this +declaration in the United-States Senate:-- + +"Without firing a gun, without drawing a sword, should the North +make war on us, we could bring the whole world to our feet. What +would happen if no cotton was furnished for three years? I will +not stop to depict what every one can imagine, but this is certain, +England would topple headlong and carry the whole civilized world +with her. No, you dare not make war on cotton. No Power on earth +dares to make war upon cotton. _Cotton is King_." + + EFFECTIVENESS OF THE BLOCKADE. + +Boastful and impotent as the declaration of Mr. Hammond now seems, +it had a better basis of fact to stand upon than many of the fiery +predictions in which Southern statesmen were wont to indulge. The +importance of cotton to the civilized world could hardly be +exaggerated, and yet it was this very importance that forced the +United States to the course which was pursued. The National +Government could not permit the export of cotton without constantly +aggrandizing the power of the rebellion, and it could not prevent +its export without tempting the manufacturing nations of Europe to +raise the blockade. The Administration wisely prepared to enforce +the blockade and to meet all the consequences. + +To accomplish its undertaking, the energy of the Nation was devoted +to the creation of a navy. By the end of the year 1863 the government +had six hundred vessels of war which were increased to seven hundred +before the rebellion was subdued. Of the total number at least +seventy-five were ironclad. It may be instanced with laudable +pride that one enterprising man, honorably distinguished as a +scientific engineer, constructed in less than a hundred days an +armored squadron of eight ships, in the aggregate of five thousand +tons burden, capable of steaming nine knots per hour and destined +for effective service upon the rivers of the South-West. When the +contractor, Mr. James B. Eads of St. Louis, agreed to furnish these +steamers to the Government, the timber from which they were to be +built was still standing in the forest and the machinery with which +the armor was to be rolled was not constructed. + +A year after the first battle was fought the naval force of the +United States had practically interdicted all legitimate commerce +with the Southern States. No more effective method of warfare +could have been devised. At the outbreak of the war the States in +rebellion were able to manufacture but few of the articles +indispensable to the ordinary life of a people. Their wealth was +purely agricultural. Cotton and tobacco were their only exports. +For a supply of manufactures the South had depended wholly upon +its trade with the North and with Europe. The natural effect of +the war was greatly to lessen production, and the blockade made it +impossible to find a market for any large portion of the diminished +product of cotton. As a striking evidence of the prosperity in +the South at the time it complained of oppression, the largest +cotton crop which had ever been grown was that of 1860. It numbered +more than five million two hundred thousand bales, nearly four and +a half millions of which had found a ready market in Europe and +the North before the outbreak of the war. The crop of 1861 was +little more than one-half that of the preceding year. Of the three +and a half millions which remained available for export at the end +of 1861 it was estimated that up to August, 1862, not more than +fifty thousand bales had been carried to England, the principal +foreign consumer. + +The demand for food created by the Southern army caused a majority +of the plantations to raise corn, and the cotton crop of 1862 did +not amount to more than one million bales, very little of which +found a foreign market; and the supply and exportation diminished +from this time onward. Cotton which sold in December, 1861, in +Liverpool for 11ľ_d_. per pound had risen in December, 1862, to +24˝_d_. per pound, and as a result, half a million persons in +England, dependent for their daily bread upon this manufacturing +industry, were thrown out of employment and reduced to beggary. +So great was the distress that by April, 1863, nearly two million +pounds sterling had been expended for their relief, and this sum +does not include the vast amounts expended in local volunteer +charities. English manufacturers saw that the supply of the raw +product from America could no longer be depended upon, and efforts +were made to introduce the manufacture of the inferior staple from +India, but the experiment proved in the main unsatisfactory and +unprofitable. + +The stringency of the blockade which prevented the exportation of +cotton, prevented also the importation of manufactured articles. +While compelled to acknowledge this fact, the Confederate Secretary +of State, Mr. Benjamin, attempted very cleverly to turn it to +account by showing the advantages which would accrue to the commercial +and manufacturing classes of England by the speedy triumph of the +rebellion. Writing to Mr. Mason, who represented the Confederacy +in England, Mr. Benjamin said, "The almost total cessation of +external commerce for the last two years has produced the complete +exhaustion of all articles of foreign growth and manufacture, and +it is but a moderate computation to estimate the imports into the +Confederacy at three hundred millions of dollars for the first six +months which will ensue after the treaty of peace." The unexpressed +part of the proposition which this statement covered was the most +interesting. The merchants and ship-owners of England were to +understand that the sale and transportation of this vast amount of +fabrics would fall into the hands of England if the Confederacy +should succeed, and that if it should fail, the domestic trade of +the United States would absorb the whole of it. It was a shrewd +appeal to a nation whose foreign policy has always been largely +influenced by considerations of trade. + + EFFECTIVENESS OF THE BLOCKADE. + +The economic condition of the South at this time may be compared +to that of a man with full purse, lost in a desert. Southern cotton +would easily sell in the markets of New York or Liverpool for four +times its price in Charleston, while the manufactures of Manchester +or of Lowell were worth in Charleston four times the price in +Liverpool or New York. Exchange was rendered by the blockade +practically impossible. When the profits of a successful voyage +from Liverpool to Charleston and return, would more than repay the +expense of the construction of the best steamer and of the voyage, +the temptation to evade the blockade was altogether too strong to +be resisted by the merchants and manufacturers of England. Blockade- +running became a regular business with them, and the extent to +which it was carried may be inferred from the fact that during the +war the American fleet captured or sunk more than seven hundred +vessels bound from British ports to ports of the Confederacy. How +many vessels escaped our navy and safely ran the blockade may never +be known, but for three years it was a steady contest between the +navy of the United States and the blockade-runners of England. +The persistent course of the latter was stimulated both by cupidity +and by ill will to this country. They were anxious to make pecuniary +gains for themselves and to aid the Confederacy at the same time. +They were checked only by the extra-hazardous character imparted +to the trade by the alertness and superior vigilance of our cruisers +which sent many millions of English ventures to less profitable +markets and many millions to the adjudication of our own Prize- +courts. + +The establishment and maintenance of a blockade is not accounted +by naval officers as the most brilliant service to which in the +line of their profession they may be deputed, but it was a service +of inestimable value to the cause of the Union, and it was performed +with a skill and thoroughness never surpassed. The blockade required +an enormous force of men. In addition to the marines, to the large +body of soldiers transferred from time to time to the navy, and to +the rebel prisoners that joined in the service, there were 121,807 +men specially enlisted in the navy during the war. But for the +aid thus rendered by the navy, the hard fight would have been longer +and more sanguinary. Had not the South been thus deprived of the +munitions of war, of clothing and of all manner of supplies which +England and France were eager to furnish her, we should not have +seen the end of the civil war in 1865, and we should have been +subjected to all the hazards implied by the indefinite continuance +of the struggle. + + +The census of 1860 shows that the thirty-three States and seven +Territories, which at that time composed the United States, contained +a population of 31,443,791. Fifteen of these States with 12,140,296 +inhabitants were slave-holding, more than four millions of the +population being slaves; eighteen with an aggregate population of +19,303,494 were classed as free. Four of the fifteen slave States, +Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky, whose people numbered +three and one-half millions, constituted what were known as the +Border slave States--West Virginia being added to the list in 1862. +Though a considerable proportion of the inhabitants of these States, +from association and interest, sympathized with the South, they +contributed to the Union cause an army equal to two hundred thousand +men enlisted for three years, and throughout the war they were +loyal to the National Government. Many of the inhabitants of these +States fought in the Confederate Army, but this loss was more than +compensated by the effective aid rendered by the loyal men who +joined the Union Army from the rebellious States. Tennessee +furnished more than thirty thousand men to the armies of the Union, +and from almost every State which formed a portion of the Confederacy +men enlisted in the loyal forces. It may with reasonable precision +be affirmed that the encouragement which the Confederacy received +from the slave States that remained true to the Union, was more +than offset by the effective aid rendered by loyal men residing +within the limits of the rebellious States. + + STRENGTH OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. + +As the source of supply for an army the Southern Confederacy had +eleven States with an aggregate population of nine millions. It +is difficult to estimate with accuracy the numerical strength of +the army which they organized at the beginning of the war. In a +semi-official publication it was asserted that the army numbered +more than five hundred thousand men, but as twenty thousand of this +army were credited to Maryland and thirty-five thousand to Missouri, +the number given was evidently a gross exaggeration. The statement +was probably made for effect upon the North rather than in the +interest of truth. A member of the Confederate Congress from North +Carolina stated in debate in 1864 that the Confederate muster-roll +numbered more than four hundred thousand men, "of whom probably +one-half were not there." During the entire period of the war it +is probable that eleven hundred thousand men were embodied in the +Confederate Army, though its effective strength did not at any time +consist of more than one-half that number. But this force was +obtained by the South at great sacrifice. The necessity of a +stringent conscription act was felt as early as April 16, 1862, at +which time the first Enrolment Act was passed by the Confederate +Congress. Under this Act, which was amended on the 27th of September +of the same year, Mr. Davis issued on the 15th of July, 1863, his +first conscription proclamation which called into the service of +the Confederacy all white men between the ages of eighteen and +forty-five who were not legally exempted from military service. +The date of the proclamation shows that it was forced upon the +Confederates by Lee's abortive invasion of Pennsylvania, and was +intended to fill the ranks of the army which had been shattered +and beaten on the field of Gettysburg. Further legislation by the +Confederate Congress in February, 1864, extended the enrolment so +as to include all white male residents of the Confederate States +between the ages of seventeen and fifty. In February, 1865, Mr. +Davis estimated that more than one hundred and fifty thousand men +were added to the Confederate armies by this forced conscription. + +Comparing the strength of the Confederate Army with the population +from which it was recruited, and taking into account the absolute +lack of provision made for the comfort of the Southern soldier, +the insufficient provision made for his sustenance and clothing, +and the consequent desertion which made it imperative to repair +diminished strength, it is evident that the conscription legislation +bore with fearful severity upon the people of the South. Comprehensive +as was the Enrolment Act, which rendered liable to military duty +the entire male population between the ages of seventeen and fifty, +the South was compelled to overstep its self-imposed limit. The +forces which Lee and Johnston surrendered contained so many boys +unfitted by youth and so many men unfitted by age for military +service, that a Northern General epigrammatically remarked that +for its armies the Confederacy had been compelled in the end to +rob alike the cradle and the grave. + +Grave misstatements however have been made in regard to the diminished +forces of the Confederacy at the cessation of the war. The astounding +assertion has crept into statements intended to be historical that +Lee surrendered an army of only ten thousand men, and Johnston an +army of most insignificant numbers in comparison with that of +Sherman. An accurate count made of the forces surrendered by the +Confederacy and paroled by the North at the conclusion of the war, +shows that the following numbers were embodied in the various +Southern armies and were rendering active service in the field:-- + +The army of Virginia under General Robert E. Lee . . . . 28,356 +The army of Tennessee under General Joseph E. Johnston . . 37,047 +The army of Florida under Major-General Samuel Jones . . . 2,113 +The army of Alabama under Lieutenant-General Richard Taylor . 12,723 +The Trans-Mississippi army of General E. Kirby Smith . . . 10,167 +The Arkansas army of Brigadier-General M. Jeff Thompson . . 5,048 + + Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95,454 + +These figures are given as the result of actual count made of the +paroles signed, and have been verified by officers both of the +Union Army and of the Confederate Army. They represent the actual +force engaged in the field, and upon the basis of calculation +adopted in the North would indicate a Confederate Army of nearly +three hundred thousand men at the close of the struggle. When the +frequent desertions from the Southern Army are remembered, and +their losses in prisoners and those disabled in the fearful fights +of the months which preceded the surrender of Lee, it will not be +exaggeration to say that the South had at the opening of General +Grant's campaign in Virginia the preceding summer more than five +hundred thousand men borne upon the rolls of its armies. The waste +of the Confederate forces during the sixty days immediately preceding +the final surrender was very great. The knowledge of the situation +had penetrated the ranks, and the men lost spirit and hope. The +result which followed was precisely that which has always happened +with armies so circumstanced. The ranks melted away, and there +were neither resource nor discipline to fill them again. + + THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES. + +It would be but poor compliment to the soldiers of the Union to +withhold just recognition of the brave opponents who met them on +so many hard-fought fields. Nor is there any disposition among +loyal men to stint the praise which is always due to courage. +Never perhaps was an army organized with fighting qualities superior +to those of the army put into the field by the Confederacy. They +fought with an absolute conviction, however erroneous, that their +cause was just; and their arms were nerved by the feeling which +their leaders had instilled deeply into their minds, that they were +contending against an intolerable tyranny and protecting the +sacredness of home. In a war purely defensive, as was that of the +Confederacy, an army such as they raised and maintained can baffle +the efforts of vastly superior numbers. The Confederates found +from their own experience how changed was the task when they assumed +the offensive and ventured to leave their own territory, with their +perfect knowledge of its topography and with a surrounding population +of sympathizers and helpers. In their first attempt at invasion +they did not get beyond cannon-sound of the Potomac, and in the +second they were turned back by the result of the first battle. +These facts do not impeach the prowess of the Confederate soldiery, +but they illustrate the task imposed on the Army of the Union and +they suggest the vast difference in the responsibilities which the +invading and the defensive forces were called upon to meet. + +For so large an army as the Government of the Union was compelled +to raise, volunteering could not be relied upon as a steady resource +for recruitment. Great as was the ardor among the loyal people at +the beginning of the struggle, it was soon found, as it has always +been found in other nations, that unaided patriotism could not +supply the heavy demands constantly made to repair the waste from +the casualties of war and from the ravages of disease. The Act of +Congress of March 3, 1863, provided for the enrolment of all able- +bodied male citizens between the ages of twenty and forty-five +years, while the Act of February 24, 1864, granted freedom to all +male slaves between the ages of twenty and forty-five who might +enlist in the Northern armies. Reward was made to go with duty, +and by the Act of July 4, 1864, Congress ameliorated the rigors of +the conscription by paying to each drafted man a bounty for one +years' service, at the same time doubling and trebling the amount +for two and three years' service respectively. The Secretary of +War was by the same law directed to discharge from service at the +request of parents all persons under the age of eighteen years who +might have enlisted in the army, and it was made an offense punishable +with loss of commission for any officer knowingly to enlist a person +less than sixteen years of age. Conscription laws have been +unpopular in all countries, and though resisted among us on one +occasion with riot, they were upheld with strong courage by the +mass of the loyal people. Representatives in Congress who had +voted for the enactments were returned by large majorities, and +Mr. Lincoln was re-elected with an overwhelming expression of +popular favor at the very time when he was directing the enforcement +of the draft. The vote of 1864 was perhaps the most significant +exhibition of patriotism made during the war, and had an extraordinary +influence in discouraging those who were directing the fortunes of +the Confederacy. + +In the Loyal States the Government called for more than 2,750,000 +men at various time throughout the war. In the South nearly every +white person capable of bearing arms rendered at one time or another +service in the army. A leading military authority of England, +speaking of the strength of the armies of the United States and of +the Confederacy, says, "The total number of men called under arms +by the Government of the United States between April, 1861, and +April, 1865, amounted to 2,759,049, of whom 2,656,053 were actually +embodied in the armies. If to these be added the 1,100,000 men +embodied by the Southern States during the same time, the total +armed forces reach the enormous amount of nearly 4,000,000, drawn +from a population of only 32,000,000 of all ages. Before this vast +aggregate, the celebrated uprising of the French nation in 1793, +or the recent efforts of France and Germany in the war of 1870-71, +sink into insignificance. And within three years the whole of +these vast forces were peaceably disbanded and the army had shrunk +to a normal strength of only 30,000 men." + +Germany with a population of 41,000,000 can in time of war furnish +an army of 1,250,000 men. France with a population of 36,000,000 +claims that she can set more than 1,500,000 men afield. With a +population of less than 25,000,0000 from which to levy troops, the +Government of the United States had when the war closed more than +1,000,000 men upon the muster-rolls of the army to be paid off and +discharged. Of this vast force probably not more than forty per +cent. were available for operations on the field. The wounded, +the sick, those upon furlough, upon detail in other service, upon +military service elsewhere than in the field, together with those +in military parlance absent or "not accounted for," would, it is +estimated, be equal to sixty per cent. of the entire army. + + AREA OF THE WAR AND ITS COST. + +The area over which the armies of the Union were called to operate +was 800,000 square miles in extent,--as large as the German Empire, +France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland combined. Those who +led in the secession movement relied confidently upon the impossibility +of overcoming a population inhabiting so great an expanse of +territory. Their judgment was confirmed by that of the best military +critics of Europe who looked pityingly upon the folly of the United +States for undertaking a task which after years of suffering and +great loss of life could end only in defeat, with hopeless bankruptcy +for the surviving remnant of the Republic. Could the Government +have had the advantage of a small area for its military operations, +its power to overcome the rebellion would have been greatly enhanced, +and an army not exceeding half of that which was raised could have +vindicated the authority of the flag and maintained the integrity +of the Union. The National expenditures would have been decreased +in even greater ratio, for aside from reducing the number of troops, +the enormous cost involved in transportation would have been lessened +by hundreds of millions of dollars in the four years of the war. + +Another cause of increased expenditure was the haste necessarily +attendant upon all the military preparations of the Government. +Armies were to be created from the basis of an organization hardly +greater than would serve as a police force for the Republic. When +Fort Sumter was fired upon, the Army of the United States, rank +and file, scarcely exceeded sixteen thousand men. The Government +was compelled to equip its vast forces from stores of which hardly +a nucleus existed. Arms, ammunition, military supplies, were all +to be instantly gathered. The growth of the great host, its +equipment, its marshaling, its prodigious strength, are among the +marvels and the glories of our history. To admit that mistakes +were made is only to say that the work was in human hands. Criticism +may well be drowned in the acclaim of success. No National emergency +has ever been met with greater courage, promptness, or skill. + +The loss to the country and the expenditures from its Treasury +could not be estimated when the war closed. We knew that a half- +million citizens of the Republic had laid down their lives--three +hundred thousand in defending the Union, two hundred thousand in +attempting to destroy it. We knew the enormous amounts which had +been paid in supporting our armies. But we were not wholly prepared +for the millions that must be paid in satisfaction of claims which +there had been no mode of reckoning. Nor had there been any standard +by which an estimate could be made of the sums required by the +pensions which the gratitude and the justice of the Government +would be called upon to grant. It was soon apparent that the need +of relief was proportional to the magnitude of the struggle, and +the Government prepared to respond with a munificence never +paralleled. + + + THE CHARACTER OF EDWIN M. STANTON. + +Nine months after the outbreak of hostilities the organization and +equipment of the National forces were placed under the direction +of Edwin M. Stanton as Secretary of War. Outside of his professional +reputation, which was high, Mr. Stanton had been known to the public +by his service in the Cabinet of Mr. Buchanan during the last three +months of his Administration. In that position he had undoubtedly +exhibited zeal and fidelity in the cause of the Union. He was a +member of the Democratic party, a thorough believer in its principles, +and a hearty opponent of Mr. Lincoln in the contest of 1860. In +speech and writing he referred to Mr. Lincoln's supporters in the +extreme partisan phrase of the day,--as "Black Republicans." He +had no sympathy with Mr. Lincoln's views on the subject of slavery, +and was openly hostile to any revival of the doctrine of Protection. +If Mr. Buchanan had been governed by the views of Mr. Stanton he +would undoubtedly have vetoed the Morrill Tariff bill, and thus an +unintended injury would have been inflicted upon the reviving credit +of the nation. A citizen of the District of Columbia, Mr. Stanton +was not called upon to make a personal record in the Presidential +election of 1860, but his sympathies were well understood to be +with the supporters of Breckinridge. + +With these political principles and affiliations, Mr. Stanton was +not even considered in connection with the original organization +of Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet. But the fact of his being a Democrat +was now in his favor, for Mr. Lincoln was anxious to signify by +some decisive expression, his appreciation of the patriotism which +had induced so large a proportion of the Democratic party to lay +aside prejudice and unite in support of his Administration. He +had a high estimate of Mr. Stanton's capacity, derived from personal +intercourse in a professional engagement some three years before. +He had learned something of his powers of endurance, of his trained +habits of thought, of his systematic method of labor, and he had +confidence that at forty-seven years of age, with vigorous health +and a robust constitution, Mr. Stanton could endure the strain +which the increasing labor of the War Department would impose. +His nomination was confirmed without delay, and the whole country +received his appointment with profound satisfaction. + +No Cabinet minister in our history has been so intemperately +denounced, so extravagantly eulogized. The crowning fact in his +favor is that through all the mutations of his stormy career he +was trusted and loved by Mr. Lincoln to the end of his days. He +was at all times and under all circumstances absolutely free from +corruption, and was savagely hostile to every man in the military +service who was even suspected of irregularity or wrong. He +possessed the executive faculty in the highest degree. He was +prompt, punctual, methodical, rapid, clear, explicit in all his +work. He imparted energy to every branch of the service, and his +vigorous determination was felt on the most distant field of the +war as a present and inspiring force. + +Mr. Stanton had faults. He was subject to unaccountable and violent +prejudice, and under its sway he was capable of harsh injustice. +Many officers of merit and of spotless fame fell under his displeasure +and were deeply wronged by him. General Stone was perhaps the most +conspicuous example of the extremity of outrage to which the +Secretary's temper could carry him. He was lacking in magnanimity. +Even when intellectually convinced of an error, he was reluctant +to acknowledge it. He had none of that grace which turns an enemy +to a friend by healing the wounds which have been unjustly inflicted. +While oppressing many who were under his control, he had the keenest +appreciation of power, and to men who were wielding great influence +he exhibited the most deferential consideration. He had a quick +insight into character, and at a glance could tell a man who would +resist and resent from one who would silently submit. He was +ambitious to the point of uncontrollable greed for fame, and by +this quality was subject to its counterpart of jealousy, and to an +envy of the increasing reputation of others. It was a sore trial +to him that after his able and persistent organization of all the +elements of victory, the share of credit which justly belonged to +him, was lost sight of in the glory which surrounded the hero of +a successful battle. + +But his weaknesses did not obscure the loftiness of his character. +The capricious malignity and brutal injustice of the Great Frederick +might as well be cited against the acknowledged grandeur of his +career, as an indictment be brought against Stanton's fame on his +personal defects, glaring and even exasperating as they were. To +the Nation's trust he was sublimely true. To him was committed, +in a larger degree than to any other man except the President alone, +the successful prosecution of the war and the consequent preservation +of the Union. Against those qualities which made him so many +enemies, against those insulting displays of temper which wounded +so many proud spirits helplessly subject to him for the time, +against those acts of rank injustice which, in the judgment of his +most partial eulogist, will always mar his fame, must be remembered +his absolute consecration to all that he was and of all he could +hope to be, to the cause of his country. For more than three years, +of unceasing and immeasurable responsibility, he stood at his post, +by day and by night, never flagging in zeal, never doubting in +faith. Even his burly frame and rugged strength were overborne by +the weight of his cares and by the strain upon his nerves, but not +until his work was finished, not until the great salvation had +come. Persecution and obloquy have followed him into the grave, +but an impartial verdict must be that he was inspired with the +devotion of a martyr, and that he wore out his life in a service +of priceless value to all the generations of his countrymen. + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +Relation with Great Britain.--Close of the Year 1860.--Prince of +Wales's Visit to the United States.--Exchange of Congratulatory +Notes.--Dawn of the Rebellion.--Lord Lyons's Dispatch.--Mr. Seward's +Views.--Lord John Russell's Threats.--Condition of Affairs at Mr. +Lincoln's Inauguration.--Unfriendly Manifestations by Great Britain. +--Recognizes Belligerency of Southern States.--Discourtesy to +American Minister.--England and France make Propositions to the +Confederate States.--Unfriendly in their Character to the United +States.--Full Details given.--Motives inquired into.--Trent Affair. +--Lord John Russell.--Lord Lyons.--Mr. Seward.--Mason and Slidell +released.--Doubtful Grounds assigned.--Greater Wrongs against us +by Great Britain.--Queen Victoria's Friendship.--Isolation of United +States.--Foreign Aid to Confederates on the Sea.--Details given.-- +So-called Neutrality.--French Attempt to establish an Empire in +Mexico.--Lord Palmerston in 1848, in 1859, in 1861.--Conclusive +Observations. + +At the close of the year 1860 the long series of irritating and +dangerous questions which had disturbed the relations of the United +States and Great Britain, from the time of the Declaration of +Independence, had reached final and friendly solution. The fact +gave unalloyed satisfaction to the American people and to their +Government. Mr. Buchanan was able to say in his message of December, +in language which Lord Lyons truly described as "the most cordial +which has appeared in any President's message since the foundation +of the Republic,"-- + +"Our relations with Great Britain are of the most friendly character. +Since the commencement of my Administration the two dangerous +questions arising from the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and from the right +of search claimed by the British Government have been amicably and +honorably adjusted. The discordant constructions of the Clayton- +Bulwer Treaty, which at different periods of the discussion bore +a threatening aspect, have resulted in a final settlement entirely +satisfactory to this government. The only question of any importance +which still remains open is the disputed title between the two +governments to the Island of San Juan in the vicinity of Washington +Territory." It was obvious that neither government looked forward +to any trouble from this source. + +To give manifestation of the cordiality with which our friendship +was reciprocated, Her Majesty had selected this auspicious year +for a visit of her son, the Prince of Wales, to this country. His +Royal Highness was received everywhere by the government and the +people with genuine and even enthusiastic hospitality, and at the +termination of his visit Lord Lyons was instructed to express the +thanks of Her Majesty. + +"One of the main objects," His Lordship wrote to Secretary Cass on +the 8th of December, 1860, "which Her Majesty had in view in +sanctioning the visit of His Royal Highness was to prove to the +President and citizens of the United States the sincerity of those +sentiments of esteem and regard which Her Majesty and all classes +of her subjects entertain for the kindred race which occupies so +distinguished a position in the community of nations. Her Majesty +has seen with the greatest satisfaction that her feelings and those +of her people in this respect have been met with the warmest sympathy +in the great American Union; and Her Majesty trusts that the feelings +of confidence and affection, of which late events have proved beyond +all question the existence, will long continue to prevail between +the two countries to their mutual advantage and to the general +interests of civilization and humanity. I am commanded to state +to the President that the Queen would be gratified by his making +known generally to the citizens of the United States her grateful +sense of the kindness with which they received her son, who has +returned to England deeply impressed with all he saw during his +progress through the States, and more especially so with the friendly +and cordial good will manifested towards him on every occasion by +all classes of the community." + +Mr. William Henry Trescott, then Assistant Secretary of State, +replied to Lord Lyons's note without delay, writing on the 11th of +December: "I am instructed by the President to express the +gratification with which he has learned how correctly Her Majesty +has appreciated the spirit in which His Royal Highness was received +throughout the Republic, and the cordial manifestation of that +spirit by the people of the United States which accompanied him in +every step of his progress. Her Majesty has justly recognized that +the visit of her son aroused the kind and generous sympathies of +our citizens, and, if I may so speak, has created an almost personal +interest in the fortunes of the Royalty which he so well represents. +The President trusts that this sympathy and interest towards the +future representative of the Sovereignty of Great Britain are at +once an evidence and a guaranty of that consciousness of common +interest and mutual regard which have bound in the past, and will +in the future bind together more strongly than treaties, the feelings +and the fortunes of the two nations which represent the enterprise, +the civilization, and the constitutional liberty of the same great +race. I have also been instructed to make this correspondence +public, that the citizens of the United States may have the +satisfaction of knowing how strongly and properly Her Majesty has +appreciated the cordial warmth of their welcome to His Royal +Highness." + + VISIT OF THE PRINCE OF WALES. + +Time was soon to test "the sincerity of those sentiments of esteem +and regard which Her Majesty and all classes of her subjects +entertain for the kindred race which occupies so distinguished a +position in the community of nations." Within a few days after +the exchange of this correspondence it became the duty of Lord +Lyons to announce to his government that the domestic differences +"in the great American Union" were deepening into so fierce a feud +that from different motives both General Cass the Secretary of +State, to whom his letter had been addressed, and Mr. Trescott the +Assistant Secretary of State, by whom it had been answered, had +resigned, and that the United States, one "of the two great nations +which represent the enterprise, the civilization, and the constitutional +liberty of the same great race," was about to confront the gravest +danger that can threaten national existence. + +The State of South Carolina passed its Ordinance of Secession +December 17, 1860. From that date until the surrender of Fort +Sumter, April 14, 1861, many of the most patriotic and able statesmen +of the country and a large majority of the people of the North +hoped that some reasonable and peaceful adjustment of the difficulties +would be found. The new Administration had every right to expect +that foreign powers would maintain the utmost reserve, both in +opinion and in action, until it could have a fair opportunity to +decide upon a policy. The great need of the new President was +time. Both he and his advisers felt that every day's delay was a +substantial gain, and that the maintenance of the _status quo_, +with no fresh outbreak at home and no unfriendly expression aborad, +was of incalculable advantage to the cause of the Union. + +Amid the varying and contradictory impressions of the hour, Lord +Lyons had reported events as they occurred, with singular fairness +and accuracy. Just one month before Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated, +on the 4th of February, 1861, His Lordship wrote to Lord John +Russell, at that time Her Majesty's Minister of Foreign Affairs: +"Mr. Seward's real view of the state of the country appears to be +that if bloodshed can be avoided until the new government is +installed, the seceding States will in no long time return to the +Confederation. He seems to think that in a few months the evils +and hardships produced by secession will become intolerably grievous +to the Southern States, that they will be completely re-assured as +to the intentions of the Administration, and that the conservative +element which is now kept under the surface by the violent pressure +of the Secessionists will emerge with irresistible force. From +all these causes he confidently expects that when elections for +the State Legislatures are held in the Southern States in November +next, the Union party will have a clear majority and will bring +the seceding States back into the Confederation. He then hopes to +place himself at the head of a strong Union party having extensive +ramifications both in the North and in the South, and to make 'Union +or Disunion, not Freedom or Slavery,' the watchwords of political +parties." It can scarcely escape notice how significant, even at +this early period, is the use in this dispatch of the word +"confederation" as applied to the United States,--a use never before +made of it in diplomatic communication since the establishment of +the Constitution, and indicating, only too clearly, the view to be +taken by the British Government of the relation of the States to +the Union. + +Whatever may have been the estimate at home of the policy attributed +to Mr. Seward, it was certainly one which would commend itself to +the sympathy of a friendly nation, and one, to the success of which +no neutral power would hesitate to contribute all the aid it could +rightfully render. The dispatch of Lord Lyons was received in +London on the 18th of February, and on the 20th Lord John Russell +replied as follows: "The success or failure of Mr. Seward's plans +to prevent a disruption of the North-American Union is a matter of +deep interest to Her Majesty's Government, but they can only expect +and hope. They are not called upon nor would they be acting +prudently were they to obtrude their advice on the dissentient +parties in the United States. Supposing however that Mr. Lincoln, +acting under bad advice, should endeavor to provide excitement for +the public mind by raising questions with Great Britain, Her +Majesty's Government feel no hesitation as to the policy they would +pursue. They would in the first place be very forbearing. They +would show by their acts how highly they value the relations of +peace and amity with the United States. But they would take care +to let the government which multiplied provocations and sought for +quarrels understand that their forbearance sprung from the +consciousness of strength and not from the timidity of weakness. +They would warn a government which was making political capital +out of blustering demonstrations that our patience might be tried +too far." + + THREATS FROM LORD JOHN RUSSELL. + +It is impossible to mistake the spirit or the temper of this +dispatch. It is difficult to account for the manifest irritation +of its tone except upon the ground that Lord John Russell saw in +a possible reconciliation, between North and South, something that +threatened the interest or jarred upon the sympathy of the British +Government. It was at least sufficient and ominous warning of what +the United States might expect from "the confidence and affection" +which had only a few weeks before been outpoured so lavishly by +Her Majesty's Government. The fact is worthy of emphasis that +since the cordial interchange of notes touching the visit of the +Prince of Wales there had not been a single word of unkindness in +the correspondence of the two governments. But our embarrassments +had been steadily deepening, and according to many precedents in +the career of that illustrious statesman, Lord John seems to have +considered the period of our distress a fitting time to assert that +"British forbearance springs from the consciousness of strength +and not from the timidity of weakness." + + +On the 4th of March, 1861, the administration of Mr. Lincoln assumed +the responsibility of government. At that date the organization +of the Southern Confederacy had not been perfected. Four States +which ultimately joined it had not yet seceded from the Union. +There had been no overt act of violence. The Administration still +believed in the possibility of a peaceful settlement. But on the +12th of April Fort Sumter was attacked. On the 14th it was +surrendered. On the 15th the President issued his Proclamation +calling out seventy-five thousand militia and summoning Congress +to meet on the 4th of July. On the 17th the President of the +Confederacy authorized the issue of letters of marque. On the 19th +the President of the United States proclaimed a blockade of the +Southern ports and declared that privateers with letters of marque +from the Southern Confederacy would be treated as pirates. + +This condition of affairs rendered the relation of foreign powers +to the Union and to the Confederacy at once urgent and critical. +It is true that Fort Sumter had surrendered to a warlike demonstration, +but fortunately no blood had been shed. It is true that letters +of marque had been authorized, but none had been actually issued. +It is true that a blockade had been proclaimed, but some time must +elapse before it could be practically enforced. All that can be +said is that the rebellion had organized itself with promptness +and courage for a conflict. There was still a pause. Neither +party thoroughly realized the horror of the work before them, though +every day made it more clearly apparent. Until then the United +States was the only organized government on our soil known to +England, and with it she had for three-quarters of a century +maintained commercial and political relations which had grown closer +and more friendly every year. The vital element of that government +was Union. Whatever might be the complicated relations of their +domestic law, to the world and to themselves the United States of +America was the indivisible government. This instinct of union +had gathered them together as colonies, had formed them into an +imperfect confederation, had matured them under a National +Constitution. It gave them their vigor at home, their power and +influence abroad. To destroy their union was to resolve them into +worse than colonial disintegration. + +But the separation of the States was more than the dissolution of +the Union. For, treating with all due respect the conviction of +the Southern States as to the violation of their constitutional +rights, no fair-minded man can deny that the central idea of the +secession movement was the establishment of a great slave-holding +empire around the Gulf of Mexico. It was a bold and imperial +conception. With an abounding soil, with millions of trained and +patient laborers, with a proud and martial people, with leaders +used to power and skilled in government, controlling some of the +greatest and most necessary of the commercial staples of the world, +the haughty oligarchy of the South would have founded a slave +republic which, in its successful development, would have changed +the future of this continent and of the world. When English +statesmen were called upon to deal with such a crisis, the United +States had a right to expect, if not active sympathy, at least that +neutrality which would confine itself within the strict limit of +international obligation, and would not withhold friendly wishes +for the preservation of the Union. + + RELATIONS OF ENGLAND AND THE UNION. + +England had tested slowly but surely the worth of the American +Union. As the United States had extended its territory, had +developed in wealth, had increased in population, richer and richer +had become the returns to England's merchants and manufacturers; +question after question of angry controversy had been amicably +settled by the conviction of mutual, growing, and peaceful interests. +And while it had become a rhetorical truism with English historians +and statesmen, that relations with the independent Republic were +stronger, safer, and more valuable than those of the old colonial +connection, her own principles of constitutional liberty were re- +invigorated by the skill and the breadth with which they were +applied and administered by her own children in a new country. +England could not but know that all this was due to the Union,-- +the Union which had concentrated the weakness of scattered States +into a government that protected the citizen and welcomed the +immigrant, which carried law and liberty to the pioneer on the +remotest border, which had made of provincial villages centres of +wealth and civilization that would not have discredited the capitals +of older nations, and which above all had created a Federal +representative government whose successful working might teach +England herself how to hold together the ample colonies that still +formed the outposts of her Empire. + +More than all, a Cabinet, every member of which by personal relation +of tradition connection belonged to the great liberal party that +felt the achievement of Emancipation to be a part of its historic +glory, should have realized that no diminution of a rival, no +monopoly of commerce, could bring to England any compensation for +the establishment of a slave-holding empire upon the central waters +of the world. + +With this natural expectation the Government in less than sixty +days after Mr. Lincoln's inauguration, sent its minister to London, +confident that he would at least be allowed to present to the +British Government for friendly consideration, the condition and +policy of the Republic before any positive action should disturb +the apparently amicable relations of the two countries. Mr. Charles +Francis Adams, who was selected for this important duty, was +instructed to explain to the British Government that the peculiar +relation of the States to the Federal Government, and the reticence +and reservations consequent upon a change of administration, had +hitherto restrained the action of the President in the formation +and declaration of his policy; that without foreign interference +the condition of affairs still afforded reasonable hope of a +satisfactory solution; and especially that it was necessary, if +there existed a sincere desire to avoid wrong and injury to the +United States, for foreign powers to abstain from any act of +pretended neutrality which would give material advantage or moral +encouragement to the organized forces of the rebellion. + +Before Mr. Adams could cross the Atlantic the British Government, +although aware of his mission and its object, decided upon its own +course, in concerted action with France, and without reference to +the views or wishes or interest of the United States. On the day +before Mr. Adams's arrival in England, as if to give him offensive +warning how little his representations would be regarded, Her +Majesty's Government issued a proclamation recognizing the confederated +Southern States as belligerents. It is entirely unnecessary to +discuss the question of the right to recognize belligerency. The +great powers of Europe had the same right to recognize the Southern +Confederacy as a belligerent that they had to recognize it as an +established nationality, and with the same consequences,--all +dependent upon whether the fact so recognized were indeed a fact. +But the recognition of belligerency or independence may be the +means to achieve a result, and not simply an impartial acquiescence +in a result already achieved. The question therefore was not +whether foreign powers had a right to recognize, but whether the +time and method of such recognition were not distinctly hostile,-- +whether they were not the efficient and coldly calculated means to +strengthen the hands of the Rebellion. + +Events proved that if the English Government had postponed this +action until the Government of the United States had been allowed +a frank discussion of its policy, no possible injury to English +interests could have resulted. It was but a very short time before +the rebellion assumed proportions that led to the recognition of +the Confederacy as a belligerent by the civil, judicial, and military +authorities of the Union; a recognition by foreign powers would +then have been simply an act of impartial neutrality. But, declared +with such precipitancy, recognition could be regarded only as an +act of unfriendliness to the United States. The proof of this is +inherent in the case:-- + +1. The purpose of the secession, openly avowed from the beginning, +was the dissolution of the Union and the establishment of an +independent slave-empire; and the joint recognition was a declaration +that such a result, fraught with ruin to us, was not antagonistic +to the feelings or to the supposed interests of Europe, and that +both the commercial ambition of England and the military aspirations +of France in Mexico hoped to find profit in the event. + + ENGLAND'S RECOGNITION OF BELLIGERENCY. + +2. This recognition of belligerency in defiance of the known wishes +and interests of the United States, accompanied by the discourteous +refusal to allow a few hours' delay for the reception of the American +minister, was a significant warning to the seceded States that no +respect due to the old Union would long delay the establishment of +new relations, and that they should put forth all their energies +before the embarrassed Administration could concentrate its efforts +in defense of the National life. + +3. The recognition of the belligerent flag of the Southern +Confederacy, with the equal right to supplies and hospitality, +guarantied by such recognition, gave to the insurgents facilities +and opportunities which were energetically used, and led to +consequences which belong to a later period of this history, but +the injury and error of which were emphatically rebuked by a judgment +of the most important tribunal that has ever been assembled to +interpret and administer international law. + +The demand which naturally followed for a rigid enforcement of the +blockade, imposed a heavy burden upon the Government of the United +States just at the time when it was least prepared to assume such +a burden. Apologists for the unfriendly course of England interpose +the plea that the declaration of blockade by the United States was +in fact a prior recognition of Southern belligerency. But it must +be remembered that when the United States proposed to avoid this +technical argument by closing the insurgent ports instead of +blockading them, Mr. Seward was informed by Lord Lyons, acting in +concert with the French minister, that Her Majesty's Government +"would consider a decree closing the ports of the South actually +in possession of the insurgent or Confederate States, as null and +void, and that they would not submit to measures on the high seas +in pursuance of such decree." Bitterly might Mr. Seward announce +the fact which has sunk deep into the American heart: "It is indeed +manifest in the tone of the speeches, as well as in the general +tenor of popular discussion, that neither the responsible ministers +nor the House of Commons nor the active portion of the people of +Great Britain sympathize with this government, and hope, or even +wish, for its success in suppressing the insurrection; and that on +the contrary the whole British nation, speaking practically, desire +and expect the dismemberment of the Republic." + +This very decided step towards a hostile policy was soon followed +by another even more significant. On the 9th of May, 1861, only +a few days before the Proclamation of Her Britannic Majesty, +recognizing the belligerency of the Southern Confederacy and thus +developing itself as a part of a concerted and systematic policy, +Lord Cowley, the British Ambassador at Paris, wrote to Lord John +Russell: "I called this afternoon on M. Thouvenel, Minister of +Foreign Affairs, for the purpose of obtaining his answer to the +proposals contained in your Lordship's dispatch of the 6th inst. +relative to the measures which should be pursued by the Maritime +Powers of Europe for the protection of neutral property in presence +of the events which are passing in the American States. M. Thouvenel +said the Imperial Government concurred entirely in the views of +Her Majesty's Government in endeavoring to _obtain of the belligerents_ +a _formal_ recognition of the second, third, and fourth articles +of the Declaration of Paris. Count de Flahault (French Ambassador +in London) would receive instructions to make this known officially +to your Lordship. With regard to the manner in which this endeavor +should be made, M. Thouvenel said that he thought a communication +should be addressed to both parties _in as nearly as possible the +same language_, the consuls being made the organs of communication +with the Southern States." + +Communicating this intelligence to Lord Lyons in a dispatch dated +May 18, 1861, Lord John Russell added these instructions: "Your +Lordship may therefore be prepared to find your French colleague +ready to take the same line with yourself in his communications +with the Government of the United States. I need not tell your +Lordship that Her Majesty's Government would very gladly see a +practice which is calculated to lead to great irregularities and +to increase the calamities of war renounced by _both_ the contending +parties in America as it has been renounced by almost _every other +nation_ in the world. . . . You will take such measures as you +shall judge most expedient to transmit to Her Majesty's consul at +Charleston or New Orleans a copy of my previous dispatch to you of +this day's date, to be communicated at Montgomery to the President +of the so-styled Confederate States." + +The identity of the address and the equality upon which both the +belligerents were invited to do what had been done by "almost every +other _nation_ of the world" need not be emphasized. + + ACTION OF CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT. + +On July 5, 1861, Lord Lyons instructed Mr. Bunch, the British Consul +at Charleston, South Carolina:-- + +"The course of events having invested the States assuming the title +of Confederate States of America with the character of belligerents, +it has become necessary for Her Majesty's Government to obtain from +the existing government in those States securities concerning the +proper treatment of neutrals. I am authorized by Lord John Russell +to confide the negotiation on this matter to you, and I have great +satisfaction in doing so. In order to make you acquainted with +the views of Her Majesty's Government, I transmit to you a duplicate +of a dispatch to me in which they are fully stated." His Lordship +then proceeded to instruct the consul as to the manner in which it +might be best to conduct the negotiation, the object being to avoid +as far as possible a direct official communication with the +authorities of the Confederate States. Instructions to the same +purport were addressed by the French Government to their consul at +Charleston. + +What then was the point of the negotiations committed to these +consuls? It will be found in the dispatch from Lord John Russell, +communicated by his order to Mr. Bunch. It was the accession of +the United States and of the Confederate States to the Declaration +of Paris of April 16, 1856. That Declaration was signed by the +Ministers of Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, +Sardinia, and Turkey. It adopted as article of Maritime Law the +following points:-- + +"1. Privateering is and remains abolished. + +"2. The neutral flag covers enemy's goods with the exception of +contraband of war. + +"3. Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are +not liable to capture under the enemy's flag. + +"4. Blockades in order to be binding must be effective,--that is +to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent access +to the coast of the enemy." + +The Powers signing the Declaration engaged to bring it to the +knowledge of those Powers which had not taken part in that Congress +of Paris, and to invite them to accede to it; and they agreed that +"the present Declaration is not and shall not be binding except +between those Powers which have acceded or shall accede to it." +It was accepted by all the European and South American Powers. +The United States, Mexico, and the Oriental Powers did not join in +the general acceptance. + +The English and French consuls in Charleston, having received these +instructions, sought and found an intermediary whose position and +diplomatic experience would satisfy the requirements. This agent +accepted the trust on two conditions,--one, that he should be +furnished with the instructions as proof to the Confederate Government +of the genuineness of the negotiation, the other, that the answer +of the Confederate Government should be received in whatever shape +that government should think proper to frame it. The negotiations +in Richmond which had by this time become the seat of the Insurgent +Government were speedily concluded, and on the 13th of August, +1861, the Confederate Government passed the following resolution:-- + +"WHEREAS the Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria, France, +Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey, in a conference held at +Paris on the 16th of April, 1856, made certain declarations concerning +Maritime Law, to serve as uniform rules for their guidance in all +cases arising out of the principles thus proclaimed; + +"AND WHEREAS it being desirable not only to attain certainty and +uniformity as far as may be practicable in maritime law, but also +to maintain whatever is just and proper in the established usages +of nations, the Confederate States of America deem it important to +declare the principles by which they will be governed in their +intercourse with the rest of mankind: Now therefore be it + +"_Resolved_, by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, + +"1st, That we maintain the right of privateering as it has been +long established by the practice and recognized by the law of +nations. + +"2d, That the neutral flag covers enemy's goods with the exception +of contraband of war. + +"3d, That neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, +are not liable to capture under the enemy's flag. + +"4th, Blockades in order to be binding must be effective; that is +to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent access +to the coast of the enemy." + + ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND THE CONFEDERACY. + +"These resolutions," says Mr. Bunch to Lord Lyons on Aug. 16, 1861, +"were passed on the 13th inst., approved on the same day by the +President, and I have the honor to enclose herewith to your Lordship +the copy of them which has been sent to Mr. ---- by the Secretary +of State to be delivered to M. de Belligny and myself." On Aug. +30, 1861, Lord Lyons wrote to Lord John Russell: "I have received, +just in time to have the enclosed copy made for your Lordship, a +dispatch from Mr. Consul Bunch reporting the proceedings taken by +him in conjunction with his French colleague M. de Belligny to +obtain the adherence of the so-called Confederate States to the +last three articles of the Declaration of Paris;" and a few days +later he says, "I am confirmed in the opinion that the negotiation, +which was difficult and delicate, was managed with great tact and +judgment by the two consuls." + +Upon the discovery of this "difficult and delicate negotiation," +Mr. Seward demanded the removal of Mr. Bunch. Lord John Russell +replied to Mr. Adams Sept. 9, 1861, "The undersigned will without +hesitation state to Mr. Adams that in pursuance of an agreement +between the British and French Government, Mr. Bunch was instructed +to communicate to the persons exercising authority in the so-called +Confederate States the desire of those governments that the second, +third, and fourth articles of the Declaration of Paris should be +observed by those States in the prosecution of the hostilities in +which they were engaged. Mr. Adams will observe that the commerce +of Great Britain and France is deeply interested in the maintenance +of the articles providing that the flag covers the goods, and that +the goods of a neutral taken on board a belligerent ship are not +liable to confiscation. Mr. Bunch, therefore, in what he has done +in this matter, has acted in obedience to the instructions of his +government, who accept the responsibility of his proceedings so +far as they are known to the Foreign Department, and who cannot +remove him from his office for having obeyed instructions." + +Here then was a complete official negotiation with the Confederate +States. Mr. Montagu Bernard, in his ingenious and learned work, +_The Neutrality of Great Britain during the American War_, conceals +the true character of the work in which the British Government had +been engaged: "The history of an unofficial application made to +the Confederate States on the same subject is told in the two +following dispatches. It will be seen that the channel of +communication was a private person instructed by the British and +French consuls, who had been themselves instructed by the ministers +of their respective governments at Washington." The presence of +a private intermediary at one point cannot break the chain of +official communication if the communications are themselves official. +For certain purposes the governments of England and France consulted +and determined upon a specific line of policy. That policy was +communicated in regular official instructions to their minister in +Washington. The Ministers were to select the instruments to carry +it out, and the persons selected were the official consular +representatives of France and England, who although residing at +the South held their _exequatures_ from the United-States Government. +They were instructed to make a political application to the government +of the Confederacy, and Lord John Russell could not disguise that +government under the mask of "the persons exercising authority in +the so-called Confederate States." Their application was received +by the Confederate Government through their agent just as it would +have been received through the mail addressed to the Secretary of +State. Their application was officially acted upon by the Confederate +Congress, and the result contained in an official document was +transmitted to them, and forwarded by them to their immediate +official superiors in Washington, who recognized it as a successful +result of "a difficult and delicate negotiation." It was then sent +to the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries, and the responsibility +of the act was fully and finally assumed by those ministers. + +Nor can it be justified as an application to a belligerent, informing +him that in the exercise of belligerent rights England and France +would expect a strict conformity to International Law. The four +articles of the Treaty of Paris were not provisions of International +Law. They were explicit modifications of that law as it had long +existed, and the Declaration itself stated that it was not to bind +any of the Powers which had not agreed expressly to accept it. It +was therefore an invitation, not to a belligerent but to the Southern +Confederacy, to accept and thus become a part to an international +compact to which in the very nature of things there could be no +parties save those whose acceptance constituted an international +obligation. It has never yet been claimed that a mere insurgent +belligerent, however strong, occupied such position. If instead +of declaring by resolution that the second, third, and fourth +articles of the Declaration of Paris were principles which by their +own voluntary action they would adopt as rules for their own +government, the Confederate States had, with an astute policy which +the invitation itself seems intended to suggest, demanded that they +should be allowed to accept the Declaration in the same method in +which it had been accepted "by every other nation," it is difficult +to see how their demand could have been refused; and if it has been +admitted, what would have been wanting to perfect the recognition +of the independence of the Southern Confederacy? + + THE PARIS CONVENTION. + +The motive of England and France in this extraordinary negotiation +with the Confederacy is plain. The right of privateering was not +left untouched except with deep design. By securing the assent of +the Confederacy to the other three articles of the Paris Convention, +safety was assured to British and French cargoes under the American +flag, while every American cargo was at risk unless protected by +a Foreign flag--generally the flag of England. It would have been +impossible to invent a process more gainful to British commerce, +more harmful to American commerce. While the British and French +consuls were conducting this negotiation with the Confederate +States, the British and French ministers were conducting another +to the same purport with the United States. Finally Mr. Seward +offered to waive the point made by Secretary Marcy many years before +at the date of the Declaration, and to accept the four articles of +the Paris Convention, pure and simple. But his could not be done, +because the Confederate States had not accepted the first article +abolishing privateering and her privateers must therefore be +recognized. England and France used this fact as a pretext for +absolutely declining to permit the accession of the United States, +one of the great maritime powers of the world, to a treaty which +was proclaimed to be a wise and humane improvement of the old and +harsh law of nations, and to which in former years the United States +had been most earnestly invited to give her assent. This course +throws a flood of light on the clandestine correspondence with the +Confederacy, and plainly exposes the reasons why it was desired +that the right of privateering should be left open to the Confederates. +Through that instrumentality great harm could be inflicted on the +United States and at the same time England could be guarded against +a cotton famine. To accomplish these ends she negotiated what was +little less than a hostile treaty with an Insurgent Government. +This action was initiated before a single battle was fought, and +was evidently intended as encouragement and inspiration to the +Confederates to persist in their revolutionary proceedings against +the Government of the United States. Any reasonable man, looking +at the condition of affairs, could not doubt that the public +recognition of the independence of the Confederacy by England and +France, was a foregone and rapidly approaching conclusion. + + +With this condition of affairs leading necessarily to a more +pronounced unfriendliness, an incident occurred towards the close +of the year which seriously threatened a final breach of amicable +relations. On the 9th of November, 1861, Captain Wilkes of the +United-States steamer _San Jacinto_, seized the persons of James +M. Mason and John Slidell, ministers from the Southern Confederacy, +and their secretaries, on board the British mail-steamer _Trent_ +on her way from Havana to Kingston. Messrs. Mason and Slidell were +accredited by the Executive of the Southern Confederacy to the +Governments of England and France. Their avowed object was to +obtain the recognition by those governments of the independence of +the new Southern Republic, and their success would have been a most +dangerous if not a fatal blow to the cause of the Union. But they +were not by any recognized principle of international law contraband +of war, and they were proceeding from a neutral port to a neutral +port in a neutral vessel. The action of the officer who seized +them was not authorized by any instructions, and the seizure was +itself in violation of those principles of maritime law for which +the United States had steadily and consistently contended from the +establishment of its national life. The difficulty of adjustment +lay not in the temper or conviction of either government, but in +the passionate and very natural excitement of popular feeling in +both countries. In the United States there was universal and +enthusiastic approval of the act of Captain Wilkes. In England +there was an equally vehement demand for immediate and signal +reparation. + + LORD JOHN RUSSELL AND LORD LYONS. + +Lord John Russell, after reciting the facts, instructed Lord Lyons +in a dispatch of Nov. 30, 1861: "Her Majesty's Government therefore +trust that when this matter shall have been brought under the +consideration of the Government of the United States, that government +will of its own accord offer to the British Government such redress +as alone would satisfy the British nation; namely, the liberation +of the four gentlemen and their delivery to your Lordship in order +that they may again be placed under British protection, and a +suitable apology for the aggression which has been committed. +Should these terms not be offered by Mr. Seward you will propose +them to him." In a dispatch of the same date Lord John Russell +says to Lord Lyons: "In my previous dispatch of this date I have +instructed you by command of Her Majesty to make certain demands +of the Government of the United States. Should Mr. Seward ask for +delay in order that this grave and painful matter should be +deliberately considered, you will consent to a delay not exceeding +seven days. If at the end of that time no answer is given, or if +any other answer is given except that of compliance with the demands +of Her Majesty's Government, your Lordship is instructed to leave +Washington with all the members of your Legation, bringing with +you the archives of the Legation, and to repair immediately to +London. If however you should be of opinion that the requirements +of Her Majesty's Government are substantially complied with you +may report the facts to Her Majesty's Government for their +consideration, and remain at your post until you receive further +orders." The communication of this peremptory limitation of time +for a reply would have been an offensive threat; but it was a +private instruction to guide the discretion of the minister, not +to be used if the condition of things upon its arrival promised an +amicable solution. It must also in justice be remembered that +excited feeling had been shown by different departments of our own +Government as well as by the press and the people. The House of +Representatives had unanimously adopted a resolution thanking +Captain Wilkes "for his brave, adroit, and patriotic conduct;" and +the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Gideon Welles, had publicly and +officially approved his action. + +The spirit in which Lord Lyons would receive his instructions was +indicated in advance by his own dispatch to Lord John Russell of +Nov. 19, 1861: "I have accordingly deemed it right to maintain +the most complete reserve on the subject. To conceal the distress +which I feel would be impossible, nor would it if possible be +desirable; but I have expressed no opinion on the questions of +international law involved; I have hazarded no conjecture as to +the course which will be taken by Her Majesty's Government. On +the one hand I dare not run the risk of compromising the honor and +inviolability of the British flag by asking for a measure of +reparation which may prove to be inadequate. On the other hand I +am scarcely less unwilling to incur the danger of rendering a +satisfactory settlement of the question more difficult by making +a demand which may turn out to be unnecessarily great. In the +present imperfect state of my information I feel that the only +proper and prudent course is to wait for the orders which your +Lordship will give, with a complete knowledge of the whole case. +I am unwilling moreover to deprive any explanation or reparation +which the United-States Government may think it right to offer, of +the grace of being made spontaneously. I know too that a demand +from me would very much increase the main difficulty which the +government would feel in yielding to any disposition which they +may have to make amends to Great Britain. The American people +would more easily tolerate a spontaneous offer of reparation made +by its government from a sense of justice than a compliance with +a demand for satisfaction from a foreign minister." + +In accordance with the sentiments thus expressed, Lord Lyons, +interpreting his discretion liberally and even generously, called +upon Mr. Seward on the 19th of December, 1861, and the following +is his official account of the interview: "The Messenger Seymour +delivered to me at half-past eleven o'clock last night your Lordship's +dispatch of the 30th ultimo, specifying the reparation required by +Her Majesty's Government for the seizure of Mr. Mason and Mr. +Slidell and their secretaries on board the royal mail-steamer +_Trent_. I waited on Mr. Seward this afternoon at the State +Department, and acquainted him in general terms with the tenor of +that dispatch. I stated in particular, as nearly as possible in +your Lordship's words, that the only redress which could satisfy +Her Majesty's Government and Her Majesty's people would be the +immediate delivery of the prisoners to me in order that they might +be placed under British protection, and moreover a suitable apology +for the aggression which had been committed. I added that Her +Majesty's Government hoped that the Government of the United States +would of its own accord offer this reparation; that it was in order +to facilitate such an arrangement that I had come to him without +any written demand, or even any written paper at all, in my hand; +that if there was a prospect of attaining this object I was willing +to be guided by him as to the conduct on my part which would render +its attainment most easy. Mr. Seward received my communication +seriously and with dignity, but without any manifestation of +dissatisfaction. Some further conversation ensued in consequence +of questions put by him with a view to ascertain the exact character +of the dispatch. At the conclusion he asked me to give him to- +morrow to consider the question and to communicate with the President. +On the day after he should, he said, be ready to express an opinion +with respect to the communication I had made. In the mean time he +begged me to be assured that he was very sensible of the friendly +and conciliatory manner in which I had made it." + + SECRETARY SEWARD AND LORD LYONS. + +On the 26th of December Mr. Seward transmitted to Lord Lyons the +reply of the United States to the demand of the British Government. +In forwarding it to his Government Lord Lyons said: "Before +transmitting to me the note of which a copy enclosed in my immediately +preceding dispatch of to-day's date, Mr. Seward sent for me to the +State Department, and said with some emotion that he thought that +it was due to the great kindness and consideration which I had +manifested throughout in dealing with the affair of the _Trent_, +that he should tell me with his own lips that he had been able to +effect a satisfactory settlement of it. He had now however been +authorized to address to me a note which would be satisfactory to +Her Majesty's Government. In answer to inquiries from me Mr. Seward +said that of course he understood Her Majesty's Government to leave +it open to the Government of Washington to present the case in the +form which would be most acceptable to the American people, but +that the note was intended to be and was a compliance with the +terms proposed by Her Majesty's Government. He would add that the +friendly spirit and discretion which I had manifested in the whole +matter from the day on which the intelligence of the seizure reached +Washington up to the present moment had more than any thing else +contributed to the satisfactory settlement of the question." + +In his reply Mr. Seward took the ground that we had the right to +detain the British vessel and to search for contraband persons and +dispatches, and moreover that the persons named and their dispatches +were contraband. But he found good reason for surrendering the +Confederate envoys in the fact that Captain Wilkes had neglected +to bring the _Trent_ into a Prize Court and to submit the whole +transaction to Judicial examination. Mr. Seward certainly strained +the argument of Mr. Madison as Secretary of State in 1804 to a most +extraordinary degree when he apparently made it cover the ground +that we would quietly have submitted to British right of search if +the "Floating Judgment-seat" could have been substituted by a +British Prize Court. The seizure of the _Trent_ would not have +been made more acceptable to the English Government by transferring +her to the jurisdiction of an American Prize-Court, unless indeed +that Court should have decided, as it most probably would have +decided, that the seizure was illegal. Measuring the English demand +not by the peremptory words of Lord John Russell but by the kindly +phrase in which Lord Lyons in a personal interview verbally +communicated them, Mr. Seward felt justified in saying that "the +claim of the British Government is not made in a discourteous +manner." Mr. Seward did not know that at the very moment he was +writing these conciliatory words, British troops were on their way +to the Dominion of Canada to menace the United States, and that +British cannon were shotted for our destruction. + +Lord John Russell, however much he might differ from Mr. Seward's +argument, found ample satisfaction to the British Government in +his conclusion. He said in reply: "Her Majesty's Government having +carefully taken into their consideration the liberation of the +prisoners, the delivery of them into your hands, and the explanations +to which I have just referred, have arrived at the conclusion that +they constitute the reparation which Her Majesty and the British +nation had a right to expect." And thus, by the delivery of the +prisoners in the form and at the place least calculated to excite +or wound the susceptibilities of the American people, this dangerous +question was settled. It is only to be regretted that the spirit +and discretion exhibited by the eminent diplomatist who represented +England here with such wisdom and good temper, had not been adopted +at an earlier date and more steadily maintained by the British +Government. It would have prevented much angry controversy, much +bitter feeling; it would have averted events and consequences which +still shadow with distrust a national friendship that ought to be +cordial and constant. + + ENGLAND, FRANCE, PRUSSIA, AND AUSTRIA. + +The painful event impressed upon the Government of the United States +a profound sense of its isolation from the sympathy of Europe. +The principle of maritime law, which was so promptly and rigorously +applied, was one for which the United States had contended in its +weakness against the usages of the world and against the arms of +Great Britain. There was apparent now an eager resolution to +enforce it, when that enforcement was sure to embarrass us and to +provoke a spirit of derisive triumph in our foes. It was clear +that no effort would be spared to restrict our belligerent rights +within the narrowest possible limits. Not content with leaving us +to settle this question with England, France and Prussia and Austria +hastened to inform us in language professedly friendly, that England +would be supported in her demand for reparation, cost what it might +to us in prestige, and in power to deal with the Rebellion at home. +At this time there was but one among the great nations of the world +which adhered to an active and avowed friendship for us. "We desire +above all things the maintenance of the American Union as one +indivisible nation," was the kindly and always to be remembered +greeting that came to us from the Emperor of Russia. + +The profound ability exhibited by Mr. Seward as Secretary of State +has long been acknowledged and emphasized by the admiration and +gratitude of the country. In the _Trent_ affair he acted under a +pressure of circumstances more harassing and perplexing than had +ever tested the skill of American diplomacy. It is with no +disposition to detract from the great service rendered by him that +a dissent is expressed from the ground upon which he placed the +surrender of Mason and Slidell. It is not believed that the doctrine +announced by Mr. Seward can be maintained on sound principles of +International Law, while it is certainly in conflict with the +practice which the United States had sought to establish from the +foundation of the Government. The restoration of the envoys on +any such apparently insufficient basis did not avoid the mortification +of the surrender; it only deprived us of the fuller credit and +advantage which we might have secured from the act. It is to be +regretted that we did not place the restoration of the prisoners +upon franker and truer ground, viz., that their seizure was in +violation of the principles which we had steadily and resolutely +maintained--principles which we would not abandon either for a +temporary advantage or to save the wounding of our National pride. + +The luminous speech of Mr. Sumner, when the papers in the _Trent_ +case were submitted to Congress, stated the ground for which the +United States had always contended with admirable precision. We +could not have refused to surrender Mason and Slidell without +trampling upon our own principles and disregarding the many precedents +we had sought to establish. But it must not be forgotten that the +sword of precedent cut both ways. It was as absolutely against +the peremptory demand of England for the surrender of the prisoners +as it was against the United States for the seizure of them. +Whatever wrong was inflicted on the British Flag by the action of +Captain Wilkes, had been time and again inflicted on the American +flag by officers of the English Navy,--without cause, without +redress, without apology. Hundreds and thousands of American +citizens had in time of peace been taken by British cruisers from +the decks of American vessels and violently impressed into the +naval service of that country. + +Lord Castlereagh practically confessed in Parliament that this +offense against the liberty of American citizens had been repeated +thirty-five hundred times. According to the records of our own +department of State as Mr. Sumner alleges "the quarter-deck of a +British man-of-war had been made a floating judgment-seat six +thousand times and upwards, and each time some citizen or other +person was taken from the protection of our national flag without +any form of trial whatever." So insolent and oppressive had British +aggression become before the war of 1812, that Mr. Jefferson in +his somewhat celebrated letter to Madame de Staël-Holstein of May +24, 1813, said, "No American could safely cross the ocean or venture +to pass by sea from one to another of our own ports. _It is not +long since they impressed at sea two nephews of General Washington +returning from Europe, and put them, as common seamen, under the +ordinary discipline of their ships of war_." + +After the war of 1812 these unendurable insults to our flag were +not repeated by Great Britain, but her Government steadily refused +to make any formal renunciation of her right to repeat them, so +that our immunity from like insults did not rest upon any better +foundation than that which might be dictated by considerations of +interest and prudence on the part of the offending Power. The +wrong which Captain Wilkes committed against the British flag was +surely not so great as if he had seized the persons of British +subjects--subjects, if you please, who were of kindred blood to +one who stands as high in the affection of the British people as +Washington stands in the affection of the American people,--if +indeed there be such a one in English tradition. + +The offense of Captain Wilkes was surely far below that in the +essential quality of outrage. He had not touched the hair of a +British subject's head. He had only removed from the hospitality +and shelter of a British ship four men who were bent on an errand +of destruction to the American Union. His act cannot be justified +by the canons of International Law as our own Government has +interpreted and enforced them. But in view of the past and of the +long series of graver outrages with which Great Britain had so +wantonly insulted the American flag, she might have refrained from +invoking the judgment of the civilized world against us, and +especially might she have refrained from making in the hour of our +sore trial and our deep distress, a demand which no British Minister +would address to this Government in the day of its strength and +its power. + + FRIENDLY POSITION OF THE QUEEN. + +It would be ungracious to withhold an expression of the lasting +appreciation entertained in this country of the course pursued by +Her Majesty, the Queen of England, throughout this most painful +ordeal. She was wiser than her Ministers, and there can be little +doubt but for her considerate interposition, softening the rigor +of the British demand, the two nations would have been forced into +war. On all the subsequent occasions for bitterness towards England, +by reason of the treatment we experienced during the war, there +was an instinctive feeling among Americans that the Queen desired +peace and good will, and did not sympathize with the insidious +efforts at our destruction, which had their origin in her dominions. +It was fortunate that the disposition of the Queen, and not of her +Ministry, was represented in Washington by Lord Lyons. The good +sense and good temper of His Lordship were of inestimable value to +both countries, in making the task of Mr. Seward practicable, +without increasing the resentment of our people. + + +It was well that the Government and people of the United States +were so early taught that their value to the world of foreign +principles, foreign feeling, and foreign interests was only what +they could themselves establish; that in this contest they must +depend upon themselves; and that the dissolution of their National +Unity and the destruction of their free, popular Government from +the lack of courage and wisdom in those whose duty it was to maintain +them, would not be unwelcome to the Principalities and Powers that +"were willing to wound, but yet afraid to strike." This is not +the time to describe the vacillating and hesitating development of +this hostile policy; but as the purpose of the United-States +Government grew more steady, more resolute, and more self-reliant, +a sickening doubt seemed to becloud the ill-concealed hope of our +ruin. It was not long until the brave and deluded rebels of the +South learned that there was no confidence to be placed in the +cruel and selfish calculation which encouraged their desperate +resistance with the show of sympathy, but would not avow an open +support or make a manly sacrifice in their behalf. + +This initial policy of foreign powers had developed its natural +consequences. It not only excited but it warranted in the Southern +Confederacy the hope of early recognition. It seemed impossible +that, with this recognized equality between the belligerents, there +would not occur somewhere just such incidents as the seizure of +the _Trent_ or the capture of the _Florida_ which would render it +very difficult to maintain peaceful relations between foreign Powers +and the United States. The neutrality laws were complicated. Men- +of-war commanded by ambitious, ardent, and patriotic officers would +sometimes in the excitement of honorable feeling, sometimes in +mistaken sense of duty, vindicate their country's flag; while it +was the interest of the officers of the Confederate cruisers, as +bold and ingenious men who ever commanded ship, to create, wherever +they could, difficulties which would embarrass the interests of +neutrals and intensify between the United States and foreign Powers +the growing feeling of distrust. Thus from month to month the +Government of the United States could never feel secure that there +would not arise questions which the indignation of its own people +and the pride and latent hostility of foreign government would +place beyond the power of friendly adjustment. Such questions did +arise with England, France, Brazil, Spain, and even with Mexico, +which the common disinclination to actual war succeeded in postponing +rather than settling. But as the civil war went on, three classes +of questions took continuous and precise shape. Their scope and +result can be fully and fairly considered. These were-- + +1. The building and equipping of Confederate cruisers and their +treatment as legitimate national vessels of war in the home and +colonial ports of foreign powers. + +2. The establishment at such ports as Nassau, in the immediate +vicinity of the blockaded ports of the Southern States, of depots +of supplies, which afforded to the Confederates enormous advantages +in the attempt to break the blockade. + +3. The distinct defiance of the traditional policy of the United +States by the invasion of the neighboring Republic of Mexico for +the avowed purpose of establishing there a foreign and monarchical +dynasty. + + SECRET SERVICE OF THE CONFEDERACY. + +No sooner had Her Brittanic Majesty's proclamation, recognizing +the belligerent rights of the Southern Confederacy, been issued, +than a naval officer of remarkable ability and energy was sent from +Montgomery to Liverpool. In his very interesting history of the +services rendered by him, that officer says: "The chief object of +this narrative is to demonstrate by a plain statement of facts that +the Confederate Government, through their agents, did nothing more +than all other belligerents have heretofore done in time of need; +namely, tried to obtain from every possible source the means +necessary to carry on the war in which they were engaged, and that +in so doing they took particular pains to understand the municipal +law of those countries in which they sought to supply their wants, +and were especially careful to keep with the statutes. . . . + +"The object of the Confederate Government was not merely to build +a single ship, but it was to maintain a permanent representative +of the Navy Department abroad, and to get ships and naval supplies +without hindrance so long as the war lasted. To effect this purpose +it was manifestly necessary to act with prudence and caution and +to do nothing in violation of the municipal law, because a single +conviction would both expose the object and defeat the aim." His +solicitor "therefore drew up a case for counsel's opinion and +submitted it to two eminent barristers, both of whom have since +filled the highest judicial positions. The case was submitted; +was a general and not a specific proposition. It was not intimated +for what purpose and on whose behalf the opinion was asked, and +the reply was therefore wholly without bias, and embraced a full +exposition of the Act in its bearing upon the question of building +and equipping ships in Her Majesty's dominions. + +"The inferences drawn from the investigation of the Act by counsel +were put in the following form by my solicitor:-- + +"'1. It is no offense (under the Act) for British subjects to +equip, etc., a ship at some country _without_ Her Majesty's dominions +though the intent be to cruise against a friendly State. + +"'2. It is no offense for _any_ person (subject or no subject) to +_equip_ a ship _within_ Her Majesty's dominions if it be _not_ done +with the intent to cruise against a friendly State. + +"'3. The mere building of a ship _within_ Her Majesty's dominions +by any person (subject or no subject) is no offense, _whatever may +be the intent of the parties_, because the offense is not in the +_building_, but the _equipping_. + +"'Therefore any ship-builder may build any ship in Her Majesty's +dominions, provided he does not equip her within Her Majesty's +dominions, and he had nothing to do with the acts of the purchasers +done _within_ Her Majesty's dominions without his concurrence, or +without Her Majesty's dominions even with his concurrence.'"-- +[BULLOCK's _Secret Service of the Confederate States_, vol. i, pp. +65-67.] + +It is an amazing courtesy which attributes to the eminent counsel +a complete ignorance of the object and purpose for which their +weighty opinion was sought in the construction of British law. +Such ignorance is feigned and not real, and the pretense of its +existence indicates either on the part of the author or the counsel +a full appreciation of the deadly consequences of that malign +interpretation of England's duty for which two illustrious members +of the English Bar were willing to stand sponsors before the world. +Conceding, as we fairly may concede, that the decision in the case +of the _Alexandra_ is confirmatory of the opinion given by these +leaders of the British bar, the result was simply the establishment +and administration of the Naval Department of the Confederacy in +England. There was its chief, there were its financial agents, +there its workshops. There were its vessels armed and commissioned. +Thence they sailed on their mission of destruction, and thither +they returned to repair their damages, and to renew their supplies. +Under formal contracts with the Confederate Government the colonial +ports of Nassau and the Bermudas were made depots of supplies which +were drawn upon with persistent and successful regularity. The +effects of this thoroughly organized system of so-called neutrality +that supplied ports, ships, arms, and men to a belligerent which +had none, are not matters of conjecture or exaggeration; they have +been proven and recorded. In three years fifteen million dollars' +worth of property was destroyed,--given to the flame or sunk beneath +the waters,--the shipping of the United States was reduced one- +half, and the commercial flag of the Union fluttered with terror +in every wind that blew, form the whale-fisheries of the Arctic to +the Southern Cross. + + MINISTER DAYTON'S INDIGNANT PROTEST. + +With this condition of affairs, permitted and encouraged by England +and France, our distinguished minister at Paris was justified in +saying to the Government of Louis Napoleon on the reception of the +Confederate steamer _Georgia_ at Brest, in language which though +but the bare recital of fact was of itself the keenest reproach to +the French Government:-- + +"The _Georgia_, like the _Florida_, the _Alabama_, and other scourges +of peaceful commerce, was born of that unhappy decree which gave +the rebels who did not own a ship-of-war or command a single port +the right of an ocean belligerent. Thus encouraged by foreign +powers they began to build and fit out in neutral ports a class of +vessels constructed mainly for speed, and whose acknowledged mission +is not to fight, but to rob, to burn, and to fly. Although the +smoke of burning ships has everywhere marked the track of the +_Georgia_ and the _Florida_ upon the ocean, they have never sought +a foe or fired a gun against an armed enemy. To dignify such +vessels with the name of ships-of-war seems to me, with deference, +a misnomer. Whatever flag may fly from their mast-head, or whatever +power may claim to own them, their conduct stamps them as piratical. +If vessels of war even, they would by this conduct have justly +forfeited all courtesies in ports of neutral nations. Manned by +foreign seamen, armed by foreign guns, entering no home port, and +waiting no judicial condemnation of prizes, they have already +devastated and destroyed our commerce to an extent, as compared +with their number, beyond any thing known in the records of +privateering." + +It would seem impossible that such a state of things could be the +result of the impartial administration of an honest neutrality. +It must be attributed to one of two causes;--either the municipal +law of foreign countries was not sufficient to enable the governments +to control the selfishness or the sentiment of their people,--to +which the reply is obvious that the weakness and incompetence of +municipal law cannot diminish or excuse international obligations: +or it must have been due to a misconception of the obligations +which international law imposes. How far there may have been a +motive for this misconception, how far the wish was father to the +thought of such misconstruction, it is perhaps needless now to +inquire. The theory of international law maintained by the foreign +Powers may be fairly stated in two propositions:-- + +1. That foreign Powers had the right, and in due regard to their +own interests were bound, to recognize belligerency as a fact. + +2. That belligerents once recognized, were equals and must be +treated with the same perfect neutrality. + +It is not necessary to deny these propositions, but simply to +ascertain their real meaning. In its primary and simple application, +the law of belligerency referred to two or more belligerents, +equally independent. Its application to the case of insurgents +against an established and recognized government is later, involves +other and in some respects different considerations, and cannot +even now be regarded as settled. To recognize an insurgent as a +belligerent is not to recognize him as fully the equal of the +government from which he secedes. This would be simply to recognize +his independence. The limitation which international law places +upon this recognition is stated in the English phrase, "the right +to recognize belligerency as a fact;"--that is, to recognize the +belligerent to the extent of his war capacity but no farther. The +neutral cannot on this principle recognize in the belligerent the +possession of any power which he does not actually possess, although +in the progress of the contest such power may be developed. + +The Southern Confederacy had an organized government and great +armies. To that extent its power was a fact. But when foreign +governments recognized in the insurgents the rights of ocean +belligerency, they went beyond the fact. They were actually giving +to the Confederacy a character which it did not possess and which +it never acquired. For the Confederacy had not a ship or an open +port. Whenever an insurgent power claims such right, it must be +in condition to assume and discharge the obligation which such +rights impose. When any power, insurgent or recognized, claims +such right,--the right to fly its flag, to deal in hostility with +the commerce of the world, to exercise dangerous privileges which +may affect the interests and complicate the relations of other +nations,--it must give to the world a guaranty that it is both able +and willing to administer the system of maritime law under which +it claims such rights and powers, by submitting its action to the +regular and formal jurisdiction of Prize Courts. Strike the Prize +Court out of modern maritime law and the whole system falls, and +capture on the sea becomes pure barbarism,--distinguished from +piracy only by the astuteness of a legal technicality. The Southern +Confederacy could give no guaranty. Just as it undertook to +naturalize foreign seamen upon the quarter-deck of its roving +cruisers, so it undertook to administer a system of maritime law +which precluded the most solemn and important of its provisions-- +a judicial decision--and converted the humane and legal right of +capture into an absolute and a ruthless decree of destruction. No +neutral has the right to make or accept such an interpolation into +the recognized and essential principles of the law of maritime +warfare. + + ENGLAND'S MALIGNANT NEUTRALITY. + +The application of this so-called neutrality to both the so-called +belligerents was not designed nor was it practicable. In referring +to the obligation of the neutral to furnish no assistance to either +of the belligerents, one of the oldest and most authoritative of +international law writers says: "I do not say to give assistance +equally but to give no assistance, for it would be absurd that a +state should assist at the same time two enemies. And besides it +would be impossible to do it with equality: the same things, the +like number of troops, the like quantity of arms and munitions +furnished under different circumstances are no longer equivalent +succors." Assistance is not a theoretical idea; it is a plain, +practical, unmistakable fact. When the United States had, at vast +cost and by incredible effort, shut the Southern Confederacy from +the sea and blockaded its ports against the entry of supplies, when +that government had no resources within its territory by which it +could put a ship upon the ocean, or break the blockade from within, +then it was that England allowed Confederate officers to camp upon +her soil, organize her labor, employ her machinery, use her ports, +occupy her colonial stations, almost within sight of the blockaded +coast, and to do this continuously, systematically, defiantly. + +By these acts the British government gave the most valuable assistance +to the South and actually engaged in defeating the military operations +of the United States. There was no equivalent assistance which +Great Britain could or did render to the United States. They might +have rendered other assistance, but none which would compensate +for this. Let it be supposed for one moment that Mexico had +practiced, on the other side of the Rio Grande, the same sort of +neutrality,--that she had lined the bank of the river with depots +of military supplies; that she had allowed officers of the Confederate +army to establish themselves and organize a complete system for +the receipt of cotton and the delivery of merchandise on her +territory; that her people had served as factors, intermediaries, +and carriers,--would any reasonable interpretation of international +law consider such conduct to be impartial neutrality? But illustration +does not strengthen the argument. The naked statement of England's +position is its worst condemnation. Her course, while ingeniously +avoiding public responsibility, gave unceasing help to the Confederacy +--as effective as if the intention had been proclaimed. The whole +procedure was in disregard of international obligation and was the +outgrowth of what M. Prévost-Paradol aptly charaterized as a +"malignant neutrality." + +It cannot be said in reply that the Governments of England and +France were unable to restrain this demonstration of the sympathy, +this exercise of the commercial enterprise of their people. For +the time came when they did restrain it. As soon as it became +evident that the Confederacy was growing weaker, that with all its +marvelous display of courage and endurance it could not prevent +the final success of the Union, there was no longer difficulty in +arresting the building of the iron-clads on the Mersey; then the +watchfulness of home and colonial authorities was quickened; then +supplies were meted out scantily; then the dangers of a great slave +empire began to impress Ministerial consciences, and the same Powers +prepared to greet the triumph of the Union with well-feigned +satisfaction. But even if this change had not occurred the condition +of repressed hostility could not have lasted. It was war in disguise +--not declared, only because the United-States Government could +not afford to multiply its enemies, and England felt that there +was still uncertainty enough in the result to caution her against +assuming so great a risk. But the tension of the relation was +aptly described by Mr. Seward in July, 1863, when he said,-- + +"If the law of Great Britain must be left without amendment and be +construed by the government in conformity with the rulings of the +chief Baron of the Exchequer [the _Alexandra_ case] then there will +be left for the United States no alternative but to protect themselves +and their commerce against armed cruisers proceeding from British +ports as against the naval forces of a public enemy. . . . British +ports, domestic as well as colonial, are now open under certain +restrictions to the visits of piratical vessels, and not only +furnish them coals, provisions, and repairs, but even receive their +prisoners when the enemies of the United States come in to obtain +such relief from voyages in which they have either burned ships +they have captured, or have even manned and armed them as pirates +and sent them abroad as auxiliaries in the work of destruction. +Can it be an occasion for either surprise or complaint that if this +condition of things is to remain and receive the deliberate sanction +of the British Government, the navy of the United States will +receive instructions to pursue these enemies into the ports which +thus in violation of the law of nations and the obligations of +neutrality become harbors for the pirates? The President very +distinctly perceives the risks and hazards which a naval conflict +thus maintained will bring to the commerce and even to the peace +of the two countries. But he is obliged to consider that in the +case supposed, the destruction of our commerce will probably amount +to a naval war, waged by a portion at least of the British nation +against the government and people of the United States--a war +tolerated although not declared or avowed by the British Government. +If through the necessary employment of all our means of national +defense such a partial war shall become a general one between the +two nations, the President thinks that the responsibility for that +painful result will not fall upon the United States." + + + ENGLAND'S MALIGNANT NEUTRALITY. + +The truth is that the so-called neutral policy of foreign Powers +was the vicious application of obsolete analogies to the conditions +of modern life. Because of the doctrine of belligerent recognition +had in its origin referred to nations of well established, independent +existence, the doctrine was now pushed forward to the extent of +giving ocean belligerency to an insurgent which had in reality no +maritime power whatever. It was an old and recognized principle +that the commercial relations of the neutral should not be interfered +with unless they worked positive injury to the belligerent. The +new application made the interests of neutral commerce the supreme +factor in determining how far belligerent rights should be respected. +The ship-building and carrying-trade of England were to be maintained +and encouraged at any cost to the belligerent. Under the old law, +a belligerent had the right to purchase a ship and a cargo, or a +neutral might run a blockade, taking all the risk of capture. By +the new construction, power was to be given to a belligerent to +transfer the entire administration of its naval service to foreign +soil, and to create and equip a navy which issued from foreign +waters, ready not for a dangerous journey to their own ports of +delivery, but for the immediate demonstration of hostile purpose. +No such absurd system can be found in the principles or precedents +of international law; no such system would be permitted by the +great powers of Europe if to-morrow they should engage in war. + +The principle of this policy was essentially mercenary. It professed +no moral sense. It might be perfectly indifferent to the high or +the low issues which the contest between the belligerents involved; +it was deaf to any thing which might be urged by justice of humanity +or friendship; it was the cynical recognition of the truth of the +old proverb that "It is an ill wind which blows good to no one." +It was the same principle upon which England declares with audacious +selfishness that she cannot sacrifice that portion of her Indian +revenue which comes from the opium trade or the capital which is +invested in its growth and manufacture, and that China must therefore +take the poison which diseases and degrades her population. But +selfish as is this market-policy, it is a policy of circumstance. +It may be resisted with success or it may be abandoned because it +cannot succeed. It creates bitterness; it leads to war; it may in +its selfishness cause the destruction of a nation, but it does not +necessarily imply a desire for that destruction. But there was in +the foreign policy of Europe towards the United States during the +civil war the manifestation of a spirit more intense in its hostility, +more dangerous in its consequences. It was the spirit of enmity +to the Union itself, and the emphatic demonstration of this feeling +was the invasion of Mexico for the purpose of converting the republic +by force into an empire. Louis Napoleon's enterprise was distinctly +based on the utter destruction of the American Union. + +The Declaration of Independence by the British Colonies in America +was something more than the creation of a new sovereignty. It was +the foundation of a new system both of internal government and +foreign relation, a system not entirely isolated from the affairs +of the Old World but independent of the dynastic complications and +the territorial interests which controlled the political conflicts +of Europe. At first, with its material resources undeveloped, its +territorial extension limited and surrounded by the colonies of +the great Powers, this principle although maintained as a conviction, +could not manifest itself in action. But it showed itself in that +abstinence from entangling alliances which would avoid the dangers +of even a too friendly connection. In time our territory expanded. +The colonies of foreign nations following our example became +independent republics whose people had the same aspirations, whose +governments were framed upon the same basis of popular right. The +rapidity of communication, supplied by the railroad and the telegraph, +facilitated and concentrated this political cohesion, and there +had been formed from the borders of Canada to the Straits of Magellan +a complete system of republics (to which Brazil can scarcely be +considered an exception) professing the same political creed, having +great commercial interests in common, and which with the extinction +of some few jealousies, were justified in the anticipation of a +prosperous and peaceful future. There was not an interest or an +ambition of a single one of these republics which threatened an +interest or an ambition of a single European power. + + THE REPUBLICS OF AMERICA. + +It needs no argument to show that the central element of the +stability of this system of American republics was the strength of +the Federal Union, its growth into a harmonious nationality, and +its ability to prevent anywhere on the two continents the armed +intervention of foreign Powers for the purpose of political +domination. This strength was known and this resolution publicly +declared, and it is safe to affirm that before 1861 or after 1865 +not one nor all of the European Powers would have willingly challenged +this policy. But the moment the strength of the Union seemed +weakened, the moment that the leading Republic of this system found +itself hampered and embarrassed by internal dissensions, all Europe +--that Europe which upon the threatening of a Belgian fortress, or +the invasion of a Swiss canton, or the loss of the key to a church +in Jerusalem, would have written protocols, summoned conferences, +and mustered armies--quietly acquiesced in as wanton, wicked, and +foolish an aggression as ever Imperial folly devised. The same +monarch who appealed with confidence to Heaven when he declared +war to prevent a Hohenzollern from ascending the throne of Spain, +appealed to the same Heaven with equal confidence and equal success +when he declared war to force a Hapsburg upon the throne of Mexico. + +The success of the establishment of a Foreign Empire in Mexico +would have been fatal to all that the United States cherished, to +all that it hoped peacefully to achieve. The scheme of invasion +rested on the assumption of the dissolution of the Union and its +division into two hostile governments; but aside from that possibility, +it threatened the United States upon the most vital questions. It +was at war with all our institutions and our habits of political +life, for it would have introduced into a great country on this +continent, capable of unlimited development, that curious and +mischievous form of government, that perplexing mixture of absolutism +and democracy,--imperial power supported by universal suffrage,-- +which seems certain to produce aggression abroad and corruption at +home, and which must have injuriously influenced the political +growth of the Spanish-American Republics. Firmly seated in Mexico, +it would have spread through Central America to the Isthmus, +controlling all canal communications between the two oceans which +were the boundaries of the Union, while its growth upon the Pacific +Coast would have been in direct rivalry with the natural and +increasing power of the United States. Commanding the Gulf of +Mexico it would have controlled the whole commerce of the West- +Indian islands and radically changed their future. Bound by dynastic +connection, checked and directed by European influence, it could +not have developed a national policy in harmony with neighboring +States, but its existence and its necessary efforts at expansion +would have made it not only a constant menace to American Republics +but a source of endless war and confusion between the great Powers +of the world. The policy signally failed. But surely European +statesmen, without miraculous foresight, might have anticipated +that its success would have been more dangerous than its defeat, +and that the conservative strength of the Union might be even to +them an influence of good and not of evil. + + FORMER VIEWS OF LORD PALMERSTON. + +In 1859 Lord Palmerston wrote to Lord John Russell: "It is plain +that France aims through Spain at getting fortified points on each +side of the Gut of Gibraltar which in the event of war between +Spain and France on the one hand and England on the other would by +a cross fire render that strait very difficult and dangerous to +pass and thus virtually shut us out of the Mediterranean. . . . +The French Minister of War or of marine said the other day that +Algeria never would be safe till France possessed a port on the +Atlantic coast of Africa. Against whom would such a port make +Algeria safe? Evidently only against England, and how could such +a port help France against England? Only by tending to shut us +out of the Mediterranean." Later in the same year writing to the +same colleague, he says, "Till lately I had strong confidence in +the fair intentions of Napoleon towards England, but of late I have +begun to feel great distrust and to suspect that his formerly +declared intention of avenging Waterloo has only lain dormant and +has not died away. He seems to have thought that he ought to lay +his foundation by beating with our aid or with our concurrence or +our neutrality, first Russia, then Austria, and by dealing with +them generously to make them his friends in any subsequent quarrel +with us. . . . Next he has been assiduously laboring to increase +his naval means, evidently for offensive as well as for defensive +purposes, and latterly great pains have been taken to raise throughout +France and especially among the army and navy, hatred of England +and a disparaging feeling of our military and naval means." + +Is it not strange that, even with such apprehensions, the destruction +of the Union was so welcome in England that it blinded the eyes of +her statesmen and her people? They should surely have seen that +the establishment of a Latin empire under the protection of France, +in the heart of the Spanish-American Republics, would open a field +far more dangerous to British interests than a combination for a +French port in Africa, and that in pursuing his policy the wily +Emperor was providing a throne for an Austrian archduke as a +compensation for the loss of Lombardy. There was a time when Lord +Palmerston himself held broader and juster views of what ought to +be the relations between England and the United States. In 1848 +he suggested to Lord John Russell a policy which looked to a complete +unification of the interests of the two countries: "If as I hope," +said His Lordship, "we shall succeed in altering our Navigation +Laws, and if as a consequence Great Britain and the United States +shall place their commercial marines upon a footing of mutual +equality with the exception of the coasting-trade and some other +special matters, might not such an arrangement afford us a good +opportunity for endeavoring to carry in some degree into execution +the wish which Mr. Fox entertained in 1783, when he wished to +substitute close alliance in the place of sovereignty and dependence +as the connecting link between the United States and Great Britain? +A treaty for mutual defense would no longer be applicable to the +condition of the two countries as independent Powers, but might +they not with mutual advantage conclude a treaty containing something +like the following conditions:-- + +"1. That in all cases of difference which may hereafter unfortunately +arise between the contracting parties, they will in the first place +have recourse to the mediation of some friendly Power, and that +hostilities shall not begin between them until every endeavor to +settle their difference by such means shall have proved fruitless. + +"2. That if either of the two should at any time be at war with +any other Power, no subject or citizen of the other contracting +party shall be allowed to take out letters of marque from such +Power under pain of being treated and dealt with as a pirate. + +"3. That in such case of war between either of the two parties +and a third Power, no subject or citizen of the other contracting +party shall be allowed to enter into the service naval or military +of such third Power. + +"4. That in such case of war as aforesaid, neither of the contracting +parties shall afford assistance to the enemies of the other by sea +or by land, unless war should break out between the two contracting +parties themselves after the failure of all endeavors to settle +their differences in the manner specified in Article 1." + +At the time Lord Palmerston expressed these opinions, we had just +closed the Mexican war, with vast acquisition of territory and with +a display of military power on distant fields of conquest which +surprised European statesmen. Our maritime interests were almost +equal to those of the United Kingdom, our prosperity was great, +the prestige of the Nation was growing. In the thirteen intervening +years between that date and the outbreak of the Southern Rebellion +we had grown enormously in wealth, our Pacific possessions had +shown an extraordinary production of precious metals, our population +had increased more than ten millions. If an alliance with the +United States was desirable for England in 1848, it was far more +desirable in 1861, and Lord Palmerston being Prime Minister in the +latter year, his power to propose and promote it was far greater. +Is there any reason that will satisfactorily account for His +Lordship's abandonment of this ideal relation of friendship between +the two countries except that he saw a speedier way of adding to +the power of England by conniving at the destruction of the Union? +His change from the policy which he painted in 1848 to that which +he acted in 1861 cannot be satisfactorily explained upon any other +hypothesis than that he could not resist the temptation to cripple +and humiliate the Great Republic. + + + FIXED POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES. + +This brief history of the spirit rather than the events which +characterized the foreign relations of the United States during +the civil war, has been undertaken with no desire to revive the +feelings of burning indignation which they provoked, or to prolong +the discussion of the angry questions to which they gave rise. +The relations of nations are not and should not be governed by +sentiment. The interest and ambition of states, like those of men, +will disturb the moral sense and incline to one side or the other +the strict balance of impartial justice. New days bring new issues +and old passions are unsafe counselors. Twenty years have gone +by. England has paid the cost of her mistakes. The Republic of +Mexico has seen the fame and the fortunes of the Emperors who sought +her conquest sink suddenly--as into the pits which they themselves +had digged for their victims--and the Republic of the United States +has come out of her long and bitter struggle, so strong that never +again will she afford the temptation or the opportunity for unfriendly +governments to strike at her National life. Let the past be the +past, but let it be the past with all the instruction and the +warning of its experience. + +The future safety of these continents rests upon the strength and +the maintenance of the Union, for had dissolution been possible, +events have shown with what small regard the interests or the honor +of either of the belligerents would have been treated. It has been +taught to the smaller republics that if this strength be shattered +they will be the spoil of foreign arms and the dependent provinces +again of foreign monarchs. When this contest was over, the day of +immaturity had passed and the United States stood before the world +a great and permanent Power. That Power can afford to bury all +resentments. Tranquil at home, developing its inexhaustible +resources with a rapidity and success unknown in history, bound in +sincere friendship, and beyond the possibility of a hostile rivalry, +with the other republics of the continents, standing midway between +Asia and Europe, a Power on the Pacific as well as on the Atlantic, +with no temptation to intermeddle in the questions which disturb +the Old World, the Republic of the United States desires to live +in amicable relation with all peoples, demanding only the abstinence +of foreign intervention in the development of that policy which +her political creed, her territorial extent, and the close and +cordial neighborhood of kindred governments have made the essential +rule of her National life. + +[NOTE.--In the foregoing chapter the term "piratical" is used +without qualification in referring to the Southern cruisers, because +it is the word used in the quotations made. It undoubtedly +represented the feeling of the country at that time, but in an +impartial discussion of the events of the war the word cannot be +used with propriety. Our own Courts have found themselves unable +to sustain such a conclusion. Looking to the future it is better +to rest our objections to the mode of maritime warfare adopted by +the Confederacy upon a sound and enduring principle; viz., that +the recognition of ocean belligerency, when the belligerent cannot +give to his lawful exercise of maritime warfare the guaranty of a +prize jurisdiction, is a violation of any just or reasonable system +of international law. The Confederacy had the plea of necessity +for its course, but the jurisdiction of England for aiding and +abetting the practice has not yet been presented.] + +[NOTE.--Her Britannic Majesty's principal ministers of State in +1861-2,--at the time of the correspondence touching the _Trent_ +affair, referred to in the preceding chapter,--were as follows:-- + + _Premier_--Lord Palmerston. + _Lord High Chancellor_--Lord Westbury. + _Lord President of the Council_--Earl Granville. + _Lord Privy Seal_--The Duke of Argyll. + _Secretary for Foreign Affairs_--Lord John Russell. + _Secretary for the Colonies_--The Duke of Newcastle. + _Secretary for the Home Department_--Sir George Gray. + _Secretary of State for War_--Sir G. C. Lewis. + _Secretary of State for India_--Sir Charles Wood. + _Chancellor of the Exchequer_--Rt. Honorable W. E. Gladstone. + _Secretary for Ireland_--Rt. Honorable Edward Cardwell. + _Postmaster-General_--Lord Stanley of Alderney. + _President Board of Trade_--Rt. Honorable Charles Pelham Villiers. + +The same Ministry, with unimportant changes, continued in power +throughout the whole period of the Rebellion in the United States.] + + +ADDENDUM. + +The Tenth chapter of this volume having been given to the press in +advance of formal publication, many inquiries have been received +in regard to the text of Judge Black's opinion of November 20, +1860, referred to on pp. 231, 232. The opinion was submitted to +the President by Judge Black as Attorney-General. So much of the +opinion as includes the points which are specially controverted +and criticized is here given--about one-half of the entire document. +It is as follows:-- + +. . . "I come now to the point in your letter which is probably of +the greatest practical importance. By the Act of 1807 you may +employ such parts of the land and naval forces as you may judge +necessary for the purpose of causing the laws to be duly executed, +in all cases where it is lawful to use the militia for the same +purpose. By the Act of 1795 the militia may be called forth +'whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the +execution thereof obstructed, in any State by combinations too +powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of Judicial +proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshals.' This imposes +upon the President the sole responsibility of deciding whether the +exigency has arisen which requires the use of military force, and +in proportion to the magnitude of that responsibility will be the +care not to overstep the limits of his legal and just authority. + +"The laws referred to in the Act of 1795 are manifestly those which +are administered by the judges, and executed by the ministerial +officers of the courts for the punishment of crime against the +United States, for the protection of rights claimed under the +Federal Constitution and laws, and for the enforcement of such +obligations as come within the cognizance of the Federal Judiciary. +To compel obedience to these laws, the courts have authority to +punish all who obstruct their regular administration, and the +marshals and their deputies have the same powers as sheriffs and +their deputies in the several States in executing the laws of the +States. These are the ordinary means provided for the execution +of the laws; and the whole spirit of our system is opposed to the +employment of any other, except in cases of extreme necessity +arising out of great and unusual combinations against them. Their +agency must continue to be used until their incapacity to cope with +the power opposed to them shall be plainly demonstrated. It is +only upon clear evidence to that effect that a military force can +be called into the field. Even then its operations must be purely +defensive. It can suppress only such combinations as are found +directly opposing the laws and obstructing the execution thereof. +It can do no more than what might and ought to be done by a civil +posse, if a civil posse could be raised large enough to meet the +same opposition. On such occasions, especially, the military power +must be kept in strict subordination to the civil authority, since +it is only in aid of the latter that the former can act at all. + +"But what if the feeling in any State against the United States +should become so universal that the Federal officers themselves +(including judges, district attorneys, and marshals) would be +reached by the same influences, and resign their places? Of course, +the first step would be to appoint others in their stead, if others +could be got to serve. But in such an event, it is more than +probable that great difficulty would be found in filling the offices. +We can easily conceive how it might become altogether impossible. +We are therefore obliged to consider what can be done in case we +have no courts to issue judicial process, and no ministerial officers +to execute it. In that event troops would certainly be out of +place, and their use wholly illegal. If they are sent to aid the +courts and marshals, there must be courts and marshals to be aided. +Without the exercise of those functions which belong exclusively to +the civil service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no +matter what may be the physical strength which the Government has +at its command. Under such circumstances, to send a military force +into any State, with orders to act against the people, would be +simply making war upon them. + +"The existing laws put and keep the Federal Government strictly on +the defensive. You can use force only to repel an assault on the +public property and aid the Courts in the performance of their +duty. If the means given you to collect the revenue and execute +the other laws be insufficient for that purpose, Congress may extend +and make them more effectual to those ends. + +"If one of the States should declare her independence, your action +cannot depend upon the righteousness of the cause upon which such +declaration is based. Whether the retirement of the State from +the Union be the exercise of a right reserved in the Constitution, +or a revolutionary movement, it is certain that you have not in +either case the authority to recognize her independence or to +absolve her from her Federal obligations. Congress, or the other +States in Convention assembled, must take such measures as may be +necessary and proper. In such an event, I see no course for you +but to go straight onward in the path you have hitherto trodden-- +that is, execute the laws to the extent of the defensive means +placed in your hands, and act generally upon the assumption that +the present constitutional relations between the States and the +Federal Government continue to exist, until a new code of things +shall be established either by law or force. + +"Whether Congress has the constitutional right to make war against +one or more States, and require the Executive of the Federal +Government to carry it on by means of force to be drawn from the +other States, is a question for Congress itself to consider. It +must be admitted that no such power is expressly given; nor are +there any words in the Constitution which imply it. Among the +powers enumerated in Article 1, Section 8, is that 'to declare war, +grant letters of marque and reprisal, and to make rules concerning +captures on land and water.' This certainly means nothing more +than the power to commence and carry on hostilities against the +foreign enemies of the nation. Another clause in the same section +gives Congress the power 'to provide for calling forth the militia,' +and to use them within the limits of the State. But this power is +so restricted by the words which immediately follow that it can be +exercised only for one of the following purposes: 1. To execute +the laws of the Union; that is, to aid the Federal officers in the +performance of their regular duties. 2. To suppress insurrection +against the State; but this is confined by Article 4, Section 4, to +cases in which the State herself shall apply for assistance against +her own people. 3. To repel the invasion of a State by enemies +who come from abroad to assail her in her own territory. All these +provisions are made to protect the States, not to authorize an +attack by one part of the country upon another; to preserve the +peace, and not to plunge them into civil war. Our forefathers do +not seem to have thought that war was calculated 'to form a more +perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, +provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and +secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.' +There was undoubtedly a strong and universal conviction among the +men who framed and ratified the Constitution, that military force +would not only be useless, but pernicious, as a means of holding +the States together. + +"If it be true that war cannot be declared, nor a system of general +hostilities carried on by the Central Government against a State, +then it seems to follow that an attempt to do so would be _ipso +facto_ an expulsion of such State from the Union. Being treated +as an alien and an enemy, she would be compelled to act accordingly. +And if Congress shall break up the present Union by unconstitutionally +putting strife and enmity and armed hostility between different +sections of the country, instead of the domestic tranquility which +the Constitution was meant to insure, will not all the States be +absolved from their Federal obligations? Is any portion of the +people bound to contribute their money or their blood to carry on +a contest like that? + +"The right of the General Government to preserve itself in its +whole constitutional vigor by repelling a direct and positive +aggression upon its property or its officers cannot be denied. +But this is a totally different thing from an offensive war to +punish the people for the political misdeeds of their State +Government, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of +the United States is supreme. The States are colleagues of one +another, and if some of them shall conquer the rest, and hold them +as subjugated provinces, it would totally destroy the whole theory +upon which they are now connected. + +"If this view of the subject be correct, as I think it is, then +the Union must utterly perish at the moment when Congress shall +arm one part of the people against another for any purpose beyond +that of merely protecting the General Government in the exercise +of its proper constitutional functions. + +"I am, very respectfully, yours, etc., + +"J. S. BLACK." + + +ERRATUM. + +In Chapter VIII., there is some inaccuracy in regard to the number +of killed in the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry. According to +the official report of Colonel Robert E. Lee, U.S.A., who commanded +the military force that relieved Harper's Ferry, the insurgents +numbered in all nineteen men,--fourteen white, five colored. Of +the white men, ten were killed; two, John Brown and Aaron C. Stevens, +were badly wounded; Edwin Coppee, unhurt, was taken prisoner; John +E. Cooke escaped. Of the colored men, two were killed, two taken +prisoner, one unaccounted for. + + +THE APPENDICES. + +The progress of the country, referred to so frequently in the text, +is strikingly illustrated and verified by the facts contained in the +several appendices which follow. + +The appendices include a variety of subjects, and they have all +been selected with the view of showing the progress and development +of the Nation in the different fields of enterprise and human labor. + +The tabular statements as to the population and wealth of the +country will be found especially accurate and valuable. The +statistics relating to Education and the Public Schools, to +Agriculture, to Railways, to Immigration, to the Army, to Shipping, +to the Coal and Iron Product, to National and State Banks, to the +Circulation of Paper Money, to the price of Gold, and to the Public +Debt, will be found full of interest. + +Thanks are due and are cordially given to Mr. Joseph Nimmo, Jr., +Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, and Mr. Charles W. Seaton, +Superintendent of the Census, for valuable aid rendered in the +preparation of the appendices. + +For courtesies constantly extended, and for most intelligent and +discriminating aid of various kinds, the sincerest acknowledgments +are made to Mr. Ainsworth R. Spofford, the accomplished Librarian +of Congress. + + +APPENDIX A. +POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES AT EACH CENSUS, FROM 1790 TO 1880 INCLUSIVE. +[From the Reports of the Superintendents of the Census.] + +STATES AND STATES AND +TERRITORIES. 1880. 1870. 1860. 1850. 1840. 1830. 1820. 1810. 1800. 1790. TERRITORIES. + +Alabama . . . . . . 1,262,505 996,992 964,201 771,623 590,756 309,527 127,901 . . . . . . . . . . Alabama. +Arkansas . . . . . . 802,525 484,471 435,450 209,897 97,574 30,388 { *18} . . . . . . . . . . Arkansas. + { 14,255} +California . . . . . 864,694 560,247 379,994 92,597 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . California. +Colorado . . . . . . 194,327 39,864 34,277 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colorado. +Connecticut . . . . 622,700 537,454 460,147 370,792 309,978 297,675 { *100} 261,942 251,002 237,946 . Connecticut. + { 275,148} +Delaware . . . . . . 146,608 125,015 112,216 91,532 78,085 76,748 72,749 72,674 64,273 59,006 . Delaware. +Florida . . . . . . 269,493 187,748 140,424 87,445 54,477 34,730 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Florida. +Georgia . . . . . . 1,542,180 1,184,109 1,057,286 906,185 691,392 516,823 340,985 252,433 162,686 82,548 . Georgia. +Illinois . . . . . . 3,077,871 2,539,891 1,711,951 851,470 476,183 157,445 55,162 12,282 . . . . . . . Illinois. +Indiana . . . . . . 1,978,301 1,680,637 1,350,428 988,416 685,866 343,031 147,178 24,520 5,641 . . . . Indiana. +Iowa . . . . . . . . 1,624,615 1,194,020 674,913 192,214 43,112 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Iowa. +Kansas . . . . . . . 996,096 364,399 107,206 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kansas. +Kentucky . . . . . . 1,648,690 1,321,011 1,155,684 982,405 779,828 687,917 { *182} 406,511 220.955 73,677 . Kentucky. + { 564,135} +Louisiana . . . . . 939,946 726,915 708,002 517,762 352,411 215,739 { *484} 76,556 . . . . . . . Louisiana. + { 152,923} +Maine . . . . . . . 648,936 626,915 628,279 583,169 501,793 399,455 { *66} 228,705 151,719 96,540 . Maine. + { 298,269} +Maryland . . . . . . 934,943 780.894 687,049 583,034 470,019 447,040 407,350 380,546 341,548 319,728 . Maryland. +Massachusetts . . . 1,783,085 1,457,351 1,231,066 994,514 737,699 610,408 { *128} 472,040 422,845 378,787 . Massachusetts. + { 523,159} +Michigan . . . . . . 1,636,937 1,184,059 749,113 397,654 212,267 31,639 { *131} 4,762 . . . . . . . Michigan. + { 8,765} +Minnesota . . . . . 780,773 439,706 172,023 6,077 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Minnesota. +Mississippi . . . . 1,131,597 827,922 791,305 606,526 375,651 136,621 75,448 40,352 8,850 . . . . Mississippi. +Missouri . . . . . . 2,168,380 1,721,295 1,182,012 682,044 383,702 140,455 { *29} 20,845 . . . . . . . Missouri. + { 66,557} +Nebraska . . . . . . 452,402 122,993 28,841 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nebraska. +Nevada . . . . . . . 62,266 42,491 6,857 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nevada. +New Hampshire . . . 346,991 318,300 326,073 317,976 284,574 269,328 { *139} 214,460 183,858 141,885 . New Hampshire. + { 244,022} +New Jersey . . . . . 1,131,116 906,096 672,035 489,555 373,306 320,823 { *149} 245,562 211,149 184,139 . New Jersey. + { 277,426} +New York . . . . . . 5,082,871 4,382,759 3,880,735 3,097,394 2,428,921 1,918,008 { *701} 949,059 589,051 340,120 . New York. + {1,372,111} +North Carolina . . . 1,399,750 1,071,361 922,622 869,039 753,419 737,987 638,829 555,500 478,103 393,751 . North Carolina. +Ohio . . . . . . . . 3,198,062 2,665,260 2,339,511 1,980,329 1,519,467 937,903 { *139} 230,760 45,365 . . . . Ohio. + { 581,295} +Oregon . . . . . . . 174,768 90,923 52,465 13,294 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oregon. +Pennsylvania . . . . 4,282,891 3,521,951 2,906,215 2,311,786 1,724,033 1,348,233 { *1,951} 810,001 602,365 434,373 . Pennsylvania. + {1,047,507} +Rhode Island . . . . 276,531 217,353 174,620 147,545 108,830 97,129 { *44} 76,931 69,122 68,825 . Rhode Island. + { 83,105} +South Carolina . . . 995,577 705,606 703,708 688,507 594,398 581,185 502,741 415,115 345,591 249,073 . South Carolina. +Tennessee . . . . . 1,542,359 1,258,520 1,109,801 1,002,717 829,210 681,904 { *52} 261,727 105,602 35,691 . Tennessee. + { 422,771} +Texas . . . . . . . 1,591,749 818,579 604,215 212,592 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Texas. +Vermont . . . . . . 332,286 330,551 315,098 314,120 291,948 280,652 { *15} 217,895 154,465 85,425 . Vermont. + { 235,966} +Virginia . . . . . . 1,512,565 1,225,163 1,956,318 1,421,661 1,239,797 1,211,405 { *250} 974,600 880,200 747,610 . Virginia. + {1,065,116} +West Virginia . . . 618,457 442,014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . West Virginia. +Wisconsin . . . . . 1,315,497 1,054,670 755,881 305,391 30,945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wisconsin. + + Total, States . . 49,371,340 38,115,641 31,183,744 23,067,262 17,019,641 12,820,868 { *4,631} 7,215,858 5,294,390 . . . . . Total, States. + {9,600,783} + +Arizona . . . . . . 40,440 9,658 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arizona. +Dakota . . . . . . . 135,177 14,181 4,837 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dakota. +District of Columbia 117,624 131,700 75,080 51,687 43,712 39,834 33,039 24,023 14,003 . . . . District of Columbia. +Idaho . . . . . . . 32,610 14,999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Idaho. +Montana . . . . . . 39,159 20,595 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Montana. +New Mexico . . . . . 119,565 91,874 93,516 61,547 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New Mexico. +Utah . . . . . . . . 143,963 86,786 40,273 11,380 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Utah. +Washington . . . . . 75,116 23,955 11,594 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Washington. +Wyoming . . . . . . 20,789 9,118 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wyoming. + + Total, Territories 784,443 443,730 259,577 124,614 43,712 39,834 33,039 24,023 14,093 . . . . . Total, Territories. + +On the public ships . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,100 5,318 . . . . . . . . . . . . . On the public ships. +In U. S. Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *4,631 . . . . . . . . . . In U. S. Service. + + Total, U. S. . . . 50,155,783 38,558,371 31,443,321 23,191,876 17,069,453 12,866,020 9,633,832 7,239,881 5,308,483 3,929,214 . . Total, U. S. + +* All other persons, except Indians, not taxed. + + +APPENDIX B. + +APPORTIONMENT AMONG THE STATES OF REPRESENTATIVES +IN CONGRESS AFTER EACH CENSUS. + + Admitted By Cons- By 1st By 2nd By 3d By 4th By 5th By 6th By 7th By 8th By 9th By 10th +STATES. to the titution, Census, Census Census, Census, Census, Census, Census, Census, Census, Census, + Union. 1789. 1790. 1800. 1810. 1820. 1830. 1840. 1850. 1860. 1870. 1880. +RATIO OF REPRESENTATION . . . . 30,000. 33,000. 33,000. 35,000. 40,000. 47,700. 70,680. 93,423. 127,381. 131,425. 154,325. + +Alabama . . . . . . . . 1819 . . . . . . . . 3 5 7 7 6 8 8 +Arkansas . . . . . . . . 1836 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 3 4 5 +California . . . . . . . 1850 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3 4 6 +Colorado . . . . . . . . 1876 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 +Connecticut . . . . . . . ---- 5 7 7 7 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 +Delaware . . . . . . . . ---- 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 +Florida . . . . . . . . 1845 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 2 2 +Georgia . . . . . . . . ---- 3 2 4 6 7 9 8 8 7 9 10 +Illinois . . . . . . . . 1818 . . . . . . . . 1 3 7 9 14 19 20 +Indiana . . . . . . . . 1816 . . . . . . . . 3 7 10 11 11 13 13 +Iowa . . . . . . . . . . 1846 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6 9 11 +Kansas . . . . . . . . . 1861 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 7 +Kentucky . . . . . . . . 1792 . . 2 6 10 12 13 10 10 9 10 11 +Louisiana . . . . . . . 1812 . . . . . . . . 3 3 4 4 5 6 6 +Maine . . . . . . . . . 1820 . . . . . . . . 7 8 7 6 5 5 4 +Maryland . . . . . . . . ---- 6 8 9 9 9 8 6 6 5 6 6 +Massachusetts . . . . . . ---- 8 14 17 20 13 12 10 11 10 11 12 +Michigan . . . . . . . . 1837 . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 6 9 11 +Minnesota . . . . . . . . 1858 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 3 5 +Mississippi . . . . . . . 1817 . . . . . . . . 1 2 4 5 5 6 7 +Missouri . . . . . . . . 1821 . . . . . . . . 1 2 5 7 9 13 14 +Nebraska . . . . . . . . 1867 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 3 +Nevada . . . . . . . . . 1864 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 1 +New Hampshire . . . . . . ---- 3 4 5 6 6 5 4 3 3 3 2 +New Jersey . . . . . . . ---- 4 5 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 7 7 +New York . . . . . . . . ---- 6 10 17 27 34 40 34 33 31 33 34 +North Carolina . . . . . ---- 5 10 12 13 13 13 9 8 7 8 9 +Ohio . . . . . . . . . . 1802 . . . . . . 6 14 19 21 21 19 20 21 +Oregon . . . . . . . . . 1859 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 1 1 +Pennsylvania . . . . . . ---- 8 13 18 23 26 28 24 25 24 27 28 +Rhode Island . . . . . . ---- 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 +South Carolina . . . . . ---- 5 6 8 9 9 9 7 6 4 5 7 +Tennessee . . . . . . . 1796 . . . . 3 6 9 13 11 10 8 10 10 +Texas . . . . . . . . . 1845 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4 6 11 +Vermont . . . . . . . . 1791 . . 2 4 6 5 5 4 3 3 3 2 +Virgina . . . . . . . . ---- 10 19 23 23 22 21 15 13 11 9 10 +West Virginia . . . . . 1863 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 +Wisconsin . . . . . . . 1848 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 8 8 9 + + 65 105 141 181 213 240 223 237 293 293 325 + +APPENDIX C. + +PUBLIC DEBT OF THE UNITED STATES, 1791-1883. + +Statement of the Outstanding Principal of the Public Debt of the United +States on the 1st of January of each Year from 1791 to 1842 inclusive; +and on the 1st of July of each Year from 1843 to 1883 inclusive. + +The amount given for the year 1791 represents the debt of the Revolution +under the Funding Bill of Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. +The debt had decreased to a considerable extent by the year 1812. In +consequence of the war with Great Britain, which began that year, there +was a rapid increase, the maximum being reached in 1816. Thenceforward, +with the exception of the years 1822, 1823, and 1824,--a period of +extreme financial depression,--the debt was steadily decreased, until +in the year 1835, under the Presidency of General Jackson, it was +extinguished,--the total amount outstanding being only $37,000 in bonds +which were not presented for payment. The creation of a new debt, +however, began at once, and was increased in the years 1847, 1848, and +1849 by the Mexican war. This, in turn, was quite steadily reduced +until the financial panic of 1857, when, during the administration of +Mr. Buchanan, there was another incease. The debt was about eighty +millions of dollars in amount when the civil war began. + +Year. Amount. Year. Amount. Year. Amount. Year. Amount. +1791 $75,463,476.52 1815 $ 99,833,660.15 1839 $ 3,573,343.82 1863 $1,119,772,138.63 +1792 77,227,924.66 1816 127,334,933.74 1840 5,270,875.54 1864 1,815,784,370.57 +1793 80,352,634,04 1817 123,491,965.16 1841 13,594,480.73 1865 2,680,647,869.74 +1794 78,427,404.77 1818 103,466,633.83 1842 20,601,226.28 1866 2,773,236,173.69 +1795 80,747,587,39 1819 95,529,648.28 1843 32,742,922.00 1867 2,678,126,103.87 +1796 83,762,172.07 1820 91,015,566.15 1844 23,461,652.50 1868 2,611,687,851.19 +1797 82,064,479.33 1821 89,987,427.66 1845 15,925,303.01 1869 2,588,452,213.94 +1798 79,228,529.12 1822 93,546,676.98 1846 15,550,202.97 1870 2,480,672,427.81 +1799 78,408,669.77 1823 90,875,877.28 1847 38,826,534.77 1871 2,353,211,332,32 +1800 82,976,294.35 1824 90,269,777.77 1848 47,044,862.23 1872 2,253,251,328.78 +1801 83,038,050,80 1825 83,788,432.71 1849 63,061,858.69 1873 2,234,482,993.20 +1802 86,712,632.25 1826 81,054,059.99 1850 63,452,773.55 1874 2,251,690,468.43 +1803 77,054,686.30 1827 73,987,357.20 1851 68,304,796.02 1875 2,232,284,531.95 +1804 86,427,120.88 1828 67,475,043.87 1852 66,199,341.71 1876 2,180,395,067.15 +1805 82,312,150.50 1829 58,421,413.67 1853 59,803,117.70 1877 2,205,301,392.10 +1806 75,723,270.66 1830 48,565,406.50 1854 42,242,222.42 1878 2,256,205,892.53 +1807 69,218.398.64 1831 39,123,191.68 1855 35,586,858.56 1879 2,245,495,072.04 +1808 65,196,317.97 1832 24,322,235,18 1856 31,972,537.90 1880 2,120,415,370.63 +1809 57,023,192.09 1833 7,001,698.83 1857 28,699,831.85 1881 2,069,013,569.58 +1810 53,173,217.52 1834 4,760,082.08 1858 44,911,881.03 1882 1,918,312,994.03 +1811 48,005,587.76 1835 37,513.05 1859 58,496,837.88 1883 1,884,171,728.07 +1812 45,209,737.90 1836 336,957.83 1860 64,842,287.88 +1813 55,962,827.57 1837 3,308,124.07 1861 90,580,873.72 +1814 81,487,846.24 1838 10,434,221.14 1862 524,176,412.13 + + +APPENDIX D. + +Showing the Highest and Lowest Price of Gold in the New-York Market every +Month, from the Suspension of Specie Payment by the Government in +January, 1862, until Resumption in January, 1879, a Period of Seventeen +Years. + 1862. 1863. 1864. 1865. 1866. 1867. +MONTH. Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest +January . . . 103-5/8 100 160-3/4 133-5/8 159-3/8 151-1/2 233-3/4 198-1/8 144-5/8 129 137-7/8 132 +February . . . 104-3/4 102-1/8 172-1/2 152-1/2 161 157-1/4 216-1/2 196-5/8 140-5/8 135-7/8 140-1/2 135-1/4 +March . . . . 102-3/8 101-1/4 171-3/4 139 169-3/4 159 201 148-1/4 136-1/2 125 140-3/8 133-3/8 +April . . . . 102-1/4 101 157-7/8 145-1/2 184-3/4 166-1/4 153-5/8 144 129-5/8 125-1/2 142 132-3/8 +May . . . . . 104-1/8 102-1/8 154-3/4 143-1/2 190 168 145-3/8 128-5/8 141-1/2 125-1/8 138-7/8 134-7/8 +June . . . . . 109-1/2 103-3/8 148-3/8 140-1/2 250 193 147-3/8 135-7/8 167-3/4 137-5/8 138-3/4 136-1/2 +July . . . . . 120-1/8 108-3/4 145 123-1/4 285 222 146 138-3/4 155-3/4 147 140-5/8 138 +August . . . . 116-1/4 112-1/2 129-3/4 122-1/8 259-1/2 231-1/2 145-3/8 140-1/4 152-1/4 146-1/2 142-3/8 139-7/8 +September . . 124 116-1/2 143-1/8 126-7/8 254-1/2 191 145 142-5/8 147-1/8 143-1/4 146-3/8 141 +October . . . 133-1/2 122 156-3/4 140-3/8 227-3/4 189 149 144-1/8 154-3/8 145-1/2 145-5/8 140-1/4 +November . . . 133-1/4 129 154 143 260 210 148-3/4 145-7/8 148-5/8 137-1/2 141-1/2 138-1/8 +December . . . 134 128-1/2 152-3/4 148-1/2 243 212-3/4 148-1/2 144-5/8 141-3/4 131-1/4 137-7/8 133 + + 1868. 1869. 1870. 1871. 1872. 1873. +MONTH. Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest +January . . . 141-7/8 133-1/4 136-5/8 134-5/8 123-1/4 119-3/8 111-1/4 110-1/2 110-1/8 108-1/2 114-1/4 111-5/8 +February . . . 144 139-5/8 136-1/4 130-7/8 121-1/2 115 112-1/2 110-3/4 111 109-1/2 115-7/8 112-7/8 +March . . . . 141-3/8 137-7/8 132-1/4 130-7/8 116-3/8 110-1/4 112 110-1/8 110-5/8 109-3/4 118-1/2 114-5/8 +April . . . . 140-3/8 137-3/4 134-3/8 131-1/4 115-5/8 111-1/2 111-1/4 110-1/8 110-5/8 109-3/4 118-1/2 114-5/8 +May . . . . . 140-1/2 139-1/8 144-7/8 134-5/8 115-1/2 113-3/4 112-1/4 111 114-3/4 112-1/8 118-5/8 116-5/8 +June . . . . . 141-1/2 139-1/8 139-5/8 136-1/2 114-3/4 110-7/8 113-1/8 111-3/4 114-3/4 113 118-1/4 115 +July . . . . . 145-1/4 140-1/8 137-7/8 134 122-3/4 111-1/8 113-1/4 111-3/4 115-1/4 113-1/2 116-3/8 115 +August . . . . 150 143-1/2 136-5/8 131-1/4 122 114-3/4 113-1/8 111-5/8 115-5/8 112-1/8 116-1/4 114-3/8 +September . . 145-1/8 141-1/8 162-1/2 130-5/8 116-3/4 113 115-1/8 112-1/4 115-1/8 112-5/8 116-1/8 110-7/8 +October . . . 140-3/8 133-3/4 132 128-1/8 114-1/4 111-1/8 115 111-1/2 115-1/4 112-1/4 111-1/4 107-5/8 +November . . . 137 132-1/8 128-5/8 121-1/2 113-1/4 110 112-5/8 110-1/2 114-1/4 111-3/8 110-1/2 106-1/8 +December . . . 136-3/4 134-1/2 124 119-1/2 111-1/4 110-1/2 110-3/8 108-1/2 113-3/8 111-1/8 112-5/8 108-3/8 + + 1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. +MONTH. Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest +January . . . 112-1/8 110-1/8 113-3/8 111-3/4 113-1/4 112-1/2 107-1/8 105-1/4 102-7/8 101-1/4 +February . . . 113 111-3/8 115-3/8 113-1/4 114-1/8 112/3-4 106-1/8 104-5/8 102-3/8 101-5/8 +March . . . . 113-5/8 111-1/4 117 114 115 113-3/4 105-3/8 104-1/4 102 100-3/4 +April . . . . 114-3/8 111-3/4 115-1/2 114 113-7/8 112-1/2 107-7/8 104-3/4 101-1/4 100-1/8 +May . . . . . 113-1/8 111-7/8 116-3/8 115 113-1/4 112-1/4 107-3/8 106-1/4 101-1/4 100-3/8 +June . . . . . 112-1/4 110-1/2 117-1/2 116-1/4 113 111-7/8 106-3/8 104-3/4 101 100-5/8 +July . . . . . 110-7/8 109 117-1/4 111-3/4 112-1/2 111-3/8 106-1/8 105-1/8 101-1/2 100-3/8 +August . . . . 110-1/4 109-1/4 114-3/4 112-5/8 112-1/8 109-3/8 105-1/2 103-7/8 100-3/4 100-1/2 +September . . 110-1/4 109-3/8 117-3/8 113-3/4 110-3/8 109-1/4 104 102-7/8 100-1/2 100-1/8 +October . . . 110-3/8 109-3/4 117-5/8 114-1/2 113-1/4 108-7/8 103-3/8 102-1/2 101-3/8 100-1/4 +November . . . 112-3/8 110 116-3/8 114-1/8 110-1/8 108-1/8 103-3/8 102-1/2 100-1/2 100-1/8 +December . . . 112-3/8 110-1/2 115-1/4 112-1/8 109 107 103-3/8 102-1/2 100-1/2 100 + +Table showing the Total Amount of Gold and Silver Coin issued from the +Mints of the United States in each Decennial Period since 1790. + +Period. Gold. Silver. Period. Gold. Silver. +1793-1800 . . $ 1,014,290.00 $ 1,440,454.75 1851-1860 . . $330,237,085.50 $ 46,582,183.00 +1801-1810 . . 3,250,742.50 3,569,165.25 1861-1870 . . 292,409,545.50 13,188,601.90 +1811-1820 . . 3,166,510.00 5,970,810.95 1871-1880 . . 393,125,751.00 155,123,087.10 +1821-1830 . . 1,903,092.50 16,781,046.95 1881-1883 . . 204,076,239.00 84,268,825.65 +1831-1840 . . 18,756,487.50 27,309,957.00 +1841-1850 . . 89,239,817.50 22,368,130.00 Total . . .$1,337,179,561.00 $376,602,262.55 + + +APPENDIX E. + +The following statement exhibits the total valuation of real and personal +estate in the United States, according to the Census Returns of 1850, +1860, 1870, and 1880. + +Both the "true" and the "assessed" valuation are given, except in 1850, +which gives only the "true." The dispartiy between the actual propery +and that which is assessed for taxation is very striking. + +The effect of the war and the consequent abolition of slavery on the +valuation of property in the Southern States is clearly shown by the +figures. + +In all comparisons of value between the different periods, it must be +borne in mind, that, in 1870, gold was at an average premium of 25.3 per +cent. To equate the valuation with those of other years, there must be +a reduction of one-fifth on the reported valuation of 1870, both "true" +and "assessed." + +The four periods exhibit a more rapid accumulation of wealth in the +United States than was ever known before in the history of the world. + +STATES 1850. 1860. 1870. 1880. STATES +AND Assessed Assessed Assessed AND +TERRITORIES. True Value. Value. True Value. Value. True Value. Value. True Value. TERRITORIES. + +Alabama . . . . . . . . . $228,204,332 $432,198,762 $495,237,078 $155,582,595 $201,835,841 $122,867,228 $428,000,000 . . Alabama. +Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,410,295 3,440,791 9,270,214 41,000,000 . . Arizona. +Arkansas . . . . . . . . 39,841,025 180,211,330 219,256,473 94,528,843 156,394,691 86,409,364 286,000,000 . . Arkansas. +California . . . . . . . 22,161,872 139,654,667 207,874,613 269,644,068 638,767,017 584,578,036 1,343,000,000 . . California. +Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,338,101 20,243,303 74,471,693 240,000,000 . . Colorado. +Connecticut . . . . . . . 155,707,980 341,256,976 444,274,114 425,433,237 774,631,524 327,177,385 799,000,000 . . Connecticut. +Dakota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,924,489 5,599,752 20,321,530 118,000,000 . . Dakota. +Delaware . . . . . . . . 21,062,556 39,767,233 46,242,181 64,787,223 97,180,833 59,951,643 130,000,000 . . Delaware. +District of Columbia . . 14,018,874 41,084,945 41,084,945 74,271,693 126,873,618 99,401,787 220,000,000 . . District of Columbia. +Florida . . . . . . . . . 22,862,270 68,929,685 73,101,500 32,480,843 44,163,655 30,938,309 120,000,000 . . Florida. +Georgia . . . . . . . . . 335,425,714 618,232,387 645,895,237 227,219,519 268,169,207 239,472,599 606,000,000 . . Georgia. +Idaho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,292,205 6,552,081 6,440,876 29,000,000 . . Idaho. +Illinois . . . . . . . . 156,265,006 389,207,372 871,860,282 482,899,575 2,121,680,579 786,616,394 3,210,000,000 . . Illinois. +Indiana . . . . . . . . . 202,650,264 411,042,424 528,835,371 663,455,044 1,268,180,543 727,815,131 1,681,000,000 . . Indiana. +Iowa . . . . . . . . . . 23,714,638 205,168,983 247,338,265 302,515,418 717,644,750 398,671,251 1,721,000,000 . . Iowa. +Kansas . . . . . . . . . . . . 22,518,232 31,327,895 92,125,861 188,892,014 160,891,689 700,000,000 . . Kansas. +Kentucky . . . . . . . . 301,628,456 528,212,693 666,043,112 409,544,294 604,318,552 350,563,971 902,000,000 . . Kentucky. +Louisiana . . . . . . . . 233,998,764 435,787,265 602,118,568 253,371,890 323,125,666 160,162,439 382,000,000 . . Louisiana. +Maine . . . . . . . . . . 122,777,571 154,380,388 190,211,600 204,253,780 348,155,671 235,978,716 511,000,000 . . Maine. +Maryland . . . . . . . . 219,217,364 297,135,238 376,919,944 423,834,918 643,748,976 497,307,675 837,000,000 . . Maryland. +Massachusetts . . . . . . 573,342,286 777,157,816 815,237,433 1,591,983,112 2,132,148,741 1,584,756,802 2,623,000,000 . . Masschusetts. +Michigan . . . . . . . . 59,787,255 163,533,005 257,163,983 272,242,917 719,208,118 517,666,359 1,580,000,000 . . Michigan. +Minnesota . . . . . . . . . . . 32,018,773 52,294,413 84,135,322 228,909,590 258,028,687 792,000,000 . . Minnesota. +Mississippi . . . . . . . 228,951,130 509,472,912 607,324,911 177,278,800 209,197,345 110,628,129 354,000,000 . . Mississippi. +Missouri . . . . . . . . 137,247,707 266,935,851 501,214,398 556,129,969 1,284,922,897 532,795,801 1,562,000,000 . . Missouri. +Montana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,943,411 15,184,522 18,609,802 40,000,000 . . Montana. +Nebraska . . . . . . . . . . . 7,426,949 9,131,056 54,584,616 69,277,483 90,585,782 385,000,000 . . Nebraska. +Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,740,973 31,134,012 29,291,459 156,000,000 . . Nevada. +New Hampshire . . . . . . 103,652,835 123,810,809 156,310,860 149,065.290 252,624,112 164,755,181 363,000,000 . . New Hampshire. +New Jersey . . . . . . . 200,000,000 296,682,492 467,918,324 624,868,971 940,976,064 572,518,361 1,305,000,000 . . New Jersey. +New Mexico . . . . . . . 5,174,471 20,838,780 20,813,768 17,784,014 31,349,793 11,363,406 49,000,000 . . New Mexico. +New York . . . . . . . . 1,080,309,216 1,390,464,638 1,843,338,517 1,967,001,185 6,500,841,264 2,651,940,006 6,308,000,000 . . New York. +North Carolina . . . . . 226,800,472 292,297,602 358,739,399 130,378,622 260,757,244 156,100,202 461,000,000 . . North Carolina. +Ohio . . . . . . . . . . 504,726,120 959,867,101 1,193,898,422 1,167,731,697 2,235,430,300 1,534,360,508 3,238,000,000 . . Ohio. +Oregon . . . . . . . . . 5,063,474 19,024,915 28,930,637 31,798,510 51,558,932 52,522,084 154,000,000 . . Oregon. +Pennsylvania . . . . . . 722,486,120 719,253,335 1,416,501,818 1,313,236,042 3,808,340,112 1,683,459,016 4,942,000,000 . . Pennsylvania. +Rhode Island . . . . . . 80,508,794 125,104,305 135,337,588 244,278,854 295,965,646 252,538,673 400,000,000 . . Rhode Island. +South Carolina . . . . . 288,257,694 489,319,128 548,138,754 183,913,337 208,146,989 133,560,135 322,000,000 . . South Carolina. +Tennessee . . . . . . . . 201,246,686 382,495,200 493,903,892 253,782,161 498,237,724 211,778,538 705,000,000 . . Tennessee. +Texas . . . . . . . . . . 52,740,473 267,792,335 365,200,614 149,732,929 159,052,542 340,364,515 825,000,000 . . Texas. +Utah . . . . . . . . . . 986,083 4,158,020 5,596,118 12,565,842 16,159,995 24,775,279 114,000,000 . . Utah. +Vermont . . . . . . . . . 92,205,049 84,758,619 122,477,170 102,548,528 235,349,553 86,806,775 302,000,000 . . Vermont. +Virginia . . . . . . . . 430,701,082 657,021,336 793,249,681 365,439,917 409,588,133 308,455,135 707,000,000 . . Virginia. +Washington . . . . . . . . . . 4,394,735 5,601,466 10,642,863 13,562,164 23,810,693 62,000,000 . . Washington. +West Virginia . . . . . . included in Virginia 140,538,273 190,651,491 139,622,705 350,000,000 . . West Virginia. +Wisconsin . . . . . . . . 42,056,595 185,945,489 273,671,668 333,209,838 702,307,329 438,971,751 1,139,000,000 . . Wisconsin. +Wyoming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,516,748 7,016,748 13,621,829 54,000,000 . . Wyoming. + + Total for U. S. . . . . $7,135,780,228 $12,084,560,005 $16,159,616,068 $14,178,986,732 $30,068,518,507 $16,902,993,543 $43,642,000,000 . . Total for U. S. + + +APPENDIX F. + +OWNERSHIP AND LOCATION OF PROPERTY. + +In the following table, the column headed "Location" gives the valuation +of the property located in each State and Territory, by the Census of +1880. The column headed "Ownership" gives the value of property owned +by the residents of the several States and Territories, wherever that +property may be located. Some interesting results are shown. Residents +of New York own thirteen hundred millions of property not located in +their State; residents of Pennsylvania, four hundred and fifty millions. +Many of the States show a large proportion of their property owned +elsewhere. Considerably more than half the property of Nevada is owned +outside the State. The whole table presents one of the most interesting +deductions of the Census Bureau. + +STATES +AND Ownership. Location. +TERRITORIES. + +Alabama . . . . . . $378,000,000 $428,000,000 +Arizona . . . . . . 23,000,000 41,000,000 +Arkansas . . . . . . 246,000,000 286,000,000 +California . . . . . 1,430,000,000 1,343,000,000 +Colorado . . . . . . 149,000,000 240,000,000 +Connecticut . . . . 852,000,000 779,000,000 +Dakota . . . . . . . 68,000,000 118,000,000 +Delaware . . . . . . 138,000,000 136,000,000 +Dist. of Columbia . 223,000,000 220,000,000 +Florida . . . . . . 95,000,000 120,000,000 +Georgia . . . . . . 554,000,000 606,000,000 +Idaho . . . . . . . 12,000,000 29,000,000 +Illinois . . . . . . 3,092,000,000 3,219,000,000 +Indiana . . . . . . 1,499,000,000 1,681,000,000 +Iowa . . . . . . . . 1,415,000,000 1,721,000,000 +Kansas . . . . . . . 575,000,000 760,000,000 +Kentucky . . . . . . 880,000,000 902,000,000 +Louisiana . . . . . 422,000,000 382,000,000 +Maine . . . . . . . 501,000,000 511,000,000 +Maryland . . . . . . 869,000,000 837,000,000 +Massachusetts . . . 2,795,000,000 2,623,000,000 +Michigan . . . . . . 1,370,000,000 1,580,000,000 +Minnesota . . . . . 638,000,000 792,000,000 +Mississippi . . . . 324,000,000 354,000,000 +Missouri . . . . . . 1,530,000,000 1,562,000,000 +Montana . . . . . . 29,000,000 40,000,000 +Nebraska . . . . . . 200,000,000 385,000,000 +Nevada . . . . . . . 69,000,000 156,000,000 +New Hampshire . . . 328,000,000 363,000,000 +New Jersey . . . . . 1,433,000,000 1,305,000,000 +New Mexico . . . . . 30,000,000 49,000,000 +New York . . . . . . 7,619,000,000 6,208,000,000 +North Carolina . . . 446,000,000 461,000,000 +Ohio . . . . . . . . 3,301,000,000 3,238,000,000 +Oregon . . . . . . . 126,000,000 154,000,000 +Pennsylvania . . . . 5,393,000,000 4,942,000,000 +Rhode Island . . . . 420,000,000 400,000,000 +South Carolina . . . 296,000,000 322,000,000 +Tennessee . . . . . 666,000,000 705,000,000 +Texas . . . . . . . 725,000,000 825,000,000 +Utah . . . . . . . . 67,000,000 114,000,000 +Vermont . . . . . . 289,000,000 302,000,000 +Virginia . . . . . . 693,000,000 707,000,000 +Washington . . . . . 48,000,000 62,000,000 +West Virginia . . . 307,000,000 350,000,000 +Wisconsin . . . . . 969,000,000 1,139,000,000 +Wyoming . . . . . . 20,000,000 54,000,000 + + $43,642,000,000 $43,642,000,000 + + +APPENDIX G + +The following table exhibits the amount of revenue collected at the +Customs Houses on foreign imports each year, from 1789 to 1883, under +the various tariff laws; also the amount of internal revenue collected +each year, from the foundation of the government to 1883. The separate +table gives the amount collected each year under the income-tax while +in force, and the total amount received from the tax on spirits and +beer for twenty-one years after it was first levied in 1862. + +Receipts of the United States from March 4, 1789, to June 30, 1883. + +Years. From Customs. From Internal Revenue. +1789-1791 $4,399,473.00 +1792 3,443,070.85 $208,942.81 +1793 4,255,306.56 337,705.70 +1794 4,801,065.28 274,089.62 +1795 5,588,461.62 337,755.36 +1796 6,567,987.94 475,289.60 +1797 7,549,649.65 575,491.45 +1798 7,106,061.93 644,357.95 +1799 6,610,449,31 779,136.44 +1800 9,080,932.78 809,396.55 +1801 10,750,778.93 1,048,033.43 +1802 12,438,235.74 621,898.89 +1803 10,479,417.61 215,179.69 +1804 11,098,565.33 50,941.29 +1805 12,938,487.04 21,747.15 +1806 14,667,698.17 20,101.45 +1807 15,845,521.61 13,051.40 +1808 16,363,550.58 8,190.23 +1809 7,257,506.62 4,034.29 +1810 8,583,309.31 7,430.63 +1811 13,313,222.73 2,295.95 +1812 8,958,777.53 4,903.06 +1813 13,224,623.25 4,755.04 +1814 5,998,772.08 1,662,984.83 +1815 7,282,942.22 4,678,059.07 +1816 36,306,874.88 5,124,708.31 +1817 26,283,348.49 2,678,100.77 +1818 17,176,385.00 955,270.20 +1819 20,283,608.76 229,593.63 +1820 15,005,612.15 106,260.53 +1821 13,004,447.15 69,027.63 +1822 17,589,761.94 67,665.71 +1823 19,088,433.44 34,242.17 +1824 17,878,325.71 34,663.37 +1825 20,098,713.45 25,771.35 +1826 23,341,331.77 21,589.93 +1827 19,712,283.29 19,885.68 +1828 23,205,523.64 17,451.54 +1829 22,681,965.91 14,502.74 +1830 21,922,391.39 12,160.62 +1831 24,224,441.77 6,933.51 +1832 28,465,237.24 11,630.65 +1833 29,031,508.91 2,759.00 +1834 16,214,957.15 4,196.09 +1835 19,391,310.59 10,459.48 +1836 23,409,940.53 370.00 +1837 11,169,290.39 5,493.84 +1838 16,158,800.36 2,467.27 +1839 23,137,924.81 2,553,32 +1840 13,499,502.17 1,682.25 +1841 14,487,216.74 3,261.36 +1842 18,187,908.76 495.00 +1843 7,046,843.91 103.25 +1844 26,183,570.94 1,777.34 +1845 27,528,112.70 3,517.12 +1846 26,712,667.87 2,897.26 +1847 23,747,864.66 375.00 +1848 31,757,070.96 375.00 +1849 28,346,738.82 +1850 39,668,686.42 +1851 49,017,567.92 +1852 47,339,326.62 +1853 58,931.865.52 +1854 64,224,190.27 +1855 53,025.794.21 +1856 64,022,863.50 +1857 63,875,905.05 +1858 41,789,620.96 +1859 49,565,824.38 +1860 53,187,511.87 +1861 39,582,125.64 +1862 49,056,397.62 +1863 69.059,642.40 $37,640,787.95 +1864 102,316,152.99 109,741,134.10 +1865 84,928,260.60 209,464,215.25 +1866 179,046,651.58 309,226,813.42 +1867 176,417,810.88 266,027,537.43 +1868 164,464,599.56 191,087,589.41 +1869 180,048,426.63 158,356,460.86 +1870 194,538,374.44 184,899,756.49 +1871 206,270,408.05 143,098,153.63 +1872 216,370,286.77 130,642,177.72 +1873 188,089,522.70 113,729,314.14 +1874 163,103,833.69 102,409,784.90 +1875 157,167,722.35 110,007,493.58 +1876 148,071,984.61 116,700,732.03 +1877 130,956,493.07 118,630,407.83 +1878 130,170,680.20 110,581,624.74 +1879 137,250,047.70 113,561,610.58 +1880 186,522,064.60 124,009,373.92 +1881 198,159,676.02 135,264,385.51 +1882 220,410,730.25 146,497,595.45 +1883 214,706,496.93 144,720,368.98 + + Total $5,073,240,329.60 $3,098,575,330.71 + + From Distilled Spirits. +Years. From Income Tax. | From Fermented Liquors. +1863 $2,741.858.25 $5,176,530.50 $1,628,933.82 +1864 20,294,731.74 30,329,149.53 2,290,009.14 +1865 32,050,017.44 18,731,422.45 3,734,928.06 +1866 72,982,159.03 33,268,171.82 5,220,552.72 +1867 66,014,429.34 33,542,951.72 6,057,500.63 +1868 41,455,598.36 18,655,630.90 5,955,868.92 +1869 34,791,855.84 45,071,230.86 6,099,879.54 +1870 37,775,873.62 55,606,094.15 6,319,126.90 +1871 19,162,650.75 46,281,848,10 7,389,501.82 +1872 14,436,861.78 49,475,516.36 8,258,498.46 +1873 5,062,311.62 52,099,371.78 9,324,937.84 +1874 139,472.09 49,444,089.85 9,304,679.72 +1875 232.64 52,081,991.12 9,144,004.41 +1876 588.27 56,426,365.13 9,571,280.66 +1877 97.79 57,469,429.72 9,480,789.17 +1878 50,420,815.80 9,937,051.78 +1879 52,570,284.69 10,729,320.08 +1880 61,185,508.79 12,829,802.84 +1881 3,021.92 67,153,974.88 13,700,241.21 +1882 69,873,408.18 16,153,920.42 +1883 74,368,775.20 16,900,615.81 + + Total $366,911,760.48 $979,232,561.53 $180,031,443.95 + +APPENDIX H. + +IMPORTANT CROPS. + +The following table exhibits the aggregate production in the United +States, for a series of years ending wih 1882, of certain crops which +contribute largely to the national wealth. The total acreage, the +yield per acre, and the value per acre, are given in each case. + +CORN. Yield per Acre. Value +Years. Bushels. Acres. | Value. per Acre. +1849 592.071,104 +1859 838,792,742 +1866 867,946,295 34,306,538 25 $591,666,295 +1867 768,320,000 32,520,249 23 610,948,390 +1868 906,527,000 34,887,246 25.9 569,512,460 $16.32 +1869 760,944,549 +1870 1,094,255,000 38,646,977 28.3 601,839,030 15.57 +1871 991,898,000 34,091,137 29.1 478,275,900 14.02 +1872 1,092,719,000 35,526,836 30.7 435,149,290 12.24 +1873 932,274,000 39,197,148 23.8 447,183,200 11.41 +1874 850,148,500 41,036,918 20.7 550,043,080 13.40 +1875 1,321,069,000 44,841,371 29.4 555,445,930 12.38 +1876 1,283,827,500 49,033,364 26.1 475,491,210 9.69 +1877 1,342,558,000 50,369,113 26.6 480,643,400 9.54 +1878 1,388,218,750 51,585,000 26.9 441,153,405 8.55 +1879 1,754,591,676 62,368,504 28.1 +1880 1,717,434,543 62,317,842 27.6 679,714,499 10.91 +1881 1,194,916,000 64,262,025 18.6 759,482,170 11.82 +1882 1,617,025,100 65,659,546 24.6 783,867,175 11.91 + +WHEAT. Yield per Acre. Value +Years. Bushels. Acres. | Value. per Acre. +1849 100,485,944 +1859 173,104,924 +1866 151,999,906 15,424,496 10 $333,773,646 +1867 212,441,400 18,321,561 11.5 421,796,460 +1868 224,036,600 18,460,132 12.1 319,195,290 $17.29 +1869 287,745,626 +1870 235,884,700 18,992,591 12.4 245,865,045 12.94 +1871 230,722,400 19,943,893 11.5 290,411,820 14.56 +1872 249,997,100 20,858,359 11.9 310,180,375 14.87 +1873 281,254,700 22,171,676 12.7 323,594,805 14.20 +1874 309,102,700 24,967,027 12.5 291,107,895 11.66 +1875 292,136,000 26,381,512 11 294,580,990 11.16 +1876 289,356,500 27,627,021 10.4 300,259,300 10.86 +1877 364,194,146 26,277,546 13.9 394,695,779 15.08 +1878 420,122,400 32,108,560 13.1 326,346,424 10.15 +1879 459,483,137 35,430,333 13 +1880 498,549,868 37,986,717 13.1 474,201,850 12.48 +1881 383,280,090 37,709,020 10.2 456,880,427 12.01 +1882 504,185,470 37,067,194 13.6 444,602,125 12.00 + +POTATOES. Yield per Acre. Value +Years. Bushels. Acres. | Value. per Acre. +1849 65,797,896 +1859 111,148,867 +1866 107,200,976 1,069,381 100 $72,939,029 +1867 97,783,000 1,192,195 82 89,276,830 +1868 106,090,000 1,131,552 93.7 84,150,040 $74.36 +1869 143,337,473 +1870 114,775,000 1,325,119 86.6 82,668,590 62.38 +1871 120,461,700 1,220,912 98.6 71,836,671 58.83 +1872 113,516,000 1,331,331 85.2 68,091,120 51.14 +1873 106,089,000 1,295,139 81.9 74,774,890 57.73 +1874 105,981,000 1,310,041 80.9 71,823,330 54.82 +1875 166,877,000 1,510,041 110.5 65,019,420 43.05 +1876 124,827,000 1,741,983 71.6 83,861,390 48.14 +1877 170,092,000 1,792,287 94.9 76,249,500 42.54 +1878 124,126,650 1,776,800 69.9 73,059,125 41.12 +1879 169,458,539 +1880 167,659,570 1,842,510 91 81,062,214 44.00 +1881 109,145,494 2,041,670 53.5 99,291,341 48.63 +1882 170,972,508 2,171,636 78.7 92,304,844 43.84 + +HAY. Yield per Acre. Value +Years. Tons. Acres. | Value. per Acre. +1849 13,838,642 +1859 19,083,896 +1866 21,778,627 17,668,904 1.22 $317,561,837 +1867 26,277,000 20,020,554 372,864,670 +1868 26,141,900 21,541,573 1.21 351,941,030 $16.33 +1869 27,316,048 +1870 24,525,000 19,861,805 1.23 338,969,680 17.06 +1871 22,239,409 19,009,052 1.17 351,717,035 18.50 +1872 23,812,800 20,318,936 1.17 345,969,079 17.02 +1873 25,085,100 21,894,084 1.34 339,895,486 15.52 +1874 24,133,900 21,769,772 1.11 331,420,738 15.22 +1875 27,873,600 23,507,964 1.18 342,203,445 14.55 +1876 30,867,100 25,282,797 1.22 300,901,252 11.90 +1877 31,629,300 25,367,708 1.24 271,934,950 10.72 +1878 39,608,296 26,931,300 1.47 285,543,752 10.60 +1879 35,150,711 30,631,054 1.15 +1880 31,925,233 25,863,955 1.23 371,811,084 14.38 +1881 35,135,064 30,888,700 1.14 415,131,366 13.43 +1882 38,138,049 32,339,585 1.15 369,958,158 11.45 + +TOBACCO. Yield per Acre. Value +Years. Pounds. Acres. | Value. per Acre. +1849 199,752,655 +1859 434,209,461 +1866 388,128,684 520,107 746 $ 53,778,888 +1867 313,724,000 494,333 631 41,283,431 +1868 320,982,000 427,189 751 40,081,942 $93.82 +1869 262,735,341 481,101 569 32,206,325 66.94 +1870 250,628,000 330,668 757 26,747,158 80.83 +1871 263,196,100 350,769 570 25,901,421 73.84 +1872 342,304,000 416,512 821.8 35,730,385 85.78 +1873 372,810,000 480,878 775 30,865,972 64.19 +1874 178,355,000 281,662 633.2 23,362,765 82.94 +1875 379,347,000 559,049 678.5 30,342,600 54.27 +1876 381,002,000 540,457 705 28,282,968 52.33 +1877 440,000,000 +1878 392,546,700 542,850 723.1 22,137,428 40.78 +1879 472,661,157 638,841 739.9 +1880 446,296,889 602,516 740.7 36,414,615 60.44 +1881 449,880,014 646,239 696.1 43,372,336 +1882 513,077,558 671,522 764 43,189,951 64.18 + + +APPENDIX I. + +The following table exhibits in a condensed and perspicuous form the +operations of the Post-Office Department, from the foundation of the +government. The very rapid increase in the revenue of the department +after 1860 will be noted. + + No. of Post Offices. + | Extent of Post-Routes in Miles. + | | Revenue of the Department. +Years. | | | Expenditure of the Department. + | | | | AMOUNT PAID FOR + | | | | Salaries of Post-Masters. + | | | | | Transportation of the Mail. +1790 75 1,875 $37,935 $32,140 $8,198 $22,081 +1795 453 13,207 160,620 117,893 30,272 75,359 +1800 903 20,817 280,804 213,994 69,243 128,644 +1805 1,558 31,076 421,373 377,378 111,552 239,635 +1810 2,300 36,406 551,684 495,969 149,438 327,966 +1815 3,000 43,748 1,043,065 748,121 241,901 487,779 +1816 3,260 48,673 961,782 804,422 265,944 521,979 +1817 3,459 52,089 1,002,973 916,515 303,916 589,189 +1818 3,618 59,473 1,130,235 1,035,832 346,429 664,611 +1819 4,000 67,586 1,204,737 1,117,801 375,828 717,881 +1820 4,500 72,492 1,111,927 1,160,926 352,295 782,425 +1821 4,650 78,808 1,059,087 1,184,283 337,599 815,681 +1822 4,709 82,763 1,117,490 1,167,572 335,299 788,618 +1823 4,043 84,860 1,130,115 1,156,995 360,462 767,464 +1824 5,182 84,860 1,197,758 1,188,019 383,804 768,939 +1825 5,677 94,052 1,306,525 1,229,043 411,183 785,646 +1826 6,150 94,052 1,447,703 1,366,712 447,727 885,100 +1827 7,003 105,336 1,524,633 1,468,959 486,411 942,345 +1828 7,530 105,336 1,659,915 1,689,945 548,049 1,086,313 +1829 8,004 115,000 1,707,418 1,782,132 559,237 1,153,646 +1830 8,450 115,176 1,850,583 1,932,708 595,234 1,274,226 +1831 8,686 115,486 1,997,811 1,936,122 635,028 1,252,226 +1832 9,205 104,466 2,258,570 2,266,171 715,481 1,482,507 +1833 10,127 119,916 2,617,011 2,930,414 826,283 1,894,638 +1834 10,693 119,916 2,823,749 2,910,605 897,317 1,925,544 +1835 10,770 112,774 2,903,356 2,757,350 945,418 1,719,007 +1836 11,091 118,264 3,408,323 3,841,766 812,803 1,638,052 +1837 11,767 141,242 4,236,779 3,544,630 891,352 1,996,727 +1838 12,519 134,818 4,238,733 4,430,662 933,948 3,131,308 +1839 12,780 133,999 4,484,657 4,636,536 980,000 3,285,622 +1840 13,468 155,739 4,543,522 4,718,236 1,028,925 3,296,876 +1841 13,778 155,026 4,407,726 4,499,528 1,018,645 3,159,375 +1842 13,733 149,732 4,456,849 5,674,752 1,146,256 3,087,796 +1843 13,814 142,295 4,296,225 4,374,754 1,426,394 2,947,319 +1844 14,103 144,687 4,237,288 4,296,513 1,358,316 2,938,551 +1845 14,183 143,940 4,289,841 4,320,732 1,409,875 2,905,504 +1846 14,601 152,865 3,487,199 4,084,297 1,042,079 2,716,673 +1847 15,146 153,818 3,955,893 3,979,570 1,060,228 2,476,435 +1848 16,159 163,208 4,371,077 4,326,850 2,394,703 +1849 16,749 163,703 4,905,178 4,479,049 1,320,921 2,577,407 +1850 18,417 178,672 5,552,971 5.212,953 1,549,376 2,965,786 +1851 19,796 196,290 6,727,867 6,278,402 1,781,686 3,538,064 +1852 20,901 214,284 6,925,971 7,108,459 1,296,765 4,225,311 +1853 22,320 217,743 5,940,725 7,982,957 1,406,477 4,906,308 +1854 23,548 219,935 6,955,586 8,577,424 1,707,708 5,401,382 +1855 24,410 227,908 7,342,136 9,968,342 2,135,335 6,076,335 +1856 25,565 239,642 7,620,822 10,405,286 2,102,891 6,765,639 +1857 26,586 242,601 8,053,952 11,508,058 2,285,610 7,239,333 +1858 27,977 260,603 8,186,793 12,722,470 2,355,016 8,246,054 +1859 28,539 260,052 8,668,484 15,754,093 2,453,901 7,157,629 +1860 28,498 240,594 8,518,067 19,170,610 2,552,868 8,808,710 +1861 28,586 140,139 8,349,296 13,606,759 2,514,157 5,309,454 +1862 28,875 134,013 8,299,821 11,125,364 2,340,767 5,853,834 +1863 29,047 139,598 11,163,790 11,314,207 2,876,983 5,740,576 +1864 28,878 139,171 12,438,254 12,644,786 3,174,326 5,818,469 +1865 20,550 142,340 14,556,159 13,694,728 3,383,382 6,246,884 +1866 23,828 180,921 14,386,986 15,352,079 3,454,677 7,630,474 +1867 25,163 203,245 15,237,027 19,235,483 4,033,728 9,336,286 +1868 26,481 216,928 16,292,601 22,730,593 4,255,311 10,266,056 +1869 27,106 223,731 18,344,511 23,698,131 4,546,958 10,406,501 +1870 28,492 231,232 19,772,221 23,998,837 4,673,466 10,884,653 +1871 30,045 238,350 20,037,045 24,390,104 5,028,382 11,529,395 +1872 31,863 251,398 21,915,426 26,658,192 5,121,665 15,547,821 +1873 33,244 256,210 22,996,742 29,084,946 5,725,468 16,161,034 +1874 34,294 269,097 26,447,072 32,126,415 5,818,472 18,881,319 +1875 35,547 277,873 26,791,360 33,611,309 7,049,936 18,777,201 +1876 36,383 281,708 27,895,908 33,263,488 7,397,397 18,361,048 +1877 37,345 292,820 27,468,323 33,486,322 7,295,251 18,529,238 +1878 39,258 301,966 29,277,517 34,165,084 7,977,852 19,262,421 +1879 40,855 316,711 30,041,983 33,449,899 7,185,540 20,012,872 +1880 42,989 343,888 33,315,479 36,542,804 7,701,418 22,255,984 +1881 44,512 344,006 36,785,398 39,251,736 8,298,743 23,196,032 +1882 46,231 343,618 41,876,410 40,039,635 8,964,677 22,846,112 +1883 47,863 353,166 45,508,692 42,816,700 10,315,394 23,870,666 + + +APPENDIX J. + +The following table exhibits the number of miles of railroad in +operation, and the number of miles constructed each year, in the United +States, from 1830 to 1883 inclusive. It will be observed that nearly +three-fourths of the total mileage have been constructed since 1869. + +Year. Miles in Operation the the End of each Year. + | Miles Constructed each Year. +1830 23 | +1831 95 72 +1832 229 134 +1833 380 151 +1834 633 253 +1835 1,098 465 +1836 1,273 175 +1837 1,497 224 +1838 1,913 416 +1839 2,302 389 +1840 2,818 516 +1841 3,535 717 +1842 4,026 491 +1843 4,185 159 +1844 4,377 192 +1845 4,633 256 +1846 4,930 297 +1847 5,598 668 +1848 5,996 398 +1849 7,365 1,369 +1850 9,021 1,656 +1851 10,982 1,961 +1852 12,908 1,926 +1853 15,360 2,452 +1854 16,720 1,360 +1855 18,374 1,654 +1856 22,016 3,642 +1857 24,503 2,487 +1858 26,968 2,465 +1859 28,789 1,821 +1860 30,635 1,846 +1861 31,286 651 +1862 32,120 834 +1863 33,170 1,050 +1864 33,908 738 +1865 35,085 1,177 +1866 36,801 1,716 +1867 39,250 2,449 +1868 42,229 2,979 +1869 46,844 4,615 +1870 52,885 6,079 +1871 60,293 7,379 +1872 66,171 5,878 +1873 70,278 4,107 +1874 72,383 2,105 +1875 74,096 1,713 +1876 76,808 2,712 +1877 79,089 2,281 +1878 81,776 2,687 +1879 86,497 4,721 +1880 93,545 7,174 +1881 103,334 11,142 +1882 114,930 11,591 +1883 119,937 6,608 + + +APPENDIX K. + +The following table gives the number of miles of railroad in operation +in each State and Territory in the United States during the years 1865, +1870, 1875, 1877, 1879, 1880, 1881, and 1882 respectively. + +STATES AND TERRITORIES. 1865. 1870. 1875. 1877. 1879. 1880. 1881. 1882. + +Maine . . . . . . . . . 521 786 980 989 1,009 1,004 1,027 1,056 +New Hampshire . . . . . 667 736 934 964 1,019 1,014 1,021 1,038 +Vermont . . . . . . . 587 614 810 872 873 916 918 920 +Masschusetts . . . .. 1,297 1,480 1,817 1,863 1,870 1,915 1,959 1,967 +Rhode Island . . . . 125 136 179 204 210 211 212 212 +Connecticut . . . . . . 637 742 918 922 922 922 959 962 + New England . . . . . 3,834 4,494 5,638 5,814 5,903 5,982 6,096 6,155 + +New York . . . . . . . 3,002 3,928 5,423 5,725 6,008 6,062 6,332 7,037 +New Jersey . . . . . . 864 1,125 1,511 1,661 1,663 1,602 1,781 1,870 +Pennsylvania . . . . . 3,728 4,656 5,705 5,902 6,068 6,166 6,331 6,857 +Delaware . . . . . . . 134 197 272 272 293 275 275 282 +Maryland and Dist. of + Columbia . . . . . . 446 671 929 944 966 1,005 1,030 1,063 +West Virginia . . . . . 365 387 615 638 694 691 706 813 + Middle States . . . . 8,539 10,964 14,455 15,142 15,679 15,891 16,455 17,922 + +Virginia . . . . . . . 1,407 1,449 1,608 1,635 1,672 1,897 2,224 2,446 +Kentucky . . . . . . . 567 1,017 1,326 1,509 1,595 1,592 1,734 1,807 +North Carolina . . . . 984 1,178 1,356 1,426 1,446 1,463 1,622 1,759 +Tennessee . . . . . . . 1,296 1,492 1,630 1,656 1,701 1,845 1,902 2,067 +South Carolina . . . . 1,007 1,139 1.335 1,406 1,424 1,427 1,479 1,517 +Georgia . . . . . . . . 1,420 1,845 2,264 2,339 2,460 2,438 2,540 2,874 +Florida . . . . . . . . 416 446 484 485 519 557 702 973 +Alabama . . . . . . . . 805 1,157 1,800 1,802 1,832 1,845 1,859 1,909 +Mississippi . . . . . . 898 990 1,018 1,088 1,140 1,133 1,188 1,309 +Louisiana . . . . . . . 335 450 466 466 544 675 937 1,032 + Southern States . . . 9,129 11,163 13,287 13,812 14,333 14,872 16,187 17,693 + +Ohio . . . . . . . . . 3,331 3,538 4,461 4,878 5,521 5,824 6,321 6,931 +Michigan . . . . . . . 941 1,638 3,446 3,477 3,673 3,981 4,326 4,654 +Indiana . . . . . . . . 2,217 3,177 3,963 4,057 4,336 4,020 4,406 5,018 +Illinois . . . . . . . 3,157 4,823 7,109 7,334 7,578 7,900 8,309 8,752 +Wisconsin . . . . . . . 1,010 1,525 2,566 2,701 2,896 3,169 3,471 3,824 +Minnesota . . . . . . . 213 1,092 1,900 2,194 3,008 3,390 3,577 3,974 +Dakota Territory . . . 65 275 290 400 1,320 1,733 2,133 +Iowa . . . . . . . . . 891 2,683 3,850 4,134 4,779 5,401 6,165 6,968 +Missouri . . . . . . . 925 2,000 2,905 3,198 3,740 3,964 4,206 4,500 +Indian Territory . . . 275 275 275 279 285 350 +Arkansas . . . . . . . 38 256 740 767 808 889 1,033 1,533 +Texas . . . . . . . . . 465 711 1,685 2,210 2,591 3,257 4,926 6,007 +Nebraska . . . . . . . 122 705 1,167 1,286 1,634 1,949 2,273 2,494 +Kansas . . . . . . . . 40 1,501 2,150 2,352 3,103 3,446 3,655 3,866 +Colorado . . . . . . . 157 807 1,045 1,208 1,576 2,193 2,772 +New-Mexico Territory . 118 745 1,034 1,076 +Wyoming Territory . . . 459 459 465 472 500 564 613 +Idaho Territory . . . . 220 182 251 472 +Utah Territory . . . . 257 506 506 593 747 782 967 +Montana Territory . . . 10 110 267 659 + Western States and + Territories . . . . . 13,350 24,587 38,254 41,160 46,963 52,649 59,777 67,563 + +Nevada . . . . . . . . 593 601 627 720 738 894 948 +California . . . . . . 214 925 1,503 2,080 2,209 2,201 2,315 2,643 +Arizona Territory . . . 183 401 549 765 +Oregon . . . . . . . . 19 159 248 248 295 561 627 807 +Weashington Territory . 110 197 212 250 434 434 + Pacific States and + Territories . . . . . 233 1,677 2,462 3,152 3,619 4,151 4,819 5,597 + +RECAPITULATION. +New-England States . . 3,834 4,494 5,638 5,814 5,903 5,982 6,096 6,155 +Middle States . . . . . 8,539 10,964 14,455 15,142 15,679 15,891 16,455 17,922 +Southern States . . . . 9,129 11,163 13,287 13,812 14,333 14,872 16,187 17,693 +Western States and + Territories . . . . . 13,350 24,587 38,254 41,169 46,963 52,649 59,777 67,563 +Pacific States and + Territories . . . . . 233 1,677 2,462 3,152 3,619 4,151 4,819 5,597 + + Grand Total . . . . . 35,085 52,885 74,096 79,089 86,497 93,545 103,334 114,930 + + +APPENDIX L. + +This table exhibits the total amount of pensions paid by the government +from its foundation, including those to soldiers of the Revolution, war +of 1812, Mexican war, war of the Rebellion, and the various Indian wars. + +Year. Pensions. +1791 $175,813.88 +1792 109,243.15 +1793 80,087.81 +1794 81,399.24 +1795 68,673.22 +1796 100,843.71 +1797 92,256.97 +1798 104,845.33 +1799 95,444.03 +1800 64,130.73 +1801 73,533.37 +1802 85,440.39 +1803 62,902.10 +1804 80,092.80 +1805 81,854.59 +1806 81,875.53 +1807 70,500.00 +1808 82,576.04 +1809 87,833.54 +1810 83,744.16 +1811 75,043.88 +1812 91,042.10 +1813 86,989.91 +1814 90,164.36 +1815 60,656.06 +1816 188,804.15 +1817 297,374.43 +1818 890,719.90 +1819 2,415,939.85 +1820 3,208,376.31 +1821 242,817.25 +1822 1,948,199.40 +1823 1,780,588.52 +1824 1,499,326.59 +1825 1,308,810.57 +1826 1,566,593.83 +1827 976,138.86 +1828 580,573.57 +1820 949,594.47 +1830 1,363,297.31 +1831 1,170,665.14 +1832 1,184,422.40 +1833 4,589,152.40 +1834 3,364,285,30 +1835 1,954,711.32 +1836 2,882,797.96 +1837 2,672,162.45 +1838 2,156,057.29 +1830 3,142,750.51 +1840 2,603,562.17 +1841 2,388,434.51 +1842 1,378,931.33 +1843 839,041.12 +1844 2,032,008.99 +1845 2,400,788.11 +1846 1,811,097.56 +1847 1,744,883.63 +1848 1,227,496.48 +1849 1,328,867.64 +1850 1,866,886.02 +1851 2,293,377.22 +1852 2,401,858.78 +1853 1,756.306.20 +1854 1,232,665.00 +1855 1,477,612.33 +1856 1,296,229.65 +1857 1,310,380.58 +1858 1,219,768.30 +1859 1,222,222.71 +1860 1,100,802.32 +1861 1,034,599.73 +1862 852,170.47 +1863 1,078,513.36 +1864 4,985,473.90 +1865 16,347,621.34 +1866 15,605,549.88 +1867 20.936,551.71 +1868 23,782,386.78 +1869 28,476,621.78 +1870 28,340,202.17 +1871 34,443,894.88 +1872 28,533,402.76 +1874 29,038,414.66 +1875 29,456,216.22 +1876 28,257,395.69 +1877 27,963,752.27 +1878 27,137,019.08 +1879 35,121,482.39 +1880 56,777,174.44 +1881 50,059,279.62 +1882 61,345,193.95 +1883 66,012,573.64 + + $724,658,382.78 + + +APPENDIX M. + +The following table shows the distribution of the tonnage of the +United-States merchant-marine employed in the foreign trade, the coasting +trade, and the fisheries, from 1789 to 1883 inclusive. + + Foreign Trade. + | Coasting Trade. + | | Whale Fisheries. +Year Ended | | | Cod Fisheries. + | | | | Mackerel Fisheries. + | | | | | Total Merchant-Marine. + Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. +Dec. 31, 1789 123,893 68,607 9,062 201,562 + 1790 346,254 103,775 28,348 478,377 + 1791 363,110 106,494 32,542 502,146 + 1792 411,438 120,957 32,062 564,457 + 1793 367,734 122,071 30,959 520,764 + 1794 438,863 162,578 4,129 23,048 628,618 + 1795 529,471 184,398 3,163 30,933 747,965 + 1796 576,733 217,841 2,364 34,962 831,900 + 1797 597,777 237,403 1,104 40,628 876,912 + 1798 603,376 251,443 763 42,746 898,328 + 1799 657,142 246,640 5,647 29,979 939,408 + 1800 667,107 272,492 3,466 29,427 972,492 + 1801 630,558 274,551 3,085 39,382 947,576 + 1802 557,760 289,623 3,201 41,522 892,106 + 1803 585,910 299,060 12,390 51,812 949,172 + 1804 680,514 317,537 12,339 52,014 1,042,404 + 1805 744,224 332,663 6,015 57,465 1,140,367 + 1806 798,507 340,540 10,507 59,183 1,208,737 + 1807 840,163 349,028 9,051 70,306 1,268,548 + 1808 765,252 420,819 4,526 51,998 1,242,595 + 1809 906,855 405,103 3,777 34,487 1,350,282 + 1810 981,019 405,347 3,589 34,828 1,424,783 + 1811 763,607 420,362 5,209 43,234 1,232,502 + 1812 758,636 477,972 2,930 30,459 1,269,997 + 1813 672,700 471,109 2,942 19,877 1,166,628 + 1814 674,633 466,159 562 17,855 1,159,209 + 1815 854,295 475,666 1,230 36,937 1,368,128 + 1816 800,760 522,165 1,168 48,126 1,372,219 + 1817 804,851 525,030 5,224 64,807 1,309,912 + 1818 589,954 549,374 16,750 69,107 1,225,185 + 1819 581,230 571,058 32,386 76,078 1,260,752 + 1820 583,657 588,025 36,445 72,040 1,280,167 + 1821 593,825 614,845 27,995 62,293 1,298,958 + 1822 582,701 624,189 48,583 69,226 1,324,699 + 1823 600,003 617,805 40,503 78,225 1,336,566 + 1824 636,807 641,563 33,346 77,447 1,389,163 + 1825 665,409 640,861 35,379 81,462 1,423,111 + 1826 696,221 722,330 41,984 73,656 1,534,191 + 1827 701,517 789,159 45,992 83,687 1,620,607 + 1828 757,998 842,906 54,801 85,687 1,741,392 + 1829 592,859 508,858 57,284 101,797 1,260,798 + 1830 537,563 516,979 39,705 61,556 35,973 1,191,776 + 1831 538,136 539,724 82,797 60,978 46,211 1,267,846 + 1832 614,121 649,627 73,246 55,028 47,428 1,439,450 + 1833 648,869 744,199 101,636 62,721 48,726 1,606,151 + 1834 749,378 783,619 108,424 56,404 61,082 1,758,907 +Sept. 30, 1835* 788,173 797,338 97,649 77,338 64,443 1,824,941 + 1836 753,094 873,023 146,254 63,307 46,424 1,882,102 + 1837 683,205 956,981 129,137 80,552 46,811 1,896,686 + 1838 702,962 1,041,105 124,860 70,084 56,649 1,995,640 + 1839 702,400 1,153,552 132,285 72,258 35,984 2,096,479 + 1840 762,838 1,176,694 136,927 76,036 28,269 2,180,764 + 1841 788,398 1,107,068 157,405 66,552 11,321 2,130,744 + 1842 823,746 1,045,753 151,990 54,805 16,007 2,092,391 +June 30, 1843* 856,930 1,076,156 152,517 61,224 11,776 2,158,603 + 1844 900,471 1,109,615 168,614 85,225 16,171 2,280,096 + 1845 904,476 1,223,218 190,903 76,901 21,414 2,417,002 + 1846 943,307 1,315,577 187,420 79,318 36,463 2,562,085 + 1847 1,047,454 1,488,601 103,859 77,681 31,451 2,839,046 + 1848 1,168,707 1,659,317 192,613 89,847 43,558 3,154,042 + 1849 1,258,756 1,770,376 180,186 81,756 42,942 3,334,016 + 1850 1,439,694 1,797,825 146,017 93,806 58,112 3,535,454 + 1851 1,544,663 1,899,976 181,644 95,617 50,539 3,772,439 + 1852 1,705,650 2,055,873 193,798 110,573 72,546 4,138,440 + 1853 1,910,471 2,134,258 193,203 109,228 59,850 4,407,010 + 1854 2,151,918 2,322,114 181,901 111,928 35,041 4,802,902 + 1855 2,348,358 2,543,255 186,848 111,915 21,625 5,212,001 + 1856 2,302,190 2,247,663 189,461 102,452 29,887 4,871,653 + 1857 2,268,196 2,336,609 195,842 111,868 28,328 4,940,843 + 1858 2,301,148 2,401,220 198,594 119,252 29,594 5,049,808 + 1859 2,321,674 2,488,929 185,728 129,637 27,070 5,145,038 + 1860 2,379,396 2,644,867 166,841 136,653 26,111 5,353,868 + 1861 2,496,894 2,704,544 145,734 137,846 54,795 5,539,813 + 1862 2,173,537 2,606,716 117,714 133,601 80,596 5,112,164 + 1863 1,926,886 2,960,633 99,228 117,290 51,019 5,155,056 + 1864 1,486,749 3,245,265 95,145 103,742 55,499 4,986,400 + 1865 1,518,350 3,381,522 90,516 65,185 41,209 5,096,782 + 1866 1,387,756 2,719,621 105,170 51,642 46,589 4,310,778 + 1867 1,515,648 2,660,390 52,384 44,567 31,498 4,304,487 + 1868 1,494,389 2,702,140 71,343 83,887** 4,351,759 + 1869 1,496,220 2,515,515 70,202 62,704 4,144,641 + 1870 1,448,846 2,638,247 67,954 91,460 4,246,507 + 1871 1,363,652 2,764,600 61,400 92,865 4,282,607 + 1872 1,359,040 2,929,552 51,608 97,547 4,437,747 + 1873 1,378,533 3,163,220 44,755 109,519 4,696,027 + 1874 1,389,815 3,292,439 39,108 78,290 4,800,652 + 1875 1,515,598 3,219,698 38,229 80,207 4,853,732 + 1876 1,553,705 2,598,835 30,116 87,802 4,279,458 + 1877 1,570,600 2,540,322 40,593 91,085 4,242,600 + 1878 1,589,348 2,497,170 39,700 86,547 4,212,765 + 1879 1,451,505 2,598,183 40,028 79,885 4,169,601 + 1880 1,314,402 2,637,686 38,408 77,538 4,068,034 + 1881 1,297,035 2,646,010 38,551 76,136 4,057,734 + 1882 1,259,492 2,795,777 32,802 77,862 4,165,933 + 1883 1,269,681 2,838,354 32,414 95,038 4,235,487 + +* Nine months +** After 1867 the tonnage engaged in mackerel fisheries is included in +this column. + + +APPENDIX N. + +The following table exhibits the immigration into the United States by +decades from 1821 to 1880. + + 1821 1831 1841 1851 1861 1871 +Countries. to to to to to to 1881. + 1830. 1840. 1850. 1860. 1870. 1880. + +England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,055 7,611 32,092 247,125 251,288 440,961 76,547 +Ireland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,724 207,381 780,719 914,119 456,593 444,589 79,909 +Scotland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,912 2,667 3,712 38,331 44,681 98,926 16,451 +Wales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 185 1,261 6,319 4,642 6,779 1,316 +Great Britain, not specified . . . . 7,942 65,347 229,979 132,199 349,766 7,908 7 + Total British Isles . . . . . . . 75,803 283,191 1,047,763 1,338,093 1,106,970 989,163 165,230 + +Austria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,398 69,558 21,437 +Belgium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 22 5,074 4,738 7,416 7,278 1,939 +Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 1,063 539 3,749 17,885 34,577 8,951 +France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,497 45,575 77,262 76,358 37,749 73,301 5,653 +Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,761 152,454 434,626 951,667 822,007 757,698 249,572 +Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 13,475 6,756 +Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 2,253 1,879 9,231 12,982 60,830 20,103 +Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,078 1,412 8,251 10,789 9,539 17,236 10,812 +Norway and Sweden . . . . . . . . . 91 1,201 13,903 20,931 117,798 226,488 82,859 +Russia and Poland . . . . . . . . . 91 646 656 1,621 5,047 54,606 14,476 +Spain and Portugal . . . . . . . . . 2,622 2,954 2,759 10,353 9,047 9,767 464 +Switzerland . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,226 4,821 4,644 25,011 23,839 31,722 11,628 +All other countries in Europe . . . 43 96 155 116 234 1,265 451 + Total Europe, not British Isles . 23,013 212,497 549,739 1,114,564 1,073,429 1,357,801 435,101 + Total Europe . . . . . . . . . . . 98,816 495,688 1,597,502 2,452,657 2,180,399 2,346,964 600,331 + +China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8 35 41,397 68,059 122,436 20,711 +All other countries of Asia . . . . 8 40 47 61 385 632 64 + Total Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 48 82 41,458 68,444 123,068 20,775 + +Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 52 55 210 324 221 37 + +British North American Provinces . . 2,277 13,624 41,723 59,309 184,713 430,210 95,188 +Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,817 6,599 3,271 3,078 2,386 5,164 244 +Central America . . . . . . . . . . 105 44 368 449 96 229 33 +South America . . . . . . . . . . . 531 856 3,579 1,224 1,443 1,153 85 +West Indies . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,834 12,301 13,528 10,660 9,698 14,461 1,009 + Total America . . . . . . . . . . 11,564 33,424 62,469 74,720 198,336 451,216 96,559 + +Islands of the Atlantic . . . . . . 352 103 337 3,090 3,778 10,121 1,287 +Islands of the Pacific . . . . . . 2 9 29 158 235 11,421 910 +All other countries, not specified . 32,679 69,801 52,777 25,921 15,236 1,684 146 + + Aggregate . . . . . . . . . . . . 143,439 599,125 1,713,251 2,598,214 2,466,752 2,944,695 720,045 + + +APPENDIX O. + +COAL AND IRON PRODUCT. + +The following table exhibits the quantity of coal produced in each +State and Territory of the United States during the census years ended +May 31, 1870, and 1880, and the calendar years 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879, +and 1881 (weight expressed in tons of 2,240 pounds). + +STATE OR 1870. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 1880. 1881. +TERRITORY. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. + +_Anthracite_. +Pennsylvania . . 15,648,437 21,436,667 23,619,911 20,605,262 26,142,689 28,640,819 28,500,016 +Rhode Island . . 14,000 14,000 14,000 14,000 15,000 6,176 10,000 +Virginia . . . . 2,817 + +_Bituminous_. +Pennsylvania . . 7,800,386 11,500,000 12,500,000 13,500,000 14,500,000 18,425,163 20,000,000 +Illinois . . . . 2,624,163 3,500,000 3,500,000 3,500,000 3,500,000 6,115,377 6,000,000 +Ohio . . . . . . 2,527,285 3,500,000 5,250,000 5,000,000 5,000,000 6,008,595 8,250,000 +Maryland . . . . 2,345,153 1,835,081 1,574,339 1,679,322 1,730,709 2,228,917 2,261,918 +Missouri . . . . 621,930 900,000 900,000 900,000 900,000 556,304 1,750,000 +West Virginia. . 608,878 800,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,250,000 1,839,845 1,500,000 +Indiana . . . . 437,870 950,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,454,327 1,500,000 +Iowa . . . . . . 263,487 1,500,000 1,500,000 1,500,000 1,600,000 1,461,116 1,750,000 +Kentucky . . . . 32,938 650,000 850,000 900,000 1,000,000 946,288 1,100,000 +Tennessee . . . 133,418 550,000 750,000 375,000 450,000 495,131 750,000 +Virginia . . . . 61,803 90,000 90,000 75,000 90,000 43,079 100,000 +Kansas . . . . . 150,582 125,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 771,142 750,000 +Oregon . . . . . 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 43,205 300,000 +Michigan . . . . 28,150 30,000 30,000 30,000 35,000 100,800 100,000 +California . . . 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 236,950 600,000 +Arkansas . . . . 14,778 30,000 +Montana . . . . 224 +North Carolina . 350 +Alabama . . . . 11,000 100,000 175,000 200,000 250,000 323,972 375,000 +Nebraska . . . . 1,425 30,000 50,000 75,000 75,000 200 75,000 +Wyoming . . . . 500,000 100,000 100,000 175,000 589,595 375,000 +Washington . . . 100,000 150,000 150,000 170,000 145,015 175,000 +Utah . . . . . . 45,000 45,000 60,000 225,000 225,000 +Colorado . . . . 250,000 300,000 367,000 400,000 462,747 700,000 +Georgia . . . . 100,000 154,644 150,000 + + Total bituminous + 17,648,468 27,569,081 30,688,339 31,525,322 36,665,709 42,417,764 48,816,918 + Total anthracite + 15,662,437 21,436,667 23,619,911 20,605,262 26,142,689 28,649,812 28,510,016 + Total anthracite and bituminous + 33,310,905 49,005,748 54,308,250 52,130,584 62,808,398 71,067,576 77,326,934 + +APPENDIX O--_Concluded_. + +The following table shows the quantity of pig-iron produced, imported, +exported, and retained for consumption in the United States, from 1867 +to 1882, expressed in tons of 2,240 pounds. + + Total Production and Imports. +Calendar Year Ended | Exports, Foreign and Domestic. +Year. Production. June 30, Imports. | | Retained for Home Consumption. + _Tons_. _Tons_. _Tons_. _Tons_._Tons_. +1866 1,205,663 1867 112,642 1,317,705 628 1,317,077 +1867 1,305,023 1868 112,133 1,417,156 282 1,416,874 +1868 1,431,250 1869 136,975 1,568,225 273 1,567,952 +1869 1,711,287 1870 153,283 1,864,570 1,456 1,863,114 +1870 1,665,178 1871 178,139 1,843,317 3,772 1,839,545 +1871 1,706,793 1872 247,529 1,954,322 2,172 1,952,150 +1872 2,548,713 1873 215,496 2,764,209 2,818 2,761,201 +1873 2,560,963 1874 92,042 2,653,005 10,152 2,642,853 +1874 2,401,262 1875 53,437 2,454,699 16,193 2,438,506 +1875 2,023,733 1876 79,455 2,103,188 7,241 2,095,947 +1876 1,868,961 1877 67,922 1,936,883 3,560 1,933,323 +1877 2,006,594 1878 55,000 2,121,594 6,198 2,115,396 +1878 2,301,215 1879 87,576 2,388,791 3,221 2,385,570 +1879 2,741,853 1880 754,657 3,406,510 2,607 3,493,903 +1880 3,835,191 1881 417,849 4,253,040 6,811 4,246,229 +1881 4,144,254 1882 496,045 4,640,299 9,519 4,630,780 + +Quantity of Iron and Steel Railroad Bars produced, imported, exported, +and retained for Consumption in the United States, from 1867 to 1882, +expressed in tons of 2,240 pounds. + Total Production and Imports. +Calendar Production. Year | Exports, Foreign and Domestic. +Year. Iron. Steel. Total. Ended Imports. | | Retained for Home Consumption. + _Tons_. _Tons_. _Tons_. June 30, _Tons_. _Tons_. _Tons_._Tons_. +1866 384,623 384,623 1867 96,272 480,895 159 480,736 +1867 410,319 2,277 412,596 1868 151,097 563,693 710 562,983 +1868 445,972 6,451 452,423 1869 237,704 690,127 564 689,563 +1869 521,371 8,616 529,987 1870 279,766 809,753 885 808,863 +1870 523,371 30,357 553,571 1871 458,056 1,011,627 1,341 1,010,286 +1871 658,467 34,152 692,619 1872 531,537 1,224,156 4,484 1,219,672 +1872 808,866 83,991 892,857 1873 357,631 1,250,488 7,147 1,243,341 +1873 679,520 115,192 794,712 1874 148,920 943,632 7,313 936,319 +1874 521,847 129,414 651,261 1875 42,082 693,343 14,199 679,144 +1875 447,901 259,699 707,000 1876 4,708 712,308 13,554 698,754 +1876 417,114 368,269 785,383 1877 30 785,413 6,103 779,310 +1877 296,911 385,865 682,776 1878 11 682,787 8,426 674,351 +1878 288,295 499,817 788,112 1879 2,611 790,723 7,127 783,596 +1879 375,143 618,851 993,994 1880 152,791 1,146,785 2,363 1,144,422 +1880 440,859 864,353 1,305,212 1881 302,294 1,607,506 4,274 1,603,232 +1881 436,233 1,210,285 1,646,518 1882 295,666 1,942,184 4,190 1,937,994 + + +APPENDIX P. + +The following table shows the number of men called for by the President +of the United States, and the number furnished by each State, Territory, +and the District of Columbia, both for the Army and Navy, from April. +15, 1861, to close of the war. + +STATES Aggregate. Aggregate +AND Men furnished Reduced to +TERRITORIES. Quota | Paid Commutation. a Three Years' + | | | Total. Standard. +Maine . . . . . . . . . 73,587 70,107 2,007 72,114 56,776 +New Hampshire . . . . . 35,897 33,937 692 34,629 30,849 +Vermont . . . . . . . . 32,074 33,288 1,074 35,262 29,068 +Massachusetts . . . . . 139,095 146,730 5,318 152,048 124,104 +Rhode Island . . . . . 18,898 23,236 463 23,699 17,866 +Connecticut . . . . . . 44,797 55,864 1,515 57,379 50,623 +New York . . . . . . . 507,148 448,850 18,197 467,047 392,270 +New Jersey . . . . . . 92,820 76,814 4,196 81,010 57,908 +Pennsylvania . . . . . 385,369 337,936 28,171 366,107 265,517 +Delaware . . . . . . . 13,935 12,284 1,386 13,670 10,322 +Maryland . . . . . . . 70,965 46,638 3,678 50,316 41,275 +West Virginia . . . . . 34,463 32,068 32,068 27,711 +District of Columbia . 13,973 16,534 338 16,872 11,506 +Ohio . . . . . . . . . 306,322 313,180 6,479 319,659 240,514 +Indiana . . . . . . . . 199,788 196,363 784 197,147 153,576 +Illinois . . . . . . . 244,496 259,092 55 259,147 214,133 +Michigan . . . . . . . 95,007 87,364 2,008 89,372 80,111 +Wisconsin . . . . . . . 109,080 91,327 5,097 96,424 79,260 +Minnesota . . . . . . . 26,326 24,020 1,032 25,052 19,693 +Iowa . . . . . . . . . 79,521 76,242 67 76,309 68,630 +Missouri . . . . . . . 122,496 109,111 109,111 86,530 +Kentucky . . . . . . . 100,782 75,760 3,265 79,025 70,832 +Kansas . . . . . . . . 12,931 20,149 2 20,151 18,706 +Tennessee . . . . . . . 1,560 31,092 31,092 26,394 +Arkansas . . . . . . . 780 8,289 8,289 7,863 +North Carolina . . . . 1,560 3,156 3,156 3,156 +California . . . . . . 15,725 15,725 15,725 +Nevada . . . . . . . . 1,080 1,080 1,080 +Oregon . . . . . . . . 1,810 1,810 1,810 +Washington Territory . 964 964 964 +Nebraska Territory . . 3,157 3,157 2,175 +Colorado Territory . . 4,903 4,903 3,697 +Dakota Territory . . . 206 206 206 +New-Mexico Territory . 6,561 6,561 4,432 +Alabama . . . . . . . . 2,576 2,576 1,611 +Florida . . . . . . . . 1,290 1,290 1,290 +Louisiana . . . . . . . 5,224 5,224 4,654 +Mississippi . . . . . . 545 545 545 +Texas . . . . . . . . . 1,965 1,965 1,632 +Indian Nation . . . . . 3,530 3,530 3,530 +Colored Troops* . . . . 93,441 93,441 91,789 + + Total . . . . . . . .2,763,670 2,772,408 86,724 2,859,132 2,320,272 + +* Colored troops organized at various stations in the States in +rebellion, embracing all not specifically credited to States, and which +cannot be so assigned. + +Reduced to Periods of Service only, the Following Aggregates for the +Different Periods in the Army and Navy appear:-- + +Periods of Enlistment. Number. + +60 days . . . . . . . . 2,045 +3 months . . . . . . . 108,416 +100 days . . . . . . . 85,807 +4 months . . . . . . . 42 +6 months . . . . . . . 26,118 +8 months . . . . . . . 373 +9 months . . . . . . . 89,899 +1 year . . . . . . . . 393,706 +2 years . . . . . . . . 44,400 +3 years . . . . . . . . 2,028,630 +4 years . . . . . . . . 1,042 + +Aggregate enlistments . 2,780,478 + +The Number of Indivials who served during the War is estimated as +follows:-- + +Number who died during the war . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304,360 +Number who were discharged for disability . . . . . . . . . . . 285,545 +Deserters (less those arrested and 25 per cent. additional) . . 128,352 +One-third of those serving terms of less than one year (estimated that + two-thirds thereof re-enlisted) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104,134 +One-half of those serving more than one year and less than two years + (estimated that one-half re-enlisted) . . . . . . . . . . . . 224,053 +Number in the service May 1, 1865 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000,516 + Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,046,969 +Add number in regular army at commencement of war . . . . . . 16,422 + +Aggregate number of different individuals who served during the war + 2,063,391 + +There are no records which give with accuracy the number of men in +the Confederate Army. The general aggregate for the four years is, +upon the best authority attainable, placed at one million one hundred +thousand men (1,100,000). The maximum number of men on the Confederate +Army rolls at any one time is estimated at five hundred thousand. The +irregular manner in which the men were conscripted during the last two +years of the war, taken in connection with the loss of records, makes +it impossible to give accurate statements of the numbers furnished by +the several States. + +REGULAR ARMY. + +The following table shows the actual strength of the regular army of +the United States at different periods, from 1789 to 1883 (retired +officers not included). + + Officers. +Date. | Men. Total. + 1780-90 . . 50 672 722 + 1795 . . . 212 3,228 3,440 + 1800 . . . 248 3,803 4,051 + 1805 . . . 196 2,534 2,730 + 1810 . . . 466 6,488 6,954 +July, 1812 . . . 301 6,385 6,686* +Feb., 1813 . . . 1,476 17,560 19,036* +Sept. 1814 . . . 2,395 35,791 38,186* +Feb., 1815 . . . 2,396 31,028 33,424* +Dec., 1820 . . . 712 8,230 8,942 + 1825 . . . 562 5,157 5,719 + 1830 . . . 627 5,324 5,951 + 1835 . . . 680 6,471 7,151 + 1840 . . . 733 9,837 10,570 + 1845 . . . 826 7,523 8,349 + 1850 . . . 948 9,815 10,763 + 1855 . . . 1,042 14,710 15,752 + 1860 . . . 1,108 15,250 16,367 + 1861 . . . 1,004 15,418 16,422 + 1862 . . . 1,720 21,450 23,170 + 1863 . . . 1,844 22,915 24,759 + 1864 . . . 1,813 19,791 21,604 + 1865 . . . 1,605 20,765 22,310 + 1866 . . . 2,020 31,470 33,490 + 1867 . . . 2,853 53,962 56,815 + 1868 . . . 2,835 48,081 50,916 + 1869 . . . 2,700 34,074 36,774 + 1870 . . . 2,541 34,534 37,075 + 1871 . . . 2,105 26,848 28,953 + 1872 . . . 2,104 26,071 28,175 + 1873 . . . 2,076 26,576 28,652 + 1874 . . . 2,080 26,364 28,444 + 1875 . . . 2,068 23,250 25,318 + 1876 . . . 2,151 26,129 28,250 + 1877 . . . 2,178 21,767 23,945 + 1878 . . . 2,153 23,365 25,818 + 1879 . . . 2,127 24,262 26,389 + 1880 . . . 2,152 24,259 26,411 + 1881 . . . 2,181 22,994 25,175 + 1882 . . . 2,162 23,024 25,186 + 1883 . . . 2,143 23,335 25,478 + +* Second war with Great Britain + +The following summary shows the total numbers of soldiers serving in +the various wars in which the United States was engaged prior to the +Rebellion. + +Soldiers of the War of the Revolution, 1775 to 1783 . . 289,715 +Indian War, General Wayne, 1794 . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,843 +Indian War, 1811 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650 +War with Great Britain, 1812 to 1815, number of soldiers, sailors + and marines serving 12 months or more . . . . 63,179 + Number of militia serving 6 months or more . 66,325 + " " " " 3 " " " . 125,643 + " " " " 1 month " " . 125,307 + " " " " less than 1 month . 147,200 + ------- 527,654 +Number of soldiers serving in + Seminole War, 1817-18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,911 + Black-Hawk War, 1831-32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,031 + South-western disturbances, 1836 . . . . . . . . . . 2,803 + Cherokee Country disturbances, 1836-37 . . . . . . . 3,926 + Creek disturbances, 1836-37 . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,418 + Florida War, 1836-42 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,122 +Number of soldiers and sailors serving in Mexican War, 1846-47 + . . . 105,454 +Number of soldiers serving in + New-York frontier disturbances, 1838-39 . . . . . . . 1,128 + Arostook disturbances, 1838-39, 2 regiments . . . . . 1,430 + + +APPENDIX Q. + +The following table exhibits the school age, population, and enrollment +of the States and Territories in 1881, with salaries paid to teachers, +and total expenditure for schools. + + School Age. + | School Population. +STATES. | | No. Enrolled in Public Schools. + | | | Aggregate Salaries Paid to Teachers. + | | | | Total Expenditure. +Alabama . . . . . . . . . 7-21 422,739 176,289 $384,769 $410,690 +Arkansas . . . . . . . . 6-21 272,841 98,744 388,412 +California . . . . . . . 5-17 211,237 163,855 2,346,056 3,047,605 +Colorado . . . . . . . . 6-21 40,804 26,000 557,151 +Connecticut . . . . . . . 4-16 143,745 119,381 1,025,323 1,476,691 +Delaware . . . . . . . . 6-21 37,285 29,122 138,819 207,281 +Florida . . . . . . . . . 4-21 88,677 39,315 97,115 114,895 +Georgia . . . . . . . . . 6-18 461,016 244,197 498,533 +Illinois . . . . . . . . 6-21 1,002,222 701,627 4,722,349 7,858,414 +Indiana . . . . . . . . . 6-21 714,343 503,855 3,057,110 4,528,754 +Iowa . . . . . . . . . . 5-21 594,730 431,513 3,040,716 5,129,819 +Kansas . . . . . . . . . 5-21 348,179 249,034 1,167,620 1,976,397 +Kentucky . . . . . . . . 6-20 553,638 238,440 1,248,524 +Louisiana . . . . . . . . 6-18 271,414 62,370 374,127 441,484 +Maine . . . . . . . . . . 4-21 213,927 150,067 965,697 1,089,414 +Maryland . . . . . . . . 5-20 319,201 158,909 1,162,429 1,604,580 +Massachusetts . . . . . . 5-15 312,680 325,239 4,130,714 5,776,542 +Michigan . . . . . . . . 5-20 518,294 371,743 2,114,567 3,418,233 +Minnesota . . . . . . . . 5-21 300,923 177,278 993,997 1,466,492 +Mississippi . . . . . . . 5-21 419,963 237,288 644,352 757,758 +Missouri . . . . . . . . 6-20 723,484 476,376 2,218,637 3,152,178 +Nebraska . . . . . . . . 5-21 152,824 100,776 627,717 1,165,103 +Nevada . . . . . . . . . 6-18 10,533 8,329 59,194 140,419 +New Hampshire . . . . . . 5-15 60,899 63,235 408,554 577,022 +New Jersey . . . . . . . 5-18 335,631 203,542 1,510,830 1,914,447 +New York . . . . . . . . 5-21 1,662,122 1,021,282 7,775,505 10,923,402 +North Carolina . . . . . 6-21 468,072 240,710 342,212 409,659 +Ohio . . . . . . . . . . 6-21 1,063,337 744,758 5,151,448 8,133,622 +Oregon . . . . . . . . . 4-20 61,641 34,498 234,818 318,331 +Pennsylvania . . . . . . 6-21 1,422,377 931,749 4,677,017 7,994,705 +Rhode Island . . . . . . 5-16 53,077 44,920 408,993 549,937 +South Carolina . . . . . 6-16 262,279 133,458 309,855 345,634 +Tennessee . . . . . . . . 6-21 545,875 283,468 529,618 638,009 +Texas . . . . . . . . . . 8-14 230,527 186,786 674,869 753,346 +Vermont . . . . . . . . . 5-20 99,463 74,646 366,448 447,252 +Virginia . . . . . . . . 5-21 556,665 239,046 823,310 1,100,239 +West Virginia . . . . . . 6-21 213,191 145,203 539,648 761,250 +Wisconsin . . . . . . . . 4-20 491,358 300,122 1,618,283 2,279,103 + Total for States . . . 15,661,213 9,737,176 $54,642,716 $83,601,327 + + School Age. + | School Population. +TERRITORIES. | | No. Enrolled in Public Schools. + | | | Aggregate Salaries Paid to Teachers. + | | | | Total Expenditure. +Arizona . . . . . . . . . 6-21 9,571 3,844 $44,628 +Dakota . . . . . . . . . 5-21 38,815 25,451 314,484 +District of Columbia . . 6-18 43,558 27,299 $295,668 527,312 +Idaho . . . . . . . . . . 5-21 7,520 6,080 38,174 44,840 +Montana . . . . . . . . . 4-21 9,895 5,112 52,781 55,781 +New Mexico . . . . . . . 7-18 29,255 4,755 28,002 28,973 +Utah . . . . . . . . . . 6-18 42,353 26,772 113,768 199,264 +Washington . . . . . . . 4-21 23,899 14,754 94,019 114,379 +Wyoming . . . . . . . . . 7-21 4,112 2,907 25,894 28,504 +Indian: + Cherokees . . . . . . . 3,715 3,048 52,500 + Chickasaws . . . . . . 900 650 33,550 + Choctaws . . . . . . . 2,600 1,460 31,700 + Creeks . . . . . . . . 1,700 799 26,909 + Seminoles . . . . . . . 400 226 7,500 +Total for Territories . . 218,293 123,157 $648,306 $1,510,115 +Total for States . . . . 15,661,213 9,737,176 54,642,716 83,601,327 + +Grand total . . . . . . . 15,879,506 9,860,333 $55,291,022 $85,111,442 + + +APPENDIX R. + +The following table gives some interesting and important statistics +respecting colleges in the United States. + + No. Universities and Colleges. + | No. Instructors in Preparatory Department. + | | No. Students in Preparatory Department. +STATES | | | No. Instructors in Collegiate Department. +AND | | | | No. Students in Collegiate Department. +TERRITORIES. | | | | | No. Volumes in College Libraries. + | | | | | | Value of Grounds, Buildings, and Apparatus. + | | | | | | | Income from Productive Funds. + | | | | | | | | Receipts for the last Year from Tuition Fees. +Alabama . . . . . 3 2 20 18 314 8,200 $300,000 $24,600 $8,000 +Arkansas . . . . . 4 10 564 28 271 2,286 114,000 1,000 8,300 +California . . . . 11 36 1,178 131 602 47,750 1,380,200 105,116 91,014 +Colorado . . . . . 3 2 113 23 45 11,000 230,000 1,282 366 +Connecticut . . . 3 62 959 148,155 472,884 120,776 114,128 +Delaware . . . . . 1 8 54 6,000 75,000 4,980 500 +Georgia . . . . . 6 2 70 54 554 30,100 652,300 43,493 10,650 +Illinois . . . . . 28 58 2,901 224 1,887 130,630 2,511,550 95,229 116,844 +Indiana . . . . . 15 58 1,793 128 1,329 76,591 1,298,000 50,029 29,646 +Iowa . . . . . . . 18 46 1,697 168 1,614 51,022 789,000 51,382 42,568 +Kansas . . . . . . 8 21 889 75 431 24,178 523,000 5,500 5,400 +Kentucky . . . . . 14 18 594 97 1,178 45,076 673,000 38,443 37,060 +Louisiana . . . . 9 22 1,022 68 174 57,995 837,000 15,100 21,060 +Maine . . . . . . 3 3 45 32 422 59,371 863,500 39,000 22,000 +Maryland . . . . . 11 18 325 160 1,385 49,922 892,500 181,734 45,705 +Massachusetts . . 7 7 192 151 1,865 292,626 1,250,000 276,131 166,851 +Michigan . . . . . 9 22 1,361 114 1,166 59,690 1,344,942 89,290 75,351 +Minnesota . . . . 5 1 279 44 408 21,600 421,196 50,900 8,340 +Mississippi . . . 3 7 557 21 320 8,400 446,000 32,643 8,275 +Missouri . . . . . 16 37 1,101 196 1,605 108,315 1,127,220 63,005 135,294 +Nebraska . . . . . 5 11 360 16 216 8,000 205,000 2,359 682 +Nevada . . . . . . 1 1 40 +New Hampshire . . 1 15 247 54,000 125,000 25,000 16,000 +New Jersey . . . . 4 73 677 60,600 1,150,000 86,615 20,770 +New York . . . . . 27 113 2,662 426 3,495 294,437 7,480,540 472,413 462,059 +North Carolina . . 9 8 616 69 590 31,250 549,000 10,000 37,096 +Ohio . . . . . . . 36 120 3,726 284 2,612 286,411 3,156,744 180,661 101,775 +Oregon . . . . . . 8 21 785 38 458 9,420 257,000 20,600 15,950 +Pennsylvania . . . 27 70 1,877 288 2,367 163,718 4,744,850 239,499 250,105 +Rhode Island . . . 1 18 251 53,000 36,999 30,869 +South Carolina . . 8 8 358 42 304 17,450 340,000 22,869 5,194 +Tennessee . . . . 19 33 1,122 148 1,876 51,708 1,498,250 80,475 39,720 +Texas . . . . . . 9 18 1,075 58 540 10,411 335,000 775 55,150 +Vermont . . . . . 2 18 93 33,000 440,000 16,328 6,082 +Virginia . . . . . 8 6 73 69 889 102,000 1,558,000 22,200 20,540 +West Virginia . . 4 7 134 32 201 5,800 295,000 8,469 5,592 +Wisconsin . . . . 8 15 786 88 658 48,765 890,300 101,556 56,702 +Dist. of Columbia 5 9 359 43 222 47,411 900,000 1,957 1,165 +Utah . . . . . . . 1 3 202 3 2,735 30,000 3,147 +Washington . . . . 2 7 83 11 90 3,200 100,000 500 4,500 + + Total . . . . . 362 820 28,959 3,541 32,459 2,522,223 $40,255,976 $2,618,008 $2,080,450 + +STATISTICS RESPECTING SCHOOLS OF SCIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Part I.--Institutions endowed with National Land-Grant. + + Number of Schools. + | No. Instructors. ) Preparatory Department. + | | No. Students.) + | | | No. Instructors. ) Scientific Department. +STATES. | | | | No. Students.) + | | | | | No. Volumes in General Libraries. + | | | | | | Value of Grounds, Buildings, and Apparatus. + | | | | | | | Income from Productive Funds. + | | | | | | | | Receipts for the last Year from Tuition Fees. +Alabama . . . . . . . . 1 1 47 11 135 2,000 $75,000 $20,280 +Arkansas . . . . . . . . 1 2 14 200 170,000 10,400 $2,000 +California . . . . . . . 1 0 0 26 101 +Colorado . . . . . . . . 1 5 57 150 55,000 +Connecticut . . . . . . 1 26 185 5,000 200,000 29,212 17,798 +Delaware . . . . . . . . 1 +Florida . . . . . . . . 0 10,004 +Georgia . . . . . . . . 5 16 877 19 182 3,500 164,000 17,914 1,800 +Illinois . . . . . . . . 1 3 77 24 303 12,942 545,000 21,398 10,619 +Indiana . . . . . . . . 1 2 141 9 140 2,065 250,000 17,000 2,029 +Iowa . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 15 20 211 6,000 500,000 45,000 0 +Kansas . . . . . . . . . 1 13 267 3,050 99,525 31,225 426 +Kentucky . . . . . . . . 1 2 13 182 85,000 9,900 1,500 +Louisiana . . . . . . . 1 1 40 9 29 17,000 400,000 14,500 0 +Maine . . . . . . . . . 1 8 110 4,105 145,000 7,500 +Maryland . . . . . . . . 1 6 7 49 100,000 6,975 825 +Massachusetts . . . . . 2 45 517 5,300 520,727 30,672 53,107 +Michigan . . . . . . . . 1 0 0 12 227 6,250 274,380 20,517 0 +Minnesota . . . . . . . 1 +Mississippi . . . . . . 2 10 437 9 102 2,380 300,000 11,679 +Missouri . . . . . . . . 2 2 25 15 209 1,750 46,660 7,680 1,300 +Nebraska . . . . . . . . 1 25,000 +Nevada . . . . . . . . . 1 +New Hampshire . . . . . 1 10 44 1,200 100,000 4,800 +New Jersey . . . . . . . 1 14 54 +New York . . . . . . . . 1 0 0 52 259 253,509 +North Carolina . . . . . 1 0 0 7 24 2,000 7,500 +Ohio . . . . . . . . . . 1 7 93 13 124 1,600 500,000 33,923 3,798 +Oregon . . . . . . . . . 1 3 60 10,000 5,000 +Pennsylvania . . . . . . 1 5 45 12 44 3,000 532,000 30,000 0 +Rhode Island . . . . . . 1 +South Carolina . . . . . 2 4 58 26,500 25,000 11,508 +Tennessee . . . . . . . 1 25,410 +Texas . . . . . . . . . 1 0 0 18 127 1,090 212,000 14,280 4,191 +Vermont . . . . . . . . 1 0 0 9 23 8,130 +Virginia . . . . . . . . 2 1 108 33 320 2,200 521,080 23,500 100 +West Virginia . . . . . 1 +Wisconsin . . . . . . . 1 0 0 18 124 200,000 15,322 18 + + Total . . . . . . . . 46 52 1,911 465 4,281 109,732 $6,308,881 $491,229 $99,511 + +U. S. Military Academy . 1 0 0 52 228 28,208 2,500,000 0 0 +U. S. Naval Academy . . 1 0 0 65 261 22,629 1,292,390 0 0 + + Grand total . . . . . 48 52 1,911 582 4,770 160,569 $10,101,271 $491,229 $99,511 + +Part II.--Insitutions not endowed with National Land-Grant. + + Number of Schools. + | No. Instructors. ) Preparatory Department. + | | No. Students.) + | | | No. Instructors. ) Scientific Department. +STATES. | | | | No. Students.) + | | | | | No. Volumes in General Libraries. + | | | | | | Value of Grounds, Buildings, and Apparatus. + | | | | | | | Income from Productive Funds. + | | | | | | | | Receipts for the last Year from Tuition Fees. +California . . . . . . . 1 2 34 5 68 300 +Colorado . . . . . . . . 2 8 83 600 $15,000 $1,500 +Georgia . . . . . . . . 1 +Indiana . . . . . . . . 1 900 135,000 $15,000 +Massachusetts . . . . . 5 103 224 6,200 188,500 72,755 10,050 +Michigan . . . . . . . . 1 3 7 +Missouri . . . . . . . . 1 5 249 17 153 125,000 +New Hampshire . . . . . 2 16 50 2,000 1,700 11,000 2,160 +New Jersey . . . . . . . 2 29 156 5,000 650,000 43,450 19,780 +New York . . . . . . . . 5 84 2,586 24,393 2,000,000 43,495 44,100 +Ohio . . . . . . . . . . 3 6 100,000 9,734 +Pennsylvania . . . . . . 8 7 89 2,268 42,468 594,000 6,050 +Vermont . . . . . . . . 1 10 20 4,000 20,000 1,000 +Virginia . . . . . . . . 3 8 123 550 400,000 1,200 7,000 +District of Columbia . . 1 + + Total . . . . . . . . 37 7 290 378 5,738 86,411 $4,229,200 $202,684 $85,590 + +GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE FOREGOING STATISTICS RESPECTING SUPERIOR +INSTRUCTION. + +Adding the statistics of public and private schools of science (i.e., +schools endowed and schools not endowed with the public land-grant) to +those of universities and colleges, we have the following totals: Number +of institutions, 447; number of instructors in preparatory departments, +879, in collegiate and scientific departments, 4,501; number of students +in preparatory departments, 31,160, in collegiate and scientific +departments, 42,967; income from productive funds, $3,311,921; income +from tuition, $2,265,551; volumes in college libraries, 2,769,203; value +of grounds, buildings, and apparatus, $54,586,447. + + +APPENDIX S. + +An exhibit of the legal-tender currency in circulation on the first day +of January and the first day of July in each year since the first +greenback was issued in 1862. + +Date. Amount. +Jan. 1, 1863 . . $223,108,000 +July 1, 1863 . . 297,767,114 +Jan. 1, 1864 . . 444,825,022 +July 1, 1864 . . 431,178,671 +Jan. 1, 1865 . . 447,074,374 +July 1, 1865 . . 432,687,966 +Jan. 1, 1866 . . 425,839,319 +July 1, 1866 . . 400,619,206 +Jan. 1, 1867 . . 380,276,160 +July 1, 1867 . . 371,783,597 +Jan. 1, 1868 . . 356,000,000 +July 1, 1868 . . 356,000,000 +Jan. 1, 1869 . . 356,000,000 +July 1, 1869 . . 356,000,000 +Jan. 1, 1870 . . 356,000,000 +July 1, 1870 . . 356,000,000 +Jan. 1, 1871 . . 356,000,000 +July 1, 1871 . . 356,000,000 +Jan. 1, 1872 . . 357,500,000 +July 1, 1872 . . 357,500,000 +Jan. 1, 1873 . . 358,557,907 +July 1, 1873 . . 356,000,000 +Jan. 1, 1874 . . 378,401,702 +July 1, 1874 . . 382,000,000 +Jan. 1, 1875 . . 382,000,000 +July 1, 1875 . . 375,771,580 +Jan. 1, 1876 . . 371,827,220 +July 1, 1876 . . 369,772,284 +Jan. 1, 1877 . . 366,055,084 +July 1, 1877 . . 359,764,332 +Jan. 1, 1878 . . 349,943,776 +July 1, 1878 . . 346,681,016 +Jan. 1, 1879 . . 346,681,016 +July 1, 1879 . . 346,681,016 +Jan. 1, 1880 . . 346,681,016 +July 1, 1880 . . 346,681,016 +Jan. 1, 1881 . . 346,681,016 +July 1, 1881 . . 346,681,016 +Jan. 1, 1882 . . 346,681,016 +July 1, 1882 . . 346,681,016 +Jan. 1, 1883 . . 346,681,016 +July 1, 1883 . . 346,681,016 +Jan. 1, 1884 . . 346,681,016 + + +APPENDIX T. + +This table presents the number of national banks each year from the +passage of the original Bank Act, with the average capital, deposits, +and circulation for each year on or near October 1 = from 1863 to 1883. + + No. of +Years. Banks. Capital. Deposits. Circulation. +1863 . . 66 $7,188,393 $8,497,682 +1864 . . 508 86,782,802 122,166,536 $45,260,504 +1865 . . 1,513 393,157,206 500,910,873 171,321,903 +1866 . . 1,644 415,472,369 564,616,778 280,253,818 +1867 . . 1,642 420,073,415 540,797,838 293,887,941 +1868 . . 1,643 420,634,511 580,940,821 295,593,645 +1869 . . 1,617 426,399,151 511,400,197 293,593,645 +1870 . . 1,648 430,399,301 501,407,587 291,798,640 +1871 . . 1,790 458,255,696 600,868,487 315,519,117 +1872 . . 1,940 479,629,174 613,290,671 333,495,027 +1873 . . 1,976 491,072,616 622,685,563 339,081,799 +1874 . . 2,027 493,765,121 669,068,996 333,225,298 +1875 . . 2,087 504,829,769 664,579,619 318,350,379 +1876 . . 2,089 499,802,232 651,385,210 291,544,020 +1877 . . 2,080 479,467,771 616,403,987 291,874,236 +1878 . . 2,053 466,147,436 620,236,176 301,888,092 +1879 . . 2,048 454,067,365 719,737,568 313,786,342 +1880 . . 2,090 457,553,985 873,537,637 317,350,036 +1881 . . 2,132 463,821,985 1,070,997,531 320,200,069 +1882 . . 2,269 483,104,213 1,122,472,682 314,721,215 +1883 . . 2,501 509,699,787 1,049,437,700 310,517,857 + + +APPENDIX U. + +The following table exhibits the principal items contained in the +returns of the State banks of the country, yearly, from 1834 to 1861:-- + + No. of +Years. Banks. Capital. Deposits. Circulation. +1834 . . 506 $200,005,944 $75,666,986 $94,839,570 +1835 . . 704 231,250,337 83,081,365 103,692,495 +1836 . . 713 251,875,292 115,104,440 140,301,038 +1837 . . 788 251,875,292 115,104,440 140,185,890 +1838 . . 829 317,636,778 84,601,184 116,138,910 +1839 . . 840 327,132,512 90,240,146 135,170,995 +1840 . . 901 358,442,692 75,696,857 106,968,572 +1841 . . 784 313,608,959 64,800,101 107,200,214 +1842 . . 692 260,171,797 62,408,870 83,734,011 +1843 . . 691 228,861,948 56,168,623 58,563,608 +1844 . . 696 210,872,056 84,550,785 75,167,646 +1845 . . 707 206,045,969 88,020,646 89,608,711 +1846 . . 707 196,894,309 96,913,070 105,552,427 +1847 . . 715 203,070,622 91,792,533 105,519,766 +1848 . . 751 204,838,175 103,226,177 128,506,091 +1849 . . 782 207,309,361 91,178,623 114,743,415 +1850 . . 824 217,317,211 109,586,585 131,366,526 +1851 . . 879 227,807,553 128,957,712 155,165,251 +1852 . . 914 247,858,036 137,255,794 150,619,015 +1853 . . 950 267,908,519 145,533,876 146,072,780 +1854 . . 1,208 301,376,071 188,188,744 204,680,207 +1855 . . 1,307 332,177,288 190,400,342 186,952,223 +1856 . . 1,398 343,874,272 212,705,662 195,747,950 +1857 . . 1,416 370,834,686 230,351,352 214,778,822 +1858 . . 1,422 394,622,799 185,932,049 155,208,244 +1859 . . 1,476 401,976,242 259,568,278 193,306,818 +1860 . . 1,562 421,880,095 253,802,129 207,102,477 +1861 . . 1,601 429,592,713 257,229,562 202,005,767 + + +APPENDIX V. + +MAP SHOWING THE TERRITORIAL GROWTH OF THE UNITED STATES. + +The annexed map is designed to show, clearly and accurately, the +territorial extent of the United States as established by the Treaty +of 1783, with the various additions since made, by purchase, conquest, +or voluntary annexation. + +The map is intended to illustrate many parts of the text, and, in +connection with the various Appendices, will exhibit within small +compass the expansion of free institutions, the growth of population, +and the increase of material wealth with which the Republic has been +blessed. + +[map omitted] + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2), by +James Gillespie Blaine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY YEARS OF CONGRESS *** + +***** This file should be named 21128-8.txt or 21128-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/1/2/21128/ + +Produced by Ed Ferris + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/21128-8.zip b/21128-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f70394 --- /dev/null +++ b/21128-8.zip diff --git a/21128.txt b/21128.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18cb3b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/21128.txt @@ -0,0 +1,28746 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2), by +James Gillespie Blaine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2) + From Lincoln to Garfield, with a Review of the Events Which + Led to the Political Revolution of 1860 + +Author: James Gillespie Blaine + +Release Date: April 17, 2007 [EBook #21128] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY YEARS OF CONGRESS *** + + + + +Produced by Ed Ferris + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Right-hand-page heads have been set right-justified before the + appropriate paragraphs. + + Footnotes are at the end of the chapter. Asterisks have been added to + show where the notes occur in the text (unless at end of chapter). + Four notes from the Errata to Vol. I (in Vol. II) have been added, and + the other corrections indicated there made. + + The statistical tables in the Appendices have been rearranged for + .TXT format, using long lines when required and joining tables + split across pages. + + Lines set as caps and small caps have been transcribed as upper-and- + lower-case (except some table headings). + + The typographic fist is transcribed by the right guillamet ("). + + LoC call number: E661.B6 v.1 + + 2nd proof completed Apr. 11th, 2007. + Errata corrected Apr. 13th. + Submitted Apr. 13th. + + +[Frontispiece: v1.jpg] + +[Signature] James G. Blaine + + +TWENTY YEARS OF CONGRESS: +FROM +LINCOLN TO GARFIELD. +WITH A REVIEW OF +THE EVENTS WHICH LED TO THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION OF 1860. + +BY +JAMES G. BLAINE. + +VOLUME I. + +NORWICH, CONN.: +THE HENRY BILL PUBLISHING COMPANY. +1884. + + +COPYRIGHT, 1884, +BY JAMES G. BLAINE. + +_All rights reserved._ + + +ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED +BY RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY, +BOSTON, MASS. + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. + +CHAPTER I. +A REVIEW OF THE EVENTS WHICH LED TO THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION OF +1860. +Original Compromises between the North and the South embodied in +the Constitution.--Early Dissatisfaction with National Boundaries. +--Acquisition of Louisiana from France by President Jefferson.-- +Bonaparte's Action and Motive in ceding Louisiana.--State of +Louisiana admitted to the Union against Opposition in the North.-- +Agitation of the Slavery Question in Connection with the Admission +of Missouri to the Union.--The Two Missouri Compromises of 1820 +and 1821.--Origin and Development of the Abolition Party.--Struggle +over the Right of Petition. + +CHAPTER II. +Review of events before 1860 (_continued_).--Early Efforts to +acquire Texas.--Course of President Tyler.--Mr. Calhoun appointed +Secretary of State.--His Successful Management of the Texas Question. +--His Hostility to Mr. Van Buren.--Letters of Mr. Clay and Mr. Van +Buren opposing the Annexation of Texas.--Mr. Clay nominated as the +Whig Candidate for the President in 1844.--Van Buren's Nomination +defeated.--Mr. Polk selected as the Democratic Candidate.--Disquietude +of Mr. Clay.--His Change of Ground.--His Defeat.--Prolonged Rivalry +between Mr. Clay and General Jackson.--Texas formally annexed to +the Union. + +CHAPTER III. +Review (_continued_).--Triumph of the Democratic Party.--Impending +Troubles with Mexico.--Position of Parties.--Struggle for the +Equality of Free and Slave States.--Character of the Southern +Leaders.--Their Efforts to control the Government.--Conservative +Course of Secretaries Buchanan and Marcy.--Reluctant to engage in +War with Mexico.--The Oregon Question, 54 deg. 40', or 49 deg..--Critical +Relations with the British Government.--Treaty of 1846.--Character +of the Adjustment.--Our Probable Loss by Unwise Policy of the +Democratic Party. + +CHAPTER IV. +Review (_continued_).--Relations with Mexico.--General Taylor +marches his Army to the Rio Grande.--First Encounter with the +Mexican Army.--Excitement in the United States.--Congress declares +War against Mexico.--Ill Temper of the Whigs.--Defeat of the +Democrats in the Congressional Elections of 1846.--Policy of Mr. +Polk in Regard to Acquisition of Territory from Mexico.--Three- +Million Bill.--The Famous Anti-slavery Proviso moved by David +Wilmot.--John Quincy Adams.--His Public Service.--Robert C. Winthrop +chosen Speaker.--Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.--Presidential Election +of 1848.--Effort of the Administration to make a Democratic Hero +out of the Mexican War.--Thomas H. Benton for Lieutenant-General. +--Bill defeated.--Nomination of General Taylor for the Presidency +by the Whigs.--Nomination of General Cass by the Democratic Party. +--Van Buren refuses to support him.--Democratic Bolt in New York. +--Buffalo Convention and the Organization of the Free-soil Party. +--Nomination of Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams.--Mr. Clay's +Discontent.--Mr. Webster's Speech at Marshfield.--General Taylor +elected.--The Barnburners of New York.--Character and Public Services +of Mr. Van Buren. + +CHAPTER V. +Review (_continued_).--Contrast between General Taylor and General +Cass.--The Cabinet of President Taylor.--Political Condition of +the Country.--Effect produced by the Discovery of Gold in California. +--Convening of Thirty-first Congress.--Election of Howell Cobb as +Speaker.--President Taylor's Message.--His Recommendations Distasteful +to the South.--Illustrious Membership of the Senate.--Mr. Clay and +the Taylor Administration.--Mr. Calhoun's Last Speech in the Senate. +--His Death.--His Character and Public Services.--Mr. Webster's +7th of March Speech.--Its Effect upon the Public and upon Mr. +Webster.--Mr. Clay's Committee of Thirteen.--The Omnibus Bill.-- +Conflict with General Taylor's Administration.--Death of the +President.--Mr. Fillmore reverses Taylor's Policy and supports the +Compromise Measures.--Defeat of Compromise Bill.--Passage of the +Measures separately.--Memorable Session of Congress.--Whig and +Democratic Parties sustain the Compromise Measures.--National +Conventions.--Whigs nominate Winfield Scott over Fillmore.--Mr. +Clay supports Fillmore.--Mr. Webster's Friends.--Democrats nominate +Franklin Pierce.--Character of the Campaign.--Overwhelming Defeat +of Scott.--Destruction of the Whig Party.--Death of Mr. Clay.-- +Death of Mr. Webster.--Their Public Characters and Services +compared. + +CHAPTER VI. +Review (_continued_).--The Strength of the Democratic Party in +1853.--Popular Strength not so great as Electoral Strength.--The +New President's Pledge not to re-open the Slavery Question.--How +he failed to maintain that Pledge.--The North-west Territory.--Anti- +slavery Restriction of the Missouri Compromise.--Movement to repeal +it by Mr. Clay's Successor in the Senate.--Mr. Douglas adopts the +policy of repealing the Restriction.--It is made an Administration +Measure and carried through Congress.--Colonel Benton's Position. +--Anti-slavery Excitement developed in the Country.--Destruction +of the Whig Party.--New Political Alliances.--American Party.--Know- +Nothings.--Origin and Growth of the Republican Party.--Pro-slavery +Development in the South.--Contest for the Possession of Kansas.-- +Prolonged Struggle.--Disunion Tendencies developing in the South. +--Election of N. P. Banks to the Speakership of the House.--The +Presidential Election of 1856.--Buchanan.--Fremont.--Fillmore.-- +The Slavery Question the Absorbing Issue.--Triumph of Buchanan.-- +Dred Scott Decision.--Mr. Lincoln's Version of it.--Chief Justice +Taney. + +CHAPTER VII. +Review (_continued_).--Continuance of the Struggle for Kansas.-- +List of Governors.--Robert J. Walker appointed Governor by President +Buchanan.--His Failure.--The Lecompton Constitution fraudulently +adopted.--Its Character.--Is transmitted to Congress by President +Buchanan.--He recommends the Admission of Kansas under its Provisions. +--Pronounces Kansas a Slave State.--Gives Full Scope and Effect to +the Dred Scott Decision.--Senator Douglas refuses to sustain the +Lecompton Iniquity.--His Political Embarrassment.--Breaks with the +Administration.--Value of his Influence against Slavery in Kansas. +--Lecompton Bill passes the Senate.--Could not be forced through +the House.--The English Bill substituted and passed.--Kansas spurns +the Bribe.--Douglas regains his Popularity with Northern Democrats. +--Illinois Republicans bitterly hostile to him.--Abraham Lincoln +nominated to contest the Re-election of Douglas to the Senate.-- +Lincoln challenges Douglas to a Public Discussion.--Character of +Each as a Debater.--They meet Seven Times in Debate.--Douglas re- +elected.--Southern Senators arraign Douglas.--His Defiant Answer. +--Danger of Sectional Division in the Democratic Party. + +CHAPTER VIII. +Excited Condition of the South.--The John Brown Raid at Harper's +Ferry.--Character of Brown.--Governor Wise.--Hot Temper.--Course +of Republicans in Regard to John Brown.--Misunderstanding of the +Two Sections.--Assembling of the Charleston Convention.--Position +of Douglas and his Friends.--Imperious Demands of Southern Democrats. +--Caleb Cushing selected for Chairman of the Convention.--The South +has Control of the Committee on Resolutions.--Resistance of the +Douglas Delegates.--They defeat the Report of the Committee.-- +Delegates from Seven Southern States withdraw.--Convention unable +to make a Nomination.--Adjourns to Baltimore.--Convention divides. +--Nomination of both Douglas and Breckinridge.--Constitutional +Union Convention.--Nomination of Bell and Everett.--The Chicago +Convention.--Its Membership and Character.--Mr. Seward's Position. +--His Disabilities.--Work of his Friends, Thurlow Weed and William +M. Evarts.--Opposition of Horace Greeley.--Objections from Doubtful +States.--Various Candidates.--Nomination of Lincoln and Hamlin.-- +Four Presidential Tickets in the Field.--Animated Canvass.--The +Long Struggle over.--The South defeated.--Election of Lincoln.-- +Political Revolution of 1860 complete. + +CHAPTER IX. +The Tariff Question in its Relation to the Political Revolution of +1860.--A Century's Experience as to Best Mode of levying Duties.-- +Original Course of Federal Government in Regard to Revenue.--First +Tariff Act.--The Objects defined in a Preamble.--Constitutional +Power to adopt Protective Measure.--Character of Early Discussions. +--The Illustrious Men who participated.--Mr. Madison the Leader.-- +The War Tariff of 1812.--Its High Duties.--The Tariff of 1816.-- +Interesting Debate upon its Provisions.--Clay, Webster, and Calhoun +take part.--Business Depression throughout the Country.--Continues +until the Enactment of the Tariff of 1824.--Protective Character +of that Tariff.--Still Higher Duties levied by the Tariff of 1828. +--Southern Resistance to the Protective Principle.--Mr. Calhoun +leads the Nullification Movement in South Carolina.--Compromise +effected on the Tariff Question.--Financial Depression follows.-- +Panic of 1837.--Protective Tariff passed in 1842.--Free-trade +Principles triumph with the Election of President Polk.--Tariff of +1846.--Prosperous Condition of the Country.--Differences of Opinion +as to the Causes.--Surplus Revenue.--Plethoric Condition of the +Treasury.--Enactment of the Tariff of 1857.--Both Parties support +it in Congress.--Duties lower than at Any Time since the War of +1812.--Panic of 1857.--Dispute as to its causes.--Protective and +Free-trade Theories as presented by their Advocates.--Connection +of the Tariff with the Election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency. +--General Review. + +CHAPTER X. +Presidential Election of 1860.--The Electoral and Popular Vote.-- +Wide Divergence between the Two.--Mr. Lincoln has a Large Majority +of Electors.--In a Minority of 1,000,000 on Popular Vote.--Beginning +of Secession.--Rash Course of South Carolina.--Reluctance on the +Part of Many Southern States.--Unfortunate Meeting of South-Carolina +Legislature.--Hasty Action of South-Carolina Convention.--The Word +"Ordinance."--Meeting of Southern Senators in Washington to promote +Secession.--Unwillingness in the South to submit the Question to +Popular Vote.--Georgia not eager to Secede.--Action of Other States. +--Meeting of Congress in December, 1860.--Position of Mr. Buchanan. +--His Attachment to the Union as a Pennsylvanian.--Sinister Influences +in his Cabinet.--His Evil Message to Congress.--Analysis of the +Message.--Its Position destructive to the Union.--The President's +Position Illogical and Untenable.--Full of Contradictions.--Extremists +of the South approve the Message.--Demoralizing Effect of the +Message in the North and in the South.--General Cass resigns from +State Department.--Judge Black succeeds him.--Character of Judge +Black.--Secretaries Cobb, Floyd, and Thompson.--Their Censurable +Conduct in the Cabinet.--Their Resignation.--Re-organization of +Cabinet.--Dix, Holt, Stanton.--Close of Mr. Buchanan's Administration. +--Change in the President's Course.--The New Influences.--Analysis +of the President's Course.--There were two Mr. Buchanans.--Personal +and Public Character of Mr. Buchanan. + +CHAPTER XI. +Congress during the Winter of 1860-61.--Leave-taking of Senators +and Representatives.--South Carolina the First to secede.--Her +Delegation in the House publish a Card withdrawing.--Other States +follow.--Mr. Lamar of Mississippi.--Speeches of Seceding Senators. +--Mr. Yulee and Mr. Mallory of Florida.--Mr. Clay and Mr. Fitzpatrick +of Alabama.--Jefferson Davis.--His Distinction between Secession +and Nullification.--Important Speech by Mr. Toombs.--He defines +Conditions on which the Union might be allowed to survive.--Mr. +Iverson's Speech.--Georgia Senators withdraw.--Insolent Speech of +Mr. Slidell of Louisiana.--Mr. Judah P. Benjamin's Special Plea +for his State.--His Doctrine of "A Sovereignty held in Trust."-- +Same Argument of Mr. Yulee for his State.--Principle of State +Sovereignty.--Disproved by the Treaty of 1783.--Notable Omission +by Secession Senators.--Grievances not stated.--Secession Conventions +in States.--Failure to state Justifying Grounds of Action.-- +Confederate Government fail likewise to do it.--Contrast with the +Course of the Colonies.--Congress had given no Cause.--Had not +disturbed Slavery by Adverse Legislation.--List of Measures Favorable +to Slavery.--Policy of Federal Government steadily in that Direction. +--Mr. Davis quoted Menaces, not Acts.--Governing Class in the South. +--Division of Society there.--Republic ruled by an Oligarchy.-- +Overthrown by Election of Lincoln.--South refuses to acquiesce. + +CHAPTER XII. +Congress in the Winter of 1860-61.--The North offers Many Concessions +to the South.--Spirit of Conciliation.--Committee of Thirteen in +the Senate.--Committee of Thirty-three in the House.--Disagreement +of Senate Committee.--Propositions submitted to House Committee.-- +Thomas Corwin's Measure.--Henry Winter Davis.--Justin S. Morrill-- +Mr. Houston of Alabama.--Constitutional Amendment proposed by +Charles Francis Adams.--Report of the Committee of Thirty-three.-- +Objectionable Measures proposed.--Minority Report by Southern +Members.--The Crittenden Compromise proposed.--Details of that +Compromise.--Mr. Adams's Double Change of Ground.--An Old Resolution +of the Massachusetts Legislature.--Mr. Webster's Criticism Pertinent. +--Various Minority Reports.--The California Members.--Washburn and +Tappan.--Amendment to the Constitution passed by the House.--By +the Senate also.--New Mexico.--The Fugitive-slave Law.--Mr. Clark +of New Hampshire.--Peace Congress.--Invited by Virginia.--Assembles +in Washington.--Peace Measures proposed.--They meet no Favor in +Congress.--Territories of Colorado, Dakota, and Nevada originated. +--Prohibition of Slavery abandoned.--Republicans in Congress do +not ask it.--Explanation required.--James S. Green of Missouri.-- +His Character as a Debater.--Northern Republicans frightened at +their own Success.--Anxious for a Compromise.--Dread of Disunion. +--Northern Democrats.--Dangerous Course pursued by them.--General +Demoralization of Northern Sentiment. + +CHAPTER XIII. +Mr. Lincoln's Journey from Springfield to Washington.--Speeches on +the Way.--Reaches Washington.--His Secret Journey.--Afterwards +regretted.--Precautions for his Safety.--President Buchanan.-- +Secretary Holt.--Troops for the Protection of Washington.--Inauguration +of Mr. Lincoln.--Relief to the Public Anxiety.--Inaugural Address. +--Hopefulness and Security in the North.--Mr. Lincoln's Appeal to +the South.--Fails to appease Southern Wrath.--Dilemma of the South. +--The New Cabinet.--The "Easy Accession" of Former Times.--Seward +Secretary of State.--Chase at the Head of the Treasury.--Radical +Republicans dissatisfied.--Influence of the Blairs.--Comment of +Thaddeus Stevens.--The National Flag in the Confederacy.--Flying +at only Three Points.--Defenseless Condition of the Government.-- +Confidence of Disunion Leaders.--Extra Session of the Senate.-- +Douglas and Breckinridge.--Their Notable Debate.--Douglas's Reply +to Wigfall.--His Answer to Mason.--Condition of the Territories.-- +Slavery not excluded by Law.--Public Opinion in Maine, 1861.--Mr. +Lincoln's Difficult Task.--His Wise Policy.--His Careful Preparation. +--Statesmanship of his Administration. + +CHAPTER XIV. +President Lincoln and the Confederate Commissioners.--Misleading +Assurance given by Judge Campbell.--Mr. Seward's Answer to Messrs. +Forsythe and Crawford.--An Interview with the President is desired +by the Commissioners.--Rage in the South.--Condition of the Montgomery +Government.--Roger A. Pryor's Speech.--President determines to send +Provisions to Fort Sumter.--Advises Governor Pickens.--Conflict +precipitated.--The Fort surrenders.--Effect of the Conflict on the +North.--President's Proclamation and Call for Troops.--Responses +of Loyal States.--Popular Uprising.--Democratic Party.--Patriotism +of Senator Douglas.--His Relations with Mr. Lincoln.--His Death.-- +Public Service and Character.--Effect of the President's Call on +Southern States.--North Carolina.--Tennessee.--Virginia.--Senator +Mason's Letter.--Responses of Southern Governors to the President's +Call for Troops.--All decline to comply.--Some of them with Insolent +Defiance.--Governors of the Free States.--John A. Andrew, E. D. +Morgan, Andrew G. Curtin, Oliver P. Morton.--Energetic and Patriotic +Action of all Northern Governors.--Exceptional Preparation in +Pennsylvania for the Conflict.--Governors of Free States all +Republicans except in California and Oregon.--Critical Situation +on Pacific Coast.--Loyalty of its People.--President's Reasons for +postponing Session of Congress.--Election in Kentucky.--Union +Victory.--John J. Crittenden and Garrett Davis.--John Bell.-- +Disappoints Expectation of Union Men.--Responsibility of Southern +Whigs.--Their Power to arrest the Madness.--Audacity overcomes +Numbers.--Whig Party of the South.--Its Brilliant Array of Leaders. +--Its Destruction. + +CHAPTER XV. +Thirty-Seventh Congress assembles.--Military Situation.--List of +Senators: Fessenden, Sumner, Collamer, Wade, Chandler, Hale, +Trumbull, Breckinridge, Baker of Oregon.--List of Members of the +House of Representatives: Thaddeus Stevens, Crittenden, Lovejoy, +Washburne, Bingham, Conkling, Shellabarger.--Mr. Grow elected +Speaker.--Message of President Lincoln.--Its Leading Recommendations. +--His Account of the Outbreak of the Rebellion.--Effect of the +Message on the Northern People.--Battle of Bull Run.--Its Effect +on Congress and the Country.--The Crittenden Resolution adopted.-- +Its Significance.--Interesting Debate upon it in the Senate.--First +Action by Congress Adverse to Slavery.--Confiscation of Certain +Slaves.--Large Amount of Business dispatched by Congress.--Striking +and Important Debate between Baker and Breckinridge.--Expulsion of +Mr. Breckinridge from the Senate.--His Character.--Credit due to +Union Men of Kentucky.--Effect produced in the South of Confederate +Success at Bull Run.--Rigorous Policy adopted by the Confederate +Government.--Law respecting "Alien Enemies."--Law sequestrating +their Estates.--Rigidly enforced by Attorney-General Benjamin.--An +Injudicious Policy. + +CHAPTER XVI. +Second Session of Thirty-seventh Congress.--The Military Situation. +--Disaster at Ball's Bluff.--Death of Colonel E. D. Baker.--The +President's Message.--Capital and Labor.--Their Relation discussed +by the President.--Agitation of the Slavery Question.--The House +refuses to re-affirm the Crittenden Resolution.--Secretary Cameron +resigns.--Sent on Russian Mission.--Succeeded by Edwin M. Stanton. +--His Vigorous War Measures.--Victories in the Field.--Battle of +Mill Spring.--General Order of the President for a Forward Movement. +--Capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson.--Prestige and Popularity +of General Grant.--Illinois Troops.--General Burnside's Victory in +North Carolina.--Effect of the Victories upon the Country.--Continued +Success for the Union in the South-West.--Proposed Celebration.-- +The Monitor and the Merrimac.--Ericsson.--Worden.--Capture of New +Orleans by Farragut.--The Navy.--Its Sudden and Great Popularity. +--Legislation in its Favor.--Battle of Shiloh.--Anxiety in the +North.--Death of Albert Sidney Johnston.--General Halleck takes +the Field.--Military Situation in the East.--The President and +General McClellan.--The Peninsular Campaign.--Stonewall Jackson's +Raid.--Its Disastrous Effect.--Fear for Safety of Washington.--Anti- +Slavery Legislation.--District of Columbia.--Compensated Emancipation. +--Colonization.--Confiscation.--Punishment of Treason. + +CHAPTER XVII. +Ball's Bluff Disaster.--Mr. Conkling's Resolution of Inquiry.-- +Unsatisfactory Reply of Secretary Cameron.--Second Resolution.-- +Second Reply.--Incidental Debate on Slavery.--Arrest of General +Charles P. Stone.--His History.--His Response to Criticisms made +upon him.--Responsibility of Colonel Baker.--General Stone before +the Committee on the Conduct of the War.--His Examination.--Testimony +of Officers.--General Stone appears before the Committee a Second +Time.--His Arrest by Order of the War Department.--No Cause assigned. +--Imprisoned in Fort Lafayette.--Solitary Confinement.--Sees Nobody. +--His Wife denied Access to him.--Subject brought into Congress.-- +A Search for the Responsibility of the Arrest.--Groundless Assumption +of Mr. Sumner's Connection with it.--Mr. Lincoln's Message in Regard +to the Case.--General Stone's Final Release by an Act of Congress. +--Imprisoned for One Hundred and Eighty-nine Days.--Never told the +Cause.--Never allowed a Trial.--Appears a Third Time before the +Committee.--The True Responsibility for the Arrest.--His Restoration +to Service.--His Resignation.--Joins the Khedive's Service. + +CHAPTER XVIII. +The National Finances.--Debt when the Civil War began.--Deadly Blow +to Public Credit.--Treasury Notes due in 1861.--$10,000,000 required. +--An Empty Treasury.--Recommendation by Secretary Dix.--Secretary +Thomas recommends a Pledge of the Public Lands.--Strange Suggestions. +--Heavy Burdens upon the Treasury.--Embarrassment of Legislators. +--First Receipts in the Treasury in 1861.--Chief Dependence had +always been on Customs.--Morrill Tariff goes into Effect.--It meets +Financial Exigencies.--Mr. Vallandigham puts our Revenue at +$50,000,000, our Expenditures at $500,000,000.--Annual Deficiency +under Mr. Buchanan.--Extra Session in July, 1861.--Secretary Chase +recommends $80,000,000 by Taxation, and $240,000,000 by Loans.-- +Loan Bill of July 17, 1861.--Its Provisions.--Demand Notes.--Seven- +thirties.--Secretary Chase's Report, December, 1861.--Situation +Serious.--Sales of Public Lands.--Suspension of Specie Payment.-- +The Loss of our Coin.--Its Steady Export to Europe. + +CHAPTER XIX. +The Legal-tender Bill.--National Finances at the Opening of the +Year 1862.--A Threefold Contest.--The Country thrown upon its own +Resources.--A Good Currency demanded.--Government takes Control of +the Question.--Authorizes the Issue of $150,000,000 of Legal-tender +Notes.--Mr. Spaulding the Author of the Measure.--His Speech.-- +Opposed by Mr. Pendleton.--Position of Secretary Chase.--Urges the +Measure upon Congress.--Speeches by Thaddeus Stevens, Mr. Vallandigham, +Mr. V. B. Horton, Mr. Lovejoy, Mr. Conkling, Mr. Hooper, Mr. Morrill, +Mr. Bingham, Mr. Shellabarger, Mr. Pike and Others.--Spirited and +Able Debate.--Bill passes the House.--Its Consideration by the +Senate.--Speeches by Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Sumner, Mr. +Bayard, Mr. Collamer and Others.--Bill passes the Senate.--Its +Weighty Provisions.--Secretary Chase on State Banks.--Policy of +the Legal-tender Bill.--Its Effect upon the Business and Prosperity +of the Country.--Internal Revenue Act.--Necessity of Large Sums +from Taxation.--Public Credit dependent on it.--Constitutional +Provisions.--Financial Policy of Alexander Hamilton.--Excises +Unpopular.--Whiskey Insurrection.--Resistance by Law.--Supreme +Court Decision.--Case of Hylton.--Provisions of New Act.--Searching +Character.--Great Revenue desired.--Credit due to Secretary Chase. + +CHAPTER XX. +Elections of 1862.--Mr. Lincoln advances to Aggressive Position on +Slavery.--Second Session of Thirty-seventh Congress adjourns.-- +Democratic Hostility to Administration.--Democratic State Conventions. +--Platforms in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.--Nomination +of Horatio Seymour for Governor of New York.--The President prepares +for a Serious Political Contest.--The Issue shall be the Union or +Slavery.--Conversation with Mr. Boutwell.--Proclamation of +Emancipation.--Meeting of Governors at Altoona.--Compensated +Emancipation proposed for Border States.--Declined by their Senators +and Representatives.--Anti-slavery Policy apparently Disastrous +for a Time.--October Elections Discouraging.--General James S. +Wadsworth nominated against Mr. Seymour.--Illinois votes against +the President.--Five Leading States against the President.-- +Administration saved in Part by Border States.--Last Session of +Thirty-seventh Congress.--President urges Compensated Emancipation +again.--Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863.--Long Controversy +over Question of Compensation for Slaves.--Test Case of Missouri. +--Fourteen Million Dollars offered her.--General Pope's Campaign. +--Army of the Potomac.--Battle of Antietam.--McClellan removed.-- +Burnside succeeds him.--Defeat at Fredericksburg.--Hooker succeeds +Burnside.--General Situation.--Arming of Slaves.--Habeas Corpus.-- +Conscription Law.--Depressed and Depressing Period. + +CHAPTER XXI. +The President's Border-State Policy.--Loyal Government erected in +Virginia.--Recognized by Congress and Senators admitted.--Desire +for a New State.--The Long Dissatisfaction of the People of Western +Virginia.--The Character of the People and of their Section.--Their +Opportunity had come.--Organization of the Pierpont Government.-- +State Convention and Constitution.--Application to Congress for +Admission.--Anti-slavery Amendment.--Senate Debate: Sumner, Wade, +Powell, Willey, and Others.--House Debate: Stevens, Conway, Bingham, +Segar.--Passage of Bill in Both Branches.--Heavy Blow to the Old +State.--Her Claims deserve Consideration.--Should be treated as +generously at least as Mexico. + +CHAPTER XXII. +National Currency and State Bank Currency.--In Competition.--Legal- +tender Bill tended to expand State Bank Circulation.--Secretary +Chase's Recommendation.--Favorably received.--State Bank Circulation, +$150,000,000.--Preliminary Bill to establish National Banks.-- +Fessenden.--Sherman.--Hooper.--National Bank System in 1862.-- +Discussed among the People.--Recommended by the President.--Mr. +Chase urges it.--Bill introduced and discussed in Senate.--Discussion +in the House.--Bill passed.--Hugh McCulloch of Indiana appointed +Comptroller of the Currency.--Amended Bank Act.--To remedy Defects, +Circulation limited to $500,000,000.--National Power.--State Rights. +--Taxation.--Renewed Debate in Senate and House.--Bill passed.-- +Merits of the System.--Former Systems.--First Bank of the United +States.--Charters of United-States Banks, 1791-1816.--National +Banks compared with United-States Banks.--One Defective Element.-- +Founded on National Debt. + +CHAPTER XXIII. +Depression among the People in 1863.--Military Situation.--Hostility +to the Administration.--Determination to break it down.--Vallandigham's +Disloyal Speech.--Two Rebellions threatened.--General Burnside +takes Command of the Department of the Ohio.--Arrests Vallandigham. +--Tries him by Military Commission.--His Sentence commuted by Mr. +Lincoln.--Habeas Corpus refused.--Democratic Party protests.-- +Meeting in Albany.--Letter of Governor Seymour.--Ohio Democrats +send a Committee to Washington.--Mr. Lincoln's Replies to Albany +Meeting and to the Ohio Committee.--Effect of his Words upon the +Country.--Army of the Potomac.--General Hooker's Defeat at +Chancellorsville.--Gloom in the Country.--The President's Letters +to General Hooker.--General Meade succeeds Hooker in Command of +the Army.--Battle of Gettysburg.--Important Victory for the Union. +--Relief to the Country.--General Grant's Victory at Vicksburg.-- +Fourth of July.--Notable Coincidence.--State Elections favorable +to the Administration.--Meeting of Thirty-eighth Congress.--Schuyler +Colfax elected Speaker.--Prominent New Members in Each Branch.--E. +D. Morgan, Alexander Ramsey, John Conness, Reverdy Johnson, Thomas +A. Hendricks, Henry Winter Davis, Robert C. Schenck, James A. +Garfield, William B. Allison.--President's Message.--Thirteenth +Amendment to the Constitution.--First proposed by James M. Ashley. +--John B. Henderson proposes Amendment which passes the Senate.-- +Debate in Both Branches.--Aid to the Pacific Railroads.--Lieutenant- +General Grant. + +CHAPTER XXIV. +Presidential Election of 1864.--Preliminary Movements.--General +Sentiment favors Mr. Lincoln.--Some Opposition to his Renomination. +--Secretary Chase a Candidate.--The "Pomeroy Circular."--Mr. Chase +withdraws.--Republican National Convention.--Baltimore, June 7.-- +Fremont and Cochrane nominated.--Speech of Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge. +--Mr. Lincoln renominated.--Candidates for Vice-President.--Andrew +Johnson of Tennessee nominated.--Democratic National Convention.-- +Chicago, August 29.--Military Situation discouraging.--Character +of the Convention.--Peace Party prevails.--Speeches of Belmont, +Bigler, Hunt, Long, Seymour.--Nomination of General McClellan for +President.--George H. Pendleton for Vice-President.--Platform.-- +Suits Vallandigham.--General McClellan accepts, but evades the +Platform.--General Fremont withdraws.--Success of the Union Army. +--Mr. Lincoln's Popularity.--General McClellan steadily loses +Ground.--Sheridan's Brilliant Victories.--General McClellan receives +the Votes of only Three States.--Governor Seymour defeated in New +York. + +CHAPTER XXV. +President's Message, December, 1864.--General Sherman's March.-- +Compensated Emancipation abandoned.--Thirteenth Amendment.--Earnestly +recommended by the President.--He appeals to the Democratic Members. +--Mr. Ashley's Energetic Work.--Democratic Opportunity.--Unwisely +neglected.--Mr. Pendleton's Argument.--Final Vote.--Amendment +adopted.--Cases arising under it.--Supreme Court.--Change of Judges +at Different Periods.--Peace Conference at Fortress Monroe.-- +Secretary Chase resigns.--Mr. Fessenden succeeds him.--Mr. Fessenden's +Report.--Surrender of Lee.--General Grant's Military Character.-- +Assassination of President Lincoln.--His Characteristics.--Cost of +the War.--Compared with Wars of Other Nations.--Our Navy.--Created +during the War.--Effective Blockade.--Its Effect upon the South.-- +Its Influence upon the Struggle.--Relative Numbers in Loyal and +Disloyal States.--Comparison of Union and Confederate Armies.-- +Confederate Army at the Close of the War.--Union Armies compared +with Armies of Foreign Countries.--Area of the War.--Its Effect +upon the Cost.--Character of Edwin M. Stanton. + +CHAPTER XXVI. +Relations with Great Britain.--Close of the Year 1860.--Prince of +Wales's Visit to the United States.--Exchange of Congratulatory +Notes.--Dawn of the Rebellion.--Lord Lyons' Dispatch.--Mr. Seward's +Views.--Lord John Russell's Threats.--Condition of Affairs at Mr. +Lincoln's Inauguration.--Unfriendly Manifestations by Great Britain. +--Recognizes Belligerency of Southern States.--Discourtesy to +American Minister.--England and France make Propositions to the +Confederate States.--Unfriendly in their Character to the United +States.--Full Details given.--Motives inquired into.--Trent Affair. +--Lord John Russell.--Lord Lyons.--Mr. Seward.--Mason and Slidell +released.--Doubtful Grounds assigned.--Greater Wrongs against us +by Great Britain.--Queen Victoria's Friendship.--Isolation of United +States.--Foreign Aid to Confederates on the Sea.--Details given.-- +So-called Neutrality.--French Attempt to establish an Empire in +Mexico.--Lord Palmerston in 1848, in 1859, in 1861.--Conclusive +Observations. + +ADDENDUM + +ERRATUM + +APPENDICES + + +LIST OF STEEL PORTRAITS. + +THE AUTHOR +ABRAHAM LINCOLN +CHARLES SUMNER +STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS +WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN +JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE +HENRY WINTER DAVIS +THADDEUS STEVENS +BENJAMIN F. WADE +ELIHU B. WASHBURNE +ROBERT C. SCHENCK +WILLIAM D. KELLEY +SAMUEL SHELLABARGER +JUSTIN S. MORRILL +GEORGE S. BOUTWELL +REUBEN E. FENTON +OLIVER P. MORTON +ZACHARIAH CHANDLER +HENRY B. ANTHONY +THOMAS A. HENDRICKS +SIMON CAMERON +JAMES W. GRIMES +JOHN P. HALE +JOHN SHERMAN +WILLIAM WINDOM +JOHN B. HENDERSON +JOHN J. INGALLS +FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN +CARL SCHURZ +JOHN A. LOGAN + +MAP SHOWING THE TERRITORIAL GROWTH OF THE UNITED STATES + + +TWENTY YEARS OF CONGRESS. + +CHAPTER I. + +Original Compromises between the North and the South embodied in +the Constitution.--Early Dissatisfaction with National Boundaries. +--Acquisition of Louisiana from France by President Jefferson.-- +Bonaparte's Action and Motive in ceding Louisiana.--State of +Louisiana admitted to the Union against Opposition in the North.-- +Agitation of the Slavery Question in Connection with the Admission +of Missouri to the Union.--The Two Missouri Compromises of 1820 +and 1821.--Origin and Development of the Abolition Party.--Struggle +over the Right of Petition. + +The compromises on the Slavery question, inserted in the Constitution, +were among the essential conditions upon which the Federal Government +was organized. If the African slave-trade had not been permitted +to continue for twenty years, if it had not been conceded that +three-fifths of the slaves should be counted in the apportionment +of representatives in Congress, if it had not been agreed that +fugitives from service should be returned to their owners, the +Thirteen States would not have been able in 1787 "to form a more +perfect union." These adjustments in the Constitution were effected +after the Congress of the old Confederation had dedicated the entire +North-west Territory to freedom. The ancient commonwealth of +Virginia had, for the good of all, generously and patriotically +surrendered her title to the great country north of the Ohio and +east of the Mississippi, which to-day constitutes five prosperous +and powerful States and a not inconsiderable portion of a sixth. +This was the first territory of which the General Government had +exclusive control, and the prompt prohibition of slavery therein +by the Ordinance of 1787 is an important and significant fact. +The anti-slavery restriction would doubtless have been applied to +the territory south of the Ohio had the power existed to impose +it. The founders of the government not only looked to the speedy +extinction of slavery, but they especially abhorred the idea of a +geographical line, with freedom decreed on one side, and slavery +established on the other. But the territory south of the Ohio +belonged to the Southern States of the Union,--Kentucky to Virginia; +Tennessee to North Carolina; Alabama and Mississippi to Georgia, +with certain co-extensive claims put forth by South Carolina. When +cessions of this Southern territory were made to the General +Government, the States owning it exacted in every case a stipulation +that slavery should not be prohibited. It thus came to pass that +the Ohio River was the dividing-line. North of it freedom was +forever decreed. South of it slavery was firmly established. +Within the limits of the Union as originally formed the slavery +question had therefore been compromised, the common territory +partitioned, and the Republic, half slave, half free, organized +and sent forth upon its mission. + +The Thirteen States whose independence had been acknowledged by +George III., occupied with their outlying territories a vast area, +exceeding in the aggregate eight hundred thousand square miles. +Extended as was this domain, the early statesmen of the Union +discovered that its boundaries were unsatisfactory,--hostile to +our commercial interests in time of peace, and menacing our safety +in time of war. The Mississippi River was our western limit. On +its farther shore, from the Lake of the Woods to the Balize, we +met the flag of Spain. Our southern border was the 31st parallel +of latitude; and the Spanish Floridas, stretching across to the +Mississippi, lay between us and the Gulf of Mexico. We acquired +from Spain the right of deposit for exports and imports at New +Orleans, but the citizens of the Union who lived west of the +Alleganies were discontented and irritated to find a foreign power +practically controlling their trade by intercepting their access +to the sea. One of the great problems imposed upon the founders +of the Union was to remove the burdens and embarrassments which +obstructed the development of the Western States, and thus to render +their inhabitants as loyal by reason of material prosperity as they +already were in patriotic sympathy. The opportunity for relief +came from remote and foreign causes, without our own agency; but +the courageous statesmanship which discerned and grasped the +opportunity, deserved, as it has received, the commemoration of +three generations. The boundaries of the Union were vastly enlarged, +but the geographical change was not greater than the effect produced +upon the political and social condition of the people. The ambitions +developed by the acquisition of new territory led to serious +conflicts of opinion between North and South,--conflicts which +steadily grew in intensity until, by the convulsion of war, slavery +was finally extinguished. + + TERRITORIAL CESSIONS IN AMERICA. + +A great European struggle, which ended twelve years before our +Revolution began, had wrought important changes in the political +control of North America. The Seven Years' War, identical in time +with the French and Indian War in America, was closed in 1763 by +numerous treaties to which every great power in Europe was in some +sense a party. One of the most striking results of these treaties +on this side of the Atlantic was the cession of Florida to Great +Britain by Spain in exchange for the release of Cuba, which the +English and colonial forces under Lord Albemarle had wrested from +Spanish authority the preceding year. England held Florida for +twenty years, when among the disasters brought upon her by our +Revolution was its retrocession to Spain in 1783,--a result which +was accounted by our forefathers a great gain to the new Republic. +Still more striking were the losses of France. Fifty years before, +by the Treaty of Utrecht, France had surrendered to England the +island of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia (then including New Brunswick), +and the Hudson-bay Territory. She now gave up Canada and Cape +Breton, acknowledged the sovereignty of Great Britain in the original +thirteen Colonies as extending to the Mississippi, and, by a separate +treaty, surrendered Louisiana on the west side of the Mississippi, +with New Orleans on the east side, to Spain. Thus, in 1763, French +power disappeared from North American. The last square mile of +the most valuable colonial territory ever possessed by a European +sovereign was lost under the weak and effeminate rule of Louis XV., +a reign not fitted for successful war, but distinguished only, as +one of its historians says, for "easy-mannered joyance, and the +brilliant charm of fashionable and philosophical society." + +The country which France surrendered to Spain was of vast but +indefinite extent. Added to her other North-American colonies, it +gave to Spain control of more than half the continent. She continued +in possession of Louisiana until the year 1800, when, during some +European negotiations, Bonaparte concluded a treaty at San Ildefonso +with Charles IV., by which the entire territory was retroceded to +France. When the First Consul acquired Louisiana, he appeared to +look forward to a career of peace,--an impression greatly strengthened +by the conclusion of the treaty of Amiens the ensuing year. He +added to his prestige as a ruler when he regained from Spain the +American empire which the Bourbons had weakly surrendered thirty- +seven years before, and he expected a large and valuable addition +to the trade and resources of France from the vast colonial +possession. The formal transfer of so great a territory on a +distant continent was necessarily delayed; and, before the Captain- +general of France reached New Orleans in 1803, the Spanish authorities, +still in possession, had become so odious to the inhabitants of +the western section of the Union by their suspension of the right +of deposit at New Orleans, that there was constant danger of an +armed collision. Mr. Ross of Pennsylvania, an able and conservative +statesman, moved in the Senate of the United States that the +government be instructed to seize New Orleans. Gouverneur Morris, +a statesman of the Revolutionary period, then a senator from New +York, seconded Mr. Ross. So intense was the feeling among the +people that a large army of volunteers could have been easily raised +in the Mississippi valley to march against New Orleans; but the +prudence of Mr. Jefferson restrained every movement that might +involve us in a war with Spain, from which nothing was to be gained, +and by which every thing would be risked. + + THE PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA. + +Meanwhile Mr. Robert R. Livingston, our minister at Paris, was +pressing the French Government for concessions touching the free +navigation of the Mississippi and the right of deposit at New +Orleans, and was speaking to the First Consul, as a French historian +observes, in a tone which "arrested his attention, and aroused him +to a sense of the new power that was growing beyond the sea." Mr. +Livingston was re-enforced by Mr. Monroe, sent out by President +Jefferson as a special envoy in the spring of 1803, in order to +effect some adjustment of the irritating questions which were +seriously endangering the relations between France and the United +States. The instructions of Mr. Madison, then secretary of State, +to Mr. Monroe, show that the utmost he expected was to acquire from +France the city of New Orleans and the Floridas, of which he believed +France either then was, or was about to become, the actual owner. +Indeed, the treaty by which France had acquired Louisiana was but +imperfectly understood; and, in the slowness and difficulty of +communication, Mr. Madison could not accurately know the full extent +of the cession made at San Ildefonso. But Mr. Jefferson did not +wait to learn the exact provisions of that treaty. He knew +instinctively that they deeply concerned the United States. He +saw with clear vision that by the commercial disability upon the +western section of the Union its progress would be obstructed, its +already attained prosperity checked; and that possibly its population, +drawn first into discontent with the existing order of things, +might be seduced into new and dangerous alliances. He determined, +therefore, to acquire the control of the left bank of the Mississippi +to its mouth, and by the purchase of the Floridas to give to Georgia +and the Mississippi territory (now constituting the States of +Alabama and Mississippi) unobstructed access to the Gulf. + +But events beyond the ocean were working more rapidly for the +interest of the United States than any influence which the government +itself could exert. Before Mr. Monroe reached France in the spring +of 1803, another war-cloud of portentous magnitude was hanging over +Europe. The treaty of Amiens had proved only a truce. Awkwardly +constructed, misconstrued and violated by both parties, it was +about to be formally broken. Neither of the plenipotentiaries who +signed the treaty was skilled in diplomacy. Joseph Bonaparte acted +for his brother; England was represented by Lord Cornwallis, who +twenty years before had surrendered the British army at Yorktown. +The wits of London described him afterwards as a general who could +neither conduct a war nor conclude a peace. + +Fearing that, in the threatened conflict, England, by her superior +naval force, would deprive him of his newly acquired colonial +empire, and greatly enhance her own prestige by securing all the +American possessions which France had owned prior to 1763, Bonaparte, +by a dash in diplomacy as quick and as brilliant as his tactics on +the field of battle, placed Louisiana beyond the reach of British +power. After returning to St. Cloud from the religious services +of Easter Sunday, April 10, 1803, he called two of his most trusted +advisers, and, in a tone of vehemence and passion, said,-- + +"I know the full value of Louisiana, and have been desirous of +repairing the fault of the French negotiators who lost it in 1763. +A few lines of a treaty have restored it to me, and now I must +expect to lose it. . . . The English wish to take possession of +it, and it is thus they will begin the war. . . . They have already +twenty ships of the line in the Gulf of Mexico. . . . The conquest +of Louisiana would be easy. I have not a moment to lose in putting +it out of their reach. . . . The English have successively taken +from France the Canadas, Cape Breton, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, +and the richest portions of Asia. But they shall not have the +Mississippi, which they covet." + +The discussion went far into the night. The two ministers differed +widely in the advice which they gave the First Consul; one was in +favor of holding Louisiana at all hazards; the other urged its +prudent cession rather than its inevitable loss by war. They both +remained at St. Cloud for the night. At daybreak the minister who +had advised the cession was summoned by Bonaparte to read dispatches +from London, that moment received, which certainly foreshadowed +war, as the English were making military and naval preparations +with extraordinary rapidity. After reading the dispatches, the +First Consul said, + +"Irresolution and deliberation are no longer in season. I renounce +Louisiana. It is not only New Orleans that I will cede, it is the +whole colony without any reservation. I know the value of what I +abandon. It renounce it with the gravest regret. To attempt +obstinately to retain it would be folly. I direct you to negotiate +this affair with the envoy of the United States. Do not even wait +the arrival of Mr. Monroe. Have an interview this very day with +Mr. Livingston. . . . But I require a great deal of money for this +war. I will be moderate. I want fifty millions for Louisiana." + +The minister, who was opposed to the sale, interposed, in a subsequent +interview, some observations "upon what the Germans call the _souls_, +as to whether they could be the subject of a contract or sale." +Bonaparte replied with undisguised sarcasm,-- + +"You are giving me the ideology of the law of nature. But I require +money to make war on the richest nation in the world. Send your +maxims to London. I am sure they will be greatly admired there." + +The First Consul afterwards added, "Perhaps it will be objected +that the Americans will be found too powerful for Europe in two or +three centuries; but my foresight does not embrace such remote +fears. Besides, we may hereafter expect rivalries among the members +of the Union. The confederations, which are called perpetual, only +last till one of the contracting parties finds it in his interest +to break them." + + SUCCESS OF JEFFERSON'S DIPLOMACY. + +Two days after this conversation Mr. Monroe opportunely arrived, +and on the 30th of April the treaty ceding Louisiana to the United +States was formally concluded. Mr. Monroe and Mr. Livingston had +no authority to negotiate for so vast an extent of territory; but +the former was fully possessed of President Jefferson's views, and +felt assured that his instructions would have been ample if the +condition of France had been foreseen when he sailed from America. +Communication with Washington was impossible. Under the most +favorable circumstances, an answer could not be expected in less +then three months. By that time British ships would probably hold +the mouths of the Mississippi, and the flag of St. George be waving +over New Orleans. Monroe and Livingston both realized that hesitation +would be fatal; and they boldly took the responsibility of purchasing +a territory of unknown but prodigious extent, and of pledging the +credit of the government for a sum which, rated by the ability to +pay, was larger than a similar pledge to-day for five hundred +millions of dollars. + +The price agreed upon was eleven million two hundred and fifty +thousand dollars in six per cent United States bonds, the interest +of which was made payable in London, Amsterdam, and Paris, and the +principal at the treasury in Washington in sums of three millions +per annum, beginning fifteen years after the bonds were issued. +In a separate treaty made the same day, the United States agreed +to pay twenty million francs additional, to be applied by France +to the satisfaction of certain claims owed to American citizens. +Thus the total cost of Louisiana was eighty millions of francs, +or, in round numbers, fifteen millions of dollars. + +No difficulty was experienced in putting the United States in +possession of the territory and of its chief emporium, New Orleans. +The French Government had regarded the possession of so much +consequence, that Bernadotte, afterwards King of Sweden, was at +one time gazetted as Captain-general; and, some obstacles supervening, +the eminent General Victor, afterwards Marshal of France and Duke +of Belluno, was named in his stead. But all these plans were +brushed aside by one stroke of Bonaparte's pen; and the United +States, in consequence of favoring circumstances growing out of +European complications, and the bold and competent statesmanship +of Jefferson, obtained a territory larger in area than that which +was wrested from the British crown by the Revolutionary war. + +It seems scarcely credible that the acquisition of Louisiana by +Jefferson was denounced with a bitterness surpassing the partisan +rancor with which later generations have been familiar. No abuse +was too malignant, no epithet too coarse, no imprecation too savage, +to be employed by the assailants of the great philosophic statesman +who laid so broad and deep the foundations of his country's growth +and grandeur. President of a feeble republic, contending for a +prize which was held by the greatest military power of Europe, and +whose possession was coveted by the greatest naval power of the +world, Mr. Jefferson, through his chosen and trusted agents, so +conducted his important negotiation that the ambition of the United +States was successfully interposed between the necessities of the +one and the aggressive designs of the other. Willing to side with +either of these great powers, for the advantage of his own country, +not underrating the dangers of war, yet ready to engage in it for +the control of the great water-way to the Gulf, the President made +the largest conquest ever peacefully achieved, and at a cost so +small that the total sum expended for the entire territory does +not equal the revenue which has since been collected on its soil +in a single month in time of great public peril. The country thus +acquired forms to-day the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, +Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota west of the Mississippi, Colorado +north of the Arkansas, besides the Indian Territory and the +Territories of Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Texas was also included +in the transfer, but the Oregon country was not. The Louisiana +purchase did not extend beyond the main range of the Rocky Mountains, +and our title to that large area which is included in the State of +Oregon and in the Territories of Washington and Idaho rests upon +a different foundation, or, rather, upon a series of claims, each +of which was strong under the law of nations. We claimed it first +by right of original discovery of the Columbia River by an American +navigator in 1792; second, by original exploration in 1805; third, +by original settlement in 1810, by the enterprising company of +which John Jacob Astor was the head; and, lastly and principally, +by the transfer of the Spanish title in 1819, many years after the +Louisiana purchase was accomplished. It is not, however, probable +that we should have been able to maintain our title to Oregon if +we had not secured the intervening country. It was certainly our +purchase of Louisiana that enabled us to secure the Spanish title +to the shores of the Pacific, and without that title we could hardly +have maintained our claim. As against England our title seemed to +us to be perfect, but as against Spain our case was not so strong. +The purchase of Louisiana may therefore be fairly said to have +carried with it and secured to us our possession of Oregon. + +The acquisition of Louisiana brought incalculable wealth, power, +and prestige to the Union, and must always be regarded as the master- +stroke of policy which advanced the United States from a comparatively +feeble nation, lying between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, to +a continental power of assured strength and boundless promise. +The _coup d'etat_ of the First Consul was an overwhelming surprise +and disappointment to the English Government. Bonaparte was right +in assuming that prompt action on his part was necessary to save +Louisiana from the hands of the English. Twelve days after the +treaty ceding Louisiana to the United States was signed, the British +ambassador at Paris, Lord Whitworth, demanded his passports. At +Dover he met the French ambassador to England, General Andreossy, +who had likewise demanded his passports. Lord Whitworth loaded +General Andreossy with tokens of esteem, and conducted him to the +ship which was to bear him back to France. According to an eminent +historian, "the two ambassadors parted in the presence of a great +concourse of people, agitated, uneasy, sorrowful. On the eve of +so important a determination, the warlike passion subsided; and +men were seized with a dread of the consequences of a desperate +conflict. At this solemn moment the two nations seemed to bid each +other adieu, not to meet again till after a tremendous war and the +convulsion of the world." + + THE DESIGNS OF ENGLAND FOILED. + +England's acquisition of Louisiana would have proved in the highest +degree embarrassing, if not disastrous, to the Union. At that time +the forts of Spain, transferred to France, and thence to the United +States, were on the east side of the Mississippi, hundreds of miles +from its mouth. If England had seized Louisiana, as Bonaparte +feared, the Floridas, cut off from the other colonies of Spain, +would certainly have fallen into her hands by easy and prompt +negotiation, as they did, a few years later, into the hands of the +United States. England would thus have had her colonies planted +on the three land-sides of the Union, while on the ocean-side her +formidable navy confronted the young republic. No colonial +acquisition ever made by her on any continent has been so profitable +to her commerce, and so strengthening her military position, as +that of Louisiana would have proved. This fact was clearly seen +by Bonaparte when he hastily made the treaty ceding it to the United +States. That England did not at once attempt to seize it, in +disregard of Bonaparte's cession, has been a source of surprise to +many historians. The obvious reason is that she dreaded the +complication of a war in America when she was about to assume so +heavy a burden in the impending European conflict. The inhabitants +of the Union in 1803 were six millions in number, of great energy +and confidence. A large proportion of them were accustomed to the +sea and could send swarms of privateers to prey on British commerce. +Independent citizens would be even more formidable than were the +rebellious colonists in the earlier struggle with the mother country, +and, acting in conjunction with France, could effectively maintain +a contest. Considerations of this nature doubtless induced the +Addington ministry to acquiesce quietly in a treaty whose origin +and whose assured results were in every way distasteful, and even +offensive, to the British Government. + +The extent and boundaries of the territory thus ceded by France +were ill-defined, and, in fact, unknown. The French negotiator +who conferred with Monroe and Livingston, declared a large portion +of the country transferred to be no better known at the time "than +when Columbus landed at the Bahamas." There was no way by which +accurate metes and bounds could be described. This fact disturbed +the upright and conscientious Marbois, who thought that "treaties +of territorial cession should contain a guaranty from the grantor." +He was especially anxious, moreover, that no ambiguous clauses +should be introduced in the treaty. He communicated his troubles +on this point to the First Consul, advising him that it seemed +impossible to construct the treaty so as to free it from obscurity +on the important matter of boundaries. Far from exhibiting any +sympathy with his faithful minister's solicitude on this point, +Bonaparte quietly informed him that, "if an obscurity did not +already exist, it would perhaps be good policy to put one in the +treaty." In the possibilities of the First Consul's future, the +acquisition of Spanish America may have been expected, or at least +dreamed of, by him; and an ill-defined, uncertain boundary for +Louisiana might possibly, in a few years, be turned greatly to his +advantage. + + EXPANSION OF OUR BOUNDARIES. + +There was certainly obscurity enough in the transfer to satisfy +the fullest desire of Bonaparte. France ceded Louisiana to the +United States "with all its rights and appurtenances," as acquired +by the retrocession from Spain under the treaty of San Ildefonso, +Oct. 1, 1800; and by that treaty Spain had "transferred it to France +with the same extent it then had in the hands of Spain, and that +it had when France previously possessed it, and such as it should +be with the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and +other States." This was simply giving to us what Spain had given +to France, and that was only what France had before given to Spain, +--complicated with such treaties as Spain might have made during +the thirty-seven years of her ownership. It was evident, therefore, +from the very hour of the acquisition, that we should have abundant +trouble with our only remaining neighbors in North America, Spain +and Great Britain, in adjusting the boundaries of the vast country +which we had so successfully acquired from France. + +Fortunately for the United States, the patriotic and far-seeing +administration of Mr. Jefferson was as energetic in confirming as +it had been in acquiring our title to the invaluable domain. As +soon as the treaty was received the President called an extra +session of Congress, which assembled on the 17th of October, 1803. +Before the month had expired the treaty was confirmed, and the +President was authorized to take possession of the territory of +Louisiana, and to maintain therein the authority of the United +States. This was not a mere paper warrant for exhibiting a nominal +supremacy by floating our flag, but it gave to the President the +full power to employ the army and navy of the United States and +the militia of the several States to the number of eighty thousand. +It was a wise and energetic measure for the defense of our newly +acquired territory, which in the disturbed condition of Europe, +with all the Great Powers arming from Gibraltar to the Baltic, +might at any moment be invaded or imperiled. The conflict of arms +did not occur until nine years after; and it is a curious and not +unimportant fact, that the most notable defeat of the British troops +in the second war of Independence, as the struggle of 1812 has been +well named, occurred on the soil of the territory for whose protection +the original precaution had been taken by Jefferson. + +With all these preparations for defense, Mr. Jefferson did not wait +to have our title to Louisiana questioned or limited. He set to +work at once to proclaim it throughout the length and breadth of +the territory which had been ceded, and to the treaty of cession +he gave the most liberal construction. According to the President, +Louisiana stretched as far to the northward as the Lake of the +Woods; towards the west as far as the Rio Grande in the lower part, +and, in the upper part, to the main chain of mountains dividing +the waters of the Pacific from the waters of the Atlantic. To +establish our sovereignty to the shores of the Pacific became a +matter of instant solicitude with the watchful and patriotic +President. In the previous session he had obtained from Congress +an appropriation of two millions of dollars "for the purpose of +defraying any extraordinary expenses which may be incurred in the +intercourse between the United States and foreign nations." In +the confidential message which so promptly secured the money, the +President suggested that the object to be accomplished was a better +understanding with the Indian tribes, and the fitting out of an +exploring and scientific expedition across the continent, though +our own domain at the time was terminated on the west by the +Mississippi. It was believed, that, between the lines of the +message, Congress could read that our negotiations with France and +Spain touching the free navigation of the Mississippi might soon +reach a crisis. Hence the prompt appropriation of a sum of money +which for the national treasury of that day was very large. + + LEWIS AND CLARKE EXPEDITION. + +The two men selected to conduct the expedition across the continent, +Meriwether Lewis and William Clarke, were especially fitted for +their arduous task. Both were officers in the army, holding the +rank of captain. Lewis had been private secretary to the President, +and Clarke was brother to the heroic George Rogers Clarke, whose +services were of peculiar value in the Revolutionary struggle. +Before they could complete the preparations for their long and +dangerous journey, the territory to be traversed had been transferred +to the United States, and the expedition at once assumed a significance +and importance little dreamed of when Jefferson first conceived +it. The original design had been a favorite one with Mr. Jefferson +for many years. When he resided at Paris as our minister, before +the Federal Government was organized, he encouraged a similar +expedition, to be fitted out in Kamtchatka, to sail to our western +coast, and thence to come eastward across the continent. This +design was to be executed by the somewhat noted John Ledyard, a +roving and adventurous man from Connecticut, who had accompanied +Captain Cook on his famous voyage to the Pacific, and whom Jefferson +afterwards met in Paris. The necessary authority was obtained from +the Russian Government; but, after Ledyard had reached the borders +of Kamtchatka, he was suddenly recalled, driven with speed day and +night in a closed carriage, on a return journey of several thousand +miles, and set down in Poland, penniless, and utterly broken in +health. This strange action was the offspring of jealousy on the +part of the Empress Catharine, who feared that the energy of the +young and vigorous government of the United States would absorb +the north-west coast of America, upon which the Russian Government +had already set its ambition. + +The success of the Lewis and Clarke expedition aided greatly in +sustaining our title to the Oregon country. The joint leaders of +it became celebrated by their arduous achievement, and were rewarded +accordingly. Lewis was appointed governor of Louisiana territory +in 1807, and held the position until his death in 1809; while Clarke +was for a long period governor of the territory of Missouri, serving +in that capacity when the State was admitted to the Union. But +while the Lewis and Clarke expedition largely increased our knowledge +of the country, and added to the strength of our title, it did not +definitely settle any disputed question. With Spain we had constant +trouble in regard to the boundaries of Louisiana, both on the west +in the direction of Texas, and on the east along the confines of +Florida. She had always been dissatisfied with Bonaparte's transfer +of Louisiana to the United States. If that result could have been +foreseen, the treaty of San Ildefonso would never have been made. +The government of the United States believed that Louisiana, as +held by France, had bordered on the Rio Grande, and that, by the +treaty with Bonaparte, we were entitled to territory in the direction +of Florida as far as the Perdido. In the vexatious war with the +Seminoles, General Jackson did not hesitate to march across the +line, capture Pensacola, and seize the Barancas. The comments, +official and personal, which were made on that rash exploit, led +to controversies and estrangements which affected political parties +for many years after. Jackson's hostility to John Quincy Adams, +his exasperating quarrel with Clay, his implacable hatred for +Calhoun, all had their origin in events connected with the Florida +campaign of 1818. + +To compose the boundary troubles with Spain, a treaty was negotiated +in 1819, which, with many gains, entailed some signal losses upon +the United States. The whole of Florida was ceded by Spain, an +acquisition which proved of great value to us in every point of +view. As Florida had become separated from the other Spanish +colonies by the cession of Louisiana, the government at Madrid +found difficulty in satisfactorily administering its affairs and +guarding its safety. South of the United States, to the Straits +of Magellan, the Spanish flag floated over every foot of the +continent except the Empire of Brazil and some small colonies in +Guiana. The cession of Louisiana to Bonaparte involved the loss +of Florida which was now formally transferred to the United States. +But Spain received more than an equivalent. The whole of Texas +was fairly included in the Louisiana purchase,--if the well-studied +opinion of such eminent statesmen as Clay, John Quincy Adams, Van +Buren, and Benton may be accepted,--and we paid dearly for Florida +by agreeing to retreat from the Rio Grande to the Sabine as our +south-western frontier, thus surrendering Texas to Mexico. The +western boundary of the Louisiana territory was defined as beginning +at the mouth of the Sabine (which is the boundary of the State of +Louisiana to-day), continuing along its western bank to the 32 deg. of +north latitude, thence by a line due north to the Red River, thence +up the Red River to the 100th meridian west from Greenwich, or the +23d west from Washington, thence due north to the Arkansas, thence +following the Arkansas to its source in latitude 42 deg., and thence +by that parallel to the Pacific Ocean. Should the Arkansas fall +short of the 42 deg., a due north line to that parallel was to be taken. +The United States solemnly renounced all claim to territories west +or south of the line just mentioned, and Spain renounced all claim +to territory east or north of it. Thus all boundary disputes with +Spain were ended, and peace was secured, though at a great cost; +as events in after years so fully proved. + + LOUISIANA ADMITTED AS A STATE. + +Meanwhile territorial government had been established over a large +section of the country acquired from France; and it was rapidly +peopled by an enterprising emigration, almost wholly from the +Southern States. Louisiana sought to enter the Union in 1811, and +then for the first time occurred an agitation in Congress over the +admission of a slave State. Opposition to it was not, however, +grounded so much upon the existence of slavery as upon the alleged +violation of the Constitution in forming a State from territory +not included in the original government of the Union. Josiah Quincy +of Massachusetts made a violent speech against it, declaring that +if Louisiana were admitted, "the bonds of this Union are virtually +dissolved; that the States which compose it are free from their +moral obligations; and that, as it will be right of all, so it will +be the duty of some, to prepare definitely for a separation, amicably +if they can, violently if they must." Mr. Quincy was disquieted +at the mere thought of extending the Union beyond its original +limits. He had "heard with alarm that six States might grow up +beyond the Mississippi, and that the mouth of the Ohio might be +east of the centre of a contemplated empire." He declared that +"it was not for these men that our fathers fought, not for them +that the Constitution was adopted. Our fathers were not madmen: +they had not taken degrees at the hospital of idiocy." He maintained +with great vehemence that there was "no authority to throw the +rights and liberties of this people into 'hotchpot' with the wild +men of the Missouri, nor with the mixed, though more respectable, +race of Anglo-Hispano-Gallo-Americans who bask on the sands in the +mouth of the Mississippi." Mr. Quincy's sentiments were far more +radical than those held by the mass of Northern or New-England +people, yet there was undoubtedly a strong opposition to the +admission of Louisiana. Many Northern men had opposed the purchase +of the territory from France, believing it to be unconstitutional; +and they dreaded the introduction of senators and representatives +from territory which they considered foreign. Nevertheless the +bill admitting the State passed the House by a vote of two-thirds +of the members. The opposition was wholly from the North, and +largely from New England. The contest was confined to Congress-- +the issue failing to excite popular interest. A majority of the +people, both North and South, were convinced that the ownership of +the mouth of the Mississippi was of inestimable value to the Union, +and that it could not be permanently secured except by admitting +as a State the territory which included and controlled it. This +conclusion was strengthened by the near approach of war with Great +Britain, soon after formally declared. The advantage of a loyal +and devoted population at New Orleans, identified in interest and +in sympathy with the government, was too evident to need argument. +If the weight of reason had not already been on the side of admitting +Louisiana, the necessities of war would have enforced it. + +Six years after Louisiana entered the Union, Missouri applied for +admission as a slave State. A violent agitation at once arose, +continued for two years, and was finally allayed by the famous +compromise of 1820. The outbreak was so sudden, its course so +turbulent, and its subsidence so complete, that for many years it +was regarded as phenomenal in our politics, and its repetition in +the highest degree improbable if not impossible. The "Missouri +question," as it was popularly termed, formally appeared in Congress +in the month of December, 1818; though during the preceding session +petitions for a State government had been received from the +inhabitants of that territory. When the bill proposing to admit +the State came before the House, Mr. James Tallmadege, jun., of +New York, moved to amend it by providing that "the further introduction +of slavery be prohibited in said State of Missouri, and that all +children born in that State after its admission to the Union shall +be free at the age of twenty-five years." The discussion which +followed was able, excited, and even acrimonious. Mr. Clay took +an active part against the amendment, but his great influence was +unavailing in the face of the strong anti-slavery sentiment which +was so suddenly developed in the North. Both branches of Mr. +Tallmadge's amendment were adopted and the bill was passed. In +the Senate the anti-slavery amendment encountered a furious opposition +and was rejected by a large majority. The House refused to recede; +and, amid great excitement in the country and no little temper in +Congress, each branch voted to adhere to its position. Thus for +the time Missouri was kept out of the Union. + +On the second day after the opening of the next Congress, December, +1819, Mr. John Holmes presented a memorial in the House of +Representatives from a convention which had been lately held in +the District of Maine, praying for the admission of said district +into the Union "as a separate and independent State, on an equal +footing with the original States." On the same day, and immediately +after Mr. Holmes had taken his seat, Mr. John Scott, territorial +delegate, brought before the House the memorial presented in the +previous Congress for the admission of Missouri on the same terms +of independence and equality with the old States as prayed for by +Maine. From that hour it was found impossible to consider the +admission of Maine and Missouri separately. Geographically remote, +differing in soil, climate, and products, incapable of competing +with each other in any pursuit, they were thrown into rivalry by +the influence of the one absorbing question of negro slavery. +Southern men were unwilling that Maine should be admitted unless +the enabling Act for Missouri should be passed at the same time, +and Northern men were unwilling that any enabling Act should be +passed for Missouri which did not contain an anti-slavery restriction. +Mr. Clay, then an accepted leader of Southern sentiment,--which in +his later life he ceased to be,--made an earnest, almost fiery, +speech on the question. He declared that before the Maine bill +should be finally acted on, he wanted to know "whether certain +doctrines of an alarming character, with respect to a restriction +on the admission of new States west of the Mississippi, were to be +sustained on this floor." He wanted to know "what conditions +Congress could annex to the admission of a new State; whether, +indeed, there could be a partition of its sovereignty." + + THE FIRST MISSOURI COMPROMISE. + +Despite the eloquence and the great influence of the Speaker, the +Southern representatives were overborne and the House adopted the +anti-slavery restriction. The Senate refused to concur, united +Maine and Missouri in one bill, and passed it with an entirely new +feature, which was proposed by Mr. Jesse B. Thomas, a senator from +Illinois. That feature was simply the provision, since so widely +known as the Missouri Compromise, which forever prohibited slavery +north of 36 deg. 30' in all the territory acquired from France by the +Louisiana purchase. The House would not consent to admit the two +States in the same bill, but finally agreed to the compromise; and +in the early part of March, 1820, Maine became a member of the +Union without condition. A separate bill was passed, permitting +Missouri to form a constitution preparatory to her admission, +subject to the compromise, which, indeed, formed one section of +the enabling Act. Missouri was thus granted permission to enter +the Union as a slave State. But she was discontented with the +prospect of having free States on three sides,--east, north, and +west. + +Although the Missouri Compromise was thus nominally perfected, and +the agitation apparently ended, the most exciting, and in some +respects the most dangerous, phase of the question was yet to be +reached. After the enabling Act was passed, the Missouri Convention +assembled to frame a constitution for the new State. The inhabitants +of the Territory had become angered by the long delay imposed upon +them, caused, as they believed, by the introduction of a question +which concerned only themselves, and which Congress had no right +to control. In this resentful mood they were led by the extremists +of the convention to insert a provision in the constitution, +declaring that "it shall be the duty of the General Assembly, as +soon as may be, to pass such laws as may be necessary to prevent +free negroes or mulattoes from coming to or settling in this State +under any pretext whatever." As soon as the constitution with this +obnoxious clause was transmitted to Congress by the President, the +excitement broke forth with increased intensity and the lines of +the old controversy were at once re-formed. + +The parliamentary struggle which ensued was bitter beyond precedent; +threats of dissolving the Union were frequent, and apprehension of +an impending calamity was felt throughout the country. The discussion +continued with unabated vigor and ardor until the middle of February, +and the Congress was to terminate on the ensuing fourth of March. +The House had twice refused to pass the bill admitting Missouri, +declaring that the objectionable clause in her organic law was not +only an insult to every State in which colored men were citizens, +but was in flat contradiction of that provision in the Federal +Constitution which declares that "the citizens of each State shall +be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in +the several States." + + THE SECOND MISSOURI COMPROMISE. + +The defeat, apparently final, of the admission of Missouri, created +intense indignation. Southern senators and representatives charged +that they were treated unjustly by the North, and dealt with unfairly +in Congress. In pursuance of the compromise of the year before, +Maine had been admitted and her senators were in their seats. The +organs of Southern opinion accused the North of overreaching the +South in securing, under the name of a compromise, the admission +of Maine, while still retaining the power to exclude Missouri. A +feeling that bad faith had been practiced is sure to create +bitterness, and the accusation of it produces increased bitterness +in return. The North could easily justify itself by argument, but +the statement without argument apparently showed that the South +had been deceived. The course pursued by the senators from Maine, +--John Holmes and John Chandler,--in voting steadily for the +admission of Missouri, tended greatly to check recrimination and +relieve asperity of feeling. Mr. Holmes was a man of ability, of +experience in public affairs, and of eminent distinction at home. +With a rare gift of humor, and with conversational talent almost +unrivaled, he exerted an influence over men in private and social +intercourse which gave him singular power in shaping public questions. +He was an intimate friend and political supporter of Mr. Clay, and +their cordial co-operation at this crisis evoked harmony from chaos, +and brought a happy solution to a question that was troubling every +patriotic heart. They united in a final effort, and through the +instrumentality of a joint committee of seven senators and twenty- +three representatives,--of which Mr. Holmes was chairman on the +part of the Senate, and Mr. Clay on the part of the House,--a second +and final compromise was effected, and the admission of Missouri +secured. This compromise declared that Missouri should be admitted +to the Union upon the fundamental condition that no law should ever +be passed by her Legislature enforcing the objectionable provision +in her constitution, and that by a solemn public act the State +should declare and record her assent to this condition, and transmit +to the President of the United States an authentic copy of the Act. +Missouri accepted the condition promptly but not cheerfully, feeling +that she entered the Union under a severe discipline, and with hard +and humiliating conditions. It was in this compromise, not in the +one of the preceding session, that Mr. Clay was the leading spirit. +Though the first was the more important, and dealt with larger +questions of a more enduring nature, it did not at the time create +so great an impression on the public mind as the second, nor did +its discussion produce so much antagonism between the North and +the South. Thirty years after these events Mr. Clay called attention +to the fact that he had received undeserved credit for the Missouri +Compromise of 1820, which he had supported but not originated. On +the other hand, he had received only the slightest mention for his +agency in the second compromise, which he had really originated +and carried through Congress. The second compromise had passed +out of general recollection before Mr. Clay's death, though it had +made him a Presidential candidate at forty-three years of age. + +The most remarkable fact connected with the excitement over the +Missouri question, which engrossed the country for more than two +years, was the absence of any premonition of its coming. There +had been no severe political struggle in the nation since the +contest between Madison and De Witt Clinton in 1812. Monroe had +been chosen almost without opposition in 1816, and, even while the +Missouri controversy was at its height, he was re-elected in 1820 +by a practically unanimous vote, the North and the South being +equally cordial in supporting him. In the House of Representatives, +where the battle was so fierce, and the combatants were so evenly +divided, Mr. Clay had been chosen speaker with only eight adverse +votes, and these were given by men who acted from personal prejudice, +and not from political difference. But the outbreak indicated, +and indeed heralded, the re-forming of old party lines. The apparent +unanimity only concealed a division that was already fatally +developed. The party of Jefferson by its very success involved +itself in ruin. Its ancient foe, the eminent and honorable party +of Federalists, made but a feeble struggle in 1816, and completely +disappeared from the national political field four years later, +and even from State contests after the notable defeat of Harrison +Gray Otis by William Eustis for governor of Massachusetts in 1823. +But no political organization can live without opposition. The +disappearance of the Federalists was the signal for factional +divisions among their opponents; and the old Republican party, +which had overthrown the administration of John Adams in 1800, +which had laid the embargo, and forced a war with England, was now +nearing its end. It divided into four parts in the Presidential +election of 1824, and with its ancient creed and organization never +re-appeared in a national contest. Jefferson had combined and +indeed largely created its elements. He beheld it everywhere +victorious for a quarter of a century, and he lived to see it +shattered into fragments by the jealousy of its new leaders. The +Democratic and Whig parties were constructed upon the ruins of the +old organizations. In each were to be found representatives of +the Republicanism of Jefferson and the Federalism of Hamilton. +The ambition of both to trace their lineage to the former was a +striking proof of its popular strength. + +The Missouri question marked a distinct era in the political thought +of the country, and made a profound impression on the minds of +patriotic men. Suddenly, without warning, the North and the South, +the free States and the slave States, found themselves arrayed +against each other in violent and absorbing conflict. During the +interval between the adoption of the Federal Constitution and the +admission of Missouri, there had been a great change in the Southern +mind, both as to the moral and the economic aspects of slavery. +This revolution of opinion had been wrought in large degree by the +cotton-plant. When the National Government was organized in 1789, +the annual export of cotton did not exceed three hundred bales. +It was reckoned only among our experimental products. But, stimulated +by the invention of the gin, production increased so rapidly, that, +at the time of Missouri's application for admission to the Union, +cotton-planting was the most remunerative industry in the country. +The export alone exceeded three hundred thousand bales annually. +But this highly profitable culture was in regions so warm that +outdoor labor was unwelcome to the white race. The immediate +consequence was a large advance in the value of slave-labor, and +in the price of slaves. This fact had its quick and decisive +influence, even in those slave-holding States which could not raise +cotton. The inevitable and speedy result was a consolidation of +the political power necessary to protect an interest at once so +vast and so liable to assault. + +It was not unnatural that this condition should lead to a violent +outburst on the slavery question, but it was nevertheless wholly +unexpected. The causes which let to it had not been understood +and analyzed. The older class of statesmen, who had come down from +the period of the Revolution, from the great work of cementing the +Union and framing the Constitution, deplored the agitation, and +viewed the results with the gravest apprehension. The compromise +by a geographical line, dividing the slave States from the free, +was regarded by this class of patriots as full of danger,--a constant +menace to the peace and perpetuity of the Union. To Mr. Jefferson, +still living in vigorous old age, the trouble sounded like an alarm- +bell rung at midnight. While the measure was pending in Congress, +he wrote to a member of the House of Representatives, that "the +Missouri question is the most portentous one which has ever threatened +the Union. In the gloomiest hour of the Revolutionary war I never +had any apprehensions equal to those which I feel from this source." +Men on both sides of the controversy began to realize its significance +and to dread its probable results. They likened the partition of +the country by a geographical line unto the ancient agreement +between Abraham and Lot, where one should go to the right, and the +other to the left, with the certainty of becoming aliens, and the +possibility of becoming enemies. + + THE MISSOURI ADJUSTMENT SATISFACTORY. + +With the settlement of the Missouri question, the anti-slavery +agitation subsided as rapidly as it had arisen. This was a second +surprise to thinking men. The results can, however, be readily +explained. The Northern States felt that they had absolutely +secured to freedom a large territory west and north of Missouri. +The Southern States believed that they had an implied and honorable +understanding,--outside and beyond the explicit letter of the law, +--that new States south of the Missouri line could be admitted with +slavery if they desired. The great political parties then dividing +the country accepted the result and for the next twenty years no +agitation of the slavery question appeared in any political +convention, or affected any considerable body of the people. + +Within that period, however, there grew up a school of anti-slavery +men far more radical and progressive than those who had resisted +the admission of Missouri as a slave State. They formed what was +known as the Abolition party, and they devoted themselves to the +utter destruction of slavery by every instrumentality which they +could lawfully employ. Acutely trained in the political as well +as the ethical principles of the great controversy, they clearly +distinguished between the powers which Congress might and might +not exercise under the limitations of the Constitution. They began, +therefore, by demanding the abolition of slavery in the District +of Columbia, and in all the national forts, arsenals, and dock- +yards, where, without question or cavil, the exclusive jurisdiction +belonged to Congress; they asked that Congress, under its constitutional +authority to regulate commerce between the States, would prohibit +the inter-State slave-trade; and they prayed that our ships sailing +on the high-seas should not be permitted by the government to carry +slaves as part of their cargo, under the free flag of the United +States, and outside the local jurisdiction that held them in bondage. +They denied that a man should aid in executing any law whose +enforcement did violence to his conscience and trampled under foot +the Divine commands. Hence they would not assist in the surrender +and return of fugitive slaves, holding it rather to be their duty +to resist such violation of the natural rights of man by every +peaceful method, and justifying their resistance by the truths +embodied in the Declaration of Independence, and, still more +impressively, by the precepts taught in the New Testament. + +While encountering, on these issues, the active hostility of the +great mass of the people in all sections of the Union, the +Abolitionists challenged the respect of thinking men, and even +compelled the admiration of some of their most pronounced opponents. +The party was small in number, but its membership was distinguished +for intellectual ability, for high character, for pure philanthropy, +for unquailing courage both moral and physical, and for a controversial +talent which has never been excelled in the history of moral reforms. +It would not be practicable to give the names of all who were +conspicuous in this great struggle, but the mention of James G. +Birney, of Benjamin Lundy, of Arthur Tappan, of the brothers Lovejoy, +of Gerrit Smith, of John G. Whittier, of William Lloyd Garrison, +of Wendell Phillips, and of Gamaliel Bailey, will indicate the +class who are entitled to be held in remembrance so long as the +possession of great mental and moral attributes gives enduring and +honorable fame. Nor would the list of bold and powerful agitators +be complete or just if confined to the white race. Among the +colored men--often denied the simplest rights of citizenship in +the States where they resided--were found many who had received +the gift of tongues, orators by nature, who bravely presented the +wrongs and upheld the rights of the oppressed. Among these Frederick +Douglass was especially and richly endowed not only with the strength +but with the graces of speech; and for many years, from the stump +and from the platform, he exerted a wide and beneficent influence +upon popular opinion. + + THE ABOLITION PARTY ORGANIZED. + +In the early days of this agitation, the Abolitionists were a +proscribed and persecuted class, denounced with unsparing severity +by both the great political parties, condemned by many of the +leading churches, libeled in the public press, and maltreated by +furious mobs. In no part of the country did they constitute more +than a handful of the population, but they worked against every +discouragement with a zeal and firmness which bespoke intensity of +moral conviction. They were in large degree recruited from the +society of Friends, who brought to the support of the organization +the same calm and consistent courage which had always distinguished +them in upholding before the world their peculiar tenets of religious +faith. Caring nothing for prejudice, meeting opprobrium with +silence, shaming the authors of violence by meek non-resistance, +relying on moral agencies alone, appealing simply to the reason +and the conscience of men, they arrested the attention of the nation +by arraigning it before the public opinion of the world, and +proclaiming its responsibility to the judgment of God. + +These apostles of universal liberty besieged Congress with memorials +praying for such legislative measures as would carry out their +designs. Failure after failure only served to inspire them with +fresh courage and more vigorous determination. They were met with +the most resolute resistance by representative from the slave- +holding States, who sought to deny them a hearing, and declared +that the mere consideration of their propositions by Congress would +not only justify, but would inevitably precipitate, a dissolution +of the Union. Undaunted by any form of opposition, the Abolitionists +stubbornly maintained their ground, and finally succeeded in creating +a great popular excitement by insisting on the simple right of +petition as inseparable from free government and free citizenship. +On this issue John Quincy Adams, who had entered the House of +Representatives in 1831, two years after his retirement from the +Presidency, waged a memorable warfare. Not fully sympathizing with +the Abolitionists in their measures or their methods, Mr. Adams +maintained that they had the right to be heard. On this incidental +issue he forced the controversy until it enlisted the attention +of the entire country. He finally drove the opponents of free +discussion to seek shelter under the adoption of an odious rule in +the House of Representatives, popularly named the "Atherton gag," +from Mr. Charles G. Atherton, a Democratic representative from New +Hampshire, who reported it to the House in December, 1838. The +rule was originally devised, however, in a caucus of Southern +Democratic members. In the light of the present day, when slavery +no longer exists in the land, when speech is absolutely free, in +and out of Congress, it is hard to believe that during the Presidency +of Mr. Van Buren, and under the speakership of Mr. Polk, the House +of Representatives voted that "every petition, memorial, resolution, +proposition, or paper, touching or relating in any way or to any +extent whatever to slavery or the abolition thereof, shall on +presentation, without any further action thereon, be laid upon the +table, without being debated, printed, or referred." + +The Southern representatives, both Democrats and Whigs, and the +Northern Democrats, sustained this extraordinary resolution, which +became widely known as the 21st Rule of the House. The Northern +Whigs, to their honor be it said, were steadily against it. The +real design of the measure was to take from Mr. Adams the power of +precipitating a discussion on the slavery question, but the most +unskilled should have seen that in this it would fail. It resembled +in its character the re-actionary and tyrannical edicts so frequently +employed in absolute governments, and was unsuited to the temper, +ran counter to the judgment, and proved offensive to the conscience, +of the American people. + +Profoundly opposed as were many citizens to a denial of the right +of petition, very few wished to become identified with the cause +of the Abolitionists. In truth it required no small degree of +moral courage to take position in the ranks of that despised +political sect forty-five years ago. Persecutions of a petty and +social character were almost sure to follow, and not infrequently +grievous wrongs were inflicted, for which, in the absence of a +disposition among the people to see justice done, the law afforded +no redress. Indeed, by an apparent contradiction not difficult to +reconcile, many of those who fought bravely for the right of the +Abolitionists to be heard in Congress by petition, were yet enraged +with them for continually and, as they thought, causelessly, raising +and pressing the issue. They were willing to fight for the right +of the Abolitionists to do a certain thing, and then willing to +fight the Abolitionists for aimlessly and uselessly doing it. The +men who were governed by these complex motives were chiefly Whigs. +They felt that an increase of popular strength to the Abolitionists +must be at the expense of the party which, continuing to make Clay +its idol, was about to make Harrison its candidate. The announcement, +therefore, on the eve of the national contest of 1840, that the +Abolitionists had nominated James G. Birney of Michigan for President, +and Francis J. Le Moyne of Pennsylvania for Vice-President, was +angrily received by the Whigs, and denunciations of the movement +were loud and frequent. The support received by these candidates +was unexpectedly small, and showed little ground, in the judgment +of the Whigs, for the course taken by the Abolitionists. Their +strength was almost wholly confined to New England, Western New +York, and the Western Reserve of Ohio. It was plainly seen, that, +in a large majority of the free States, the Abolitionists had as +yet made no impression on public opinion. + + THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY. + +Any less earnest body of men would have been discouraged, but the +Abolition party was composed of devotees possessing the true martyr +spirit, and, instead of being appalled by defeat, they were inspired +with fresh zeal, and incited to new effort. They had not failed +to observe, that, while few were disposed to unite in extreme anti- +slavery measures, there was a growing number whose conscience was +aroused on the general subject of human bondage. The emancipation +of negroes with a view to their settlement in Africa, as advocated +by the Colonization Society, received the support of conservative +opponents of slavery, the sympathy of the Churches, and the patronage +of leading men among the slave-holders of the Border States. The +National Government was repeatedly urged to give its aid to the +scheme; and, during the excitement on the Missouri question, Congress +appropriated $100,000, nominally for the return of Africans who +had been unlawfully landed in the United States after the slave +trade was prohibited, but really as an indirect mode of promoting +the project of colonization. As a scheme for the destruction of +domestic slavery it was ridiculed by the Abolitionists, who in the +end violently opposed it as tending to deaden the public conscience +to the more imperative duty of universal emancipation. The +philanthropic efforts of the Society were abundantly rewarded, +however, by the establishment of the Republic of Liberia, whose +career has been eminently creditable and advantageous to the African +race. + + +CHAPTER II. + +Review of events before 1860 (_continued_).--Early Efforts to +acquire Texas.--Course of President Tyler.--Mr. Calhoun appointed +Secretary of State.--His Successful Management of the Texas Question. +--His Hostility to Mr. Van Buren.--Letters of Mr. Clay and Mr. Van +Buren opposing the Annexation of Texas.--Mr. Clay nominated as the +Whig Candidate for the President in 1844.--Van Buren's Nomination +defeated.--Mr. Polk selected as the Democratic Candidate.--Disquietude +of Mr. Clay.--His Change of Ground.--His Defeat.--Prolonged Rivalry +between Mr. Clay and General Jackson.--Texas formally annexed to +the Union. + +Soon after the failure of the Abolitionists to exhibit popular +strength, the slavery question was forced upon public attention +independently of their efforts, and by causes whose operation and +effect were not distinctly forseen by those who set them in motion. +The Americans who, in a spirit of adventure, migrated to Texas +after that province had revolted from Mexico, became the controlling +power in the young republic, and under the lead of General Sam +Houston, in the month of April, 1836, won a memorable victory over +the Mexican army at San Jacinto. Thenceforward, in differing +degrees of earnestness, the annexation of Texas became a subject +of consideration in the United States, but it was never incorporated +in the creed of either of the great parties until the Presidential +canvass of 1844. Not long after the death of President Harrison +in April, 1841, his successor, John Tyler, had serious disagreements +with the leading Whigs, both in his cabinet and in Congress, +respecting the establishment of a national bank. Mr. Clay led the +attack upon him openly and almost savagely, arraigning him as a +traitor to the principles upon which he had been elected, and +pursuing the quarrel so violently, that in September, five months +after Tyler's accession, every member of his cabinet resigned except +Mr. Webster. He lingered, unwelcome if not distrusted, until July, +1843, for the purpose of conducting the negotiations in regard to +the North-eastern boundary, which he brought to a termination by +the Ashburton Treaty. The new secretary of State, Abel P. Upshur +of Virginia,--who had been at the head of the Navy Department for +a few months,--was a man of strong parts and brilliant attainments, +but not well known outside of his own commonwealth, and subject +therefore to disparagement as the successor of a man so illustrious +as Mr. Webster. He grasped his new duties, however, with the hand +of a master, and actively and avowedly pursued the policy of +acquiring Texas. His efforts were warmly seconded by the President, +whose friends believed with all confidence that this question could +be so presented as to make Mr. Tyler the Democratic candidate in +the approaching Presidential election. What Mr. Upshur's success +might have been in the difficult field of negotiation upon which +he had entered, must be left to conjecture, for his life was suddenly +destroyed by the terrible accident on board the United-States +steamer "Princeton," in February, 1844, but little more than seven +months after he had entered upon his important and engrossing +duties. + + ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT TYLER. + +Mr. Tyler's administration being now fully committed to the scheme +of Texas annexation, the selection of a new secretary of State was +a matter of extreme importance. The President had been finally +separated from all sympathy with the party that elected him, when +Mr. Webster left the cabinet the preceding summer. But he had not +secured the confidence or the support of the Democracy. The members +of that party were willing to fill his offices throughout the +country, and to absorb the honors and emoluments of his administration; +but the leaders of positive influence, men of the grade of Van +Buren, Buchanan, Cass, Dallas, and Silas Wright, held aloof, and +left the government to be guided by Democrats who had less to risk, +and by Whigs of the type of Henry A. Wise of Virginia and Caleb +Cushing of Massachusetts, who had revolted from the rule of Mr. +Clay. It was the sagacity of Wise, rather than the judgment of +Tyler, which indicated the immense advantage of securing Mr. Calhoun +for the head of the cabinet. The great Southern leader was then +in retirement, having resigned from the Senate the preceding year. +By a coincidence worth nothing, Webster, Clay, and Calhoun were +all at that moment absent from the Senate, each having voluntarily +retired. In later life, chastened by political adversity, they +returned to the chamber where, before their advent and since their +departure, there have been no rivals to their fame. + +Naturally, Mr. Calhoun would have been reluctant to take office +under Tyler at any time, and especially for the brief remainder of +an administration which had been continually under the ban of public +opinion, and which had not the slightest prospect of renewal. With +quick observation and keen insight, however, he perceived a great +opportunity to serve the South, and to serve the South was with +him not only a principle, but a passion. He realized, moreover, +that the hour was at hand for an historic revenge which the noblest +of minds might indulge. He saw intuitively that the Texas question +was one of vast importance, with untold possibilities. He saw with +equal clearness that it had never been presented in such manner as +to appeal to the popular judgment, and become an active, aggressive +issue in the struggle for the Presidency. A large section of the +Democratic party had looked favorably upon annexation ever since +1836, but the leaders had dared not to include the scheme in the +avowed designs of party policy. They had omitted it purposely in +making up the issues for the Van Buren campaign of 1840, and, up +to the hour when Mr. Calhoun entered the State Department, the +intention of the managers was to omit it in the contest of 1844 +against Mr. Clay. Mr. Tyler's advocacy of Texas annexation had +injured rather than promoted it in the estimation of the Democratic +party; but when Mr. Calhoun, with his astute management, and his +large influence in the slave-holding States, espoused it, the whole +tenor of Southern opinion was changed, and the Democracy of that +section received a new inspiration. + +Mr. Van Buren, aspiring again to the Presidency, desired to avoid +the Texas issue. Mr. Calhoun determined that he should meet it. +He had every motive for distrusting, opposing, even hating, Van +Buren. The contest between them had been long and unrelenting. +When Van Buren, as secretary of State, was seized with the ambition +to succeed Jackson, he saw Calhoun in the Vice-Presidency, strongly +intrenched as heir-apparent; and he set to work to destroy the +friendship and confidence that existed between him and the President. +The rash course of Jackson in the Seminole campaign of 1818 had +been severely criticised in the cabinet of Monroe, and Mr. Calhoun, +as secretary of War, had talked of a court of inquiry. Nothing, +however, was done and the mere suggestion had been ten years +forgotten, when Jackson entered upon the Presidency, entertaining +the strongest friendship, both personal and political, for Calhoun. +But the damaging fact was unearthed and the jealousy of Jackson +was aroused. Calhoun was driven into a deadly quarrel, resigned +the Vice-Presidency, and went back to South Carolina to engage in +the nullification contest. Van Buren quickly usurped his place in +the regard and confidence of Jackson, and succeeded to the Presidency. +Calhoun, denounced in every paper under the control of the +administration, was threatened with prosecution, and robbed for a +time of the confidence of the Democratic party. By the strangely +and rapidly changing fortunes of politics, it was now in his power +to inflict a just retribution upon Van Bren. He did not neglect +the opportunity. + + SECRETARY CALHOUN'S DIPLOMACY. + +Mr. Calhoun urged the scheme of annexation with intense earnestness. +Taking up the subject where Mr. Upshur had left it, he conducted +the negotiation with zeal and skill. His diplomatic correspondence +was able and exhaustive. It was practically a frank avowal that +Texas must be incorporated in the Union. He feared that European +influence might become dominant in the new republic, and, as a +consequence, that anti-slavery ideas might take root, and thence +injuriously affect the interests, and to some extent the safety, +of the Southern States. In an instruction to William R. King, our +minister at Paris, Mr. Calhoun called his attention to the fact +that England regarded the defeat of annexation "as indispensable +to the abolition of slavery in Texas." He believed that England +was "too sagacious not to see what a fatal blow abolition in Texas +would give to slavery in the United States." Then, contemplating +the effect of the general abolition of slavery, he declared that +"to this continent it would be calamitous beyond description." It +would "destroy in a great measure the cultivation and production +of the great tropical staples, amounting annually in value to nearly +$300,000,000." It is a suggestive commentary on Mr. Calhoun's evil +foreboding, that the great tropical staple of the South has steadily +increased in growth under free labor, and that the development of +Texas never fairly began until slavery was banished from her soil. + +Discussing the right of Texas to independence, in an instruction +to Wilson Shannon, our minister to Mexico, Mr. Calhoun averred that +"Texas had never stood in relation to Mexico as a rebellious province +struggling to obtain independence. The true relation between them +is that of independent members of a federal government, the weaker +of which has successfully resisted the attempts of the stronger to +conquer and subject her to its power." This was applying to the +constitution of Mexico the same construction which he had so long +and so ably demanded for our own. It was, indeed, but a paraphrase +of the State-sovereignty and State-rights theory, with which he +had persistently indoctrinated the Southern mind. Ten years after +Mr. Calhoun was in his grave, the same doctrine, in almost the same +form of expression, became familiar to the country as the Southern +justification for resorting to civil war. + +The prompt result of Mr. Calhoun's efforts was a treaty of annexation +which had been discussed but not concluded under Mr. Upshur. It +was communicated to the Senate by the President on the 12th of +April, 1844. The effect which this treaty produced on the political +fortunes of two leading statesmen, one in each party, was extraordinary. +Prior to its negotiation, the Democrats throughout the Union were +apparently well united in support of Mr. Van Buren as their +Presidential candidate. Mr. Clay was universally accepted by the +Whigs,--his nomination by a national convention being indeed but +a matter of form. Relations of personal courtesy and confidence, +if not of intimate friendship, had always subsisted between Mr. +Clay and Mr. Van Buren during their prolonged public service. It +was now believed that they had come to an understanding, through +the negotiation of friends, to eliminate the Texas question from +the campaign of 1844 by defeating the Tyler-Calhoun treaty, and +agreeing to a general postponement of the subject, on the ground +that immediate annexation would plunge the country into war. Very +soon after the treaty was sent to the Senate by the President, Mr. +Clay published in the "National Intelligencer" his famous Raleigh +letter against annexation. The "Globe" of the same day contained +a more guarded communication from Mr. Van Buren, practically taking +the same ground. Considering the widely different characteristics +of the two men, the letters were singularly alike in argument and +inference. This fact, in connection with the identical time of +publication, strengthened the suspicion, if not the conclusion, +that there was a pre-arranged understanding between the eminent +authors. + +The letter of Mr. Van Buren was fatal to his prospects. He was +caught in the toils prepared by Mr. Calhoun's diplomacy. His +disastrous defeat four years before by General Harrison had not +injured him within the lines of his own party, or shorn him of his +prestige in the nation. He still retained the undiminished confidence +of his old adherents in the North, and a large support from the +Southern Democracy outside of the States in which Mr. Calhoun's +influence was dominant. But the leading Democrats of the South, +now inflamed with the fever of annexation, determined upon Van +Buren's defeat as soon as his letter opposing the acquisition of +Texas appeared. They went to work industriously and skillfully to +compass that end. It was not a light task. The force of New York, +as has been so frequently and so signally demonstrated, is difficult +to overcome in a Democratic National Convention; and New York was +not only unanimously, but enthusiastically, for Mr. Van Buren. +Hitherto New York and the South had been in alliance, and their +joint decrees were the rule of action inside the Democratic party. +They were now separated and hostile, and the trial of strength that +ensued was one of the most interesting political contests ever +witnessed in the country. The Democratic masses had so long followed +Southern lead that they were bewildered by this new and unexpected +development. From the organization of the Federal Government to +that hour, a period of fifty-six years, Mr. Van Buren was the only +Northern man whom the Democracy had supported for the Presidency; +and Mr. Van Buren had been forced upon the party by General Jackson. +His title to his political estate, therefore, came from the South. +It remained strong because his supporters believed that Jackson +was still behind him. One word from the great chief at the Hermitage +would have compelled Mr. Van Buren to retire from the field. But +the name of Jackson was powerful with the Democratic masses. +Against all the deep plots laid for Van Buren's overthrow, he was +still able, when the national convention assembled at Baltimore in +May, 1844, to count a majority of the delegates in favor of his +nomination. + + VAN BUREN AND THE TWO-THIRDS RULE. + +The Texas treaty of annexation was still pending in the Senate with +a decided majority committed against its confirmation, both upon +public and partisan grounds. The Whig senators and the friends of +Van Buren had coalesced for its defeat after their respective chiefs +had pronounced against it. Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky and Colonel +Benton were the leaders under whose joint efforts the work of +Calhoun was to be set at naught. But, in fact, the work of Calhoun +had already been effectually done and he could afford to disregard +the fate of the treaty. He had consolidated the Democratic delegates +from the slave-holding States against Mr. Van Buren, and the decree +had gone forth for his political destruction. Mr. Van Buren, with +the aid of the more populous North, had indeed secured a majority +of the convention, but an instrumentality was at hand to overcome +this apparent advantage. In the two preceding national conventions +of the Democratic party, the rule requiring a two-thirds vote of +all the delegates to make a nomination had been adopted at the +instance of Mr. Van Buren's friends in order to insure his victory. +It was now to be used for his defeat. Forseeing the result, the +same zealous and devoted friends of Mr. Van Buren resisted its +adoption. Romulus M. Sanders of North Carolina introduced the +rule, and was sustained with great vigor by Robert J. Walker of +Mississippi, and George W. Hopkins of Virginia. The leading +opponents of the rule were Marcus Morton of Massachusetts, Nathan +Clifford of Maine, and Daniel S. Dickinson of New York. The +discussion was conducted by Southern men on one side and by Northern +men on the other,--the first division of the kind in the Democratic +party. Slavery was the ominous cause! The South triumphed and +the rule was fastened upon the convention. + +Immediately after this action Mr. Van Buren received a majority of +the votes on the first ballot, and it was not unnaturally charged +that many of those supporting him must have been insincere, inasmuch +as they had the full right, until self-restrained by the two-thirds +rule, to declare him the nominee. But this conclusion does not +necessarily follow. Mr. Van Buren had been nominated in the National +Democratic Conventions of 1835 and 1839 with the two-thirds rule +in operation; and now to force his nomination for a third time by +a mere slender majority was, in the judgment of wise and considerate +party leaders among his own friends, a dangerous experiment. They +instinctively feared to disregard a powerful and aggressive minority +stubbornly demanding that Mr. Van Buren should be subjected to the +same test which his friends had enforced in previous conventions. +Their argument was not satisfactorily answered, the rule was adopted, +and Mr. Van Buren's fate was sealed. + + CALHOUN DEFEATS VAN BUREN. + +The Southern men who insisted upon the rule had the courage to use +it. They had absolute control of more than one-third of the +convention; and, whatever might come, they were determined that +Mr. Van Buren should not be nominated. As the most effective mode +of assailing his strength, they supported a Northern candidate +against him, and gave a large vote for General Cass. This wrought +the intended result. It demoralized the friends of Mr. Van Buren +and prepared the way for a final concentration upon Mr. Polk, which +from the first had been the secret design of the Southern managers. +It was skillfully done, and was the direct result of the Texas +policy which Mr. Calhoun had forced the Democratic party to adopt. +To Mr. Van Buren it was a great blow, and some of his friends were +indisposed to submit to a result which they considered unfair. +For the first time in history of any convention, of either party, +a candidate supported by a majority of the delegates failed to be +nominated. The two-thirds rule, as Colonel Benton declared, had +been originally framed, "not to thwart a majority, but to strengthen +it." But it was remorselessly used to defeat the majority by men +who intended, not only to force a Southern policy on the government, +but to intrust that policy to the hands of a Southern President. +The support of Cass was not sincere, but it served for the moment +to embarrass the friends of Van Buren, to make the triumph of what +Benton called the Texas conspiracy more easy and more sure, and in +the end to lay up wrath against the day of wrath for General Cass +himself. Calhoun's triumph was complete. Politically he had gained +a great victory for the South. Personally he had inflicted upon +Mr. Van Buren a most humiliating defeat, literally destroying him +as a factor in the Democratic party, of which he had so long and +so successfully been the leader. + +The details of Mr. Van Buren's defeat are presented because of its +large influence on the subsequent development of anti-slavery +strength in the North. He was sacrificed because he was opposed +to the immediate annexation of Texas. Had he taken ground in favor +of annexation, he would in all probability have been nominated with +a fair prospect of election; though the general judgment at that +time was that Mr. Clay would have defeated him. The overthrow of +Mr. Van Buren was a crisis in the history of the Democratic party, +and implanted dissensions which rapidly ripened into disaster. +The one leading feature, the forerunner of important political +changes, was the division of delegates on the geographical line of +North and South. Though receiving a clear majority of the entire +convention on the first ballot, Mr. Van Buren had but nine votes +from the slave States; and these votes, singularly enough, came +from the northern side of the line of the Missouri Compromise. +This division in a Democratic National Convention was, in many of +its relations and aspects, more significant than a similar division +in the two Houses of Congress. + +Though cruelly wronged by the convention, as many of his supporters +thought, Mr. Van Buren did not himself show resentment, but +effectively sustained his successful competitor. His confidential +friend, Silas Wright, had refused to go on the ticket with Mr. +Polk, and George M. Dallas was substituted by the quick and competent +management of Mr. Robert J. Walker. The refusal of Mr. Wright led +the Whigs to hope for distraction in the ranks of the New-York +Democracy; but that delusion was soon dispelled by Wright's acceptance +of the nomination for governor, and his entrance into the canvass +with unusual energy and spirit. It was widely believed that +Jackson's great influence with Van Buren was actively exerted in +aid of Polk's election. It would have cruelly embittered the few +remaining days of the venerable ex-president to witness Clay's +triumph, and Van Buren owed so much to Jackson that he could not +be indifferent to Polk's success without showing ingratitude to +the great benefactor who had made him his successor in the Executive +chair. Motives of this kind evidently influenced Mr. Van Buren; +for his course in after years showed how keenly he felt his defeat, +and how unreconciled he was to the men chiefly engaged in compassing +it. The cooler temperament which he inherited from his Dutch +ancestry enabled him to bide his time more patiently than men of +Scotch-Irish blood, like Calhoun; but subsequent events plainly +showed that he was capable of nursing his anger, and of inflicting +a revenge as significant and as fatal as that of which he had been +made the victim,--a revenge which would have been perfect in its +gratification had it included Mr. Calhoun personally, as it did +politically, with General Cass. + +Mr. Clay's letter opposing the annexation of Texas, unlike the +letter of Mr. Van Buren, brought its author strength and prestige +in the section upon which he chiefly relied for support in the +election. He was nominated with unbounded manifestations of +enthusiasm at Baltimore, on the first of May, with no platform +except a brief extract from one of his own letters embraced in a +single resolution, and containing no reference whatever to the +Texas question. His prospects were considered most brilliant, and +his supporters throughout the Union were absolutely confident of +his election. But the nomination of Mr. Polk, four weeks later, +surprised and disquieted Mr. Clay. More quickly than his ardent +and blinded advocates, he perceived the danger to himself which +the candidacy of Mr. Polk inevitably involved; and he at once became +restless and dissatisfied with the drift and tendency of the +campaign. The convention which nominated Mr. Polk took bold ground +for the immediate re-annexation of Texas and re-occupation of +Oregon. This peculiar form of expression was used to indicate that +Texas had already belonged to us under the Louisiana purchase, and +that Oregon had been wholly ours prior to the treaty of joint +occupancy with Great Britain. It further declared, that our title +to the whole of Oregon, up to 54 deg. 40' north latitude, was "clear +and indisputable"; thus carrying our claim to the borders of the +Russian possessions, and utterly denying and defying the pretension +of Great Britain to the ownership of any territory bordering on +the Pacific. + + FATAL CHANGE IN MR. CLAY'S POSITION. + +By this aggressive policy the Democratic party called forth the +enthusiasm of the people, both North and South, in favor of +territorial acquisition,--always popular with men of Anglo-Saxon +blood, and appealing in an especial manner to the young, the brave, +and the adventurous, in all sections of the country. Mr. Clay, a +man of most generous and daring nature, suddenly discovered that +he was on the timid side of all the prominent questions before the +people,--a position occupied by him for the first time. He had +led public sentiment in urging the war of 1812 against Great Britain; +had served with distinction in negotiating the Treaty of Peace at +Ghent; had forced the country into an early recognition of the +South-American republics at the risk of war with Spain; had fiercely +attacked the Florida Treaty of 1819, for surrendering our rightful +claim to Texas as part of the Louisiana purchase; and had, when +secretary of State, held high ground on the Oregon question in his +correspondence with the British Government. With this splendid +record of fearless policy throughout his long public career, a +defensive position, suddenly thrust upon him by circumstances which +he had not foreseen, betrayed him into anger, and thence naturally +into imprudence. All his expectations had been based upon a contest +with Mr. Van Buren. The issues he anticipated were those of national +bank, of protective tariff, of internal improvements, and the +distribution of the proceeds from the sale of the public lands,-- +on all of which he believed he would have the advantage before the +people. The substitution of Mr. Polk changed the entire character +of the contest, as the sagacious leaders of the Southern Democracy +had foreseen. To extricate himself from the embarrassment into +which he was thrown, Mr. Clay resorted to the dangerous experiment +of modifying the position which he had so recently taken on the +Texas question. Apparently underrating the hostility of the Northern +Whigs to the scheme of annexation, he saw only the disadvantage in +which the Southern Whigs were placed, especially in the Gulf region, +and, in a less degree, in the northern tier of slave-holding States. +Even in Kentucky--which had for years followed Mr. Clay with immense +popular majorities--the contest grew animated and exciting as the +Texas question was pressed. The State was to vote in August; and +the gubernatorial canvass between Judge Owsley, the Whig candidate, +and General William O. Butler, the nominee of the Democrats, was +attracting the attention of the whole nation. This local contest +not only enlisted Mr. Clay's interest, but aroused his deep personal +feeling. In a private letter, since made public, he urged the +editors of the Whig press "to lash Butler" for some political +shortcoming which he pointed out. In a tone of unrestrained anger, +he declared that "we should have a pretty time of it with one of +Jackson's lieutenants at Washington, and another at Frankfort, and +the old man in his dotage at the Hermitage dictating to both." To +lose Kentucky was, for the Whigs, to lose every thing. To reduce +the Whig majority in Mr. Clay's own State would be a great victory +for the Democracy, and to that end the leaders of the party were +straining every nerve. + +Mr. Clay realized that it was his position on the Texas question, +as defined in the Raleigh letter, which was endangering his prestige +in Kentucky. This fact, added to the pressure upon him from every +other slave-holding State, precipitated him into the blunder which +probably cost him his election. A few weeks after the nomination +of Mr. Polk, on the first day of July, 1844, Mr. Clay, while resting +quietly at Ashland, wrote to Stephen Miller of Tuscaloosa what has +since been known as his Alabama letter. It was written to relieve +the Southern Whigs, without anticipation of its effect upon the +fortunes of Northern Whigs. Mr. Clay was surrounded by men of the +South only, breathed their atmosphere, heard their arguments; and, +unmindful of the unrepresented Northern sentiment, he took the +fatal step. He declared, that, "far from having any personal +objection to the annexation of Texas," he "would be glad to see it +annexed, without dishonor, without war, with the common consent of +the Union, and upon just and fair terms." This letter received +the popular designation of Mr. Clay's political "death-warrant," +from the disastrous effect it produced on his prospects in certain +free States where before its appearance he had been considered +irresistibly strong. + + TRIUMPH OF POLK OVER CLAY. + +The immediate and palpable effect of the Alabama letter in the +North was an increase of power and numbers to the Abolitionists. +To Mr. Clay this was its most destructive result. Prior to 1840 +the Abolitionists had been so few and so scattered that they had +not attempted a national organization, or taken any part in the +political contests of the country. In that year, however, they +named James G. Birney as their candidate for the Presidency, and +cast for him only 6,745 votes out of a total of 2,410,778. In 1844 +the Abolitionists again named Mr. Birney as their Presidential +candidate; and, until the appearance of the Alabama letter, the +general impression was that their vote would not be larger than in +1840. Indeed, so long as Mr. Clay held firmly to his opposition +to Texas annexation, the tendency of the Abolitionists was to prefer +him to Mr. Polk. But the moment the letter of surrender appeared +thousands of anti-slavery Whigs who had loyally supported Mr. Clay +went over at once to the Abolitionists. To the popular apprehension, +Mr. Clay had changed his ground, and his new position really left +little difference between himself and his opponent on the absorbing +question of Texas annexation, but it still gave to Mr. Polk all +the advantage of boldness. The latter was outspoken for the +annexation of Texas, and the former, with a few timid qualifications, +declared that he would be glad to see Texas annexed. Besides this, +Mr. Polk's position on the Oregon question afforded some compensation +by proposing to add a large area of free territory to offset the +increase of slave territory in Texas. Under such arguments the +Abolition party grew rapidly and steadily until, at the election, +they polled for Mr. Birney 58,879 votes. This vast increase over +the vote of 1840 was very largely at the expense of the Whig party, +and its specific injury to Mr. Clay is almost a matter of mathematical +demonstration. In New York the vote stood for Polk 237,588, for +Clay 232,482, for Birney, 15,812. The plurality for Mr. Polk was +only 5,106. In 1840 the vote for Mr. Birney in New York was +2,798.* But for the Alabama letter it has always been believed +that Mr. Clay would have received a sufficient number of the Birney +votes to give him a plurality. The election hinged on the result +in New York. One hundred and thirty-eight electoral votes were +necessary to a choice. With New York, Mr. Clay would have had a +total of one hundred and forty-one. Mr. Polk, with New York added +to his vote, received a total of one hundred and seventy, and was +elected President of the United States. + +No contest for the Presidency, either before or since, has been +conducted with such intense energy and such deep feeling. Mr. +Clay's followers were not ordinary political supporters. They had +the profound personal attachment which is looked for only in +hereditary governments, where loyalty becomes a passion, and is +blind and unreasoning in its adherence and its devotion. The +logical complement of such ardent fidelity is an opposition marked +by unscrupulous rancor. This case proved no exception. The love +of Mr. Clay's friends was equaled by the hatred of his foes. The +zeal of his supporters did not surpass the zeal of his opponents. +All the enmities and exasperations which began in the memorable +contest for the Presidency when John Quincy Adams was chosen, and +had grown into great proportions during the long intervening period, +were fought out on the angry field of 1844. Mr. Polk, a moderate +and amiable man, did not represent the acrimonious character of +the controversy. He stood only as the passive representative of +its principles. Behind him was Jackson, aged and infirm in body, +but strong in mind, and unbroken in spirit. With him the struggle +was not only one of principle, but of pride; not merely of judgment, +but of temper; and he communicated to the legions throughout the +country, who regarded him with reverence and gratitude, a full +measure of his own animosity against Clay. In its progress the +struggle absorbed the thought, the action, the passion, of the +whole people. When its result was known, the Whigs regarded the +defeat of Mr. Clay, not only as a calamity of untold magnitude to +the country, but as a personal and profound grief, which touched +the heart as deeply as the understanding. It was Jackson's final +triumph over Clay. The iron-nerved old hero died in seven months +after this crowning gratification of his life. + + GENERAL JACKSON AND MR. CLAY. + +For twenty years these two great, brave men headed the opposing +political forces of the Union. Whoever might be candidates, they +were the actual leaders. John Quincy Adams was more learned than +either; Mr. Webster was stronger in logic and in speech; Calhoun +more acute, refined, and philosophic; Van Buren better skilled in +combining and directing political forces; but to no one of these +was given the sublime attribute of leadership, the faculty of +drawing men unto him. That is natural, not acquired. There was +not in the whole country, during the long period of their rivalry, +a single citizen of intelligence who was indifferent to Clay or to +Jackson. For the one without qualification, against the other +without reservation, was the rule of division from the northernmost +township of New England to the mouths of the Mississippi. Both +leaders had the highest courage; physical and moral, in equal +degree. Clay held the advantage of a rare eloquence; but Jackson +had a splendid military record, which spoke to the hearts of the +people more effectively than words. Members for twenty years of +the same party, they differed slightly, if at all, in political +principles when the contest began; but Jackson enjoyed the prestige +of a more lineal heirship to the creed of Jefferson, Madison, and +Monroe; while Clay, by his imprudence in becoming secretary of +State, incurred not only the odium of the "bargain and sale," but +a share of the general unpopularity which at that time attached to +the name of Adams. It is not in retrospect difficult to measure +the advantages which Jackson possessed in the long contest, and to +see clearly the reasons of his final triumph over the boldest of +leaders, the noblest of foes. Still less is it difficult to see +how largely the personality of the two men entered into the struggle, +and how in the end the effect upon the politics and prosperity of +the country would have been nearly the same had the winner and the +loser exchanged places. In each of them patriotism was a passion. +There never was a moment in their prolonged enmity and their +rancorous contests when a real danger to the country would not have +united them as heartily as in 1812, when Clay in the House and +Jackson on the field co-operated in defending the national honor +against the aggressions of Great Britain. + +The election of Mr. Polk was an unquestionable verdict from the +people in favor of the annexation of Texas. Mr. Clay and Mr. Van +Buren had been able to defeat the treaty negotiated by Mr. Calhoun; +but the popular vote overruled them, and pronounced in favor of +the Democratic position after full and fair hearing. Mr. Tyler +was anxious that the scheme so energetically initiated by him should +be fully accomplished during his term. The short method of joint +resolution was therefore devised by the ever fertile brain of Mr. +Calhoun, and its passage through Congress intrusted to the skilful +management of Robert J. Walker, then a senator from Mississippi, +and already indicated for the portfolio of the Treasury in the new +administration. Mr. Polk was in consultation with Mr. Tyler during +the closing weeks of the latter's administration, and the annexation +by joint resolution had his full concurrence. It was passed in +season to receive the approval of President Tyler on the first day +of March, three days before the eventful administration of Mr. Polk +was installed in power. Its terms were promptly accepted by Texas, +and at the next session of Congress, beginning December, 1845, the +constitution of the new State was approved. Historic interest +attached to the appearance of Sam Houston and Thomas J. Rusk as +the first senators from the great State which they had torn from +Mexico and added to the Union. + +The lapse of forty years and the important events of intervening +history give the opportunity for impartial judgment concerning the +policy of acquiring Texas. We were not guiltless towards Mexico +in originally permitting if not encouraging our citizens to join +in the revolt of one of the States of that Republic. But Texas +had passed definitely and finally beyond the control of Mexico, +and the practical issue was, whether we should incorporate her in +the Union or leave her to drift in uncertain currents--possibly to +form European alliances which we should afterwards be compelled, +in self-defense, to destroy. An astute statesman of that period +summed up the whole case when he declared that it was wiser policy +to annex Texas, and accept the issue of immediate war with Mexico, +than to leave Texas in nominal independence to involve us probably +in ultimate war with England. The entire history of subsequent +events has vindicated the wisdom, the courage, and the statesmanship +with which the Democratic party dealt with this question in 1844. + +[* Total vote cast for James G. Birney, Abolition candidate for +President, in 1840 and in 1844:-- + + 1840. 1844. 1840. 1844. +Connecticut . . . . 179 1,943 New York . . . . 2,798 15,812 +Illinois . . . . . -- 149 Ohio . . . . . . 903 8,050 +Indiana . . . . . . -- 2,106 Pennsylvania . . 343 3,138 +Maine . . . . . . . 194 4,836 Rhode Island . . 42 107 +Massachusetts . . . 1,621 10,860 Vermont . . . . 319 3,954 +Michigan . . . . . 321 3,632 +New Hampshire . . . 126 4,161 6,745 58,879 +New Jersey . . . . 69 131 ] + + +CHAPTER III. + +Review (_continued_).--Triumph of the Democratic Party.--Impending +Troubles with Mexico.--Position of Parties.--Struggle for the +Equality of Free and Slave States.--Character of the Southern +Leaders.--Their Efforts to control the Government.--Conservative +Course of Secretaries Buchanan and Marcy.--Reluctant to engage in +War with Mexico.--The Oregon Question, 54 deg., 40', or 49 deg..--Critical +Relations with the British Government.--Treaty of 1846.--Character +of the Adjustment.--Our Probable Loss by Unwise Policy of the +Democratic Party. + +The annexation of Texas being accomplished, the next step was looked +for with absorbing interest. In the spring of 1845 the Democratic +party stood victor. Its policy had been approved by the people, +its administration was in power. But success had brought heavy +responsibilities, and imposed upon the statesmanship of Mr. Polk +the severest of tasks. Texas came to us with undefined boundaries, +and with a state of war at that moment existing between herself +and Mexico. We had annexed a province that had indeed maintained +a revolt for years against the central government of a neighboring +republic; but its independence had never been conceded, the hope +of its subjugation had never been abandoned. When Congress passed +the joint resolution of annexation, the Mexican minister entered +a formal protest against the proceeding, demanded his passports, +and left the United States. By this course, Mexico placed herself +in an unfriendly, though not necessarily hostile, attitude. The +general apprehension however was that we should drift into war, +and the first message of Mr. Polk aroused the country to the +impending danger. He devoted a large space to the Texas question, +informing Congress that "Mexico had been marshaling and organizing +armies, issuing proclamations, and avowing the intention to make +war on the United States, either by open declaration, or by invading +Texas." He had therefore "deemed it proper, as a precautionary +measure, to order a strong squadron to the coast of Mexico, and to +concentrate an efficient military force on the western frontier of +Texas." Every one could see what this condition of affairs portended, +and there was at once great excitement throughout the country. In +the North, the belief of a large majority of the people was that +the administration intended to precipitate war, not merely to coerce +Mexico into the acknowledgment of the Rio Grande as the boundary +of Texas, but also to acquire further territory for the purpose of +creating additional slave States. As soon as this impression, or +suspicion, got abroad, the effect was an anti-slavery revival which +enlisted the feelings and influenced the political action of many +who had never sympathized with the Abolitionists, and of many who +had steadily opposed them. + +These men came from both the old political parties, but the larger +number from the Whigs. Indeed, during almost the entire period of +the anti-slavery agitation by the Abolitionists, there had existed +a body of men in the Whig ranks who were profoundly impressed with +the evils of slavery, and who yet thought they could be more +influential in checking its progress by remaining in their old +party, and, in many sections of the country, maintaining their +control of it. Of these men, John Quincy Adams stood undeniably +at the head; and with him were associated, in and out of Congress, +Mr. Seward, Mr. Benjamin F. Wade, Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Giddings, Mr. +Thaddeus Stevens, besides a large number of able and resolute men +of less public distinction, but of equal earnestness, in all parts +of the North. Subsequent events have led men to forget that Millard +Fillmore, then a representative from New York, was one of Mr. +Adams's early co-laborers in the anti-slavery cause, and that in +the important debate on the admission of Arkansas, with a constitution +making slavery perpetual, Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts led the +radical free sentiment of New England. A large number of distinguished +Democrats in the North also entertained the strongest anti-slavery +convictions, and were determined, at the risk of separating from +their party associates, to resist the spread of slavery into free +territory. Among the most conspicuous of these were Salmon P. +Chase, John P. Hale, Hannibal Hamlin, Preston King, John M. Niles, +David Wilmot, David K. Cartter, and John Wentworth. They had many +co-laborers and a band of determined and courageous followers. +They were especially strong in the State of New York, and, under +the name of Barnburners, wrought changes which affected the political +history of the entire country. + +The two great parties on the eve of the Mexican war were thus +somewhat similarly situated. In the South all the members of both +were, by the supposed necessity of their situation, upholders of +slavery, though the Democrats were on this question more aggressive, +more truculent, and more menacing, than the Whigs. The Southern +Whigs, under the lead of Mr. Clay, had been taught that slavery +was an evil, to be removed in some practicable way at some distant +period, but not to be interfered with, in the States where it +existed, by outside influence or force. The Democrats, under the +head of Mr. Calhoun, defended the institution of slavery as right +in itself, as scripturally authorized, as essential in the economy +of labor, and as a blessing to both races. In the North both +parties were divided on the question; each had its anti-slavery +wing and its pro-slavery wing, with many local names to distinguish +them. Between the two a relentless controversy began,--a controversy +marked as much by epithet as by argument, and conducted with such +exasperation of feeling as clearly foreshadowed a break of existing +party lines, and the formation of new associations, through which, +in the phrase of that day, "men who thought alike could act +together." + + THE ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY. + +This being the condition of the two great parties which divided +the country, it was evident that the acquisition of territory from +Mexico must lead to an agitation of the slavery question, of which +no man could measure the extent, or foresee the consequences. It +was the old Missouri struggle renewed, with more numerous combatants, +a stronger influence of the press, a mightier enginery of public +opinion. It arose as suddenly as the agitation of 1820, but gave +indications of deeper feeling and more prolonged controversy. The +able and ambitious men who had come into power at the South were +wielding the whole force of the national administration, and they +wielded it with commanding ability and unflinching energy. The +Free-soil sentiment which so largely pervaded the ranks of the +Northern Democracy had no representative in the cabinet, and a man +of pronounced anti-slavery views was as severely proscribed in +Washington as a Roundhead was in London after the coronation of +Charles II. + +The policy of maintaining an equality of slave States with free +States was to be pursued, as it had already been from the foundation +of the government, with unceasing vigilance and untiring energy. +The balancing of forces between the new States added to the Union +had been so skillfully arranged, that for a long period two States +were admitted at nearly the same time,--one from the South, and +one from the North. Thus Kentucky and Vermont, Tennessee and Ohio, +Mississippi and Indiana, Alabama and Illinois, Missouri and Maine, +Arkansas and Michigan, Florida and Iowa, came into the Union in +pairs, not indeed at precisely the same moment in every case, but +always with reference each to the other in the order named. On +the admission of Florida and Iowa, Colonel Benton remarked that +"it seemed strange that two territories so different in age, so +distant from each other, so antagonistic in natural features and +political institutions, should ripen into States at the same time, +and come into the Union by a single Act; but these very antagonisms +--that is, the antagonistic provisions on the subject of slavery-- +made the conjunction, and gave to the two young States an inseparable +admission." During the entire period from the formation of the +Federal Government to the inauguration of Mr. Polk, the only +variation from this twin birth of States--the one free, the other +slave--was in the case of Louisiana, which was admitted in 1812, +with no corresponding State from the North. Of the original Thirteen +States, seven had become free, and six maintained slavery. Of the +fifteen that were added to the Union, prior to the annexation of +Texas, eight were slave, and seven were free; so that, when Mr. +Polk took the oath of office, the Union consisted of twenty-eight +States, equally divided between slave-holding and free. So nice +an adjustment had certainly required constant watchfulness and the +closest calculation of political forces. It was in pursuit of this +adjustment that the admission of Louisiana was secured, as an +evident compensation for the loss which had accrued to the slave- +holding interest in the unequal though voluntary partition of the +Old Thirteen between North and South. + +The more rapid growth of the free States in population made the +contest for the House of Representatives, or for a majority in the +Electoral college, utterly hopeless to the South; but the constitutional +equality of all the States in the Senate enabled the slave interest +to defeat any hostile legislation, and to defeat also any nominations +by the President of men who were offensive to the South by reason +of their anti-slavery character. The courts of the United States, +both supreme and district, throughout the Union, including the +clerks and the marshals who summoned the juries and served the +processes, were therefore filled with men acceptable to the South. +Cabinets were constituted in the same way. Representatives of the +government in foreign countries were necessarily taken from the +class approved by the same power. Mr. Webster, speaking in his +most conservative tone in the famous speech of March 7, 1850, +declared that, from the formation of the Union to that hour, the +South had monopolized three-fourths of the places of honor and +emolument under the Federal Government. It was an accepted fact +that the class interest of slavery, by holding a tie in the Senate, +could defeat any measure or any nomination to which its leaders +might be opposed; and thus, banded together by an absolutely cohesive +political force, they could and did dictate terms. A tie-vote +cannot carry measures, but it can always defeat them; and any +combination of votes that possesses the negative power will in the +end, if it can be firmly held, direct and control the positive +action of the body to which it belongs. A strong minority, so +disciplined that it cannot be divided, will, in the hands of +competent leaders, annoy, distract, and often defeat, the majority +of a parliamentary body. Much more can one absolute half of a +legislative assembly, compactly united, succeed in dividing and +controlling the other half, which has no class interest to consolidate +it, and no tyrannical public opinion behind it, decreeing political +death to any member who doubts or halts in his devotion to one +supreme idea. + + THE POLITICAL LEADERS OF THE SOUTH. + +With one-half of the Senate under the control of the slave-holding +States, and with the Constitution declaring that no amendment to +it should ever destroy the equality of the States in the Senate, +the Southern leaders occupied a commanding position. Those leaders +constituted a remarkable body of men. Having before them the +example of Jefferson, of Madison, and of George Mason in Virginia, +of Nathaniel Macon in North Carolina, and of the Pinckneys and +Rutledges in South Carolina, they gave deep study to the science +of government. They were admirably trained as debaters, and they +became highly skilled in the management of parliamentary bodies. +As a rule, they were liberally educated, many of them graduates of +Northern colleges, a still larger number taking their degrees at +Transylvania in Kentucky, at Chapel Hill in North Carolina, and at +Mr. Jefferson's peculiar but admirable institution in Virginia. +Their secluded life on the plantation gave them leisure for reading +and reflection. They took pride in their libraries, pursued the +law so far as it increased their equipment for a public career, +and devoted themselves to political affairs with an absorbing +ambition. Their domestic relations imparted manners that were +haughty and sometimes offensive; they were quick to take affront, +and they not infrequently brought needless personal disputation +into the discussion of public questions; but they were, almost +without exception, men of high integrity, and they were especially +and jealously careful of the public money. Too often ruinously +lavish in their personal expenditures, they believed in an economical +government, and, throughout the long period of their domination, +they guarded the Treasury with rigid and unceasing vigilance against +every attempt at extravagance, and against every form of corruption. + +Looking into the future, the Southern men took alarm lest the +equality of their section should be lost in the Senate, and their +long control of the Federal Government ended. Even with Texas +added to the Union, this equality was barely maintained, for +Wisconsin was already seeking admission; and the clause in the +articles of annexation providing that four new States might be +carved out of the territory of Texas whenever she asked it, gave +no promise of speedy help to the South. Its operation would, in +any event, be distant, and subject to contingencies which could +not be accurately measured. There was not another foot of territory +south of 36 deg. 30', save that which was devoted to the Indians by +solemn compact, from which another slave State could be formed. +North of 36 deg. 30' the Missouri Compromise had dedicated the entire +country to freedom. In extent it was, to the Southern view, +alarmingly great, including at least a million square miles of +territory. Except along its river boundaries it was little known. +Its value was underrated, and a large portion of it was designated +on our maps as the Great American Desert. At the time Texas was +annexed, and for several years afterwards, not a single foot of +that vast area was organized under any form of civil government. +Had the Southern statesmen foreseen the immense wealth, population, +and value of this imperial domain in the five great States and four +Territories into which it is to-day divided, they would have +abandoned the struggle for equality. But the most that was hoped, +even in the North, within any near period, was one State north of +Iowa, one west of Missouri, and one from the Oregon country. The +remainder, in the popular judgment, was divided among mountain +gorges, the arid plains of the middle, and the uninviting region +in the north, which the French _voyaguers_ had classed under the +comprehensive and significant title of _mauvaises terres_. With +only three States anticipated from the great area of the north-west, +it was the evident expectation of the Southern men who then had +control of the government, that, if war with Mexico should ensue, +the result would inevitably be the acquisition of sufficient +territory to form slave States south of the line of the Missouri +Compromise as rapidly as free States could be formed north of it; +and that in this way the ancient equality between North and South +could be maintained. + + OUR RELATIONS WITH MEXICO. + +But the scheme of war did not develop as rapidly as was desired by +the hot advocates of territorial expansion. A show of negotiation +for peace was kept up by dispatching Mr. John Slidell as minister +to Mexico upon the hint that that government might be willing to +renew diplomatic relations. When Mr. Slidell reached the city of +Mexico he found a violent contest raging over the Presidency of +the republic, the principal issue being between the war and anti- +war parties. Mr. Slidell was not received. The Mexican Government +declared, with somewhat of reason and consistency, that they had +been willing to listen to a special envoy who would treat singly +and promptly of the grave questions between the two republics, but +they would not accept a minister plenipotentiary who would sit down +near their government in a leisurely manner, as if friendly relations +existed, and select his own time for negotiation,--urging or +postponing, threatening or temporizing, as the pressure of political +interests in the United States might suggest. Mr. Slidell returned +home; but still the conflict of arms, though so imminent, was not +immediately precipitated. Mr. Polk's cautious and somewhat timid +course represented the resultant between the aggressive Democrat +of the South who was for war regardless of consequences, and the +Free-soil Democrat of the North who was for peace regardless of +consequences; the one feeling sure that war would strengthen the +institution of slavery, the other confident that peace would favor +the growth of freedom. As not infrequently happens in the evolution +of human events, each was mistaken in the final issue. The war, +undertaken for the extension of slavery, led in the end to its +destruction. + +The leading influence in Mr. Polk's cabinet was divided between +Mr. Buchanan, secretary of State, and Mr. Marcy, secretary of War. +Both were men of conservative minds, of acute judgment in political +affairs of long experience in public life; and each was ambitious +for the succession to the Presidency. Neither could afford to +disregard the dominant opinion of the Southern Democracy; still +less could either countenance a reckless policy, which might +seriously embarrass our foreign affairs, and precipitate a dangerous +crisis in our relations with England. These eminent statesmen +quickly perceived that the long-standing issue touching our north- +western boundary, commonly known as the Oregon question, was +surrounded with embarrassments which, by mismanagement, might +rapidly develop into perils of great magnitude in connection with +the impending war with Mexico. + +The Oregon question, which now became associated, if not complicated, +with the Texas question, originated many years before. By our +treaty with Spain in 1819, the southern boundary of our possessions +on the Pacific had been accurately defined. Our northern boundary +was still unadjusted, and had been matter of dispute with Great +Britain ever since we acquired the country. By the treaty of Oct. +20, 1818, the 49th parallel of north latitude was established as +the boundary between the United States and British America, from +the Lake of the Woods to the Stony Mountains, as the Rocky Mountains +were then termed. In the same treaty it was agreed that any country +claimed by either the United States or Great Britain westward of +the Stony Mountains should, with its harbors, bays, and rivers, be +open for the term of ten years to the vessels, citizens, and subjects +of either power. This agreement was entered into solely for the +purpose of preventing disputes pending final settlement, and was +not to be construed to the prejudice of either party. This was +the beginning of the joint occupancy of the Oregon country, England +having with prompt and characteristic enterprise forced her way +across the continent after she had acquired Canada in 1763. +Stimulated by certain alleged discoveries of her navigators on the +north-west coast, Great Britain urged and maintained her title to +a frontage on the Pacific, and made a bold claim to sovereignty, +as far south as the mouth of the Columbia River, nearly, indeed, +to the northern border of California. + + OUR CLAIM TO THE OREGON COUNTRY. + +Nothing had been done towards an adjustment during the ten years +of joint occupancy, and when the term was about to expire, the +arrangement was renewed by special convention in 1827, for an +indefinite period,--each power reserving the right to terminate +the convention by giving twelve-months' notice to the other. The +President, John Quincy Adams, made the briefest possible reference +to the subject in his message to Congress, December, 1827; speaking +of it as a temporary compromise of the respective rights and claims +of Great Britain and the United States to territory westward of +the Rocky Mountains. For many years thereafter, the subject, though +languidly pursued in our diplomatic correspondence, was not alluded +to in a President's message, or discussed in Congress. The +contracting parties rested content with the power to join issue +and try titles at any time by simply giving the required notice. +The subject was also overshadowed by more urgent disputes between +Great Britain and the United States, especially that relating to +the North-eastern boundary, and that touching the suppression of +the African slave-trade. The latter involved the old question of +the right of search. The two governments came to an agreement on +these differences in 1842 by the negotiation of the convention +known as the Ashburton Treaty. In transmitting the treaty to +Congress, President Tyler made, for the first time since the +agreement for a joint occupancy was renewed in 1827, a specific +reference to the Oregon question. He informed Congress, that the +territory of the United States commonly called the Oregon country +was beginning to attract the attention of our fellow-citizens, and +that "the tide of our population, having reclaimed from the wilderness +the more contiguous regions, was preparing to flow over those vast +districts which stretch from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific +Ocean;" that Great Britain "laid claim to a portion of the country +and that the question could not be well included in the recent +treaty without postponing other more pressing matters." He +significantly added, that though the difficulty might not for +several years involve the peace of the two countries, yet he should +urge upon Great Britain the importance of its early settlement. + +As this paragraph was undoubtedly suggested and probably written +by Mr. Webster, it attracted wide attention on both sides of the +Atlantic; and from that moment, in varying degrees of interest and +urgency, the Oregon question became an active political issue. +Before the next annual meeting of Congress, Mr. Upshur had succeeded +Mr. Webster in the State department; and the message of the President +took still more advanced ground respecting Oregon. For political +reasons, there was an obvious desire to keep the action of the +government on this issue well abreast of its aggressive movements +in the matter of acquiring Texas. Emboldened by Mr. Webster's +position of the preceding year, Mr. Upshur, with younger blood, +and with more reason for a demonstrative course, was evidently +disposed to force the discussion of the question with the British +Government. Under his influence and advice, President Tyler +declared, in his message of December, 1843, that "after the most +rigid, and, as far as practicable, unbiased, examination of the +subject, the United States have always contended that their rights +appertain to the entire region of country lying on the Pacific, +and embraced between latitude 42 deg. and 54 deg. 40'." Mr. Edward Everett, +at that time our minister in London, was instructed to present +these views to the British Government. + +Before the President could send another annual message to Congress, +Mr. Calhoun had been for several months at the head of the State +Department, engaged in promoting, with singular skill and ability, +his scheme for the annexation of Texas. With his quick perception, +he discerned that if the policy apparently indicated by Mr. Webster +and aggressively pursued by Mr. Upshur, on the Oregon question, +should be followed, and that issue sharply pressed upon Great +Britain, complications of a most embarrassing nature might arise, +involving in their sweep the plans, already well matured, for +acquiring Texas. In order to avert all danger of that kind, Mr. +Calhoun opened a negotiation with the British minister in Washington, +conducting it himself, for the settlement of the Oregon question; +and at the very moment when the Democratic National Convention +which nominated Mr. Polk was declaring our title to the whole of +Oregon as far as 54 deg. 40' to be "clear and unquestionable," the +Democratic secretary of State was proposing to Her Majesty's +representative to settle the entire controversy by the adoption of +the 49th parallel as the boundary! + +The negotiation was very nearly completed, and was suspended only +by some dispute in regard to the right of navigating the Columbia +River. It is not improbable that Mr. Calhoun, after disclosing to +the British Government his willingness to accept the 49th parallel +as our northern boundary, was anxious to have the negotiation +temporarily postponed. If the treaty had been concluded at that +time, it would have seriously interfered with the success of Mr. +Polk's candidacy by destroying the prestige of the "Fifty-four +forties," as Colonel Benton termed them. In Mr. Polk's election, +Mr. Calhoun was deeply and indeed doubly interested; first, because +of his earnest desire to defeat Mr. Clay, with whom he was at swords' +points on all public issues; and again, because, having assumed +the responsibility of defeating the nomination of Mr. Van Buren, +he was naturally desirous that his judgment should be vindicated +by the election of the candidate whom his Southern friends had put +forward. Urgently solicitous for the annexation of Texas, those +friends were indifferent to the fate of the Oregon question, though +willing that it should be made a leading issue in the North, where +it was presented with popular effect. The patriotic spirit of the +country was appealed to, and to a considerable extent aroused and +inflamed by the ardent and energetic declaration of our title to +the whole of Oregon. "Fifty-four forty or fight" became a Democratic +watchword; and the Whigs who attempted to argue against the +extravagance or inexpediency of the claim continually lost ground, +and were branded as cowards who were awed into silence by the fear +of British power. All the prejudice against the British Government +which had descended from the Revolution and from the war of 1812 +was successfully evoked by the Democratic party, and they gained +immeasurably by keeping an issue before the people which many of +their leaders knew would be abandoned when the pressure of actual +negotiation should be felt by our government. + + PRESIDENT POLK ON THE OREGON QUESTION. + +Mr. Polk, however, in his Inaugural address, carefully re-examined +the position respecting Oregon which his party had taken in the +national canvass, and quoted part of the phrase used in the platform +put forth by the convention which nominated him. The issue had +been made so broadly, that it must be squarely met, and finally +adjusted. The Democrats in their eagerness had left no road for +honorable retreat, and had cut themselves off from the resources +and convenient postponements of diplomacy. Dangerous as it was to +the new administration to confront the issue, it would have been +still more dangerous to attempt to avoid it. The decisive step, +in the policy to which the administration was committed, was to +give formal notice to Great Britain that the joint occupancy of +the Oregon country under the treaty of 1827 must cease. A certain +degree of moral strength was unexpectedly imparted to the Democratic +position by the fact that the venerable John Quincy Adams was +decidedly in favor of the notice, and ably supported, in a unique +and powerful speech in the House of Representatives, our title to +the country up to 54 deg. 40'. The first convention for joint occupancy +had been negotiated while Mr. Adams was secretary of State, and +the second while he was President; so that, in addition to the +weight of authority with which he always spoke, his words seemed +entitled to special confidence on a question with which he was +necessarily so familiar. His great influence brought many Whigs +to the support of the resolution; and on the 9th of February, 1846, +the House, by the large vote of 163 to 54, declared in favor of +giving the treaty notice to Great Britain. + +The country at once became alarmed by the growing rumors that the +resolution of the House was a direct challenge to Great Britain +for a trial of strength as to the superior title to the Oregon +country, and it was soon apparent that the Senate would proceed +with more circumspection and conservatism. Events were rapidly +tending toward hostilities with Mexico, and the aggrandizement of +territory likely to result from a war with that country was not +viewed with a friendly eye, either by Great Britain or France. +Indeed, the annexation of Texas, which had been accomplished the +preceding year, was known to be distasteful to those governments. +They desired that Texas might remain an independent republic, under +more liberal trade relations than could be secured from the United +States with its steady policy of fostering and advancing its own +manufacturing interests. The directors of the administration saw +therefore more and more clearly that, if a war with Mexico were +impeding, it would be sheer madness to open a quarrel with Great +Britain, and force her into an alliance against us. Mr. Adams and +those who voted with him did not believe that the notice to the +British Government would provoke a war, but that firmness on our +part, in the negotiation which should ensue, would induce England +to yield her pretensions to any part of Oregon; to which Mr. Adams +maintained, with elaboration of argument and demonstration, she +had no shadow of right. + +Mr. Adams was opposed to war with Mexico, and therefore did not +draw his conclusions from the premises laid down by those who were +charged with the policy of the administration. They naturally +argued that a war with Great Britain might end in our losing the +whole of Oregon, without acquiring any territory on our south- +western border. The bare possibility of such a result would defeat +the policy which they were seeking to uphold, and would at the same +time destroy their party. In short, it became apparent that what +might be termed the Texas policy of the administration, and what +might be termed the Oregon policy, could not both be carried out. +It required no prophet to foresee which would be maintained and +which would be abandoned. "Fifty-four forty or fight" had been a +good cry for the political campaign; but, when the fight was to be +with Great Britain, the issue became too serious to be settled by +such international law as is dispensed on the stump. + + COMPROMISE ON THE OREGON QUESTION. + +A very bitter controversy over the question began in the Senate as +soon as the House resolution was received. But from the outset it +was apparent that those who adhered to the 54 deg. 40' policy, on which +Mr. Polk had been elected, were in a small minority. That minority +was led by General Cass; but its most brilliant advocate in debate +was Edward A. Hannegan, Democratic senator from Indiana, who angrily +reproached his party for playing false to the pledges on which it +had won a victory over the greatest political leader of the country. +He measured the situation accurately, read with discrimination the +motives which underlay the change of policy on the part of the +administration and its Southern supporters, and stated the whole +case in a quick and curt reply to an interruption from a pro-slavery +senator,--"If Oregon were good for the production of sugar and +cotton, it would not have encountered this opposition. Its possession +would have been at once secured." The change in the Democratic +position was greatly aided by the attitude of the Whig senators, +who almost unanimously opposed the resolution of notice to Great +Britain, as passed by the House. Mr. Webster, for the first if +not the only time in his senatorial career, read a carefully prepared +speech, in which he did not argue the question of rightful boundary, +but urged that a settlement on the line of the 49th parallel would +be honorable to both countries, would avert hostile feeling, and +restore amity and harmony. Mr. Berrien of Georgia made an exhaustive +speech, inquiring into the rightfulness of title, and urged the +line of 49 deg.. Mr. Crittenden followed in the same vein, and in a +reply to Senator William Allen of Ohio, chairman of Foreign Affairs, +made a speech abounding in sarcasm and ridicule. The Whigs having +in the campaign taken no part in the boastful demand for 54 deg. 40', +were not subjected to the humiliation of retracing imprudent steps +and retracting unwise declarations. + +Under the influences at work in the Senate, events developed rapidly. +The House resolution of notice was defeated; and the Senate passed +a substitute of a less aggressive type, in which the House, through +the instrumentality of a conference committee, substantially +concurred. The resolution as finally adopted authorized the +President "at his discretion" to give notice for the termination +of the treaty to Great Britain. The preamble further softened the +action of Congress by declaring that the notice was given in order +that "the attention of the governments of both countries may be +the more earnestly directed to the adoption of all proper measures +for a speedy and amicable adjustment of the differences and disputes +in regard to said territory." + +The Southern Democrats in the House receded from their action, and +the modified resolution was carried by nearly as large a vote as +had been the previous one for decided and peremptory notice. In +short, the great mass of the Southern Democrats in both Houses +precipitately threw the Oregon issue aside. They had not failed +to perceive that the hesitation of the administration in forcing +an issue with Mexico was due to the apprehension of trouble with +Great Britain, and they made haste to promote schemes of territorial +acquisition in the South-West by withdrawing the pretensions so +imprudently put forth in regard to our claims in the North-West. +Only forty-six votes were given in the House against what was termed +a disgraceful surrender. These were almost entirely from Northern +Democrats, though a few Southern Democrats refused to recede. +Among those who thus remained firm were Andrew Johnson, Stephen A. +Douglas, Howell Cobb, Preston King, and Allen G. Thurman. + +The passage of the modified and friendly resolution of notice +dispelled all danger of trouble with Great Britain, and restored +a sense of security in the United States. Immediately after its +adoption, Mr. Buchanan, Secretary of State, under direction of the +President, concluded a treaty with the British minister on the +basis discussed by Mr. Calhoun two years before. The 49th parallel +was agreed upon as the boundary between the two countries, with +certain concessions for a defined period, touching the rights of +the Hudson-bay Company, and the navigation of the Columbia River +by the British. This treaty was promptly confirmed by the Senate, +and the long controversy over the Oregon question was at rest. It +had created a deep and wide-spread excitement in the country, and +came very near precipitating hostilities with Great Britain. There +is no doubt whatever that the English Government would have gone +to war rather than surrender the territory north of the 49th +parallel. This fact had made the winter and early spring of 1846 +one of profound anxiety to all the people of the United States, +and more especially to those who were interested in the large +mercantile marine which then sailed under the American flag. + + UNWISE AGITATION OF THE QUESTION. + +In simple truth, the country was not prepared to go to war with +Great Britain in support of "our clear and unquestionable title" +to the whole of Oregon. With her strong naval force on the Pacific, +and her military force in Australasia, Great Britain could more +readily and more easily take possession of the country in dispute +than could the United States. We had no way of reaching Oregon +except by doubling Cape Horn, and making a dangerous sea-voyage of +many thousand miles. We could communicate across the continent +only by the emigrant trail over rugged mountains and almost trackless +plains. Our railway system was in its infancy in 1846. New-York +City did not have a continuous road to Buffalo. Philadelphia was +not connected with Pittsburg. Baltimore's projected line to the +Ohio had only reached Cumberland, among the eastern foot-hills of +the Alleghanies. The entire Union had but five thousand miles of +railway. There was scarcely a spot on the globe, outside of the +United Kingdom, where we could not have fought England with greater +advantage than on the north-west coast of America at that time. +The war-cry of the Presidential campaign of 1844 was, therefore, +in any event, absurd; and it proved to be mischievous. It is not +improbable, that, if the Oregon question had been allowed to rest +for the time under the provisions of the treaty of 1827, the whole +country would ultimately have fallen into our hands, and the American +flag might to-day be waving over British Columbia. The course of +events and the lapse of time were working steadily to our advantage. +In 1826 Great Britain declined to accept the 49th parallel, but +demanded the Columbia River as the boundary. Twenty years afterwards +she accepted the line previously rejected. American settlers had +forced her back. With the sweep of our emigration and civilization +to the Pacific coast two years after the treaty of 1846, when gold +was discovered in California, the tendency would have been still +more strongly in our favor. Time, as Mr. Calhoun said, "would have +effected every thing for us" if we could only have been patient +and peaceful. + +Taking the question, however, as it stood in 1846, the settlement +must, upon full consideration and review, be adjudged honorable to +both countries. Wise statesmen of that day felt, as wise statesmen +of subsequent years have more and more realized, that a war between +Great Britain and the United States would not only be a terrible +calamity to both nations, but that it would stay the progress of +civilization throughout the world. Future generations would hold +the governing power in both countries guilty of a crime if war +should ever be permitted except upon the failure of every other +arbitrament. The harmless laugh of one political party at the +expense of the other forty years ago, the somewhat awkward receding +from pretensions which could not be maintained by the Executive of +the nation, have passed into oblivion. But a striking and useful +lesson would be lost if it should be forgotten that the country +was brought to the verge of war by the proclamation of a policy +which could not be, and was not intended to be, enforced. It was +originated as a cry to catch votes; and except with the ignorant, +and the few whose judgment was carried away by enthusiasm, it was +from the first thoroughly insincere. If the punishment could have +fallen only upon those who raised the cry, perfect justice would +have been done. But the entire country suffered, and probably +endured a serious and permanent loss, from the false step taken by +men who claimed what they could not defend and did not mean to +defend. + + +The Secretary of State, Mr. Buchanan, gained much credit for his +conduct of the Oregon question, both diplomatically and politically. +His correspondence with Mr. Pakenham, the British minister at +Washington, was conspicuously able. It strengthened Mr. Buchanan +at home, and gave him an enviable reputation in Europe. His +political management of the question was especially adroit. His +party was in sore trouble over the issue, and naturally looked to +him for relief and escape. To extricate the Administration from +the embarrassment caused by its ill-timed and boastful pretensions +to the line of 54 deg. 40' was a difficult and delicate task. To +accomplish it, Mr. Buchanan had recourse to the original and long +disused habit of asking the Senate's advice in advance of negotiating +the treaty, instead of taking the ordinary but at that time perilous +responsibility of first negotiating the treaty, and then submitting +it to the Senate for approval. As a leading Northern Democrat, +with an established reputation and a promising future, Mr. Buchanan +was instinctively reluctant to take the lead in surrendering the +position which his party had so defiantly maintained during the +canvass for the Presidency in 1844, and which he had, as Secretary +of State, re-affirmed in a diplomatic paper of marked ability. +When the necessity came to retreat, Mr. Buchanan was anxious that +the duty of publicly lowering the colors should not be left to him. +His device, therefore, shifted the burden from his own shoulders, +and placed it on the broader ones of the Senate. + +Political management could not have been more clever. It saved +Mr. Buchanan in large degree from the opprobrium visited on so many +leading Democrats for their precipitate retreat on the Oregon +question, and commended him at the same time to a class of Democrats +who had never before been his supporters. General Cass, in order +to save himself as a senator from the responsibility of surrendering +our claim to 54 deg. 40', assumed a very warlike attitude, erroneously +supposing that popularity might be gained by the advocacy of a +rupture with England. Mr. Buchanan was wiser. He held the middle +course. He had ably sustained our claim to the whole of Oregon, +and now, in the interest of peace, gracefully yielded to a compromise +which the Senate, after mature deliberation, had advised. His +course saved the administration, not indeed from a mortifying +position, but from a continually increasing embarrassment which +seemed to force upon the country the cruel alternatives of war or +dishonor. + + THE PRESIDENT AND MR. BUCHANAN. + +Mr. Polk was, from some cause, incapable of judging Mr. Buchanan +generously. He seems to have regarded his Secretary of State as +always willing to save himself at the expense of others. He did +not fail to perceive that Mr. Buchanan had come out of the Oregon +trouble with more credit, at least with less loss, than any other +man prominently identified with its agitation and settlement. This +was not pleasing to the President. He had evidently not concealed +his distrust from the outset, and had cumbered his offer of a +cabinet position with conditions which seemed derogatory to the +dignity of Mr. Buchanan,--conditions which a man of spirit might +well have resented. He informed Mr. Buchanan that, as he should +"take no part himself between gentlemen of the Democratic party +who might become aspirants to the Presidency," he desired that "no +member of the cabinet should do so." He indeed expressed himself +to Mr. Buchanan in a manner so peremptory as to be offensive: +"Should any member of my cabinet become a candidate for the Presidency +or Vice-Presidency of the United States, it will be expected on +the happening of such an event that he will retire from the cabinet." +Remembering that Madison, Monroe and John Quincy Adams had each +been nominated for the Presidency while holding the position of +Secretary of State in the cabinet of his predecessor, Mr. Polk was +attaching a new and degrading condition to the incumbency of that +office. + +Mr. Polk did not stop with one exaction. Addressing Mr. Buchanan +as if he were about to become a department clerk, he informed him +that he disapproved "the practice which has sometimes prevailed of +cabinet officers absenting themselves for long periods from the +seat of government," and practically demanded a pledge that Mr. +Buchanan would remain at his post, and be punctual in the discharge +of his official duties. In reading Mr. Polk's letter, the inference +seems natural that he felt under some pressing obligation to tender +to Mr. Buchanan the appointment of secretary of State, but desired +to accompany it with conditions which would subordinate him in the +general conduct of the administration. With a spirit of docility, +if not humility, altogether incomprehensible, Mr. Buchanan "accepted +the position cheerfully and cordially _on the terms on which the +offer was made._" + +It is not surprising that, after agreeing to enter Mr. Polk's +cabinet on these conditions, Mr. Buchanan had abundant reason to +complain afterwards that the President did not treat him with +"delicacy and confidence." On several occasions he was on the +point of resigning his position. He was especially aggrieved that +the President refused to nominate him to the Supreme Bench in 1846 +as the successor of Henry Baldwin. In view of Mr. Buchanan's +career, both before and after that time, it seems strange that he +should have desired the position. It seems stranger still that +Mr. Polk, after refusing to appoint him, should have nominated +George W. Woodward, a Pennsylvania Democrat, who was unacceptable +to Mr. Buchanan. Mr. Polk, however, appreciated the temperament +of Mr. Buchanan, and apparently knew how much he would endure +without resentment. While his presence in the cabinet was evidently +not a source of pleasure to the President, he realized that it +brought character, strength, and power to the administration. Mr. +Buchanan was an older man than Mr. Polk, was superior to him +intellectually, had seen a longer and more varied public service, +and enjoyed a higher personal standing throughout the country. + +The timidity of Mr. Buchanan's nature made him the servant of the +administration when, with boldness, he might have been its master. +Had he chosen to tender his resignation in resentment of his +treatment by Mr. Polk, the administration would have been seriously +embarrassed. There was, at the time, no Northern Democrat of the +same rank to succeed him, except General Cass, and he was ineligible +by reason of his uncompromising attitude on the Oregon question. +Mr. Polk could not call a Southern man to the State Department so +long as Robert J. Walker was at the head of the Treasury. He could +not promote Mr. Marcy from the War Department without increasing +the discontent already dangerously developed in the ranks of the +New-York Democracy. Mr. Buchanan, therefore, held absolute control +of the situation had he chosen to assert himself. This he failed +to do, and continued to lend his aid to an administration whose +policy was destroying him in his own State, and whose patronage +was persistently used to promote the fortunes of his rivals and +his enemies. + +Mr. Polk was by singular fortune placed at the head of one of the +most vigorous and important administrations in the history of the +government. He had not been trained in the higher duties of +statesmanship, and was not personally equal to the weighty +responsibilities which devolved upon him. He was overshadowed by +the ability of at least three members of his cabinet, and was keenly +sensible of their superiority. He had, however, a certain aptitude +for affairs, was industrious, and in personal character above +reproach. Mr. Webster described him with accuracy when he spoke +of him as "respectable but never eminent." + + EARLY CAREER OF JAMES K. POLK. + +When first elected to the House of Representatives in 1824, Mr. +Polk was but twenty-nine years of age. He was re-elected continuously +for fourteen years. He was one of the most pronounced adherents +of Jackson, and joined in the extreme and unreasonable opposition +to the administration of John Quincy Adams. The period of his +service in the House was distinguished by partisanship of a more +bigoted and vindictive type than prevailed at any other time in +the history of that body. He was Speaker during the last Congress +of Jackson's Presidency and during the first under the administration +of Van Buren. When the Whig members forced an inquiry in to the +conduct of Samuel Swartwout, the defaulting collector of customs +for the port of New York,--a case which figured prominently in the +exciting Presidential canvass of 1840,--they would not trust Mr. +Polk with the duty of naming the committee of investigation. The +House itself exercised the power of appointment, to the great +disparagement of the Speaker. + +When Mr. Polk closed his service in the Chair, at the end of the +Twenty-fifth Congress, no Whig member could be found who was willing +to move the customary resolution of thanks,--an act of courtesy +which derives its chief grace by coming from a political opponent. +When the resolution was presented by a Democratic Representative +from the South, it was opposed in debate by prominent Whig members. +Henry A. Wise, who five years later supported Mr. Polk for the +Presidency, desired to have the resolution peremptorily ruled out +on a point of order. Sergeant S. Prentiss, the incomparably +brilliant member from Mississippi, attacked it most violently. +His impassioned invective did not stop short of personal indignity +and insult to Mr. Polk. He denied with emphatic iteration that +the Speaker had been "impartial." On the contrary he had been "the +tool of the Executive, the tool of his party." He analyzed Mr. +Polk's course in the appointment of committees, and with much detail +labored to prove his narrowness, his unfairness, his injustice as +a presiding officer. For one, he said, he was "not wiling to give +to Mr. Polk a certificate of good behaviour, to aid him in his +canvass for the governorship of Tennessee, for which he is known +to be a candidate." He believed "this vote of thanks was to be +used as so much capital, on which to do political business," and +he declared with much vehemence that he "was not disposed to furnish +it." + +The opprobrious language of Prentiss did not wound Mr. Polk so +seriously as did the vote of the House on the resolution of thanks. +The Whigs, as a party, resisted its adoption. The Democrats could +not even bring the House to a vote upon the resolution without the +use of the _previous question_, and this, as a witty observer +remarked, was about as humiliating as to be compelled to call the +_previous question_ on resolutions of respect for a deceased member. +When the demand was made for "the main question to be put," the +Whigs, apparently eager to force the issue to the bitter end, called +for the _ayes_ and _noes_. John Quincy Adams, who headed the roll, +led off in the negative, and was sustained by such able and +conservative members as John Bell from Mr. Polk's own State, McKennan +of Pennsylvania, Evans of Maine, Corwin of Ohio, Menifee from the +Ashland district in Kentucky, and William Cost Johnson of Maryland. +The vote stood 92 to 75. Mr. Polk had been chosen Speaker by a +majority of thirteen. The Whigs had thus practically consolidated +their party against a vote of courtesy to the presiding officer of +the House. + +Mr. Polk's situation was in the highest degree embarrassing, but +he behaved with admirable coolness and self-possession. He returned +his thanks to the "majority of the House," which had adopted the +resolution, significantly emphasizing the word "majority." He said +he regarded the vote just given "as of infinitely more value than +the common, matter-of-course, customary resolution which, in the +courtesy usually prevailing in parliamentary bodies, is passed at +the close of their deliberations." His reference "to the courtesy +usually prevailing in parliamentary bodies" was made, as an eye- +witness relates, with "telling accent, and with a manner that was +very disconcerting to the Whigs." His address was scrupulously +confined to "the majority of the House," and to the end Mr. Polk +exhibited, as was said at the time, "a magnificent contempt for +the insulting discourtesy of the Whigs." + + EARLY CAREER OF JAMES K. POLK. + +The incident was made very prominent in the ensuing canvass in +Tennessee, where Mr. Polk won a signal victory, and was installed +as governor. The Democrats treated the action of the House as a +deliberate insult, not merely to the Speaker, but to his State, +and not only to his State, but to the venerable ex-president, whose +residence at the Hermitage, in the judgment of his devoted followers, +made Tennessee illustrious and almost sacred ground. Jackson +himself was roused to intense indignation, and, though beyond +threescore and ten, was active and unceasing in his efforts to +insure a victory to Mr. Polk. The contest, though local in its +essential character, attracted observation and interest far beyond +the borders of the State. + +The political importance of Mr. Polk was enhanced by the proscriptive +course of his opponents in the House of Representatives. The +refusal to join in the resolution of thanks operated in a manner +quite contrary to the expectations of the Whigs, and was indeed +effectively turned against them. The generous instincts of the +people condemned an attempt to destroy the honorable fame of a +public man by what they considered to be an act of spiteful +persecution. It was the opinion of John Bell, who of all men had +the best opportunity for impartial judgment in the premises, that +the vote of himself and his fellow Whigs on the resolution was an +indirect but potential cause of Mr. Polk's nomination and election +to the Presidency. It gave him prominence as a friend of Jackson, +and made him available as a candidate against Van Buren for the +Democratic nomination. The opponents of the latter instinctively +knew that it would be dangerous to defeat him with any one who did +not stand well with Van Buren's powerful patron. The events of +1839 and 1844 in the life of Mr. Polk have therefore an interesting +relation to each other. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Review (_continued_).--Relations with Mexico.--General Taylor +marches his Army to the Rio Grande.--First Encounter with the +Mexican Army.--Excitement in the United States.--Congress declares +War against Mexico.--Ill Temper of the Whigs.--Defeat of the +Democrats in the Congressional Elections of 1846.--Policy of Mr. +Polk in Regard to Acquisition of Territory from Mexico.--Three- +Million Bill.--The Famous Anti-slavery Proviso moved by David +Wilmot.--John Quincy Adams.--His Public Service.--Robert C. Winthrop +chosen Speaker.--Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.--Presidential Election +of 1848.--Effort of the Administration to make a Democratic Hero +out of the Mexican War.--Thomas H. Benton for Lieutenant-General. +--Bill defeated.--Nomination of General Taylor for the Presidency +by the Whigs.--Nomination of General Cass by the Democratic Party. +--Van Buren refuses to support him.--Democratic Bolt in New York. +--Buffalo Convention and the Organization of the Free-soil Party. +--Nomination of Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams.--Mr. Clay's +Discontent.--Mr. Webster's Speech at Marshfield.--General Taylor +elected.--The Barnburners of New York.--Character and Public Services +of Mr. Van Buren. + +By a suggestive coincidence, the practical abandonment of the line +of 54 deg. 40' by the administration was contemporaneous with the +outbreak of the Mexican war. The modified resolution of notice to +Great Britain was finally passed in both branches of Congress on +the 23d of April, and on the succeeding day the first blood was +shed in that contest between the two Republics which was destined +to work such important results in the future and fortunes of both. + +The army of occupation in Texas, commanded by General Zachary +Taylor, had, during the preceding winter, been moving westward with +the view of encamping in the valley of the Rio Grande. On the 28th +of March General Tyler took up his position on the banks of the +river, opposite Matamoros, and strengthened himself by the erection +field-works. General Ampudia, in command of the Mexican army +stationed at Matamoros, was highly excited by the arrival of the +American army, and on the 12th of April notified General Taylor to +break up his camp within twenty-four hours, and to retire beyond +the Nueces River. In the event of his failure to comply with these +demands, Ampudia announced that "arms, and arms alone, must decide +the question." According to the persistent claim of the Mexican +Government, the Nueces River was the western boundary of Texas; +and the territory between that river and the Rio Grande--a breadth +of one hundred and fifty miles on the coast--was held by Mexico to +be a part of her domain, and General Taylor consequently an invader +of her soil. No reply was made to Ampudia; and on the 24th of +April General Arista, who had succeeded to the command of the +Mexican army, advised General Taylor that "he considered hostilities +commenced, and should prosecute them." + + BEGINNING OF MEXICAN WAR. + +Directly after this notification was received, General Taylor +dispatched a party of dragoons, sixty-three in number, officers +and men, up the valley of the Rio Grande, to ascertain whether the +Mexicans had crossed the river. They encountered a force much +larger than their own, and after a short engagement, in which some +seventeen were killed and wounded, the Americans were surrounded, +and compelled to surrender. When intelligence of this affair +reached the United States, the war-spirit rose high among the +people. "Our country has been invaded," and "American blood spilled +on American soil," were the cries heard on every side. In the very +height of this first excitement, without waiting to know whether +the Mexican Government would avow or disavow the hostile act, +President Polk, on the 11th of May, sent a most aggressive message +to Congress, "invoking its prompt action to recognize the existence +of war, and to place at the disposition of the Executive the means +of prosecuting the contest with vigor, and thus hastening the +restoration of peace." As soon as the message was read in the +House, a bill was introduced authorizing the President to call out +a force of fifty thousand men, and giving him all the requisite +power to organize, arm, and equip them. The preamble declared that +"war existed by the act of Mexico," and this gave rise to an animated +and somewhat angry discussion. The Whigs felt that they were placed +in an embarrassing attitude. They must either vote for what they +did not believe, or, by voting against the bill, incur the odium +which always attaches to the party that fails by a hair's-breadth +to come to the defense of the country when war is imminent. + +Prominent Whigs believed, that, as an historical and geographical +fact, the river Nueces was the western boundary of Texas, and that +the President, by assuming the responsibility of sending an army +of occupation into the country west of that river, pending negotiations +with Mexico, had taken a hostile and indefensible step. But all +agreed that it was too late to consider any thing except the honor +of the country, now that actual hostilities had begun. The position +of the Whigs was as clearly defined by their speakers as was +practicable in the brief space allowed for discussion of the war +bill. Against the protest of many, it was forced to a vote, after +a two hours' debate. The administration expected the declaration +to be unanimous; but there were fourteen members of the House who +accepted the responsibility of defying the war feeling of the +country by voting "no"--an act which required no small degree of +moral courage and personal independence. John Quincy Adams headed +the list. The other gentlemen were all Northern Whigs, or pronounced +Free-Soilers. + +The Senate considered the bill on the ensuing day, and passed it +after a very able debate, in which Mr. Calhoun bore a leading part. +He earnestly deprecated the necessity of the war, though accused +by Benton of plotting to bring it on. Forty senators voted for +it, and but two against it,--Thomas Clayton of Delaware and John +Davis of Massachusetts. Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky and Mr. Upham +of Vermont, when their names were called, responded, "Ay, except +the preamble." The bill was promptly approved by the President, +and on the 13th of May, 1846, the two Republics were declared to +be at war. In the South and West, from the beginning, the war was +popular. In the North and East it was unpopular. The gallant +bearing of our army, however, changed in large degree the feeling +in sections where the war had been opposed. No finer body of men +ever enlisted in an heroic enterprise than those who volunteered +to bear the flag in Mexico. They were young, ardent, enthusiastic, +brave almost to recklessness, with a fervor of devotion to their +country's honor. The march of Taylor from the Rio Grande, ending +with the unexpected victory against superior numbers at Buena Vista, +kept the country in a state of excitement and elation, and in the +succeeding year elevated him to the Presidency. Not less splendid +in its succession of victories was the march of Scott from Vera +Cruz to the city of Mexico, where he closed his triumphal journey +by taking possession of the capital, and enabling his government +to dictate terms of peace. + + DEMOCRATIC DEFEAT IN 1846. + +For the first and only time in our political history, an administration +conducting a war victorious at every step, steadily lost ground in +the country. The House of Representatives which declared war on +the 11th of May, 1846, was Democratic by a large majority. The +House, elected in the ensuing autumn, amid the resounding acclamations +of Taylor's memorable victory at Monterey, had a decided Whig +majority. This political reverse was due to three causes,--the +enactment of the tariff of 1846, which offended the manufacturing +interest of the country; the receding of the administration on the +Oregon question, which embarrassed the position and wounded the +pride of the Northern Democrats; and the wide-spread apprehension +that the war was undertaken for the purpose of extending and +perpetuating slavery. The almost unanimous Southern vote for the +hasty surrender of the line of 54 deg. 40', on which so much had been +staked in the Presidential campaign, gave the Whigs an advantage +in the popular canvass. The contrast between the boldness with +which the Polk administration had marched our army upon the territory +claimed by Mexico, and the prudence with which it had retreated +from a contest with Great Britain, after all our antecedent boasting, +exposed the Democrats to merciless ridicule. Clever speakers who +were numerous in the Whig party at that day did not fail to see +and seize their advantage. + +The Mexican war had scarcely begun when the President justified +the popular suspicion by making known to Congress that one of its +objects was to be the acquisition of territory beyond the Rio +Grande. Perhaps it would be fairer to say that he expected such +acquisition to be one of its results. He ably vindicated the policy +of marching a military force into the territory between the Nueces +and the Rio Grande, by the fact that he was memorialized to do so +by the still existing Congress of Texas, on the urgent plea that +Mexico was preparing to move upon the territory with a view to its +recapture. In this Congress of Texas, the same body that completed +the annexation, there were representatives from the territory in +dispute beyond the Nueces; and the President felt that they were +in an eminent degree entitled to the protection of our government. +Events were so hurried that in three months from the formal +declaration of war, and before any victory of decisive significance +had been achieved, the President sent a special message to Congress, +in which he suggested that "the chief obstacle to be surmounted in +securing peace would be the adjustment of a boundary that would +prove satisfactory and convenient to both republics." He admitted +that we ought to pay a fair equivalent for any concessions which +might be made by Mexico, and asked that a sum of money should be +placed in his hands to be paid to Mexico immediately upon the +ratification of a treaty of peace. As a precedent for this unusual +request, the President cited the example of Mr. Jefferson in asking +and receiving from Congress, in 1803, a special appropriation of +money, to be expended at his discretion. As soon as the reading +of the message was concluded, Mr. McKay of North Carolina, chairman +of the committee of ways and means, introduced a bill, without +preamble or explanation, directing that two millions of dollars be +appropriated, to be "applied under the direction of the President +to any extraordinary expenses which may be incurred in our foreign +intercourse." The war was not referred to, Mexico was not named, +and the simple phraseology of the Jefferson Act of 1803 was repeated +word for word. + +A very animated debate followed, in which Northern men took the +lead. Mr. Robert C. Winthrop spoke of the administration with +unwonted harshness, declaring that "it and its friends had thought +fit, during the present session, to frame more than one of these +important measures, so as to leave their opponents in a false +position whichever way they voted." . . . He "could not and would +not vote for this bill as it now stood. . . . It was a vote of +unlimited confidence in an administration in which, he was sorry +to say, there was very little confidence to be placed." Mr. John +Quincy Adams differed from Mr. Winthrop, and could not refrain from +a pardonable thrust at that gentleman for his previous vote that +"war existed by act of Mexico." He differed from his colleague, +Mr. Adams demurely affirmed, with a regret equal to that with which +he had differed from him on the bill by which war was declared. +He should not vote for this bill in any form, but suggested that +it be so amended as to specify expressly that the money is granted +for the purpose of negotiating peace with Mexico. + + THE WILMOT PROVISO. + +The bill was promptly modified in accordance with the desires of +Mr. Adams, and at the moment when its passage seemed secure it was +arrested by an amendment of momentous character, submitted by a +young member from Pennsylvania. David Wilmot represented a district +which had always given Democratic majorities, and was himself an +intense partisan of that political school. He was a man of strong +_physique_ and strong common sense; of phlegmatic temperament, +without any pretension to genius; a sensible speaker, with no claim +to eloquence or oratory. But he had courage, determination, and +honesty. He believed the time had come to arrest the progress and +extension of slavery. He knew that the two-million bill was urged +by the President because he wished to use the money to promote the +acquisition of territory, and he determined then and there to make +a stand in favor of free soil. He thereupon, on the 8th of August, +1846, moved a _proviso_ to the two-million bill, declaring it to +be "an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any +territory from Mexico, that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude +shall ever exist therein." + +Mr. Wilmot was in the first session of his first Congress, was but +thirty-three years of age, and up to that moment had not been known +beyond his district. His amendment made his name familiar at once +throughout the length and breadth of the Republic. No question +had arisen since the slavery agitation of 1820 that was so elaborately +debated. The Wilmot Proviso absorbed the attention of Congress +for a longer time than the Missouri Compromise: it produced a wider +and deeper excitement in the country, and it threatened a more +serious danger to the peace and integrity of the Union. The +consecration of the territory of the United States to freedom became +from that day a rallying cry for every shade of anti-slavery +sentiment. If it did not go as far as the Abolitionists in their +extreme and uncompromising faith might demand, it yet took a long +step forward, and afforded the ground on which the battle of the +giants was to be waged, and possibly decided. The feeling in all +sections became intense on the issue thus presented, and it proved +a sword which cleft asunder political associations that had been +close and intimate for a lifetime. Both the old parties were +largely represented on each side of the question. The Northern +Whigs, at the outset, generally sustained the proviso, and the +Northern Democrats divided, with the majority against it. In the +slave States both parties were against it, only two men south of +Mason and Dixon's line voting for free soil,--John M. Clayton of +Delaware in the Senate, and Henry Grider of Kentucky in the House. +Mr. Grider re-entered Congress as a Republican after the war. +Among the conspicuous Whigs who voted for the proviso were Joseph +R. Ingersoll and James Pollock of Pennsylvania, Washington Hunt of +New York, Robert C. Winthrop of Massachusetts, Robert C. Schenck +of Ohio, and Truman Smith of Connecticut. Among the Democrats were +Hannibal Hamlin, and all his colleagues from Maine, Simon Cameron +of Pennsylvania, Preston King of New York, John Wentworth of +Illinois, Allen G. Thurman of Ohio, and Robert McClelland of +Michigan, afterwards Secretary of the Interior under President +Pierce. + +Mr. Webster voted for the proviso, but with gloomy apprehensions. +He could "see little of the future, and that little gave him no +satisfaction." He spoke with portentous gravity, and arrested the +attention of the country by the solemnity of his closing words: +"All I can scan is contention, strife, and agitation. The future +is full of difficulties and full of dangers. We appear to be +rushing on perils headlong, and with our eyes all open." There +was a singular disagreement between the speech and the vote of Mr. +Webster. The speech indicated his real position. His vote was in +deference to the opinion of Massachusetts. The most conspicuous +Northern Whigs who voted against the proviso were Alexander Ramsey +of Pennsylvania, since the distinguished Republican senator from +Minnesota, and Secretary of War under President Hayes; and Samuel +F. Vinton of Ohio, one of the oldest and ablest representatives in +Congress. + +The House attached the proviso to the two-million bill, and thus +defeated it for the session. The Democratic Senate took it up on +the day fixed for final adjournment. The majority were not willing +to accept the appropriation with the anti-slavery condition upon +it, and John Davis of Massachusetts, fearing if the bill went back +to the House the proviso might on reconsideration be defeated, +deliberately held the floor until the session expired. In the next +session the two-million bill, increased to three millions, was +passed without the proviso, the administration being strong enough, +with the persuasions of its patronage, to defeat the anti-slavery +amendment in both branches. + +During the proceedings on the three-million bill, an interesting +and instructive incident occurred. The venerable John Quincy Adams +appeared in the House for the first time during the session, on +the 13th of February (1847), having been detained by a very severe +illness. As he passed inside the door the entire House voluntarily +rose, business was suspended, and Mr. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee +(afterwards President of the United States), addressing the Chair, +said, that in compliance with the understanding with which he +selected a seat at the beginning of the session, he now tendered +it to the venerable member from Massachusetts, and congratulated +him on being spared to return to the House. Mr. Adams, enfeebled +by disease, tremulous with age, returned his thanks, regretting +that he had not "voice to respond to the congratulations of his +friends for the honor which had been done him." Among those who +paid this unusual, indeed unprecedented, mark of respect to a fellow- +member, were many from the South, who within a few years had voted +to censure Mr. Adams, and had endeavored in every way to heap +obloquy upon him for his persistent course in presenting anti- +slavery petitions. Spontaneous in impulse, momentary in duration, +simple in form, it was yet one of the most striking tributes ever +paid to moral dignity and lofty character. + + PUBLIC LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. + +Mr. Adams was nearing the end of his illustrious life, and a year +later was stricken down in the seat which had been so graciously +tendered him. His career was in many respects remarkable. He had +been minister to five different European courts, senator of the +United States, appointed to the Supreme Bench, had been eight years +Secretary of State, and four years President. His opportunities +were great, his advantages rare, his natural abilities strong. To +those he added a high standard of morality, and a love and endurance +of labor possessed by few. But it may fairly be doubted whether, +if his Presidency had closed his public life, his fame would have +attracted special observation. He would scarcely have ranked above +Monroe, and would have borne no comparison with Madison. In the +Senate he had made no impression. His service abroad was one of +industrious routine. His career as Secretary of State was not +specially distinguished. The only two treaties of marked importance +that were negotiated during his incumbency, were carried, on test +questions, by the Cabinet against his judgment. His dispatches +have been little quoted as precedents. His diplomatic discussions +were not triumphs. Indeed, he was not felicitous with his pen, +and suffers by contrast with some who preceded him and many who +followed him in that office. But in his sixty-fifth year, when +the public life of the most favored draws to a close, the noble +and shining career of Mr. Adams began. He entered the House of +Representatives in 1831, and for the remainder of his life, a period +of seventeen years, he was the one grand figure in that assembly. +His warfare against those who would suppress free speech, his heroic +contest in favor of the right of the humblest to petition for +redress of grievances, are among the memorable events in the +parliamentary history of the United States. The amplitude of his +knowledge, his industry, his unflagging zeal, his biting sarcasm, +his power to sting and destroy without himself showing passion, +made a combination of qualities as rare as it was formidable. His +previous career had been one of eminent respectability, to be coldly +admired and forgotten. His service in the House gave him a name +as enduring as the Republic whose history he adorned. + +In breadth and thoroughness of learning, Mr. Adams surpassed all +his contemporaries in public life. His essays, orations, and +addresses were surprisingly numerous, and upon a great variety of +subjects. It cannot be said, however, that he contributed any +thing to the permanent literature of the country. Nor, in a true +estimate of his extraordinary career in Congress, can it be asserted +that he attained the first rank as a parliamentary debater. It +must be borne in mind that much of his fame in the House of +Representatives was derived from the nature of the one question +with which he became so conspicuously identified. It was in large +degree the moral courage of his position which first fixed the +attention of the country and then attracted its admiration. The +men with whom he had exciting scenes in regard to the "right of +petition" and its cognate issues were in no case the leading +statesmen of the day. Wise, Bynum, Dromgoole, Pinckney, Lewis, +Thomas F. Marshall, and the other Southern representatives with +whom Mr. Adams came in conflict, were ready and brilliant men, but +were far below the first rank of debaters. Indeed, with few +exceptions, the really eminent debaters were in the Senate during +the period of Mr. Adams's service in the House. Mr. Clay, Mr. +Webster, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Benton, Mr. Hayne, Mr. Silas Wright, Mr. +Crittenden, Mr. Ewing, Mr. Watkins Leigh, Mr. Rives, Mr. Choate, +Mr. John M. Clayton, Mr. Berrien, were an altogether higher and +abler class of men than those with whom Mr. Adams had his frequent +wrangles in the House. The weapons which he so successfully employed +against the young "fire-eaters" would have proved pointless and +valueless in a contest with any one of the eminent men who in that +long period gave character to the Senate. + +The only time Mr. Adams ever crossed swords in the House with a +man of commanding power was in the famous discussion of January, +1836, with George Evans of Maine. Mr. Adams had made a covert but +angry attack on Mr. Webster for his opposition to the Fortification +Bill in the preceding Congress, when President Jackson was making +such energetic demonstrations of his readiness to go to war with +France. To the surprise of his best friends, Mr. Adams warmly +sustained Jackson in his belligerent correspondence with the +government of Louis Philippe. His position probably cost him a +seat in the United States Senate for which he was then a candidate. +Mr. Webster preferred John Davis, who had the preceding year beaten +Mr. Adams in the contest for governor of Massachusetts. These +circumstances were believed at the time to be the inciting cause +for the assault on Mr. Webster. The duty of replying devolved on +Mr. Evans. The debate attracted general attention, and the victory +of Mr. Evans was everywhere recognized. The _Globe_ for the Twenty- +fourth Congress contains a full report of both speeches. The +stirring events of forty years have not destroyed their interest +or their freshness. The superior strength, the higher order of +eloquence, the greater mastery of the art of debate, will be found +in the speech of Mr. Evans. + + GEORGE EVANS AS A DEBATER. + +As a parliamentary debater, using that term in its true signification +and with its proper limitations, George Evans is entitled to high +rank. He entered the House in 1829, at thirty-two years of age, +and served until 1841, when he was transferred to the Senate. He +retired from that body in 1847. Upon entering the Senate, he was +complimented with a distinction never before or since conferred on +a new member. He was placed at the head of the Committee on Finance, +taking rank above the long list of prominent Whigs, who then composed +the majority in the chamber. The tenacity with which the rights +of seniority are usually maintained by senators enhances the value +of the compliment to Mr. Evans. Mr. Clay, who had been serving as +chairman of the committee, declined in his favor with the remark +that "Mr. Evans knew more about the finances than any other public +man in the United States." The ability and skill displayed by Mr. +Evans in carrying the tariff bill of 1842 through the Senate, fully +justified the high encomiums bestowed by Mr. Clay. The opposition +which he led four years after to the tariff bill of 1846 gave Mr. +Evans still higher reputation, though the measure was unexpectedly +carried by the casting vote of the Vice-President. + +When Mr. Evans's term of service drew near to its close, Mr. Webster +paid him the extraordinary commendation of saying in the Senate +that "his retirement would be a serious loss to the government and +the country." He pronounced the speech just then delivered by Mr. +Evans, on the finances, to be "incomparable." The "senator from +Maine," continued Mr. Webster, "has devoted himself especially to +studying and comprehending the revenue and finances of the country, +and he understand that subject as well as any gentleman connected +with the government since the days of Gallatin and Crawford,--nay, +as well as either of those gentlemen understood it." This was the +highest praise from the highest source! Of all who have represented +New England in the Senate, Mr. Evans, as a debater, is entitled to +rank next to Mr. Webster! + + +The next Congress met in December, 1847. Besides the venerable ex- +president, there were two future Presidents among its members-- +Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Mr. Robert C. Winthrop was +chosen Speaker. He was nominated in the Whig caucus over Samuel +F. Vinton of Ohio, because he had voted for the Wilmot Proviso, +and Mr. Vinton against it.* Mr. Vinton was senior in age and long +senior in service to Mr. Winthrop. Mr. Vinton had entered the +House in 1823 and Mr. Winthrop in 1840. Mr. Vinton had moreover +been selected as the Whig candidate for Speaker in the preceding +Congress, when that party was in minority. The decision against +him now created no little feeling in Whig circles, especially in +the West where he was widely known and highly esteemed. But, while +Mr. Winthrop was rewarded by this nomination for his vote in favor +of the Wilmot Proviso, the more pronounced anti-slavery men were +hostile to him. In the end he owed his election to timely aid from +Southern Whigs. This fact, no doubt, had its effect on Mr. Winthrop's +mind, and with other influences tended to separate him rapidly and +conclusively from the anti-slavery wing of the Whig party. + +It would, however, be unjust to Mr. Winthrop not to recognize that +the chief reason for his selection as Speaker was his pre-eminent +fitness for the important post. He was a young man, and, other +conditions being equal, young men have been uniformly preferred +for the arduous duties of the Chair. From the organization of the +government the speakers, at the time of their first election, have +been under forty-five years of age,--many, indeed, under forty. +In only four instances have men been selected beyond the age of +fifty. Mr. Clay when first chosen was but thirty-four, Mr. Polk +thirty-nine, Mr. John Bell thirty-seven, Mr. Howell Cobb thirty- +three, and Mr. Robert M. T. Hunter, the youngest man ever elected +Speaker, was but thirty. Mr. Winthrop was thirty-eight. He was +bred to the law in the office of Mr. Webster, but at twenty-five +years of age entered political life as a member of the Massachusetts +House of Representatives. He was soon after promoted to the +speakership of that body, where he earned so valuable a reputation +as a presiding officer that some of his decisions have been quoted +as precedents in the National House, and have been incorporated in +permanent works on Parliamentary Law. He was chosen in Congress +when he was but thirty, and was in his fifth term in the House when +he was advanced to the Speakership. As an orator he was always +graceful and effective, but never took high rank in the House as +a debater. His early life gave promise of a long public career in +Massachusetts as the successor of the older Whig leaders who were +passing off the stage. He followed Mr. Webster in the Senate for +a brief period, when the latter became Secretary of State under +Mr. Fillmore. His conservative tendencies on the Slavery question, +however, were not in harmony with the demands of public opinion in +Massachusetts, and in 1851 he was defeated for the governorship by +George S. Boutwell, and for the senatorship by Charles Sumner. +Mr. Winthrop's political career closed when he was forty-two years +of age. + + WHIGS ABANDON THE WILMOT PROVISO. + +The events of the year 1847 had persuaded the Whig leaders that, +if they persisted in the policy embodied in the Wilmot Proviso, +they would surrender all power to control the ensuing Presidential +election. By clever management and the avoidance of issues which +involved the slavery question, they felt reasonably sure of the +votes of Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee, +with a probability of securing Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida. +To throw these States away by an anti-slavery crusade was to accept +inevitable defeat, and disband the Whig party. Mr. Winthrop was +therefore representing the prevailing wishes of Northern Whigs when +he used his influence to restrain rather than promote the development +of the anti-slavery policy which had been initiated with such vigor. +The result of this change was soon visible. In the preceding House, +with a large Democratic majority, the Wilmot Proviso had been +adopted. In the Whig House, over which Mr. Winthrop presided, it +was found impossible to repeat the vote during the preparations +for the national contest then impending. The treaty of Guadalupe +Hidalgo, by which we acquired a vast territory from Mexico, was +ratified by the Senate, and the House voted the fifteen millions +demanded by it without adding a restriction of any kind on the +subject of slavery. Every acre of the nine hundred thousand square +miles was free territory while under the rule of Mexico, and the +Commissioners of that government were extremely anxious that the +United States should give a guaranty that its character in this +respect should not be changed. They urged that to see slavery +recognized upon soil once owned by Mexico would be so abhorrent to +that government as it would be to the United States to see the +Spanish Inquisition established upon it. Mr. Nicholas F. Trist, +the American commissioner, gave a reply which a free Republic reads +with increasing amazement. He declared that if the territory +proposed to be ceded "were increased tenfold in value, and, in +addition to that, covered a foot thick with pure gold, on the single +condition that slavery should be forever excluded," he would not +"entertain the offer for a moment, nor even think of sending it to +his government. No American President would dare to submit such +a treaty to the Senate." + +With this suppression, if not indeed re-action, of the popular +feeling in the North, on the subject of slavery, the two great +parties approached the Presidential election of 1848. Each was +under peculiar embarrassment in the selection of a candidate, and +the presentation of the principles on which support was to be asked. +The anomaly presented in the Congressional election of 1846, where +an administration conducting a successful war was defeated before +the people, promised to be repeated. The Democratic party had +precipitated the war, had organized the military force that prosecuted +it, had controlled its immense patronage, and had brought it to a +victorious conclusion, yet had gained no political strength in the +country. The two gallant soldiers who had so largely shared, if +indeed they had not absorbed, its glory, were Whigs, and both were +in ill-humor with the administration. After the battle of Buena +Vista, Taylor's victorious progress had been checked and his army +crippled by orders from Washington, which reduced his force, and +turned the Regulars over to Scott. Scott ended his brilliant +campaign in a flagrant quarrel with the Secretary of War, and was +summoned home peremptorily with the prospect of a court-martial. +He was ordered to leave General William O. Butler, a Democratic +general, in command of the army in the city of Mexico after resistance +had ceased. + + DEMOCRATIC OFFICERS IN MEXICAN WAR. + +The administration had obviously endeavored from the first to create +a Democratic hero out of the war. Authorized to appoint a large +number of officers in the increased military force, raised directly +by the United States, an unjust discrimination was made in favor +of Democrats. Thus William O. Butler, John A. Quitman, and Gideon +J. Pillow, prominent Democratic leaders in their respective States, +were appointed Major-generals directly from civil life. Joseph +Lane, James Shields, Franklin Pierce, George Cadwalader, Caleb +Cushing, Enos D. Hopping, and Sterling Price, were selected for +the high rank of Brigadier-general. Not one Whig was included, +and not one of the Democratic appointees had seen service in the +field, or possessed the slightest pretension to military education. +Such able graduates of West Point as Henry Clay, jun., and William +R. McKee, were compelled to seek service through State appointments +in volunteer regiments, while Albert Sidney Johnston, subsequently +proved to be one of the ablest commanders ever sent from the Military +Academy, could not obtain a commission from the General Government. +In the war between Mexico and Texas, by which the latter had secured +its independence, Johnston had held high command, and was perhaps +the best equipped soldier, both by education and service, to be +found in the entire country outside the regular army at the time +of the Mexican war. General Taylor urged the President to give +Johnston command of one of the ten new regiments. Johnston took +no part in politics; but his eminent brother, Josiah Stoddard +Johnston, long a senator from Louisiana, was Mr. Clay's most intimate +friend in public life, and General Taylor's letter was not even +answered. The places were wanted for adherents of the administration, +and Tibbatts of Kentucky, Jere Clemens of Alabama, Milledge L. +Bonham of South Carolina, Seymour of Connecticut, and men of that +grade,--eminent in civil life, active partisans, but with no military +training,--were preferred to the most experienced soldiers. This +fact disfigures the energetic record of Mr. Marcy as secretary of +War, and was eminently discreditable to the President and all his +advisers. + +Perhaps the most inexcusable blunder of the administration was the +attempt to take Thomas H. Benton from the Senate, where he was +honored, eminent, and useful, make him Lieutenant-general, and send +him out to Mexico to supersede both Scott and Taylor in command of +the army. The bill to enable this to be done actually passed the +House. When under discussion in that branch, a prominent Democratic +member from Ohio declared, as one reason for passing the bill, that +two of the generals are opposed politically to the Democratic party, +and "by their own acts or those of their friends are candidates +for the Presidency." The evident basis of this argument was, that +the Mexican war being a Democratic venture, no Whig had the right +to profit by it. The bill was fortunately stopped in the Senate, +though that body at the time had a Democratic majority. The measure +was killed by one convincing speech from Mr. Badger of North +Carolina. The senators knew Colonel Benton's temper and temperament, +and understood how completely unfitted he was for military command, +and how his appointment would demoralize and practically destroy +the army. To the end of his life, however, Colonel Benton himself +believed a serious mistake had been made. He had been commissioned +colonel in the war of 1812, but though of unquestioned bravery, +and deeply read in military science, it had never been his fortune +to engage in battle, or to see the face of an enemy. Yet in the +autobiographical sketch which precedes his "Thirty Years' View," +he complacently assured himself that his appointment as Lieutenant- +general over Scott and Taylor "could not have wounded professional +honor," as at the time of his retiring from the army he "ranked +all those who have since reached its head." + + WHIG OPPOSITION TO GENERAL TAYLOR. + +But all the efforts to make a Democratic hero out of the war failed. +The line-officers appointed from civil life behaved gallantly. +The volunteers under their command were exceptionally excellent,-- +almost competent themselves to the conduct of a campaign. The +political generals who vaulted from law-offices into the command +of brigades and divisions were furnished by the War Department with +staff-officers carefully chosen from the best educated and most +skillful of the regular army. All would not suffice, however, to +displace Taylor and Scott from the post of chief heroes. "Old +Rough and Ready," as Taylor was called by his troops, became a +popular favorite of irresistible strength, and in the Whig convention +of 1848 was chosen over Mr. Clay as the standard-bearer of his +party. He was placed before the people on his record as a soldier, +unhampered by the political declarations which make up the modern +platform. Mr. Clay had expected the nomination, and General Scott +had offered to run on the same ticket as Vice-President; but against +the constantly rising tide of Taylor's popularity both ordinary +and extraordinary political combinations gave way. Even the Kentucky +delegation divided,--in accordance with Mr. Crittenden's judgment, +though not by his advice. To the overwhelming chagrin and +mortification of Mr. Clay, a man unknown in political circles was +preferred as the candidate of the party of which he felt himself +to have been the creator. Mr. Clay was enraged by the result, and +never became reconciled to it. Though he gave in the end a quiet +vote at the polls for Taylor, he stubbornly refused during the +campaign to open his lips or write a word in favor of his election. +Mr. Webster, though without the keen personal disappointment of +Mr. Clay, was equally discontented with the nomination. He had +spoken in a semi-public way for several months previous to the +convention, of the folly of nominating "a swearing, swaggering, +frontier colonel" for the Presidency,--an allusion to General +Taylor, which was scandalously unjust, and which was contradicted +by his whole life. When Taylor was finally nominated, Mr. Webster +resented the selection as an indignity to the statesmen of the Whig +party. His only ray of comfort was the defeat of Abbott Lawrence +for the Vice-Presidency by Millard Fillmore. Mr. Lawrence was a +man of wealth, the most prominent manufacturer at the time in the +country, of high personal character, and of wide political influence. +He was the leading Taylor-Whig in New England, and his course had +given offense to Mr. Webster to such an extent indeed, that on a +public occasion, after the Presidential election, he referred to +Mr. Lawrence in an unfriendly and discourteous manner. + +The situation became still further complicated. The Whigs believed +they had avoided the responsibility of positive declaration on +either side of the issue embodied in the Wilmot Proviso, by selecting +a military hero as their candidate. In the phrase of the day, he +could make a "Star and Stripe" canvass, with fair chance of success, +on both sides of Mason and Dixon's line. There was loss to be +incurred by either course. The Whig managers saw plainly that an +anti-slavery policy would give almost the entire South to the +Democrats, and a pro-slavery policy would rend the Whig party +throughout the North. They wisely concluded, if the canvass were +merely a game to win votes, that the non-committal plan was the +safe one. But this evasive course was not wholly successful. +There was a considerable body of men in New England, and especially +in Massachusetts, known as "Conscience Whigs," who had deep +convictions on the subject of slavery, and refused to support +General Taylor. Conspicuous among these were Henry Wilson, E. +Rockwood Hoar, and Charles Francis Adams. A defection of the same +kind among the Whigs of New York was prevented by the active +influence of Mr. Seward, but it developed rapidly in the northern +section of Ohio. Throughout the country the Whigs began to fear +that a mistake had been made, and that the old leaders had been +thrown overboard without due thought of the consequences. Mr. +Clay's private correspondence exhibited unmistakable gratification +at this aspect of affairs, for he felt assured that the influential +Whigs who were now organizing against Taylor would have supported +him as cordially as they had done in 1844. + +These troubles in the Whig ranks tended, of course, to encourage +the Democrats, and to give them for a time great promise of success. +The selection of their own candidate, however, had not been unattended +with difficulty and dissension. Mr. Polk was from the first out +of the question,--verifying the Scripture that those who draw the +sword shall perish by the sword. The war inaugurated by him had +been completely successful; "a glorious peace," as it was termed, +had been conquered; a vast addition to our territory had been +accomplished. Yet by common consent, in which Mr. Polk had gracefully +concurred in advance, it was admitted that he was not available +for re-election. He had sown the dragon's teeth, and the armed +men who sprang forth wrested his sceptre from him. But it would +not be candid to ascribe his disability solely to events connected +with the war. He had pursued the most unwise course in dealing +with the New-York Democracy, and had for himself hopelessly divided +the party. He made the great blunder of not recognizing the strength +and leadership of Van Buren and Silas Wright. He had been led to +distrust them, had always felt aggrieved that Wright refused to +run on his ticket as Vice-President, and was annoyed by the fact +that, as candidate for governor, Wright received several thousand +votes more than the electoral ticket which represented his own +fortunes. This fact came to him in a manner which deeply impressed +it upon his memory. At that time, before railroad or telegraph +had hastened the transmission of news beyond the Alleghanies, Mr. +Polk in his Tennessee home was in an agony of doubt as to the result +in New York. The first intelligence that reached him announced +the certain victory of Wright, but left the electoral ticket +undecided, with very unpleasant rumors of his own defeat. When at +last the returns showed that he had a plurality of five thousand +in New York, and was chosen President, it did not suffice to remove +the deep impressions of those few days in which, either in the +gloom of defeat or in the torture of suspense, he feared that he +had been betrayed by the Barnburners of New York as a revenge for +Van Buren's overthrow at Baltimore. As matter of fact the suspicion +was absolutely groundless. The contest for governor between Silas +Wright and Millard Fillmore called out intense feeling, and the +former had the advantage of personal popularity over the latter +just as Mr. Clay had over Mr. Polk. Mr. Wright's plurality was +but five thousand greater than Mr. Polk's, and this only proved +that among half a million voters there may have been twenty-five +hundred who preferred Mr. Clay for President and Mr. Wright for +governor. + + PRESIDENT POLK AND MR. VAN BUREN. + +But there was no manifestation of feeling or apparent withholding +of confidence on the part of Mr. Polk when the result was finally +proclaimed. On the contrary he offered the Treasury Department to +Mr. Wright, feeling assured in advance, as the uncharitable thought, +that Wright could not leave the governorship to accept it. When +the office was declined, Mr. Polk again wrote Mr. Wright, asking +his advice as to the New-York member of the cabinet. Mr. Wright +submitted the names of three men from whom wise choice could be +made,--Benjamin F. Butler, who had been attorney-general under +President Jackson; John A. Dix, then recently chosen to the United- +States Senate; and Azariah C. Flagg, eminent in the party, and +especially distinguished for his administration of financial trust. +Mr. Polk, under other and adverse influence, saw fit to disregard +Mr. Wright's counsel, and selected William L. Marcy, who was hostile +to Wright, and distrusted by Van Buren, for Secretary of War. From +that moment the fate of Mr. Polk as candidate for re-election was +sealed. The cause might seem inadequate, but the effect was +undeniable. The Democratic party at the outbreak of the civil war, +sixteen years afterwards, had not wholly recovered from the divisions +and strifes which sprung from the disregard of Mr. Van Buren's +wishes at that crisis. No appointment to Mr. Polk's cabinet could +have been more distasteful than that of Mr. Marcy. He had lost +the State during Mr. Van Buren's Presidency in the contest for the +governorship against Mr. Seward in 1838, and thus laid the foundation, +as Mr. Van Buren believed, for his own disastrous defeat in 1840. +The disputes which arose from Marcy's appointment in the cabinet +led to Wright's defeat for re-election in 1846, when John Young, +the Whig candidate, was chosen governor of New York. To three men +in the cabinet the friends of Mr. Wright ascribed the Democratic +overthrow,--Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Robert J. Walker, and Mr. Marcy,-- +each anxious for the Presidency, and each feeling that Mr. Wright +was in his way. Mr. Wright died suddenly the year after his defeat, +and it was supposed for a time that harmony in the New-York Democracy +might be restored over his grave. But his friends survived, and +their grief was the measure of their resentment. + +The course of events which disabled Mr. Polk as a candidate proved +equally decisive against all the members of his cabinet; and by +the process of exclusion rather than by an enthusiastic desire +among the people, and still less among the leaders, General Cass +was selected by the Democratic Convention as candidate for the +Presidency, and William O. Butler of Kentucky for the Vice-Presidency. +The Democracy of New York, in consequence of the divisions arising +under the governorship of Mr. Wright, sent two full delegations to +the convention, bearing credentials from separate organizations. +The friends of Mr. Marcy bore the name of Hunkers; the followers +of Mr. Wright ranged themselves under the title of Barnburners,-- +distinctions which had prevailed for some years in New York. It +was in fact the old division on the annexation of Texas, and now +represented the pro-slavery and the anti-slavery wing of the +Democratic party. The National Convention sought in vain to bridge +the difficulty by admitting both delegations, giving to them united +the right to cast the vote of the State. But the Barnburners +declined thus to compromise a principle. On a question of bread, +the half-loaf is preferable to starvation, but when political honor +and deep personal feeling are involved, so material an adjustment +is not practicable. The Barnburners retired from the convention, +disclaimed all responsibility for its conclusions, and proceeded +in due time to organize against the ticket of Cass and Butler. +The Hunkers, left in the convention as the sole representatives of +the New-York Democracy, were startled at the situation and declined +to vote. They were anxious that the nomination of Cass should not +appear to be forced on the Barnburners by the rival faction. It +thus happened that New York, which for twenty years under the +skillful leadership of Mr. Van Buren had dictated the course of +the Democracy, was now so shorn of influence through the factions +engendered by his defeat, that a Presidential nomination was made, +not only without her lead, but without her aid or participation. + + CASS BOLTED BY VAN BUREN'S FRIENDS. + +The Democratic candidate was a man of high character. He had served +creditably in the early part of the war of 1812, had been governor +of Michigan Territory from 1813 to 1831, had been five years +Secretary of War under General Jackson, and had gone to France as +minister in 1836. He remained at the court of Louis Philippe, +where he received eminent consideration, for six years. When he +returned to this country in 1842, at sixty years of age, he +undoubtedly intended to re-enter political life. He landed at +Boston, and was received with enthusiasm by the New-England Democrats, +especially of that class who had not been in special favor during +the long rule of Jackson and his successor. Popular ovations were +arranged for him as he journeyed westward, and, by the time he +reached his home in Detroit, General Cass was publicly recognized +as a candidate for the Presidency. These facts did not escape the +jealous and watchful eye of Mr. Van Buren. He was aggrieved by +the course of General Cass, feeling assured that its direct effect +would be to injure himself, and not to promote the political fortunes +of the General. But the rivalry continued to develop. Cass remained +in the field, a persistent candidate for nomination, and in the +end proved to be, perhaps, the most powerful factor in the combination +which secured the triumph of Polk. He had deeply wounded Mr. Van +Buren, and, as the latter thought, causelessly and cruelly. He +had disregarded a personal and political friendship of thirty years' +duration, and had sundered ties which life was too short to re- +unite. Cass had gained no victory. He had only defeated old +friends, and the hour of retribution was at hand. + +When the delegation of Barnburners withdrew from the Baltimore +Convention of 1848, they were obviously acting in harmony with Mr. +Van Buren's wishes. Had they been admitted, according to their +peremptory demand, as the sole delegation from New York, they could +have defeated Cass in the convention, and forced the nomination of +some new man unconnected with the grievances and enmities of 1844. +But when the demand of the Barnburners was denied, and they were +asked to make common cause with the assassins of Wright, as James +S. Wadsworth had denominated the Hunkers, the indignantly shook +the dust of the city from off their feet, returned to New York, +and forthwith called a Democratic convention to meet at Utica on +the 22d of June. + +Before the time arrived for the Utica Convention to assemble, the +anti-slavery revolt was widely extended, and was, apparently, no +less against Taylor than against Cass. There was agitation in many +States, and the Barnburners found that by uniting with the opposition +against both the old parties, a most effective combination could +be made. It was certain to profit them in New York, and it promised +the special revenge which they desired in the defeat of Cass. The +various local and State movements were merged in one great convention, +which met at Buffalo on the 9th of August, with imposing demonstrations. +Many of those composing it had held high rank in the old parties. +Salmon P. Chase of Ohio was selected as president. The convention +represented a genuine anti-slavery sentiment, and amid excitement +and enthusiasm Martin Van Buren was nominated for President, and +Charles Francis Adams for Vice-President. The Barnburners, the +anti-slavery Whigs, and the old Abolitionists, co-operated with +apparent harmony under the general name of the Free-soil party; +and the impression with many when the convention adjourned was, +that Mr. Van Buren would have a plurality over both Cass and Taylor +in the State of New York. The management of the popular canvass +was intrusted to Democratic partisans of the Silas Wright school, +and this fact had a significant and unexpected influence upon the +minds of anti-slavery Whigs. + +In the first flush of the excitement, the supporters of the regular +Democratic nominee were not alarmed. They argued, not illogically, +that the Free-soil ticket would draw more largely from the Whigs +than from the Democrats, and thus very probably injure Taylor more +than Cass. But in a few weeks this hope was dispelled. The Whigs +of the country had been engaged for a long period in an earnest +political warfare against Mr. Van Buren. In New York the contest +had been personal and acrimonious to the last degree, and ordinary +human nature could hardly be expected the bury at once the grievances +and resentments of a generation. Nor did the Whigs confide in the +sincerity of Mr. Van Buren's anti-slavery conversion. His repentance +was late, and even the most charitable suspected that his desire +to punish Cass had entered largely into the motives which suddenly +aroused him to the evils of slavery after forty years of quiet +acquiescence in all the demands of the South. Mr. Seward, who +possessed the unbounded confidence of the anti-slavery men of New +York, led a most earnest canvass in favor of General Taylor, and +was especially successful in influencing Whigs against Van Buren. +In this he was aided by the organizing skill of Thurlow Weed, and +by the editorial power of Horace Greeley. Perhaps in no other +National election did three men so completely control the result. +They gave the vote of New York to General Taylor, and made him +President of the United States. + + MR. WEBSTER'S MARSHFIELD SPEECH. + +At an opportune moment for the success of the Whigs, Mr. Webster +decided to support General Taylor. He thoroughly distrusted Cass, +--not in point of integrity, but of discretion and sound judgment +as a statesman. He had rebuked Cass severely in a diplomatic +correspondence touching the Treaty of Washington, when he was +Secretary of State and Cass minister to France. The impression +then derived had convinced him that the Democratic candidate was +not the man whom a Whig could desire to see in the Presidential +chair. In Mr. Van Buren's anti-slavery professions, Mr. Webster +had no confidence. He said pleasantly, but significantly, that +"if he and Mr. Van Buren should meet under the Free-soil flag, the +latter with his accustomed good-nature would laugh." He added, +with a touch of characteristic humor, "that the leader of the Free- +spoil party suddenly becoming the leader of the Free-soil party is +a joke to shake his sides and mine." Distrusting him sincerely on +the anti-slavery issue, Mr. Webster showed that on every other +question Mr. Van Buren was throughly objectionable to the Whigs. + +The Marshfield speech, as this effort was popularly known at the +time, had great influence with the Northern Whigs. Mr. Webster +did not conceal his belief that General Taylor's nomination was +"one not fit to be made," but by the clearest of logic he demonstrated +that he was infinitely to be preferred to either of his competitors. +Mr. Webster at that time had the confidence of the anti-slavery +Whigs in a large degree; he had voted for the Wilmot Proviso, and +his public course had been that of a just and conservative expositor +of their advanced opinion. From the day of the Marshfield speech, +the belief was general that Van Buren would draw far more largely +from the Democrats than from the Whigs; that his candidacy would +give the State of New York to Taylor, and thus elect him President. +The loss of Whig votes was not distasteful to Mr. Van Buren after +the prospect of his securing the electors of New York had vanished. +Had he drawn in equal proportion from the two parties, his candidacy +would have had no effect. It would have neutralized itself, and +left the contest between Cass and Taylor as though he had not +entered the race. By a rule of influence, whose working is obvious, +the tenacity of the Democratic adherents of Van Buren increased as +the Whigs withdrew. The contest between Cass and Van Buren finally +became in New York, in very large degree, a struggle between +Democratic factions, in which the anti-slavery profession was an +instrumentality to be temporarily used, and not a principle to be +permanently upheld. As the Whigs left Van Buren, the Democrats +left Cass, and the end of the canvass gave a full measure of +satisfaction, not only to the supporters of Taylor, but to the +followers of Van Buren, who polled a larger vote for him than was +given to Cass. New York, as in 1844, decided the contest. The +friends of Van Buren had not simply beaten Cass at the polls, they +had discredited him as a party leader. In the pithy phrase of John +Van Buren, they had exposed him to the country as the candidate +"powerful for mischief, powerless for good." + +The total vote of New York was, for Taylor, 218,603; for Cass, +114,318; for Van Buren, 120,510. The canvass for the governorship +was scarcely less exciting than that for the Presidency. Hamilton +Fish was the Whig candidate; John A. Dix, then a senator of the +United States, ran as the representative of Mr. Van Buren's Free- +soil party; while the eminent Chancellor Walworth, who had recently +lost his judicial position, was nominated as a supporter of Cass +by the Regular Democracy. Mr. Fish had been candidate for Lieutenant- +governor two years before on the Whig ticket with John Young, and +was defeated because of his outspoken views against the Anti-Renters. +Those radical agitators instinctively knew that the descendant of +Stuyvesant would support the inherited rights of the Van Rensselaers, +and therefore defeated Mr. Fish while they elected the Whig candidates +for other offices. Mr. Fish now had his abundant reward in receiving +as large a vote as General Taylor, and securing nearly one hundred +thousand plurality over the Van Buren candidate, while he in turn +received a small plurality over the representative of General Cass. + +The result of the two contests left the Van Buren wing, or the +Barnburners, in majority over the Hunkers, and gave them an advantage +in future contests for supremacy, inside the party. Truthful +history will hold this to have been the chief object of the struggle +with many who vowed allegiance at Buffalo to an anti-slavery creed +strong enough to satisfy Joshua R. Giddings and Charles Sumner. +With Cass defeated, and the Marcy wing of the party severely +disciplined, the great mass of the Van Buren host of 1848 were +ready to disavow their political escapade at Buffalo. Dean Richmond, +Samuel J. Tilden, John Van Buren, C. C. Cambreleng, and Sanford E. +Church, forgot their anti-slavery professions, reunited with the +old party, and vowed afresh their fidelity to every principle +against which they had so earnestly protested. Mr. Van Buren +himself went with them, and to the end of his life maintained a +consistent pro-slavery record, which, throughout a long public +career was varied only by the insincere professions which he found +it necessary to make in order to be revenged on Cass. But it would +be unjust to include in this condemnation all the New-York Democrats +who went into the Buffalo movement. Many were honest and earnest, +and in after life followed the principles which they had then +professed. Chief among these may be reckoned Preston King, who +exerted a powerful influence in the anti-slavery advances of after +years, and James S. Wadsworth, who gave his name, and generously +of his wealth, to the cause, and finally sealed his devotion with +his blood on the battle-field of the Wilderness. + + CHARACTER OF MR. VAN BUREN. + +Mr. Van Buren spent the remainder of his life in dignified retirement +--surviving until his eightieth year, in 1862. In point of mere +intellectual force, he must rank below the really eminent men with +whom he was so long associated in public life. But he was able, +industrious, and, in political management, clever beyond any man +who has thus far appeared in American politics. He had extraordinary +tact in commending himself to the favor and confidence of the +people. Succeeding to political primacy in New York on the death +of De Witt Clinton in 1828, he held absolute control of his party +for twenty years, and was finally overthrown by causes whose origin +was beyond the limits of his personal influence. He stood on the +dividing-line between the mere politician and the statesman,-- +perfect in the arts of the one, possessing largely the comprehensive +power of the other. His active career began in 1812, and ended in +1848. During the intervening period he had served in the Legislature +of New York, had been a member of the Constitutional Convention of +1820, had been attorney-general of the State, and had been chosen +its governor. In the national field he had been senator of the +United States, Secretary of State, minister to England, Vice- +President, and President. No other man in the country has held so +many great places. He filled them all with competency and with +power, but marred his illustrious record by the political episode +of 1848, in which, though he may have had some justification for +revenge on unfaithful associates in his old party, he had none for +his lack of fidelity to new friends, and for his abandonment of a +sacred principle which he had pledged himself to uphold. + +[* NOTE.--An error of statement occurs on page 72, Volume I, in +regard to the action of the Whig caucus for Speaker in December, +1847. Mr. Winthrop was chosen after Mr. Vinton had declined, and +was warmly supported by Mr. Vinton. The error came from an +incorrect account of the caucus in a newspaper of that time.] + + +CHAPTER V. + +Review (_continued_).--Contrast between General Taylor and General +Cass.--The Cabinet of President Taylor.--Political Condition of +the Country.--Effect produced by the Discovery of Gold in California. +--Convening of Thirty-first Congress.--Election of Howell Cobb as +Speaker.--President Taylor's Message.--His Recommendations Distasteful +to the South.--Illustrious Membership of the Senate.--Mr. Clay and +the Taylor Administration.--Mr. Calhoun's Last Speech in the Senate. +--His Death.--His Character and Public Services.--Mr. Webster's +7th of March Speech.--Its Effect upon the Public and upon Mr. +Webster.--Mr. Clay's Committee of Thirteen.--The Omnibus Bill.-- +Conflict with General Taylor's Administration.--Death of the +President.--Mr. Fillmore reverses Taylor's Policy and supports the +Compromise Measures.--Defeat of Compromise Bill.--Passage of the +Measures separately.--Memorable Session of Congress.--Whig and +Democratic Parties sustain the Compromise Measures.--National +Conventions.--Whigs nominate Winfield Scott over Fillmore.--Mr. +Clay supports Fillmore.--Mr. Webster's Friends.--Democrats nominate +Franklin Pierce.--Character of the Campaign.--Overwhelming Defeat +of Scott.--Destruction of the Whig Party.--Death of Mr. Clay.-- +Death of Mr. Webster.--Their Public Characters and Services +compared. + +With the election of General Taylor, the various issues of the +slavery question were left undecided and unchanged. Indeed, the +progress of the canvass had presented a political anomaly. General +Cass was born in New England of Puritan stock. All his mature life +had been spent in the free North-West. He was a lawyer, a statesman, +always a civilian, except for a single year in the volunteer service +of 1812. General Taylor was born in Virginia, was reared in +Kentucky, was a soldier by profession from his earliest years of +manhood, had passed all his life in the South, was a resident of +Louisiana, engaged in planting, and was the owner of a large number +of slaves. Yet in the face of these facts General Cass ran as the +distinctively pro-slavery candidate, and General Taylor received +three-fourths of the votes of New England, and was supported +throughout the North by the anti-slavery Whigs, who accepted William +H. Seward as a leader and Horace Greeley as an exponent. But his +contradiction was apparent, not real. It was soon found that the +confidence of the Northern men who voted for Taylor had not been +misplaced. + + CABINET OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR. + +As his inauguration approached, the anxiety in regard to his public +policy grew almost painfully intense throughout the country. There +had never been a cabinet organized in which so deep an interest +was felt,--an interest which did not attach so much to the persons +who might compose it as to the side--pro-slavery or anti-slavery-- +to which the balance might incline. When the names were announced, +it was found that four were from the south side of Mason and Dixon's +line, and three from the north side. But a review of the political +character of the members showed that the decided weight of influence +was with the North. John M. Clayton of Delaware, Secretary of +State, nominally from the South, had voted for the Wilmot Proviso, +and had defended his action with commanding ability. William M. +Meredith of Pennsylvania was one of the ablest lawyers of the +country, a scholar, a wit, an orator; his training had not, however, +fitted him for the Treasury Department to which he was called. +Thomas Ewing of Ohio, selected to organize the Department of the +Interior, just then authorized by law, was a man of intellectual +power, a lawyer of the first rank, possessing a stainless character, +great moral courage, unbending will, an incisive style, both with +tongue and pen, and a breadth of reading and wealth of information +never surpassed by any public man in America. Jacob Collamer of +Vermont, Postmaster-general, was an able, wise, just, and firm man, +stern in principle, conservative in action. The Attorney-general +was Reverdy Johnson of Maryland, an ardent Whig partisan, distinguished +in his profession, born and living in a slave State, but firmly +devoted to the Union, as in later life he abundantly proved. The +pronounced Southern sentiment, as represented by Toombs and Stephens, +had but two representatives in the cabinet,--George W. Crawford of +Georgia (nephew of the eminent William H. Crawford), Secretary of +War; and William Ballard Preston of Virginia, Secretary of the +Navy,--able and upright men, but less distinguished than their +associates. + +The country was in an expectant and restless condition. The pro- +slavery leaders, who had counted upon large political gain to their +section by the acquisition of territory from Mexico, were somewhat +discouraged, and began to fear that the South had sown, and that +the North would reap. They had hoped to establish their right by +positive legislation to enter all the territories with slave +property. If they should fail in this, they believed with all +confidence, and had good reason at the time for their faith, that +they would be able to carry the line of 36 deg. 30' to the Pacific by +an extension of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and that in this +way the political strength of their section would be vastly enhanced. +But not long after the signing of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, +an event happened which put to naught the anticipations of Southern +statesmen. Gold was discovered in California late in the autumn +of 1848, and by one of those marvels of emigration which the Anglo- +Saxon race have more than once achieved, the Pacific slope was +immediately filled with a hardy, resolute, intelligent population. +In less than a year they organized a State government, adopted a +constitution in which slavery was forever prohibited, and were +ready by the close of 1849 to apply for admission to the Union. +The inhabitants had no powers of civil government conferred by +Congress; the only authority exercised by the United States being +that of Colonel Bennett Riley of the regular army, who had been +placed in command immediately after the Treaty of Peace by President +Polk, and who was left undisturbed by President Taylor. + +Congress convened on the first Monday of December, 1849, amid deep +feeling, rapidly growing into excitement throughout the country. +For three weeks the House was unable to organize by the choice of +a speaker. The Democratic candidate was Howell Cobb; the Whig +candidate, Robert C. Winthrop. The contest was finally settled on +the sixty-third ballot, in accordance with a previous agreement +that a plurality should elect. Mr. Cobb received one hundred and +two votes; Mr. Winthrop ninety-nine, with twenty votes scattering, +principally anti-slavery Whigs and Free-Soilers. It was the first +time that such a step had been taken; and its constitutionality +was so doubtful, that after the ballot, a resolution declaring Mr. +Cobb to be speaker was adopted by general concurrence on a yea and +nay vote. + +The message of the President was immediately transmitted, and proved +a tower of strength to the friends of the Union, and a heavy blow +to the secession element, which was rampant in Congress. The +President recommended that California, with her constitution, +already known to be anti-slavery, be promptly admitted to the Union. +He also suggested that New Mexico, already better protected in +property, life, liberty, and religion than she had ever been before, +be quietly left under her existing military government until she +should form a State constitution, and apply for admission,--an +event deemed probable in the very near future. That accomplished, +as he added in a special message a few days later, the claims of +Texas to a portion of New Mexico could be judicially determined, +which could not be done while New Mexico remained a territory, +organized or unorganized. These recommendations were intensely +distasteful to the South, and grew to be correspondingly popular +in the North. The sectional feeling rapidly developed and the +agitation in Congress communicated itself to the entire country. + + THE UNITED STATES SENATE IN 1850. + +The character and eminence of the men who took part in the discussion +gave it an intense, almost dramatic interest. Mr. Clay in his +seventy-third year was again in the Senate by the unanimous vote +of the Kentucky Legislature, in the belief that his patriotic +influence was needed in the impending crisis. Webster and Cass, +natives of the same New-England State, Benton and Calhoun, natives +of the Carolinas, all born the same year and now approaching +threescore and ten, represented in their own persons almost every +phase of the impending contest. Stephen A. Douglas had entered +the preceding Congress at the early age of thirty-four, and the +ardent young Irish soldier, James Shields, was now his colleague. +Jefferson Davis had come from Mississippi with the brilliant record +of his achievements in the Mexican war, already ambitious to succeed +Mr. Calhoun as the leader of the extreme South, but foiled in his +Disunion schemes by his eloquent but erratic colleague, Henry S. +Foote. William H. Seward of New York was for the first time taking +position under the National Government, at the age of forty-nine, +and Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, five years younger, was beginning his +political career as the colleague of Thomas Corwin. John Bell was +still honorably serving Tennessee, and John McPherson Berrien was +still honoring Georgia by his service. The amiable and excellent +William R. King, who had entered the Senate when Alabama was admitted +in 1819, and who was Colonel Benton's senior in service by two +years when he resigned in 1844 to accept the French mission, now +returned, and remained until he was chosen Vice-President in 1852. +Hannibal Hamlin had entered the preceding year, and was still +leading a bitter fight on the slavery question against a formidable +element in his own party headed at home by Nathan Clifford and +represented in the Senate by his colleague, James W. Bradbury. +John P. Hale, a New-Hampshire Democrat whom Franklin Pierce had +attempted to discipline because as representative in Congress he +had opposed the annexation of Texas, had beaten Pierce before the +people, defied the Democratic party, and was promoted to the Senate +an outspoken Free-Soiler. Willie P. Mangum and George E. Badger, +able, graceful, experienced statesmen, represented the steadfast +Union sentiment of the "Old North State" Whigs; while Andrew P. +Butler, impulsive and generous, learned and able, embodied all the +heresies of the South-Carolina Nullifiers. James M. Mason, who +seemed to court the hatred of the North, and Robert M. T. Hunter, +who had the cordial respect of all sections, spoke for Virginia. +Pierre Soule came from Louisiana, eloquent even in a language he +could not pronounce, but better fitted by temperament for the +turbulence of a revolutionary assembly in his native land than for +the decorous conservatism of the American Senate. Sam Houston was +present from Texas, with a history full of adventure and singular +fortune, while his colleague, Thomas J. Rusk, was daily increasing +a reputation which had already marked him in the judgment of Mr. +Webster as first among the younger statesmen of the South. Dodge +of Wisconsin and Dodge of Iowa, father and son, represented the +Democracy of the remotest outposts in the North-West, and, most +striking of all, William M. Gwin and John C. Fremont, men of Southern +birth and pro-slavery training, stood at the door of the Senate +with the constitution of California in their hands to demand her +admission to the Union as a free State. At no time before or since +in the history of the Senate has its membership been so illustrious, +its weight of character and ability so great. The period marked +the meeting and dividing line between two generations of statesmen. +The eminent men who had succeeded the leaders of the Revolutionary +era were passing away, but the most brilliant of their number were +still lingering, unabated in natural force, resplendent in personal +fame. Their successors in public responsibility, if not their +equals in public regard and confidence, were already upon the stage +preparing for, and destined to act in, the bloodiest and most +memorable of civil struggles. + +Mr. Clay had re-entered the Senate with no cordial feelings toward +President Taylor's administration. The events of the preceding +year were too fresh, the wounds too deep, to be readily forgotten +or quickly healed. But he desired no quarrel and was incapable of +showing petty resentment. His mind was intent on harmonizing the +serious differences between North and South, and he believed the +President's plan would fall short and fail. He desired, in the +same spirit of compromise which had been so distinguishing a mark +of his statesmanship in former crises, to secure "an amicable +arrangement of _all_ questions in controversy between the free and +slave States growing out of the subject of slavery." He was so +accustomed to lead, that the senators involuntarily waited for him +to open the discussion and point the way. He as naturally accepted +the responsibility, and in January (1850) began by submitting a +series of resolutions reciting the measures which were necessary +for the pacification of all strife in the country. These resolutions +embraced the admission of California; governments for the territory +acquired from Mexico without prohibition or permission of slavery; +adjustment of the disputed boundary of Texas and the allowance of +ten millions of dollars to that State for the payment of her debt; +the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia; more +effectual provision for the restitution of fugitive slaves. + + DEATH OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. + +It was on these resolutions that Mr. Calhoun prepared his last +formal speech. He attempted to deliver it in the Senate on the +4th of March, but was so weak that he requested Mr. Mason of Virginia +to read it for him. On two or three subsequent occasions Mr. +Calhoun made brief extempore remarks showing each time a gradual +decay of strength. He died on the last day of March. Most touching +and appreciative eulogies were delivered by Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster, +after his death had been announced by his colleague, Judge Butler. +Mr. Clay spoke of his "transcendent talents," of his "clear, concise, +compact logic," of his "felicity in generalization surpassed by no +one." He intimated that he would have been glad to see Mr. Calhoun +succeed Mr. Monroe in the Presidency in 1820. Mr. Webster, who +always measured his words, spoke of him as "a man of undoubted +genius and commanding talent, of unspotted integrity, of unimpeached +honor." Mr. Calhoun had been driven by his controversies with +Jackson into a position where he was deprived of popular strength +in the free States. But this very fact enhanced his power with +the South, and increased his hold upon his own people. To the +majority of the people in the slave-holding States he was as an +inspired leader for more than twenty years. He taught the philosophy +and supplied the arguments to the ambitious generation of public +men who came after him, and who were prepared, as he was not, to +force the issue to the arbitrament of arms. Deplorable as was the +end to which his teachings led, he could not have acquired the +influence he wielded over millions of men unless he had been gifted +with acute intellect, distinguished by moral excellence, and inspired +by the sincerest belief in the righteousness of his cause. History +will adjudge him to have been single-hearted and honest in his +political creed. It will equally adjudge him to have been wrong +in his theory of the Federal Government, and dead to the awakened +sentiment of Christendom in his views concerning the enslavement +of man. + +Mr. Calhoun's published works show the extent of his participation +in the national councils. They exhibit his zeal, the intensity of +his convictions, and at the same time the clearness and strength +of his logic. His premises once admitted, it is difficult to resist +the force of his conclusions. Mr. Webster assailed his premises, +and in their debate of February 16, 1833, defeated him, as another +senator remarked, "by the acuteness of his definitions,"--thus +meeting Mr. Calhoun on his own ground. The war and its results +have in large degree remanded the theories of Mr. Calhoun to the +past, but no intelligent student of the institutions of the United +States can afford to neglect his elaborate, conscientious, able +discussions. Taken with Mr. Webster's works they exhibit the most +complete examination, the most comprehensive analysis of the often +tortuous and ill-defined line which separates the powers of the +National Government from the functions which properly belong to +the States. Mr. Calhoun's public service may be regarded as +continuous from 1810, when he was elected to Congress at twenty- +eight years of age, till his death,--a period of forty years. He +took his seat in the House in December, 1811, and was placed by +the speaker, Mr. Clay (with whom he was then in accord), on the +Committee of Foreign Affairs. He was earnest and influential in +supporting the war policy of the Madison administration, and gained +so rapidly in public estimation that six years later he was appointed +secretary of War by President Monroe. Thenceforward his career +was illustrious. As Vice-President, as secretary of State, above +all as senator from South Carolina, he gained lasting renown. His +life was eminently pure, his career exceptional, his fame established +beyond the reach of calumny, beyond the power of detraction. + + MR. WEBSTER'S 7TH OF MARCH SPEECH. + +Continuing the discussion invited by Mr. Clay's resolutions, Mr. +Webster delivered, on the 7th of March, the memorable speech which +cost him the loss of so many of his staunch and lifelong friends. +The anti-slavery Whigs of the North, who, as the discussion went +on, had waited to be vindicated by the commanding argument of Mr. +Webster, were dismayed and cast down by his unexpected utterance. +Instead of arraigning the propagandists of slavery, he arraigned +its opponents. Instead of indicting the Disunionists of the South, +the poured out his wrath upon the Abolitionists of the North. He +maintained that the North had unduly exaggerated the dangers of +slavery extension at this crisis. California was coming in as a +free State. Texas, north of 36 deg. 30', if her boundary should extend +so far, had been declared free in the articles of annexation. In +the mountainous and sterile character of New Mexico and Utah he +found a stronger prohibition of slavery than in any possible +ordinance, enactment, or proviso placed on the statute-book by +Congress. He would not, therefore, "re-enact the Law of God." He +would not force a quarrel with the South when nothing was to be +gained. He would not irritate or causelessly wound the feelings +of those who were just beginning to realize that they had lost in +the issue put at stake in the Mexican war. The speech undoubtedly +had great influence in the North, and caused many anti-slavery men +to turn back. But on the other hand, it embittered thousands who +pressed forward with sturdy principle and with a quickened zeal, +not unmixed with resentment and a sense of betrayal. In many parts +of the country, and especially in the Middle and Southern States, +the speech was received with enthusiastic approval. But in New +England, the loss of whose good opinion could not be compensated +to Mr. Webster by the applause of a world outside, he never regained +his hold upon the popular affection. New friends came to him, but +they did not supply the place of the old friends, who for a lifetime +had stood by him with unswerving principle and with ever-increasing +pride. + +Excitement and passion do not, however, always issue decrees and +pronounce judgments of absolute right. In the zeal of that hour, +Northern anti-slavery opinion failed to appreciate the influence +which wrought so powerfully on the mind of Mr. Webster. He belonged +with those who could remember the first President, who personally +knew much of the hardships and sorrows of the Revolutionary period, +who were born to poverty and reared in privation. To these, the +formation of the Federal Government had come as a gift from Heaven, +and they had heard from the lips of the living Washington in his +farewell words, that "the Union is the edifice of our real +independence, the support of our tranquillity at home, our peace +abroad, our prosperity, our safety, and of the very liberty which +we so highly prize, that for this Union we should cherish a cordial, +habitual, immovable attachment, and should discountenance whatever +may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned." +Mr. Webster had in his own lifetime seen the thirteen colonies grow +into thirty powerful States. He had seen three millions of people, +enfeebled and impoverished by a long struggle, increased eightfold +in number, surrounded by all the comforts, charms, and securities +of life. All this spoke to him of the Union and of its priceless +blessings. He now heard its advantages discussed, its perpetuity +doubted, its existence threatened. A convention of slave-holding +States had been called, to meet at Nashville, for the purpose of +considering the possible separation of the sections. Mr. Webster +felt that a generation had been born who were undervaluing their +inheritance, and who might, by temerity, destroy it. Under motives +inspired by these surroundings, he spoke for the preservation of +the Union. He believed it to be seriously endangered. His +apprehensions were ridiculed by many who, ten years after Mr. +Webster was in his grave, saw for the first time how real and how +terrible were the perils upon which those apprehensions were +founded. + +When the hour of actual conflict came, every patriot realized that +a great magazine of strength for the Union was stored in the +teachings of Mr. Webster. For thirty years preceding the Nullification +troubles in South Carolina, the government had been administered +on the States'-rights theory, in which the power of the nation was +subordinated, and its capacity to subdue the revolt of seceding +States was dangerously weakened. His speech in reply to Hayne in +1830 was like an amendment to the Constitution. It corrected +traditions, changed convictions, revolutionized conclusions. It +gave to the friends of the Union the abundant logic which established +the right and the power of the government to preserve itself. A +fame so lofty, a work so grand, cannot be marred by one mistake, +if mistake it be conceded. The thoughtful reconsideration of his +severest critics must allow that Mr. Webster saw before him a +divided duty, and that he chose the part which in his patriotic +judgment was demanded by the supreme danger of the hour. + +Mr. Clay's resolutions were referred to a special committee of +thirteen, of which he was made chairman. They reported a bill +embracing the principal objects contemplated in his original speech. +The discussion on this composite measure was earnest and prolonged, +and between certain senators became exasperating. The Administration, +through its newspapers, through the declarations of its Cabinet +minsters, through the unreserved expressions of President Taylor +himself, showed persistent hostility to Mr. Clay's Omnibus Bill, +as it was derisively and offensively called. Mr. Clay, in turn, +did not conceal his hostility to the mode of adjustment proposed +in the messages of the President, and defended his own with vigor +and eloquence. Reciting the measures demanded for a fair and +lasting settlement, he said there were five wounds, bleeding and +threatening the body politic, all needing to be healed, while the +President proposed to heal but one. He described the wounds, +numbering them carefully on his fingers as he spoke. Colonel +Benton, who was vindictively opposed to the Omnibus Bill, made +sport of the five gaping wounds, and believed that Mr. Clay would +have found more wounds if he had had more fingers. This strife +naturally grew more and more severe, making for a time a somewhat +serious division among the Democrats, and rending the Whig party +asunder, one section following Mr. Clay with great zeal, the other +adhering with tenacity to the administration. + + DEATH OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR. + +The quarrel was growing fiercer day by day, and involving all shades +of political opinion, when it was suddenly arrested by the death +of General Taylor on the 9th of July (1850). This sad event gave +the opportunity for the success of the Compromise measures. Had +General Taylor lived, their defeat was assured. As a Southern man, +coming from a Gulf State, personally interested in the institution +of slavery, he had a vantage-ground in the struggle which a Northern +President could never attain. He had, moreover, the courage and +the intelligence to uphold his principles, even in a controversy +with Mr. Clay. His ignorance of political and civil affairs has +been grossly exaggerated. Without taking part in politics, he had +been a close observer of events, and his prolonged services at +frontier posts had afforded the leisure and enforced the taste for +reading. He knew not only the public measures, but the public men +of his time closely and appreciatively. He surprised a member of +his cabinet on a certain occasion, by objecting to a proposed +appointment on the ground that the man designated had voted for +Benton's expunging resolution at the close of Jackson's administration, +--an offense which the President would not condone. The seven +members of his cabinet, actively engaged in politics all their +lives, had forgotten an important fact which the President +instinctively remembered. + +Long before General Taylor's death it was known that Mr. Fillmore +did not sympathize with the policy of the administration. He had +been among the most advanced of anti-slavery Whigs during his +service in the House of Representatives, and was placed on the +Taylor ticket as a conciliatory candidate, to hold to their allegiance +that large class of Whigs who resented the nomination of a Louisiana +slave-holder. But from the day he was sworn in as Vice-President +his antipathy to Mr. Seward began to develop. With the conceded +ability of the latter, and with his constant opportunity on the +floor of the Senate, where he won laurels from the day of his +entrance, Mr. Fillmore felt that he would himself be subordinated +and lost in the crowd of followers if he coincided with Seward. +Older in years, long senior to Mr. Seward in the national service, +he apparently could not endure to see himself displaced by a more +brilliant and more capable leader. The two men, therefore, gradually +separated; Mr. Fillmore using what influence he possessed as Vice- +President in favor of Mr. Clay's plan of compromise, while Mr. +Seward became the Northern leader of the Administration Whigs,--a +remarkable if not unprecedented advance for a senator in the first +session of his service. + +In succeeding to the Presidency, Mr. Fillmore naturally gave the +full influence of his administration to the Compromise. To signalize +his position, he appointed Mr. Webster secretary of State, and +placed Mr. Corwin of Ohio at the head of the Treasury. Mr. Corwin, +with a strong anti-slavery record, had been recently drifting in +the opposite direction, and his appointment was significant. It +was too late, however, to save the Omnibus Bill as a whole. The +Taylor administration had damaged it too seriously to permit an +effectual revival in its favor. It was finally destroyed the last +week in July by striking out in detail every provision except the +bill for the organization of the Territory of Utah. After the Utah +bill had been enacted, separate bills followed;--for the admission +of California; for the organization of New Mexico, with the same +condition respecting slavery which had been applied to Utah; for +the adjustment of the Texas boundary, and the payment to that State +of ten millions indemnity; for the more effectual recovery of +fugitive slaves; for the abolition of the slave trade in the District +of Columbia. Congress thus enacted separately the bills which it +refused to enact together, and the policy outlined by Mr. Clay at +the beginning of the session had triumphed. Several Southern +senators joined Jefferson Davis in strenuous resistance to the +admission of California with the boundaries prescribed. After +seeking ineffectually to make the line of 36 deg. 30' the southern +limit of the State, they attempted with equal lack of success +to enter a solemn protest on the journal of the Senate against +the wrong done to the slave-holding States in giving the +entire Pacific coast to freedom. It was a last and hopeless movement +of the Southern Hotspurs. The protest, at first discredited, was +speedily forgotten, and California entered the Union after ten +months of angry controversy, with slavery forever excluded from +her imperial domain. + + THE FINALITY OF THE COMPROMISE. + +The session had been in all respects important and memorable. In +the judgment of many it had been critical, and the dangers attending +its action were increased by the death of General Taylor. The +South would endure from him what they would resent and possibly +resist if imposed by an anti-slavery Whig from the North. This +fact had, doubtless, great influence in shaping the policy of Mr. +Fillmore, both as Vice-President and President. The events of the +session marred and made the reputation of many. Four senators +especially, of the younger class, had laid the foundation of their +prominence in the struggles of after years,--Mr. Seward as an anti- +slavery Whig, Mr. Chase as a Free-Soiler, previously of Democratic +affiliations, Mr. Jefferson Davis as a Southern Democrat, and Mr. +Douglas as a Northern Democrat. Calhoun was dead. Clay and Webster +and Cass and Benton were near the end of their illustrious careers. +New men were thenceforth to guide the policy of the Republic, and +among the new men in a Senate of exceptional ability these four +attained the largest fame, secured the strongest constituencies, +and exerted the widest influence. + +Both political parties began at once to take ground in favor of +the Compromise measures as a final and complete adjustment of the +slavery question. The Southern Whigs under Mr. Clay's lead eagerly +assumed that conclusion. Mr. Fillmore, having approved all the +bills separately which taken together formed the Compromise, was +of course strongly in favor of regarding these measures as a +finality. Mr. Webster took the same view, though from a bill he +had prepared before he left the Senate for the rendition of fugitive +slaves, guaranteeing jury-trial to the fugitive, it is hardly +conceivable that he would have voted for the harsh measure that +was enacted. Mr. Corwin to the surprise of his friends had passed +over from the most radical to the ultra-conservative side on the +slavery question, and it was his change, in addition to that of +Mr. Webster, which had given so brilliant an opportunity to Mr. +Seward as the leader of the Northern Whigs. Mr. Corwin was +irretrievably injured by a course so flatly in contradiction of +his previous action. He lost the support and largely forfeited +the confidence of the Ohio Whigs, who in 1848 had looked upon him +as a possible if not probable candidate for the Presidency. + +But against this surrender to the Compromise measures of 1850, the +Whigs who followed Seward and Wade and Thaddeus Stevens and Fessenden +were earnest and active. Stevens was then a member of the House +and had waged bitter war against the measures. Wade and Fessenden +had not yet entered the Senate, but were powerful leaders in their +respective States. These men had not given up the creed which +demanded an anti-slavery restriction on every inch of soil owned +by the United States. They viewed with abhorrence the legislation +which had placed freedom and slavery on the same plane in the +Territories of Utah and New Mexico. They believed that Texas had +been paid for a baseless claim ten millions of dollars, one-half +of which, as a sharp critic declared, was hush-money, the other +half blood-money. They regarded the cruel law for the return of +fugitive slaves as an abomination in the sight of God and man. In +their judgment it violated every principle of right. It allowed +the personal liberty of a man to be peremptorily decided by a United- +States commissioner, acting with absolute power and without appeal. +For a claim exceeding twenty dollars in value, every citizen has +the right to a trial by jury; but by this law the body, the life, +the very soul of a man, possibly a free-born citizen, might be +consigned to perpetual enslavement on the fallible judgment of a +single official. An apparently slight, yet especially odious +feature of the law which served in large degree to render it +inoperative was that the United-States commissioner, in the event +of his remanding the alleged fugitive to slavery, received a fee +of ten dollars, and, if he adjudged him to be free, received only +five dollars. + +It soon became evident that with the Whigs divided and the Democrats +compactly united upon the finality of the Compromise, the latter +would have the advantage in the ensuing Presidential election. +The tendency would naturally be to consolidate the slave-holding +States in support of the Democratic candidates, because that party +had a large, well-organized force throughout the North cherishing +the same principles, co-operating for the same candidates, and +controlling many, if not a majority, of the free States. The +Southern Whigs, equally earnest with the Democrats for the Compromise, +were constantly injured at home by the outspoken anti-slavery +principles of leading Northern Whigs. Just at that point of time +and from the cause indicated began the formation of parties divided +on the geographical line between North and South. But this result +was as yet only foreshadowed, not developed. Both the old parties +held their national conventions as usual, in 1852, with every State +represented in both by full delegations. There were peculiar +troubles in each. In the Democratic convention the dissensions +had been in large part inherited, and had reference more to persons +than to principles, more to the candidate than to the platform. +While something of the same trouble was visible in the Whig ranks, +the chief source of contention and of party weakness was found in +the irreconcilable difference of principle between all the Southern +Whigs and a large number of the Northern Whigs. In the South they +were unanimous in support of the Compromise. In the North they +were divided. + + DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION. + +The Democratic National Convention met in Baltimore on the first +day of June, 1852. General Cass, though he had reached his seventieth +year, was again in the field. Mr. Buchanan, then sixty-one years +of age, was the candidate next in strength, and Stephen A. Douglas +was third. Douglas was but thirty-nine years old, the youngest +man ever formally presented for the Presidency by a State delegation +in a National convention. Governor Marcy was fourth in the order +of strength. There were scattering votes for other candidates, +but these four were seriously and hopefully urged by their respective +supporters. Marcy was in many respects the fittest man to be +nominated, but the fear was that the old dissensions of the New- +York Democracy, now seemingly healed, would open afresh if the +chief of one of the clans should be imposed on the other. Douglas +was injured by his partial committal to what was known as the +doctrine of "manifest destiny,"--the indefinite acquisition of +territory southward, especially in the direction of the West Indies. +Cass was too old. Buchanan lacked personal popularity; and, while +he had the Pennsylvania delegation in his favor, a host of enemies +from that State, outside the convention, warred against him most +bitterly. No one of these eminent men could secure two-thirds of +the delegates as required by the iron rule, and on the forty-ninth +ballot Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, who had been among the +"scattering" on several preceding votes, was unanimously nominated. +The suggestion of Pierce's name was not so spontaneous and sudden +as it was made to appear. The precise condition of affairs was +discerned before the convention met, and some sagacious and far- +seeing men, among whom the late Caleb Cushing was one, and General +Benjamin F. Butler another, had canvassed the merits of Pierce +before the convention met. They saw that from his record in Congress +he would be entirely acceptable to the South, and at the opportune +moment their plans were perfected and Pierce was nominated with a +great show of enthusiasm. William R. King of Alabama was selected +to run as Vice-President. + +General Pierce had many qualities that rendered him a strong +candidate. He had served with credit if not distinction both in +the House and the Senate. He was elected to the House in 1832, +when he was but twenty-eight years of age, and resigned his seat +in the Senate in 1842. In the ten years which intervened before +his nomination for the Presidency, he had devoted himself to the +law with brilliant success, leaving it only for his short service +in the Mexican war. He was still a young man when he was preferred +to all the prominent statesmen of his party as a Presidential +candidate. He was remarkably attractive in personal appearance, +prepossessing in manner, ready and even eloquent as a public speaker, +fluent and graceful in conversation. He presented thus a rare +combination of the qualities which attach friends and win popular +support. + +The platform of principles enunciated by the convention was just +what the South desired and demanded. The entire interest centred +in the slavery question. Indeed, the declarations upon other issues +were not listened to by the delegates, and were scarcely read by +the public. Without a dissenting voice the convention resolved +that "all efforts of the Abolitionists or others to induce Congress +to interfere with questions of slavery or to take incipient steps +in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming +and dangerous consequences." The Compromise measures, including +the fugitive-slave law, which was specially named, were most heartily +indorsed, and were regarded as an adjustment of the whole controversy. +By way of indicting how full, complete, and final the settlement +was, the convention with unrestrained enthusiasm declared that "the +Democratic party will resist all attempts at renewing, in Congress +or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever +shape or color the attempts may be made." Among the men who joined +in these declarations were not a few who had supported Van Buren +and Adams in the canvass of 1848. One of the prominent officers +of the convention was the author of many of the most extreme anti- +slavery declarations put forth at Buffalo. + + WHIG NATIONAL CONVENTION. + +The Whigs met at Baltimore a fortnight after the Democratic convention +had adjourned. The slavery question, upon which the Democrats of +all shades had so cordially coalesced, was to the Whigs a dividing +sword. Mr. Fillmore was a candidate, supported with almost entire +unanimity by the Southern Whigs. Mr. Webster was a candidate, and +though in his fear for the Union he had sacrificed more than any +other man for the South, he could secure no Southern support. +General Scott was a candidate, and though born and reared in +Virginia, he was supported by anti-slavery Whigs of every shade in +the North, against the two men of Northern birth and Northern +associations. On the first ballot, Fillmore received 133 votes, +Scott 131, Webster 23. Fillmore received every Southern vote, +except one from Virginia given to Scott by John Minor Botts. Scott +received every Northern vote except twenty-nine given to Webster, +and sixteen given to Fillmore. The friends of Mr. Webster, and +Mr. Webster himself, were pained and mortified by the result. +Rufus Choate was at the head of the Massachusetts delegation, and +eloquently, even passionately, pleaded with the Southern men to +support Mr. Webster on a single ballot. But the Southern men +stubbornly adhered to Fillmore, and were in turn enraged because +the twenty-nine votes thrown away, as they said, on Mr. Webster, +would at once renominate the President in whose cabinet Mr. Webster +was at that moment serving as Premier. This threefold contest had +been well developed before the convention assembled, and one feature +of special bitterness had been added to it by a letter from Mr. +Clay, who was on his death-bed in Washington. He urged his friends +to support Mr. Fillmore. This was regarded by many as a lack of +generosity on Mr. Clay's part, after the warm support which Mr. +Webster had given him in his contest with Mr. Polk in 1844. But +there had been for years an absence of cordiality between these +Whig leaders, and many who were familiar with both declared that +Mr. Clay had never forgiven Mr. Webster for remaining in Tyler's +cabinet after the resignation of the other Whig members. Mr. +Webster's association with Tyler had undoubtedly given to the +President a measure of protection against the hot wrath of Mr. Clay +in the memorable contest of 1841-2, and by natural reaction had +impaired the force of Mr. Clay's attack. And now ten years after +the event its memory rose to influence the Presidential nomination +of 1852. + +Another explanation is more in consonance with Mr. Clay's magnanimity +of character. He was extremely anxious that an outspoken friend +of the Compromise should be nominated. He knew when he wrote his +letter that the Democrats would pledge themselves to the finality +of the Compromise, and he knew the Southern Whigs would be overwhelmed +if there should be halting or hesitation on this issue either in +their candidate or in their platform. He felt, as the responsible +author of the Compromise, that he was himself on trial, and it +would be a peculiar mortification if the party which he had led so +long should fail to sustain him in this final crisis of his public +life. He had been sufficiently humiliated by Taylor's triumph over +him in the convention of 1848. It would be an absolutely intolerable +rebuke if in 1852 Taylor's policy should be preferred to his own +by a Whig national convention. Taylor, indeed, was in his grave, +but his old military compatriot, Scott, was a candidate for the +Presidency, and the anti-Compromise Whigs under Seward's lead were +rallying to his support. Mr. Clay believed that Fillmore, with +the force of the national administration in his hands, could defeat +General Scott, and that Mr. Webster's candidacy was a needless +division of friends. Hence he sustained Fillmore, not from hostility +to Webster, but as the sure and only means of securing an indorsement +of the Compromise measures, and of doing justice to a Northern +President who had risked every thing in support of Mr. Clay's +policy. + +The contest was long and earnest. Mr. Webster's friends, offended +by what they considered the ingratitude of Southern Whigs, persistently +refused to go over to Fillmore, though by so doing they could at +any moment secure his nomination. They cared nothing for Fillmore's +lead in votes, obtained as they thought in large degree from the +use of patronage. They scouted it as an argument not fit to be +addressed to the friends of Mr. Webster. Such considerations +belonged only to men of the lower grades, struggling in the dirty +pools of political strife, and were not to be applied to a statesman +of Mr. Webster's rank and character. They felt, moreover, that +all the popularity which Fillmore had secured in the South, and to +a certain degree with the conservative and commercial classes of +the whole country, had come from Mr. Webster's presence and pre- +eminent service in his cabinet. In short, Mr. Webster's supporters +felt that Mr. Fillmore, so far from earning their respect and +deserving their applause, was merely strutting in borrowed plumage, +and deriving all his strength from their own illustrious chief. +This jealousy was of course stimulated with consummate art and tact +by the supporters of Scott. They expressed, as they really +entertained, the highest admiration for Webster, and no less frankly +made known their dislike, if not their contempt, for Fillmore. +Webster, as they pointed out, was supported by the voice of his +own great State. Massachusetts had sent a delegation composed of +her best men, with the most brilliant orator of the nation, to +plead their cause at the bar of the convention. In contrast with +this, Fillmore had no support from New York. The Whigs of that +State had sent a delegation to impeach him before the nation for +faithlessness to principle, and to demand that votes of other States +should not impose on New York a recreant son to confound and destroy +the party. + + NOMINATION OF GENERAL SCOTT. + +From this attrition and conflict the natural result was Scott's +triumph. It was not reached, however, until the fifty-third ballot +and until the fifth day of the convention. It was brought about +by the votes of some Fillmore delegates, both in the North and the +South, who felt that the long contest should be ended. The gossip +of the day--with perhaps a shadow of foundation--was, that in the +councils of an inner and governing circle of delegates it was +finally agreed that the North might have the candidate, and the +South should have the platform, and that thus a bold fight could +be made in both sections. William A. Graham of North Carolina, +formerly a senator in Congress from that State, subsequently its +governor, and at the time secretary of the Navy in Mr. Fillmore's +cabinet, was nominated for Vice-President, as a wise concession to +the defeated party. The platform adopted was strongly Southern, +and this fact served to confirm in the minds of many the existence +of the suspected agreement for the division of honors between North +and South. The convention resolved that the Compromise measures, +including the fugitive-slave law (specially designated after the +example of the Democratic convention), "are received and acquiesced +in by the Whig party of the United States as a settlement in +principle and in substance of the dangerous and exciting questions +which they embrace." They further declared that this position was +"essential to the nationality of the Whig party and the integrity +of the Union." Alexander H. Stephens has stated that this resolution +was shown to him by Mr. Webster before the convention assembled, +and while Mr. Choate was his guest. The inference apparently +intended was that Mr. Choate carried it to the convention as the +expression of the Northern Whigs, who believed in the Compromise +measures. The agreement--if one existed--that this resolution +should be adopted, did not involve all the Northern Whigs. Sturdy +resistance was made by many, and the final vote disclosed a powerful +minority opposed to the resolution. + +For the first few weeks of the canvass the Whigs had strong hope +of success. The name of General Scott evoked much enthusiasm, and +his splendid military reputation, acquired in two wars, was favorably +contrasted with that of General Pierce, who was one of President +Polk's political brigadiers. But these indications were the bubbles +and froth that floated on the surface. The personal characteristics +of the candidates were lost sight of in the face of the great issues +involved. The people soon perceived that if there was indeed merit +in the Compromise measures, it would be wise to intrust them to +the keeping of the party that was unreservedly--North and South-- +in favor of upholding and enforcing them. On this point there was +absolutely no division in the Democratic ranks. In New York the +friends of Marcy and the political heirs of Wright cordially +harmonized in favor of the Compromise. Mr. Van Buren returned to +Tammany Hall as fresh and buoyant as if his allegiance had never +been broken; and in a great convocation of the Democracy, the +prodigal was welcomed, Pierce's nomination applauded, the platform +cheered, the anti-slavery creed forsworn, the Whig party roundly +abused, and word sent forth to the uttermost parts of the Union +that the Empire State had resumed her place at the head of the +Democratic line. + +The Whigs soon found to their dismay that the platform and the +candidate were inseparable. They could not make a canvass upon +the one in the South and upon the other in the North. General +Scott had indeed heartily assented to all the principles proclaimed +at the convention, but so long as Horace Greeley was eulogizing +him in the "Tribune," and Seward supporting him on the stump, it +was idle to present him as an acceptable candidate to slave-holding +Whigs in the South. Supporting the candidate and spitting on the +platform became the expressive if inelegant watchword of many +Northern Whigs, but for every Whig vote which this phrase kept to +his party allegiance in the free States, it drove two over to the +Democracy in the slave States. Moreover, spitting on the platform, +however effective as an indication of contempt, would not satisfy +the conscience or the prejudices of large numbers of Whigs who +voted directly for the candidates of the Free-soil party, John P. +Hale of New Hampshire for President, and George W. Julian of Indiana +for Vice-President. + + DEFEAT OF THE WHIG PARTY. + +Weakened by personal strife, hopelessly divided on questions of +principle, the Whig party was led to the slaughter. Carrying in +1840 every State but seven for Harrison, failing to elect Mr. Clay +in 1844 only by the loss of New York, triumphantly installing Taylor +in 1848, the Whigs were astounded to find that their candidate had +been successful in but four States of the Union, and that twenty- +seven States had by large majorities pronounced for General Pierce. +Massachusetts and Vermont in the North, Kentucky and Tennessee in +the South, had alone remained true to the Whig standard. All the +other Whig States that had stood staunch and strong in the fierce +contests of the past now gave way. Connecticut and Rhode Island, +which never but once failed either Federalist or Whig from the +foundation of the government, now voted for a pro-slavery States'- +rights Democrat. Delaware, which never in a single instance voted +for the Democratic candidate except when Monroe had no opposition +in 1820; which had fought against Jefferson and Madison; which had +stood firmly against Jackson and Van Buren and Polk and Cass when +the Bayards were Whigs and co-operated with the Claytons, now +swelled the general acclaim for Pierce. Of 296 electors Pierce +received 254 and General Scott only 42. The wide sweep of the +Democratic victory was a surprise to both sides, though for several +weeks before the election the defeat of Scott was anticipated. He +received no support from Mr. Fillmore's administration, was indeed +secretly betrayed by it everywhere, and quite openly by its officials +in the Southern States. He did not receive the strength of his +party, and the strength of his party would have been insufficient +to elect him. But overwhelming as was the defeat, it did not +necessarily involve destruction. The Whigs had been beaten almost +as badly when Clay ran against Jackson in 1832, and yet the party +had rallied to four earnest contests and to two signal victories. +The Democracy, now so triumphant, had been disastrously beaten in +the contest of 1840, but in the next election had regained strength +enough to defeat Mr. Clay. The precedents, therefore, permitted +the Whigs to be of good cheer and bade them wait the issues of the +future. They were not, however, consoled by the philosophy of +defeat, and were disposed to gloomy anticipations. + + MR. CLAY AND MR. WEBSTER COMPARED. + +As if to emphasize the disaster to the Whigs, Mr. Clay and Mr. +Webster both died during the canvass; Mr. Clay in June, a few days +after Scott's nomination, Mr. Webster in October, a few days before +his defeat. They had both lived long enough to see the work of +their political life imperiled if not destroyed. They had held +the same relation to the Whigs that the elder Adams and Hamilton +had held to the Federalists, that Jefferson and Madison had held +to the Republicans. Comparison between them could not be fairly +made, their inherent qualities and personal characteristics differed +so widely. Each was superior to the other in certain traits, and +in our public annals thus far each stands unequaled in his sphere. +Their points of contrast were salient and numerous. Mr. Clay was +born in Virginia. Mr. Webster was born in New England. Mr. Clay +was a devoted follower of Jefferson. Mr. Webster was bred in the +school of Hamilton. Mr. Clay was an earnest advocate of the second +war with Great Britain. Mr. Webster was its steady opponent. Mr. +Clay supported Madison in 1812 with great energy. Mr. Webster +threw all his strength for De Witt Clinton. Mr. Clay was from the +first deeply imbued with the doctrine of protection. Mr. Webster +entered public life as a pronounced free-trader. They were not +members of the same political organization until after the destruction +of the old Federal party to which Mr. Webster belonged, and the +hopeless divisions of the old Republican party to which Mr. Clay +belonged. They gradually harmonized towards the close of Monroe's +second term, and became firmly united under the administration of +John Quincy Adams. Modern political designations had their origin +in the Presidential election of 1824. The candidates all belonged +to the party of Jefferson, which had been called Democratic- +Republican. In the new divisions, the followers of Jackson took +the name of Democrats: the supporters of Adams called themselves +National Republicans. They had thus divided the old name, each +claiming the inheritance. The unpopularity of Mr. Adams's +administration had destroyed the prospects of the National-Republican +party, and the name was soon displaced by the new and more acceptable +title of Whig. To the joint efforts of Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster +more than to all others the formation of the Whig party was due. +It was not, however, in Mr. Webster's nature to become a partisan +chief. Mr. Clay on the other hand was naturally and inevitably a +leader. In all the discussions of the Senate in which constitutional +questions were involved, Mr. Clay instinctively deferred to Mr. +Webster. In the parliamentary debates which concerned the position +of parties and the fate of measures, which enchained the Senate +and led captive the people, Mr. Clay was _facile princeps_. Mr. +Webster argued the principle. Mr. Clay embodied it in a statute. +Mr. Webster's speeches are still read with interest and studied +with profit. Mr. Clay's speeches swayed listening senates and +moved multitudes, but reading them is a disappointment. Between +the two the difference is much the same as that between Burke and +Charles James Fox. Fox was the parliamentary debater of England, +the consummate leader of his party. His speeches, always listened +to and cheered by a crowded House of Commons, perished with their +delivery. Burke could never command a body of followers, but his +parliamentary orations form brilliant and permanent chapters in +the political literature of two continents. + +While Mr. Webster's name is so honorably perpetuated by his elaborate +and masterly discussion of great principles in the Senate, he did +not connect himself with a single historic measure. While Mr. +Clay's speeches remain unread, his memory is lastingly identified +with issues that are still vital and powerful. He advanced the +doctrine of protection to the stately dignity of the American +system. Discarding theories and overthrowing the dogma of strict +construction, he committed the General Government irrevocably to +internal improvements. Condemning the worthless system of paper +money imposed upon the people by irresponsible State banks, he +stood firmly for a national currency, and he foreshadowed if he +did not reach the paper money which is based to-day on the credit +and the strength of the government. + +Mr. Clay possessed extraordinary sagacity in public affairs, seeing +and foreseeing where others were blinded by ignorance or prejudice. +He was a statesman by intuition, finding a remedy before others +could discover the disease. His contemporaries appreciated his +rare endowments. On the day of his first entrance into the House +of Representatives he was chosen Speaker, though but thirty-four +years of age. This was all the more remarkable because the House +was filled with men of recognized ability, who had been long in +the public service. It was rendered still more striking by the +fact that Mr. Clay was from the far West, from one of the only two +States whose frontiers reached the Mississippi. In the entire +House there were only fifteen members from the Western side of the +Alleghanies. He was re-elected Speaker in every Congress so long +as he served as representative. He entered the Senate at thirty, +and died a member of it in his seventy-sixth year. He began his +career in that body during the Presidency of Jefferson in 1806, +and closed it under the Presidency of Fillmore in 1852. Other +senators have served a longer time than Mr. Clay, but he alone at +periods so widely separated. Other men have excelled him in specific +powers, but in the rare combination of qualities which constitute +at once the matchless leader of party and the statesman of consummate +ability and inexhaustible resource, he has never been surpassed by +any man speaking the English tongue. + +[NOTE.--The Committee of Thirteen, to which reference is made on +p. 94, and which attained such extraordinary importance at the +time, was originally suggested by Senator Foote of Mississippi. +His first proposition was somewhat novel from its distinct recognition +of the sectional character of the issues involved. He proposed +that the committee be chosen by ballot, that six members of it +should be taken from the free States and six members from the slave +States, and that the twelve thus chosen should select a thirteenth +member who should be chairman of the committee. All propositions +touching any of the questions at issue between the North and the +South were to be referred to this committee with the view of securing +a general and comprehensive compromise. The subject was debated +for several weeks. Mr. Foote submitted his proposition on the 25th +of February, 1850, and it was not adopted until the 18th of April. +The committee was chosen on the 19th. Mr. Clay had objected to +the open avowal of a division of the committee on the line of North +and South, and the proposition was so modified as to simply provide +for a committee of thirteen to be chosen by ballot,--the chairman +to be first selected, and the other twelve members on a second +ballot. The change of the resolution was one of form only; for, +when the Senate came to select the members, they adhered to the +plan originally suggested by Mr. Foote. Mr. Clay was made chairman, +which had been the design from the first, and then six senators +were taken from the free States and six from the slave States,-- +the first, if not the only, time this mode of appointment was +adopted. The membership of the committee was highly distinguished. +From the free States the Senate selected Mr. Webster, General Cass, +Mr. Dickinson of New York, Mr. Bright of Indiana, Mr. Phelps of +Vermont, and Mr. Cooper of Pennsylvania. From the slave States, +Mr. King of Alabama, Mr. Mason of Virginia, Mr. Downs of Louisiana, +Mr. Mangum of North Carolina, Mr. Bell of Tennessee, and Mr. Berrien +of Georgia. The twelve were equally divided between the Whigs and +the Democrats, so that, with Mr. Clay as chairman, the Whigs had +the majority in numbers as they had the overwhelming superiority +in weight and ability. The composition of the committee was +remarkable when it is remembered that the Democrats had a majority +of ten in the Senate.] + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Review (_continued_).--The Strength of the Democratic Party in +1853.--Popular Strength not so great as Electoral Strength.--The +New President's Pledge not to re-open the Slavery Question.--How +he failed to maintain that Pledge.--The North-west Territory.--Anti- +slavery Restriction of the Missouri Compromise.--Movement to repeal +it by Mr. Clay's Successor in the Senate.--Mr. Douglas adopts the +policy of repealing the Restriction.--It is made an Administration +Measure and carried through Congress.--Colonel Benton's Position. +--Anti-slavery Excitement developed in the Country.--Destruction +of the Whig Party.--New Political Alliances.--American Party.--Know- +Nothings.--Origin and Growth of the Republican Party.--Pro-slavery +Development in the South.--Contest for the Possession of Kansas.-- +Prolonged Struggle.--Disunion Tendencies developing in the South. +--Election of N. P. Banks to the Speakership of the House.--The +Presidential Election of 1856.--Buchanan.--Fremont.--Fillmore.-- +The Slavery Question the Absorbing Issue.--Triumph of Buchanan.-- +Dred Scott Decision.--Mr. Lincoln's Version of it.--Chief Justice +Taney. + +The Democratic party, seeing their old Whig rival prostrate, +naturally concluded that a long lease of power was granted them. +The victory of Pierce was so complete that his supporters could +not with closest scrutiny descry an opponent worthy of the slightest +consideration. If the leaders of that party, however, had deigned +to look below the surface, they would have learned a fact which, +if not disquieting, was at least serious and significant. This +fact was contained in the popular vote, which told an entirely +different story from that disclosed by the Presidential electors. +From the people Pierce received a total of 1,601,274 votes, Scott +1,386,580, Hale 155,825. It will be noted that, while receiving +only one-sixth as many electoral votes as Pierce, Scott received +more than five-sixths as many votes at the polls. Adding the vote +of Hale, it will be observed that out of a total exceeding three +millions, Pierce's absolute majority was but 58,896. Thoughtful +men, wise in the administration of government, skilled in the +management of parties, would have found in these figures food for +reflection and abundant reason for hoisting cautionary signals +along the shores of the political sea. The Democratic leaders were +not, however, disturbed by facts or figures, but were rather made +stronger in the confidence of their own strength. They beheld the +country prosperous in all its material interests, and they saw the +mass of the people content in both sections with the settlement of +the slavery question. Since the Compromise measures were enacted +in 1850, and especially since the two political parties had pledged +themselves in 1852 to accept those measures as a finality, the +slavery agitation had to a very large extent subsided. Disturbance +was not indeed infrequently caused by the summary arrest of fugitive +slaves in various parts of the North, under the stringent and harsh +provisions of the new law on that subject. But though these +peculiarly odious transactions exerted a deeper influence on public +opinion than the Democratic leaders imagined, they were local and +apparently under control. There was no national disquietude on +the vexed question of slavery when Franklin Pierce was installed +as President. + +In his Inaugural address General Pierce pledged himself with evident +zeal to the upholding of the Compromise measures and to the rigid +enforcement of the laws. There is no doubt that a large majority +of the people of the United States--North and South--were satisfied +with the situation and bade God-speed to the popular President +whose administration opened so auspiciously. The year 1853 was +politically as quiet as Monroe's era of good feeling, and when +Congress came together in its closing month, the President dwelt +impressively upon the dangers we had passed and upon the blessings +that were in store for us. In tones of solemnity he declared that +when "the grave shall have closed over all who are now endeavoring +to meet the obligations of duty, the year 1850 will be recurred to +as a period of anxious apprehension." With high praise of the +Compromise legislation of that year he said "it had given renewed +vigor to our institutions and restored a sense of repose and security +to the public mind." Evidently remembering the pledge given by +the convention which nominated him "to resist all attempts at +renewing the agitation of the slavery question in or out of Congress," +the President gave emphatic assurance that this "repose" should +suffer no shock during his term if he "had the power to avert it." +These words were addressed to Congress on the fifth day of December, +1853, and it would be uncandid to deny that even in the North they +were heartily approved by a large majority of the people,--perhaps +by a majority in every State. + + OMINOUS MOVEMENT IN CONGRESS. + +In precisely one month from the delivery of these words by the +President an ominous movement was made in Congress. Notwithstanding +all the vows of fealty to the Compromise of 1850, the pro-slavery +leaders of the South were not contented with the aspect of affairs. +The result of the Mexican war had deeply disappointed them. Its +most striking political effect thus far was the addition to the +Union of a large and imposing free State on the Pacific,--an empire +indeed in prospective wealth and power. In the battle between free +institutions and slave institutions, California represented a strong +flank movement threatening destruction to slavery. Her vote in +the Senate gave a majority of two to the free States. The equality +of the sections had been steadily maintained in the Senate since +the admission of Louisiana in 1812. The break now was ominous; +the claim of equality had been disregarded; the superstition which +upheld it was dispelled, and the defenders of slavery could see +only a long procession of free States marching from the North-West +to re-enforce a power already irresistibly strong. From what +quarter of the Union could this anti-slavery aggression be offset? +By what process could its growth be checked? Texas might, if she +chose to ask for her own partition, re-enforce the slave-power in +the Senate by four new States, as guaranteed in the articles of +annexation. But the very majesty of her dimensions protested +against dismemberment. Texas was as large as France, and from the +Sabine to the Rio Grande there was not a cotton-planter or a cattle- +herder who did not have this fact before his eyes to inflame his +pride and guide his vote against parting with a single square mile +of her magnificent domain. New Mexico and Utah were mountainous +and arid, inviting only the miner and the grazier and offering no +inducement for the labor of the slave. The right guaranteed to +these territories in the Compromise of 1850 to come in as slave +States was, therefore, as Mr. Webster had maintained, a concession +of form and not of substance to the South. Seeing slavery thus +hemmed in on all sides by nature as well as law, and sincerely +believing that in such a position its final extinction was but a +question of time, the Southern leaders determined to break the +bonds that bound them. From their own point of reasoning they were +correct. To stand still was certain though slow destruction to +slavery. To move was indeed hazardous, but it gave them a chance +to re-establish their equality in the administration of the +government, and for this they determined to risk every thing. + +To the westward and north-westward of Missouri and Iowa lay a vast +territory which in 1854 was not only unsettled but had no form of +civil government whatever. It stretched from the north line of +Arkansas to the border of British America,--twelve and a half +degrees of latitude,--and westward over great plains and across +mountain ranges till it reached the confines of Utah and Oregon. +It was the unorganized remainder of the territory of Louisiana, +acquired from France in 1803, and in extent was ten times as large +as the combined area of New York and Pennsylvania. By the Missouri +Compromise every square mile of this domain had been honorably +devoted to freedom. At the period named Indian tribes roamed at +will throughout its whole extent and lighted their camp-fires on +the very borders of Missouri and Iowa. Herds of buffalo grazed +undisturbed on lands which to-day constitute the sites of large +cities. Fort Leavenworth was a far-western outpost, Council Bluffs +was on the frontier of civilization, and Omaha had not been named. +Adventurous merchants passed over the plains to the South-West with +long caravans, engaged in the Santa-Fe trade, and towards the North- +West, hunters, trappers, and a few hardy emigrants penetrated the +"Platte country," and through mountain passes pointed out by the +trail of the Indian and the buffalo had in many instances safely +crossed to Oregon. The tide of emigration which had filled Iowa +and Wisconsin, and which by the gold excitement of California had +for a time been drawn to the Pacific slope, now set again more +strongly then ever to the Mississippi valley, demanding and needing +new lands for settlement and cultivation. To answer this requirement +a movement was made during the closing weeks of Mr. Fillmore's +administration to establish the territory of Nebraska. A bill to +that effect was passed by a two-thirds vote in the House. The +slight opposition that was made came from the South, but its +significance was not perceived. When the bill reached the Senate +Mr. Douglas, as chairman of the committee on territories, promptly +reported it, and made an apparently sincere effort to pass it. He +did not succeed. Every senator from the slave-holding States, +except those from Missouri,--which was locally interested in having +the territory organized,--voted against it;--and the measure, +antagonizing other business in which Northern senators were more +immediately interested, was laid upon the table two days before +President Pierce was inaugurated. The bill had fully recognized +the binding force of the Missouri Compromise, and if it had passed, +there could have been no pretense for the introduction of slavery +in the territory of Nebraska. + + REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. + +Directly after the assurance so impressively given by the President +that the "repose" of the country on the slavery question "should +suffer no shock during his administration," the bill to organize +the Territory of Nebraska was again introduced in the Senate. The +motive for its defeat the preceding session was soon made apparent. +Mr. Archibald Dixon of Kentucky, the last Whig governor of that +State, had been chosen to succeed Mr. Clay in the Senate. But he +did not succeed to Mr. Clay's political principles. He belonged +to a class of men that had been recently and rapidly growing in +the South,--men avowedly and aggressively pro-slavery. Mr. Dixon +was the first to strike an open blow against the Missouri Compromise. +Mr. Clay had been honorably identified with the pacific work of +1820, and throughout his life believed that it had been effectual +in allaying the strife which in his judgment had endangered the +Union. It was an alarming fact that his own successor in the Senate +--less than two years after Mr. Clay's death--was the first to +assail his work and to re-open a controversy which was not to cease +till a continent was drenched in blood. Mr. Dixon made no concealment +of his motive and his purpose, declaring that he wished the +restriction removed because he was a pro-slavery man. He gave +notice early in January, 1854, that when the bill to organize the +Territory of Nebraska should come before the Senate, he would move +that "the Missouri Compromise be repealed, and that the citizens +of the several States shall be at liberty to take and hold their +slaves within any of the Territories." It was very soon found that +this was not a capricious movement by Mr. Dixon alone, but that +behind him there was a settled determination on the part of the +pro-slavery men to break down the ancient barrier and to remove +the honored landmark of 1820. + +The Senate had a large Democratic majority, and there was probably +not one among them all who had not in the Presidential contest of +1852 publicly and solemnly vowed that the Compromise measures of +1850 were a final settlement of the slavery question, not in any +event, nor upon any pretext, to be disturbed. It was specially +embarrassing and perilous for Northern senators to violate pledges +so recently made, so frequently repeated. It much resembled the +breaking of a personal promise, and seemed to the mass of people +in the free State to be a gross breach of national honor. To escape +the sharp edge of condemnation, sure to follow such a transaction, +a pretense was put forth that the Compromise of 1820 was in conflict +with the Compromise of 1850, and that it was necessary to repeal +the former in order that the doctrine of non-intervention with +slavery in the Territories should become the recognized policy for +all the public domain of the United States. Mr. Douglas was the +first to adopt this construction. Indeed, to him may fairly be +ascribed the credit or the discredit of inventing it. He had a +strong hold on the South, and in his Congressional life had steadily +voted on the pro-slavery side of all public questions. But he +instinctively foresaw that his political future would be endangered +by advocating the repeal of the Missouri Compromise on the basis +and for the reason announced by Mr. Dixon. Hence the resort to +the doctrine of non-intervention under which the South should get +all they wished by having the right to carry their slaves into the +territory, and the North could be conciliated by the presentation +of another final settlement of all issues which threatened the +perpetuity of the Union. + +Instead of the single Territory of Nebraska, Mr. Douglas reported +a measure to organize both Kansas and Nebraska; and in one of the +sections of the bill the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was declared +to be inoperative and void, because "inconsistent with the principle +of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the States and +Territories as recognized by the Compromise measures of 1850." +The bill further declared that "its true intent and meaning was +not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, and not to +exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people perfectly free to +regulate their domestic institutions in their own way." The North +was fairly stunned by the proposition made by Mr. Douglas. Had he +proposed to abolish the Constitution itself the surprise could +scarcely have been greater. The acting generation had grown to +manhood with profound respect and even reverence for the Missouri +Compromise, and had come to regard it almost as sacredly as though +it were part of the organic law of the Republic. If a Southern +man talked of its repeal it was regarded as the mere bravado of an +extremist. But now a Northern senator of remarkable ability, a +party leader, a candidate for the Presidency, had reported the +measure, and made it a test of Democratic faith, of administration +fealty. The contest that followed was severe and prolonged. The +bill was before Congress for a period of four months, and was +finally forced through to the utter destruction of good faith +between the sections. More than forty Democratic representatives +from the North flatly defied party discipline and voted against +the repeal. The Democratic representatives from the slave States +were consolidated in its favor, with the exception of John Millson, +an able member from Virginia, and the venerable Thomas H. Benton +of Missouri. + + REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. + +After Colonel Benton's thirty years' service in the Senate had +terminated, the city of St. Louis sent him to the House in the autumn +of 1852. He had entered the Senate when Missouri came into the +Union as the result of the Compromise of 1820. He had remained +there until after the Compromise of 1850 was adopted. He denounced +the proceeding of Douglas with unsparing severity, and gave his +best efforts, but in vain, to defeat the bill. He pointed out the +fact that the original Compromise had been forced upon the North +by the South, and that the present proposition to repeal it had +been initiated "without a memorial, without a petition, without a +request from any human being. It was simply and only a contrivance +of political leaders, who were using the institution of slavery as +a weapon, and rushing the country forward to excitements and +conflicts in which there was no profit to either section, and +possibly great harm to both." Colonel Benton belonged to a class +of Southern Democrats who were passing away,--of whom he, indeed, +was the last in conspicuous stature. He represented the Democracy +of Andrew Jackson and of Nathaniel Macon,--not the Democracy of +Mr. Calhoun. He placed the value of the Union above the value of +slavery, and was a relentless foe to all who plotted against the +integrity of the government. But his day was past, his power was +broken, his influence was gone. Even in his own State he had been +beaten, and David R. Atchison installed as leader of the Democratic +party. His efforts were vain, his protest unheard; and amid the +sorrow and gloom of thinking men, and the riotous rejoicings of +those who could not measure the evil of their work, the Douglas +Bill was passed. On the thirtieth of May, 1854, the wise and +patriotic Compromise of March 6, 1820, was declared to be at an +end, and the advocates and the opponents of slavery were invited +to a trial of strength on the public domain of the United States. + +No previous anti-slavery excitement bore any comparison with that +which spread over the North as the discussion progressed, and +especially after the bill became a law. It did not merely call +forth opposition; it produced almost a frenzy of wrath on the part +of thousands and tens of thousands in both the old parties, who +had never before taken any part whatever in anti-slavery agitation. +So conservative a statesman as Edward Everett, who had succeeded +John Davis as senator from Massachusetts, pointed out the fallacy +not to say the falsehood of the plea that the Compromise measures +of 1850 required or involved this legislation. This plea was an +afterthought, a pretense, contradicted by the discussion of 1850 +in its entire length and breadth. In the North, conservative men +felt that no compromise could acquire weight or sanction or +sacredness, if one that had stood for a whole generation could be +brushed aside by partisan caprice or by the demands of sectional +necessity. The popular fury was further stimulated by the fact +that from the territory included in the Louisiana purchase, three +slave States had been added to the Union, and as yet only one free +State; and that the solemn guaranty securing all the domain north +of 36 deg. 30' was now to be trodden under foot when its operation was +likely to prove hostile to slavery and favorable to freedom. From +the beginning of the government the slave-holding interest had +secured the advantage in the number of States formed from territory +added to the original Union. The South had Louisiana, Arkansas, +and Missouri out of the purchase from France in 1803, Florida from +the purchase from Spain in 1819, and Texas, with its possibility +of being divided into four additional States, from the annexation +of 1845. The North had only Iowa from the Louisiana purchase and +California from the territory ceded by Mexico. The North would +not stop to consider its prospective advantages in the territory +yet to be settled, while the South could see nothing else. The +South realized that although it had secured five States and the +North only two, Southern territory was exhausted, while the creation +of free States in the North-West had just begun. Stripped of all +the disguises with which it was surrounded by the specious cry of +non-intervention by Congress, the majority in the North came to +see that it was in reality nothing but a struggle between the slave +States and the free States, growing more and more intense and more +and more dangerous day by day. + + REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. + +The most striking result in the political field, produced by the +repeal of the Missouri Compromise, was the utter destruction of +the Whig party. Had the Southern Whigs in Congress maintained the +sacredness of the work of 1820, the party throughout the country +would have been able to make a sturdy contest, notwithstanding the +crushing defeat of Scott two years before. Not improbably in the +peculiar state of public opinion, the Whigs, by maintaining the +Compromise, might have been able to carry the Presidential election +of 1856. But with the exception of John Bell in the Senate and +seven members of the House, the entire Whig party of the South +joined the Democrats in repealing the Compromise. Of these seven, +Emerson Etheridge of Tennessee and Theodore G. Hunt of Louisiana +deserve especial and honorable mention for the courage with which +they maintained their position. But when John M. Clayton of +Delaware, who had voted to prohibit slavery in all the Territories, +now voted to strike down the only legal barrier to its extension; +when Badger of North Carolina, who had been the very soul of +conservatism, now joined in the wild cry of the pro-slavery Democrats; +when James Alfred Pearce of Maryland and James C. Jones of Tennessee +united with Jefferson Davis, the Whig party of the South ceased to +exist. Indeed, before this final blow large numbers of Southern +Whigs had gone over to the Democracy. Toombs and Stephens and +Judah P. Benjamin had been among the foremost supporters of Pierce, +and had been specially influential in consolidating the South in +his favor. But the great body of Whigs both in the South and in +the North did not lose hope of a strong re-organization of their +old party until the destruction of the Missouri Compromise had been +effected. That was seen and felt by all to be the end. + +Thenceforward new alliances were rapidly formed. In the South +those Whigs who, though still unwilling to profess an anti-slavery +creed, would not unite with the Democrats, were re-organized under +the name of the American party, with Humphrey Marshall, Henry Winter +Davis, Horace Maynard, and men of that class, for leaders. This +party was founded on proscription of foreigners, and with special +hostility to the Roman-Catholic Church. It had a fitful and feverish +success, and in 1845-5, under the name of _Know-Nothings_, enrolled +tens of thousands in secret lodges. But its creed was narrow, its +principles were illiberal, and its methods of procedure boyish and +undignified. The great body of thinking men in the North saw that +the real contest impending was against slavery and not against +naturalization laws and ecclesiastical dogmas. The Know-Nothings, +therefore, speedily disappeared, and a new party sprang into +existence composed of anti-slavery Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats. +The latter infused into the ranks of the new organization a spirit +and an energy which Whig traditions could never inspire. The same +name was not at once adopted in all the free States in 1854, but +by the ensuing year there was a general recognition throughout the +North that all who intended to make a serious fight against the +pro-slavery Democracy would unite under the flag of the Republican +party. In its very first effort, without compact organization, +without discipline, it rallied the anti-slavery sentiment so +successfully as to carry nearly all the free States and to secure +a plurality of the members of the House of Representatives. The +indignation of the people knew no bounds. Old political landmarks +disappeared, and party prejudices of three generations were swept +aside in a day. With such success in the outset, the Republicans +prepared for a vigorous struggle in the approaching Presidential +election. + +The anti-slavery development of the North was not more intense than +the pro-slavery development of the South. Every other issue was +merged in the one absorbing demand by Southern slave-holders for +what they sincerely believed to be their rights in the Territories. +It was not viewed on either side as an ordinary political contest. +It was felt to be a question not of expediency but of morality, +not of policy but of honor. It did not merely enlist men. Women +took large part in the agitation. It did not end with absorbing +the laity. The clergy were as profoundly concerned. The power of +the Church on both sides of the dividing-line was used with great +effect in shaping public opinion and directing political action. +The Missouri Compromise was repealed in May. Before the end of +the year a large majority of the people of the North and a large +majority of the people of the South were distinctly arrayed against +each other on a question which touched the interest, the pride, +the conscience, and the religion of all who were concerned in the +controversy. Had either side been insincere there would have been +voluntary yielding or enforced adjustment. But each felt itself +to be altogether in the right and its opponent altogether in the +wrong. Thus they stood confronting each other at the close of the +year 1854. + +It was soon perceived by all, as the sagacious had seen from the +first, that the Missouri Compromise had not been repealed merely +to exhibit unity in the scope of the United-States statutes respecting +slavery in the Territories. This was the euphuistic plea of those +Northern senators and representatives who had given dire offense +to their constituents by voting for it. It was the clever artifice +of Douglas which suggested that construction. It was a deception, +and it was contradicted and exposed by the logic of argument in +the North and by the logic of action in the South. No double- +dealing was attempted by the Southern men. They understood the +question perfectly and left the apologies and explanations to +Northern men, who were hard pressed by anti-slavery constituents. +Southern men knew that the repeal of the Missouri Compromise gave +them a privilege which they had not before enjoyed,--the privilege +of settling with their slaves on the rich plains and in the fertile +valleys that stretched westward from the Missouri River. In +maintaining this privilege, they felt sure of aid from the Executive +of the United States, and they had the fullest confidence that in +any legal controversy the Federal judiciary would be on their side. + + THE SOUTHERN STRUGGLE FOR KANSAS. + +Thus panoplied they made a desperate contest for the possession of +Kansas. They had found that all the crops grown in Missouri by +slave labor could be as profitably cultivated in Kansas. Securing +Kansas, they would gain more than the mere material advantage of +an enlarged field for slave labor. New Mexico at that time included +all of Arizona; Utah included all of Nevada; Kansas, as organized, +absorbed a large part of what is now Colorado, stretched along the +eastern and northern boundary of New Mexico, and, crossing the +Rocky Mountains, reached the confines of Utah. If Kansas could be +made a slave State it would control New Mexico and Utah, and the +South could again be placed in a position of political equality if +not of command. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise had shown +them for the first time that they could absolutely consolidate the +Southern vote in Congress in defense of slavery, regardless of +differences on all other issues. But this power was of no avail, +unless they could regain their equality in the Senate which had +been lost by what they considered the mishap of California's +admission. While Clay and Benton were in the Senate with their +old reverence for the Union and their desire for the ultimate +extinction of slavery, California could neither be kept out nor +divided on the line of 36 deg. 30'. But the new South, the South of +Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens, of Robert Toombs and +Judah P. Benjamin, of James M. Mason and John C. Breckinridge, had +made new advances, was inspired by new ambitions, and was determined +upon the consolidation of sectional power. The one supreme need +was another slave State. If this could be acquired they felt +assured that so long as the Union should exist no free State could +be admitted without the corresponding admission of another slave +State. They would perhaps have been disappointed. Possibly they +did not give sufficient heed to the influences which were steadily +working against slavery in such States as Delaware and Maryland, +threatening desertion in the rear, while the defenders of slavery +were battling at the front. They argued, however, and not unnaturally, +that prejudice can hold a long contest with principle, and that in +the general uprising of the South the tendency of all their old +allies would be to remain firm. They reckoned that States with +few slaves would continue to stand for Southern institutions as +stubbornly as States with many slaves. In all the States of the +South emancipation had been made difficult, and free negroes were +tolerated, if at all, with great reluctance and with constant +protest. + +The struggle for Kansas was therefore to be maintained and possession +secured at all hazards. Although, as the Southern leaders realized, +the free States had flanked them by the admission of California +with an anti-slavery constitution, the Southern acquisition of +Kansas would pierce the very centre of the army of freedom, and +would enable the South thenceforth to dictate terms to the North. +Instead of the line of 36 deg. 30', upon which they had so frequently +offered to compromise, as a permanent continental division, they +would have carried the northern boundary of slave territory to the +40th parallel of latitude and even beyond. They slave States in +pursuing this policy were directed by men who had other designs +than those which lay on the surface. Since the struggle of 1850 +the dissolution of the Union had been in the minds of many Southern +leaders, and, as the older class of statesmen passed away, this +design grew and strengthened until it became a fixed policy. They +felt that when the time came to strike, it was of the first importance +that they should have support and popular strength beyond the +Mississippi. California, they were confident, could be carried in +their interest, if they could but plant supporting colonies between +the Missouri and the Sierras. The Democratic party was dominant +in the State, and the Democracy was of the type personated by +William M. Gwin. Both her senators voted for the repeal of the +Missouri Compromise, and stood by the extremists of the South as +steadily as if California bordered on the Gulf of Mexico. Dissolution +of the Union on the scale thus projected would, as the authors of +the scheme persuaded themselves, be certain of success. From the +Mississippi to the Missouri they would carry the new confederacy +to the southern line of Iowa. From the Missouri to the line of +Utah they would have the 40th degree of latitude; from Utah westward +they would have the 42d parallel, leaving the line of Oregon as +the southern boundary of the United States on the Pacific. + + THE SOUTHERN STRUGGLE FOR KANSAS. + +This policy was not absolute but alternative. If the slave-holders +could maintain their supremacy in the Union, they would prefer to +remain. If they were to be outvoted and, as they thought, outraged +by free-State majorities, then they would break up the government +and form a confederacy of their own. To make such a confederacy +effective, they must not take from the Union a relatively small +section, but must divide it from ocean to ocean. They could not +acquire a majority of the total population, but they aimed to secure +by far the larger share of the vast domain comprised in the United +States. The design was audacious, but from the stand-point of the +men who were committed to it, it was not illogical. Their entire +industrial system was founded upon an institution which was bitterly +opposed in the free States. They could see no way, and they no +longer desired to see a way, by which they might rid themselves of +the servile labor which was at once their strength and their +weakness. To abandon the institution was to sacrifice four thousand +millions of property specially protected by law. It was for the +existing generation of the governing class in the South to vote +themselves into bankruptcy and penury. Far beyond this, it was in +their judgment to blight their land with ignorance and indolence, +to be followed by crime and anarchy. Their point of view was so +radically different from that held by a large number of Northern +people that it left no common ground for action,--scarcely, indeed, +an opportunity for reasoning together. In the South they saw and +felt their danger, and they determined at all hazards to defend +themselves against policies which involved the total destruction +of their social and industrial fabric. They were not mere malcontents. +They were not pretenders. They did not aim at small things. They +had ability and they had courage. They had determined upon mastery +within the Union, or a Continental Empire outside of it. + +While the South had thus resolved to acquire control of the large +Territory of Kansas, the North had equally resolved to save it to +freedom. The strife that ensued upon the fertile plains beyond +the Missouri might almost be regarded as the opening battle of the +civil war. The proximity of a slave State gave to the South an +obvious advantage at the beginning of the contest. Many of the +Northern emigrants were from New England, and the distance they +were compelled to travel exceeded two thousand miles. There were +no railroads across Iowa, none across Missouri. But despite all +impediments and all discouragements, the free-State emigrants, +stimulated by anti-slavery societies organized for the purpose, +far outnumbered those from the slave States. Had the vexed question +in the Territory been left to actual settlers it would have been +at once decided adversely to slavery. But the neighboring inhabitants +of Missouri, as the first election approached, invaded the Territory +in large numbers, and, with boisterous disturbance and threats of +violence, seized the polls, fraudulently elected a pro-slavery +Legislature, and chose one of their leaders named Whitfield as +delegate to Congress. Over six thousand votes were polled, of +which some eight hundred only were cast by actual settlers. There +were about three thousand legal voters in the Territory. The total +population was somewhat in excess of eight thousand, and there were +between two and three hundred slaves. The governor of the Territory, +Andrew H. Reeder, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, tried faithfully +and earnestly to arrest the progress of fraud and violence; but he +was removed by President Pierce, and Wilson Shannon of Ohio was +sent out in his stead. The free-State settlers, defrauded at the +regular election, organized an independent movement and chose +Governor Reeder their delegate to Congress to contest the seat of +Whitfield. These events, rapidly following each other, caused +great indignation throughout the country, in the midst of which +the Thirty-fourth Congress assembled in December, 1855. After a +prolonged struggle, Nathaniel P. Banks was chosen Speaker over +William Aiken. It was a significant circumstance, noted at the +time, that the successful candidate came from Massachusetts, and +the defeated one from South Carolina. It was a still more ominous +fact that Banks was chosen by votes wholly from the free States, +and that every vote from the slave States was given to Mr. Aiken, +except that of Mr. Cullen of Delaware, and that of Henry Winter +Davis of Maryland, who declined to vote for either candidate. It +was the first instance in the history of the government in which +a candidate for Speaker had been chosen without support from both +sections. It was a distinctive victory of the free States over +the consolidated power of the slave States. It marked an epoch. + + CANVASS FOR THE PRESIDENCY. + +The year 1856 opened with this critical, this unprecedented condition +of affairs. In all classes there was deep excitement. With +thoughtful men, both North and South, there was serious solicitude. +The country approached the strife of another Presidential election +with the consciences of men thoroughly aroused, with their passions +profoundly stirred. Three parties were coming into the field, and +it seemed impossible that any candidate could secure the approval +of a majority of the voters in the Union. In the Democratic ranks +there was angry contention. President Pierce, who had risked every +thing for the South, and had received unmeasured obloquy in the +North, was naturally anxious that his administration should be +approved by his own party. With all the patronage at his command, +he vigorously sought a renomination. But the party desired victory, +and they feared a contest which involved an approval of the +President's recreancy to solemn pledges voluntarily given. He had +been inaugurated with the applause and confidence of a nation. He +was sustained in the end by a helpless faction of a disorganized +party. + +The distinguished secretary of State suffered with the President. +Mr. Marcy had personally disapproved the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise, but he made no opposition, and the people held him +equally if not doubly guilty. It was said at the time that New- +York friends urged him to save his high reputation by resigning +his seat in the cabinet. But he remained, in the delusive hope +that he should receive credit for the evil he might prevent. He +was pertinently reminded that the evil he might prevent would never +be known, whereas the evil to which he consented would be read of +all men. New York had hopelessly revolted from Democratic control, +and Mr. Marcy's name was not presented as a Presidential candidate, +though he was at that time the ablest statesman of the Democratic +party. Mr. Douglas was also unavailable. He had gained great +popularity in the South by his course in repealing the Missouri +Compromise, but he had been visited with signal condemnation in +the North. His own State, always Democratic, which had stood firmly +for the party even in the overthrow of 1840, had now failed to +sustain him,--had, indeed, pointedly rebuked him by choosing an +opposition Legislature and sending Lyman Trumbull, then an anti- +slavery Republican, as his colleague in the Senate. General Cass +was seventy-four years old, and he was under the same condemnation +with Pierce and Marcy and Douglas. He had voted to repeal the +Missouri Compromise, and Michigan, which had never before faltered +in his support, now turned against him and embittered his declining +years by an expression of popular disapproval, which could not have +been more emphatic. + +The candidates urged for the nomination were all from the North. +By a tacit but general understanding, the South repressed the +ambition of its leaders and refused to present any one of the +prominent statesmen from that section. Southern men designed to +put the North to a test, and they wished to give Northern Democrats +every possible advantage in waging a waging a warfare in which the +fruits of victory were to be wholly enjoyed by the South. If they +had wished it, they could have nominated a Southern candidate who +was at that moment far stronger than any other man in the Democratic +party. General Sam Houston had a personal history as romantic as +that of an ancient crusader. He was a native of Virginia, a +representative in Congress from Tennessee, and Governor of that +State before he was thirty-five. He was the intimate and trusted +friend of Jackson. Having resigned his governorship on account of +domestic trouble, he fled from civilized life, joined the Indians +of the Western plains, roved with them for years, adopted their +habits, and was made chief of a tribe. Returning to association +with white men, he emigrated to Texas and led the revolt against +Mexico, fought battles and was victorious, organized a new republic +and was made its President. Then he turned to his native land, +bearing in his hand the gift of a great dominion. Once more under +the Union flag, he sat in the Capitol as a senator of the United +States from Texas. At threescore years he was still in the full +vigor of life. Always a member of the Democratic party he was a +devoted adherent of the Union, and his love for it had but increased +in exile. He stood by Mr. Clay against the Southern Democrats in +the angry contest of 1850, declaring that "if the Union must be +dismembered" he "prayed God that its ruins might be the monument +of his own grave." He "desired no epitaph to tell that he survived +it." Against the madness of repealing the Missouri Compromise he +entered a protest and a warning. He notified his Southern friends +that the dissolution of the Union might be involved in the dangerous +step. He alone, of the Southern Democrats in the Senate, voted +against the mischievous measure. When three thousand clergymen of +New England sent their remonstrance against the repeal, they were +fiercely attacked and denounced by Douglas and by senators from +the South. Houston vindicated their right to speak and did battle +for them with a warmth and zeal which specially commended him to +Northern sympathy. All these facts combined--his romantic history, +his unflinching steadiness of purpose, his unswerving devotion to +the Union--would have made him an irresistibly strong candidate +had he been presented. But the very sources of his strength were +the sources of his weakness. His nomination would have been a +rebuke to every man who had voted for the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise, and, rather than submit to that, the Southern Democrats, +and Northern Democrats like Pierce and Douglas and Cass, would +accept defeat. Victory with Houston would be their condemnation. +But in rejecting him they lost in large degree the opportunity to +recover the strength and popularity and power of the Democratic +party which had all been forfeited by the maladministration of +Pierce. + + NOMINATION OF JAMES BUCHANAN. + +With Houston impracticable, other Southern candidates purposely +withheld, and all the Northern candidates in Congress or of the +administration disabled, the necessity of the situation pointed to +one man. The Democratic managers in whose hands the power lay were +not long in descrying him. Mr. Buchanan had gone to England as +minister directly after the inauguration of Pierce. He had been +absent from the country during all the troubles and the blunders +of the Democracy, and never before was an _alibi_ so potential in +acquitting a man of actual or imputed guilt. He had been a candidate +for the Presidency ever since 1844, but had not shown much strength. +He was originally a Federalist. He was somewhat cold in temperament +and austere in manners, but of upright character and blameless +life. He lacked the affability of Cass, the gracious heartiness +of Pierce, the bluff cordiality of Douglas. But he was a man of +ability, and had held high rank as a senator and as secretary of +State. Above all he had never given a vote offensive to the South. +Indeed, his Virginia friend, Henry A. Wise, boasted that his record +was as spotless as that of Calhoun. + +Buchanan's hour had come. He was a necessity to the South, a +necessity to his party; and against the combined force of all the +ambitious men who sought the place, he was nominated. But he had +a severe struggle. President Pierce and Senator Douglas each made +a persistent effort. On the first ballot Buchanan received 135 +votes, Pierce 122, Douglas 33. Through sixteen ballots the contest +was stubbornly maintained, Buchanan gaining steadily but slowly. +Pierce was at last withdrawn, and the convention gave Buchanan 168, +Douglas 121. No further resistance was made, and, amid acclamation +and rejoicing, Buchanan was declared to be the unanimous choice of +the convention. Major John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, a young +man of popularity and promise, was nominated for the Vice- +Presidency. + +Before the nomination of Buchanan and Breckinridge another Presidential +ticket had been placed in the field. The pro-slavery section of +the American party and the ghastly remnant of the Whigs had presented +Mr. Fillmore for the Presidency, and had associated with him Andrew +Jackson Donelson of Tennessee as candidate for the Vice-Presidency. +On the engrossing question of the day Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Fillmore +did not represent antagonistic ideas, and between them there could +be no contest to arouse enthusiasm or even to enlist interest in +the North. The movement for Fillmore afforded a convenient shelter +for that large class of men who had not yet made up their minds as +to the real issue of slavery extension or slavery prohibition. + +The Republican party had meanwhile been organizing and consolidating. +During the years 1854 and 1855 it had acquired control of the +governments in a majority of the free States, and it promptly called +a national convention to meet in Philadelphia in June, 1856. The +Democracy saw at once that a new and dangerous opponent was in the +field,--an opponent that stood upon principle and shunned expediency, +that brought to its standard a great host of young men, and that +won to its service a very large proportion of the talent, the +courage, and the eloquence of the North. The convention met for +a purpose and it spoke boldly. It accepted the issue as presented +by the men of the South, and it offered no compromise. In its +ranks were all shades of anti-slavery opinion,--the patient +Abolitionist, the Free-Soiler of the Buffalo platform, the Democrats +who had supported the Wilmot Proviso, the Whigs who had followed +Seward. + + NOMINATION OF JOHN C. FREMONT. + +There was no strife about candidates. Mr. Seward was the recognized +head of the party, but he did not desire the nomination. He agreed +with his faithful mentor, Thurlow Weed, that his time had not come, +and that his sphere of duty was still in the Senate. Salmon P. +Chase was Governor of Ohio, waiting re-election to the Senate, and, +like Seward, not anxious for a nomination where election was regarded +as improbable if not impossible. The more conservative and timid +section of the party advocated the nomination of Judge McLean of +the Supreme Court, who for many years had enjoyed a shadowy mention +for the Presidency in Whig journals of a certain type. But Judge +McLean was old and the Republican party was young. He belonged to +the past, the party was looking to the future. It demanded a more +energetic and attractive candidate, and John C. Fremont was chosen +on the first ballot. He was forty-three years of age, with a +creditable record in the Regular Army, and wide fame as a scientific +explorer in the Western mountain ranges, then the _terra incognita_ +of the continent. He was a native of South Carolina, and had +married the brilliant and accomplished daughter of Colonel Benton. +Always a member of the Democratic party, he was so closely identified +with the early settlement of California that he was elected one of +her first senators. To the tinge of romance in his history were +added the attractions of a winning address and an auspicious name. + +The movement in his behalf had been quietly and effectively organized +for several months preceding the convention. It had been essentially +aided if not indeed originated by the elder Francis P. Blair, who +had the skill derived from long experience in political management. +Mr. Blair was a devoted friend of Benton, had been intimate with +Jackson, and intensely hostile to Calhoun. As editor of the _Globe_, +he had exercised wide influence during the Presidential terms of +Jackson and Van Buren, but when Polk was inaugurated he was supplanted +in administration confidence by Thomas Ritchie of the State-rights' +school, who was brought from Virginia to found another paper. Mr. +Blair was a firm Union man, and, though he had never formally +withdrawn from the Democratic party, he was now ready to leave it +because of the Disunion tendencies of its Southern leaders. He +was a valuable friend to Fremont, and gave to him the full advantage +of his experience and his sagacity. + +William L. Dayton of New Jersey, who had served with distinction +in the Senate, was selected for the Vice-Presidency. His principal +competitor in the only ballot which was taken was Abraham Lincoln +of Illinois. This was the first time that Mr. Lincoln was +conspicuously named outside of his own State. He had been a member +of the Thirtieth Congress, 1847-9, but being a modest man he had +so little forced himself into notice that when his name was proposed +for Vice-President, inquiries as to who he was were heard from all +parts of the convention. + +The principles enunciated by the Democratic and Republican parties +on the slavery question formed the only subject for discussion +during the canvass in the free States. From the beginning no doubt +was expressed that Mr. Buchanan would find the South practically +consolidated in his favor. Electoral tickets for Fremont were not +presented in the slave States, and Fillmore's support in that +section was weakened by his obvious inability to carry any of the +free States. The canvass, therefore, rapidly narrowed to a contest +between Buchanan and Fremont in the North. The Republican Convention +had declared it to be "both the right and imperative duty of Congress +to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics of barbarism,-- +polygamy and slavery." The Democratic Convention had presented a +very elaborate and exhaustive series of resolutions touching the +slavery question. They indorsed the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise, and recognized the "right of the people of all the +territories to form a constitution with or without domestic slavery." +The resolution was artfully constructed. Read in one way it gave +to the people of the Territories the right to determine the question +for themselves. It thus upheld the doctrine of "popular sovereignty" +which Mr. Douglas had announced as the very spirit of the Act +organizing Kansas and Nebraska. A closer analysis of the Democratic +declaration, however, showed that this "popular sovereignty" was +not to be exercised until the people of the Territory were sufficiently +numerous to form a State constitution and apply for admission to +the Union, and that meanwhile in all the Territories the slave- +holder had the right to settle and to be protected in the possession +of his peculiar species of property. In fine, the Republicans +declared in plain terms that slavery should by positive law of the +nation be excluded from the Territories. The Democrats flatly +opposed the doctrine of Congressional prohibition, but left a margin +for doubt as to the true construction of the Constitution, and of +the Act repealing the Missouri Compromise, thus enabling their +partisans to present one issue in the North, and another in the +South. + +The Democratic candidate in his letter of acceptance did not seek +to resolve the mystery of the platform, but left the question just +as he found it in the resolutions of the convention. The result +was that Northern people supported Mr. Buchanan in the belief, so +energetically urged by Mr. Douglas, that the people of the Territories +had the right to determine the slavery question for themselves at +any time. The Southern people supported Mr. Buchanan in the full +faith that slavery was to be protected in the Territories until a +State government should be formed and admission to the Union secured. +The Democratic doctrine of the North and the Democratic doctrine +of the South were, therefore, in logic and in fact, irreconcilably +hostile. By the one, slavery could never enter a Territory unless +the inhabitants thereof desired and approved it. By the other +slavery had a foot-hold in the Territories under the Constitution +of the United States, and could not be dislodged or disturbed by +the inhabitants of a Territory even though ninety-nine out of every +hundred were opposed to it. In the Territorial Legislatures laws +might be passed to protect slavery but not to exclude it. From +such contradictory constructions in the same party, conflicts were +certain to arise. + + MR. BUCHANAN ELECTED PRESIDENT. + +The Democrats of the North sought, not unsuccessfully, to avoid +the slavery question altogether. They urged other considerations +upon popular attention. Mr. Buchanan was presented as a National +candidate, supported by troops of friends in every State of the +Union. Fremont was denounced as a sectional candidate, whose +election by Northern votes on an anti-slavery platform would dissolve +the Union. This incessant cry exerted a wide influence in the +North and was especially powerful in commercial circles. But in +spite of it, Fremont gained rapidly in the free States. The +condition of affairs in Kansas imparted to his supporters a desperate +energy, based on principle and roused to anger. An elaborate and +exciting speech on the "Crime against Kansas," by Senator Sumner, +was followed by an assault from Preston S. Brooks, a member of the +House from South Carolina, which seriously injured Mr. Sumner, and +sensibly increased the exasperation of the North. When a resolution +of the House to expel Brooks was under consideration, he boasted +that "a blow struck by him then would be followed by a revolution." +This but added fuel to a Northern flame already burning to white- +heat. Votes by tens of thousands declared that they did not desire +a Union which was held together by the forbearance or permission +of any man or body of men, and they welcomed a test of any character +that should determine the supremacy of the Constitution and the +strength of the government. + +The canvass grew in animation and earnestness to the end, the +Republicans gaining strength before the people of the North every +day. But Buchanan's election was not a surprise. Indeed, it had +been generally expected. He received the electoral votes of every +Southern State except Maryland, which pronounced for Fillmore. In +the North, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, and California +voted for Buchanan. The other eleven free States, beginning with +Maine and ending with Iowa, declared for Fremont. The popular vote +was for Buchanan 1,838,169, Fremont 1,341,264, Fillmore 874,534. +With the people, therefore, Mr. Buchanan was in a minority, the +combined opposition outnumbering his vote by nearly four hundred +thousand. + +The Republicans, far from being discouraged, felt and acted as men +who had won the battle. Indeed, the moral triumph was theirs, and +they believed that the actual victory at the polls was only postponed. +The Democrats were mortified and astounded by the large popular +vote against them. The loss of New York and Ohio, the narrow escape +from defeat in Pennsylvania, the rebuke of Michigan to their veteran +leader General Cass, intensified by the choice of Chandler as his +successor in the Senate, the absolute consolidation of New England +against them, all tended to humiliate and discourage the party. +They had lost ten States which General Pierce had carried in 1852, +and they had a watchful, determined foe in the field, eager for +another trial of strength. The issue was made, the lines of battles +were drawn. Freedom or slavery in the Territories was to be fought +to the end, without flinching, and without compromise. + +Mr. Buchanan came to the Presidency under very different auspices +from those which had attended the inauguration of President Pierce. +The intervening four years had written important chapters in the +history of the slavery contest. In 1853 there was no organized +opposition that could command even a respectable minority in a +single State. In 1857 a party distinctly and unequivocally pledged +to resist the extension of slavery into free territory had control +of eleven free States and was hotly contesting the possession of +the others. The distinct and avowed marshalling of a solid North +against a solid South had begun, and the result of the Presidential +election of 1856 settled nothing except that a mightier struggle +was in the future. + + DECISION IN THE CASE OF DRED SCOTT. + +After Buchanan's inauguration events developed rapidly. The +Democrats had carried the House, and therefore had control of every +department of the government. The effort to force slavery upon +Kansas was resumed with increased zeal. Strafford's policy of +"thorough" was not more resolute or more absolute than that now +adopted by the Southern leaders with a new lease of power confirmed +to them by the result of the election. The Supreme Court came to +their aid, and, not long after the new administration was installed, +delivered their famous decision in the Dred Scott case. This case +involved the freedom of a single family that had been held as +slaves, but it gave occasion to the Court for an exhaustive treatment +of the political question which was engrossing public attention. +The conclusion of the best legal minds of the country was that the +opinion of the Court went far beyond the real question at issue, +and that many of its most important points were to be regarded as +_obiter dicta_. The Court declared that the Act of Congress +prohibiting slavery in the Territories north of 36 deg. 30' was +unconstitutional and void. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise +was therefore approved by the highest judicial tribunal. Not only +was the repeal approved, its re-enactment was forbidden. No matter +how large a majority might be returned to Congress in favor of +again setting up the old landmark which had stood in peace and in +honor for thirty-four years, with the sanction of all departments +of the government, the Supreme Court had issued an edict that it +could not be done. The Court had declared that slavery was as much +entitled to protection on the national domain as any other species +of property, and that it was unconstitutional for Congress to decree +freedom for a Territory of the United States. The pro-slavery +interest had apparently won a great triumph. They naturally claimed +that the whole question was settled in their favor. But in fact +the decision of the Court had only rendered the contest more intense +and more bitter. It was received throughout the North with scorn +and indignation. It entered at once into the political discussions +of the people, and remained there until, with all other issues on +the slavery question, it was remanded to the arbitrament of war. + +Five of the judges--an absolute majority of the court--were Southern +men, and had always been partisan Democrats of the State-rights' +school. People at once remembered that every other class of lawyers +in the South had for thirty years been rigidly excluded from the +bench. John J. Crittenden had been nominated and rejected by a +Democratic Senate. George E. Badger of North Carolina had shared +the same fate. They were followers of Clay, and not to be trusted +by the new South in any exigency where the interests of slavery +and the perpetuity of the Union should come in conflict. Instead, +therefore, of strengthening the Democratic party, the whole effect +of the Dred Scott decision was to develop a more determined type +of anti-slavery agitation. This tendency was promoted by the lucid +and exhaustive opinion of Benjamin R. Curtis, one of the two +dissenting judges. Judge Curtis was not a Republican. He had been +a Whig of the most conservative type, appointed to the bench by +President Fillmore through the influence of Mr. Webster and the +advice of Rufus Choate. In legal learning, and in dignity and +purity of character, he was unsurpassed. His opinion became, +therefore, of inestimable value to the cause of freedom. It +represented the well-settled conclusion of the most learned jurists, +was in harmony with the enlightened conscience of the North, and +gave a powerful rallying-cry to the opponents of slavery. It upheld +with unanswerable arguments the absolute right of Congress to +prohibit slavery in all the Territories of the Union. Every judge +delivered his views separately, but the dissenting opinion of Judge +McLean, as well as of the six who sustained the views of the Chief +Justice, arrested but a small share of public attention. The +argument for the South had been made by the venerable and learned +Chief Justice. The argument for the North had been made by Justice +Curtis. Perhaps in the whole history of judicial decisions no two +opinions were ever so widely read by the mass of people outside +the legal profession. + + DECISION IN THE CASE OF DRED SCOTT. + +It was popularly believed that the whole case was made up in order +to afford an opportunity for the political opinions delivered by +the Court. This was an extreme view not justified by the facts. +But in the judgment of many conservative men there was a delay in +rendering the decision which had its origin in motives that should +not have influenced a judicial tribunal. The purport and scope of +the decision were undoubtedly known to President Pierce before the +end of his term, and Mr. Buchanan imprudently announced in his +Inaugural address that "the point of time when the people of a +Territory can decide the question of slavery for themselves" will +"be speedily and finally settled by the Supreme Court, before whom +it is now pending." How Mr. Buchanan could know, or how he was +entitled to know, that a question not directly or necessarily +involved in a case pending before the Supreme Court "would be +speedily and finally settled" became a subject of popular inquiry. +Anti-slavery speakers and anti-slavery papers indulged in severe +criticism both of Mr. Buchanan and the Court, declaring that the +independence of the co-ordinate branches of the government was +dangerously invaded when the Executive was privately advised of a +judicial decision in advance of its delivery by the Court. William +Pitt Fessenden, who always spoke with precision and never with +passion, asserted in the Senate that the Court, after hearing the +argument, had reserved its judgment until the Presidential election +was decided. He avowed his belief that Mr. Buchanan would have +been defeated if the decision had not been withheld, and that in +the event of Fremont's election "we should never have heard of a +doctrine so utterly at variance with all truth, so utterly destitute +of all legal logic, so founded on error, and so unsupported by any +thing resembling argument." + +Mr. Lincoln, whose singular powers were beginning to be appreciated, +severely attacked the decision in a public speech in Illinois, not +merely for its doctrine, but for the mode in which the decision +had been brought about, and the obvious political intent of the +judges. He showed how the Kansas-Nebraska Act left the people of +the Territories perfectly free to settle the slavery question for +themselves, "subject only to the Constitution of the United States!" +That qualification he said was "the exactly fitted niche for the +Dred Scott decision to come in and declare the perfect freedom to +be no freedom at all." He then gave a humorous illustration by +asking in homely but telling phrase, "if we saw a lot of framed +timbers gotten out at different times and places by different +workmen,--Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James,--and if we saw +these timbers joined together and exactly make the frame of a house, +with tenons and mortises all fitting, what is the conclusion? We +find it impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and +Roger and James all understood one another from the beginning, and +all worked upon a common plan before the first blow was struck." +This quaint mode of arraigning the two President, the Chief Justice +and Senator Douglas, was extraordinarily effective with the masses. +In a single paragraph, humorously expressed, he had framed an +indictment against four men upon which he lived to secure a conviction +before the jury of the American people. + +The decision was rendered especially odious throughout the North +by the use of certain unfortunate expressions which in the heat of +the hour were somewhat distorted by the anti-slavery press, and +made to appear unwarrantably offensive. But there was no +misrepresentation and no misunderstanding of the essential position +of the Court on the political question. It was unmistakably held +that ownership in slaves was as much entitled to protection under +the Constitution in the Territories of the United States as any +other species of property, and that Congress possessed no power +over the subject except the power to legislate in aid of slavery. +The decision was at war with the practice and traditions of the +government from its foundation, and set aside the matured convictions +of two generations of conservative statesmen from the South as well +as from the North. It proved injurious to the Court, which +thenceforward was assailed most bitterly in the North and defended +with intemperate zeal in the South. Personally upright and honorable +as the judges were individually known to be, there was a conviction +in the minds of a majority of Northern people, that on all issues +affecting the institution of slavery they were unable to deliver +a just judgment; that an Abolitionist was, in their sight, the +chief of sinners, deserving to be suppressed by law; that the anti- +slavery agitation was conducted, according to their belief, by two +classes,--fanatics and knaves,--both of whom should be promptly +dealt with; the fanatics in strait-jackets and the knaves at the +cart's tail. + +Chief Justice Taney, who delivered the opinion which proved so +obnoxious throughout the North, was not only a man of great +attainments, but was singularly pure and upright in his life and +conversation. Had his personal character been less exalted, or +his legal learning less eminent, there would have been less surprise +and less indignation. But the same qualities which rendered his +judgment of apparent value to the South, called out intense hostility +in the North. The lapse of years, however, cools the passions and +tempers the judgment. It has brought many anti-slavery men to see +that an unmerited share of the obloquy properly attaching to the +decision has been visited on the Chief Justice, and that it was +unfair to place him under such condemnation, while two associate +Justices in the North, Grier and Nelson, joined in the decision +without incurring special censure, and lived in honor and veneration +to the end of their judicial careers. While, therefore, time has +in no degree abated Northern hostility to the Dred Scott decision, +it has thrown a more generous light upon the character and action +of the eminent Chief Justice who pronounced it. More allowance is +made for the excitement and for what he believed to be the exigency +of the hour, for the sentiments in which he had been educated, for +the force of association, and for his genuine belief that he was +doing a valuable work towards the preservation of the Union. His +views were held by millions of people around him, and he was swept +along by a current which with so many had proved irresistible. +Coming to the Bench from Jackson's Cabinet, fresh from the angry +controversies of that partisan era, he had proved a most acceptable +and impartial judge, earning renown and escaping censure until he +dealt directly with the question of slavery. Whatever harm he may +have done in that decision was speedily overruled by war, and the +country can now contemplate a venerable jurist, in robes that were +never soiled by corruption, leading a long life of labor and +sacrifice, and achieving a fame in his profession second only to +that of Marshall. + + + CHIEF JUSTICE TANEY AND MR. SUMNER. + +The aversion with which the extreme anti-slavery men regarded Chief +Justice Taney was strikingly exhibited during the session of Congress +following his death. The customary mark of respect in providing +a marble bust of the deceased to be placed in the Supreme Court +room was ordered by the House without comment or objection. In +the Senate the bill was regularly reported from the Judiciary +Committee by the chairman, Mr. Trumbull of Illinois, who was at +that time a recognized leader in the Republican party. The +proposition to pay respect to the memory of the judge who had +pronounced the Dred Scott decision was at once savagely attacked +by Mr. Sumner. Mr. Trumbull in reply warmly defended the character +of the Chief Justice, declaring that he "had added reputation to +the Judiciary of the United States throughout the world, and that +he was not to be hooted down by exclamations about an emancipated +country. Suppose he did make a wrong decision. No man is infallible. +He was a great, learned, able judge." + +Mr. Sumner rejoined with much temper. He said that "Taney would +be hooted down the pages of history, and that an emancipated country +would fix upon his name the stigma it deserved. He had administered +justice wickedly, had degraded the Judiciary, and had degraded the +age." Mr. Wilson followed Mr. Sumner in a somewhat impassioned +speech, denouncing the Dred Scott decision "as the greatest crime +in the judicial annals of the Republic," and declaring it to be +"the abhorrence, the scoff, the jeer, of the patriotic hearts of +America." Mr. Reverdy Johnson answered Mr. Sumner with spirit, +and pronounced an eloquent eulogium upon Judge Taney. He said, +"the senator from Massachusetts will be happy if his name shall +stand as high upon the historic page as that of the learned judge +who is now no more." Mr. Johnson directed attention to the fact +that, whether wrong or right, the Dred Scott decision was one in +which a majority of the Supreme Court had concurred, and therefore +no special odium should be attached to the name of the venerable +Chief Justice. Mr. Johnson believed the decision to be right, and +felt that his opinion on a question of law was at least entitled +to as much respect as that of either of the senators from Massachusetts, +"one of whom did not pretend to be a lawyer at all, while the other +was a lawyer for only a few months." He proceeded to vindicate +the historical accuracy of the Chief Justice, and answered Mr. +Sumner with that amplitude and readiness which Mr. Johnson displayed +in every discussion involving legal questions. + +Mr. Sumner's protest was vigorously seconded by Mr. Hale of New +Hampshire and Mr. Wade of Ohio. The former said that a monument +to Taney "would give the lie to all that had been said by the +friends of justice, liberty, and down-trodden humanity," respecting +the iniquity of the Dred Scott decision. Mr. Wade violently opposed +the proposition. He avowed his belief that the "Dred Scott case +was got up to give judicial sanction to the enormous iniquity that +prevailed in every branch of our government at that period." He +declared that "the greater you make Judge Taney's legal acumen the +more you dishonor his memory by showing that he sinned against +light and knowledge." He insisted that the people of Ohio, whose +opinion he professed to represent, "would pay two thousand dollars +to hang the late Chief Justice in effigy rather than one thousand +dollars for a bust to commemorate his merits." + +Mr. McDougall of California spoke in favor of the bill, and commented +on the rudeness of Mr. Sumner's speech. Mr. Carlile of West Virginia +spoke very effectively in praise of the Chief Justice. If the +decision was harsh, he said, no one was justified in attributing +it to the personal feelings or desires of the Chief Justice. It +was the law he was expounding, and he did it ably and conscientiously. +Mr. Sumner concluded the debate by a reply to Reverdy Johnson. He +said that, in listening to the senator from Maryland, he was +"reminded of a character, known to the Roman Church, who always +figures at the canonization of a saint as the _Devil's advocate_." +He added that, if he could help it, "Taney should never be recognized +as a saint by any vote of Congress." The incidents of the debate +and the names of the participants are given as affording a good +illustration of the tone and temper of the times. It was made +evident that the opponents of the bill, under Mr. Sumner's lead, +would not permit it to come to a vote. It was therefore abandoned +on the 23d of February, 1865. + + HONORS TO TWO CHIEF JUSTICES. + +Nine years after these proceedings, in January, 1874, the name of +another Chief Justice, who had died during the recess, came before +Congress for honor and commemoration. The Senate was still controlled +by a large Republican majority, though many changes had taken place. +All the senators who had spoken in the previous debate were gone, +except Mr. Sumner, who had meanwhile been chosen for his fourth +term, and Mr. Wilson, who had been elevated to the Vice-Presidency. +Mr. Howe of Wisconsin, a more radical Republican than Mr. Trumbull, +reported from the Judiciary Committee a bill originally proposed +by Senator Stevenson of Kentucky, paying the same tribute of respect +to Roger Brooke Taney and Salmon Portland Chase. The bill was +passed without debate and with the unanimous consent of the Senate. + +Mr. Taney was appointed Chief Justice in 1836, when in his sixtieth +year. He presided over the court until his death in October, 1864, +a period of twenty-eight years. The Dred Scott decision received +no respect after Mr. Lincoln became President, and, without reversal +by the court, was utterly disregarded. When Mr. Chase became Chief +Justice, colored persons were admitted to practice in the courts +of the United States. When President Lincoln, in 1861, authorized +the denial of the writ of _habeas corpus_ to persons arrested on +a charge of treason, Chief Justice Taney delivered an opinion in +the case of John Merryman, denying the President's power to suspend +the writ, declaring that Congress only was competent to do it. +The Executive Department paid no attention to the decision, and +Congress, at the ensuing session, added its sanction to the +suspension. The Chief Justice, though loyal to the Union, was not +in sympathy with the policy or the measures of Mr. Lincoln's +administration. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Review (_continued_).--Continuance of the Struggle for Kansas.-- +List of Governors.--Robert J. Walker appointed Governor by President +Buchanan.--His Failure.--The Lecompton Constitution fraudulently +adopted.--Its Character.--Is transmitted to Congress by President +Buchanan.--He recommends the Admission of Kansas under its Provisions. +--Pronounces Kansas a Slave State.--Gives Full Scope and Effect to +the Dred Scott Decision.--Senator Douglas refuses to sustain the +Lecompton Iniquity.--His Political Embarrassment.--Breaks with the +Administration.--Value of his Influence against Slavery in Kansas. +--Lecompton Bill passes the Senate.--Could not be forced through +the House.--The English Bill substituted and passed.--Kansas spurns +the Bribe.--Douglas regains his Popularity with Northern Democrats. +--Illinois Republicans bitterly hostile to him.--Abraham Lincoln +nominated to contest the Re-election of Douglas to the Senate.-- +Lincoln challenges Douglas to a Public Discussion.--Character of +Each as a Debater.--They meet Seven Times in Debate.--Douglas re- +elected.--Southern Senators arraign Douglas.--His Defiant Answer. +--Danger of Sectional Division in the Democratic Party. + +The Dred Scott decision, in connection with the Democratic triumph +in the national election, had a marked effect upon the struggle +for Kansas. The pro-slavery men felt fresh courage for the work, +as they found themselves assured of support from the administration, +and upheld by the dogmas of the Supreme Court. The Territory thus +far had been one continued scene of disorder and violence. For +obvious reasons, the administration of President Pierce had selected +its governors from the North, and each, in succession, failed to +placate the men who were bent on making Kansas a slave State. +Andrew H. Reeder, Wilson Shannon, John W. Geary, had, each in turn, +tried, and each in turn failed. Mr. Buchanan now selected Robert +J. Walker for the difficult task. Mr. Walker was a Southern man +in all his relations, though by birth a Pennsylvanian. He had held +high stations, and possessed great ability. It was believed that +he, if any one, could govern the Territory in the interest of the +South, and, at the same time, retain a decent degree of respect +and confidence in the North. As an effective aid to this policy, +Frederick P. Stanton, who had acquired an honorable reputation as +representative in Congress from Tennessee, was sent out as secretary +of the Territory. + + THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION. + +Governor Walker failed. He could do much, but he could not placate +an element that was implacable. Contrary to his desires, and +against his authority, a convention, called by the fraudulent +Legislature, and meeting at Lecompton, submitted a pro-slavery +constitution to the people, preparatory to asking the admission of +Kansas as a State. The people were not permitted to vote for or +against the constitution, but were narrowed to the choice of taking +the constitution with slavery or the constitution without slavery. +If the decision should be adverse to slavery, there were still some +provisions in the constitution, not submitted to popular decision, +which would postpone the operation of the free clause. The whole +contrivance was fraudulent, wicked, and in retrospect incredible. +Naturally the Free-state men refused to have any thing to do with +the scandalous device, intended to deceive and betray them. The +constitution with slavery was, therefore, adopted by an almost +unanimous vote of those who were not citizens of Kansas. Many +thousands of votes were returned which were never cast at all, +either by citizens of Kansas or marauders from Missouri. It is +not possible, without using language that would seem immoderate, +to describe the enormity of the whole transaction. The constitution +no more represented the will or the wishes of the people of Kansas +than of the people of Ohio or Vermont. + +Shameful and shameless as was the entire procedure, it was approved +by Mr. Buchanan. The Lecompton Constitution was transmitted to +Congress, accompanied by a message from the President recommending +the prompt admission of the State. He treated the anti-slavery +population of Kansas as in rebellion against lawful authority, +recognized the invaders from Missouri as rightfully entitled to +form a constitution for the State, and declared that "Kansas is at +this moment (Feb. 2, 1858) as much a slave State as Georgia or +South Carolina." The Dred Scott decision occupied a prominent +place in this extraordinary message and received the most liberal +interpretation in favor of slavery. The President declared that +"it has been solemnly adjudged by the highest judicial tribunal +known to our laws that slavery exists in Kansas by virtue of the +Constitution of the United States." This was giving the fullest +scope to the extreme and revolting doctrine put forward by the +advocates of slavery, and, had it been made effective respecting +the Territories, there are many reasons for believing that a still +more offensive step might have been taken respecting the anti- +slavery action of the States. + +The attempt to admit Kansas, under the Lecompton Constitution, +proved disastrous to the Democratic party. The first decided break +was that of Senator Douglas. He refused to sustain the iniquity. +He had gone far with the pro-slavery men, but he refused to take +this step. He had borne great burdens in their interest, but this +was the additional pound that broke the back of his endurance. +When the Dred Scott decision was delivered, Mr. Douglas had applauded +it, and, as Mr. Lincoln charged, had assented to it before it was +pronounced. With his talent for political device, he had doubtless +contrived some argument or fallacy by which he could reconcile that +judicial edict with his doctrine of "popular sovereignty," and thus +maintain his standing with the Northern Democracy without losing +his hold on the South. But events traveled too rapidly for him. +The pro-slavery men were so eager for the possession of Kansas that +they could not adjust their measures to the needs of Mr. Douglas's +political situation. They looked at the question from one point, +Mr. Douglas from another. They saw that if Kansas could be forced +into the Union with the Lecompton Constitution they would gain a +slave State. Mr. Douglas saw that if he should aid in that political +crime he would lose Illinois. It was more important to the South +to secure Kansas as a slave State than to carry Illinois for Mr. +Douglas. It was more important for Mr. Douglas to hold Illinois +for himself than to give the control of Kansas to the South. +Indeed, his Northern friends had been for some time persuaded that +his only escape from the dangerous embarrassments surrounding him +was in the admission of Kansas as a free State. If the Missouri +Compromise had not been repealed, a free State was assured. If +Kansas should become a slave State in consequence of that repeal, +it would, in the excited condition of the popular mind, crush +Douglas in the North, and bring his political career to a discreditable +end. + +Mr. Douglas had come, therefore, to the parting of the ways. He +realized that he was rushing on political destruction, and that, +if he supported the vulgar swindle perpetrated at Lecompton, he +would be repudiated by the great State which had exalted him and +almost idolized him as a political leader. He determined, therefore, +to take a bold stand against the administration on this issue. It +was an important event, not only to himself, but to his party; not +only to his party, but to the country. Rarely, in our history, +has the action of a single person been attended by a public interest +as universal; by applause so hearty in the North, by denunciation +so bitter in the South. In the debate which followed, Douglas +exhibited great power. He had a tortuous record to defend, but he +defended it with extraordinary ability and adroitness. From time +to time, during the progress of the contest, he was on the point +of yielding to some compromise which would have destroyed the +heroism and value of his position. But he was sustained by the +strong will of others when he himself wavered--appalled, as he +often was, by the sacrifice he was making of the Southern support, +for which he had labored so long, and endured so much. + + SENATOR BRODERICK'S DEATH. + +Senator Broderick of California imparted largely of his own courage +and enthusiasm to Douglas at the critical juncture, and perhaps +saved him from a surrender of his proud position. Throughout the +entire contest Broderick showed remarkable vigor and determination. +Considering the defects of his intellectual training in early life, +he displayed unusual power as a political leader and public speaker. +He was a native of Washington, born of Irish parents, and was +brought up to the trade of a stone-mason. He went to California +among the pioneers of 1849, and soon after took part in the fierce +political contests of the Pacific coast. Though a Democrat, he +instinctively took the Northern side against the arrogant domination +of the Southern wing of the party, led by William H. Gwin. Broderick +was elected to the United States Senate as Gwin's colleague in +1856, and at once joined Douglas in opposition to the Lecompton +policy of the administration. His position aroused fierce hostility +on the part of the Democratic leaders of California. The contest +grew so bitter in the autumn of 1859, when Broderick was canvassing +his State, as to lead to a duel with Judge Terry, a prominent +Democrat of Southern birth. Broderick was killed at the first +fire. The excitement was greater in the country than ever attended +a duel, except when Hamilton fell at the hands of Burr in 1804. +The Graves and Cilley duel of 1838, with its fatal ending, affected +the whole nation, but not so profoundly as did the death of Broderick. +The oration of Senator Baker, delivered in San Francisco at the +funeral, so stirred the people that violence was feared. The bloody +tragedy influenced political parties, and contributed in no small +degree to Lincoln's triumph in California the ensuing year. + +In the peculiar position in which Douglas was placed, still +maintaining his membership of the Democratic party while opposing +the administration on the Lecompton question, he naturally resorted +to arguments which were not always of a character to enlist the +approval of men conscientiously opposed to slavery. The effect of +the arguments, however, was invaluable to those who were resisting +the imposition of slavery upon Kansas against the wish of a majority +of her people, and Republicans could be content with the end without +justifying the means. Douglas frankly avowed that he did not care +whether slavery was voted up or voted down, but he demanded that +an honest, untrammeled ballot should be secured to the citizens of +the Territory. Without the aid of Douglas, the "Crime against +Kansas," so eloquently depicted by Mr. Sumner, would have been +complete. With his aid, it was prevented. + +The Lecompton Bill passed the Senate by a vote of 33 to 25. Besides +Broderick, Douglas carried with him only two Democratic senators, +--Stuart of Michigan, and Pugh of Ohio. The two remaining members +of the old Whig party from the South, who had been wandering as +political orphans since the disastrous defeat of 1852,--Bell of +Tennessee, and Crittenden of Kentucky,--honored themselves and the +ancient Whig traditions by voting against the bill. In view of +the events of the preceding four years, it was a significant +spectacle in the Senate when Douglas voted steadily with Seward +and Sumner and Fessenden and Wade against the political associations +of a lifetime. It meant, to the far-seeing, more than a temporary +estrangement, and it foretold results in the political field more +important than any which had been developed since the foundation +of the Republican party. + +The resistance to the Lecompton Bill in the House was unconquerable. +The Administration could not, with all its power and patronage, +enforce its passage. Anxious to avert the mortification of an +absolute and unqualified defeat, the supporters of the scheme +changed their ground, and offered a new measure, moved by Mr. +William H. English of Indiana, submitting the entire constitution +to a vote of the people. If adopted, the constitution carried with +it a generous land grant to the new State. If rejected, the +alternative was not only the withdrawal of the land grant, but +indefinite postponement of the whole question of admission. It +was simply a bribe, cunningly and unscrupulously contrived, to +induce the people of Kansas to accept a pro-slavery constitution. +It was not so outrageous as it would have been to force the +constitution upon the people without allowing them to vote upon it +at all, and it gave a shadow of excuse to certain Democrats, who +did not wish to separate from their party, for returning to the +ranks. The bill was at last forced through the House by 112 votes +to 103. Twelve Democrats, to their honor be it said, refused to +yield. Douglas held all his political associates from Illinois, +while the President failed to consolidate the Democrats from +Pennsylvania. John Hickman and Henry Chapman honorably and +tenaciously held their ground to the last against every phase of +the outrage. In New York, John B. Haskin and Horace F. Clarke +refused to yield, though great efforts were made to induce them to +support the administration. The Senate promptly concurred in the +English proposition. + + LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION REJECTED. + +But Kansas would not sell her birthright for a mess of pottage. +She had fought too long for freedom to be bribed to the support of +slavery. She had at last a free vote, and rejected the Lecompton +Constitution, land grant and all, by a majority of more than ten +thousand. The struggle was over. The pro-slavery men were defeated. +The North was victorious. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise +had not brought profit or honor to those who planned it. It had +only produced strife, anger, heart-burning, hatred. It had added +many drops to the cup of bitterness between North and South, and +had filled it to overflowing. It produced evil only, and that +continually. The repeal, in the judgment of the North, was a great +conspiracy against human freedom. In the Southern States it was +viewed as an honest effort to recover rights of which they had been +unjustly deprived. Each section held with firmness to its own +belief, and the four years of agitation had separated them so widely +that a return to fraternal feeling seemed impossible. Confidence, +the plant of slowest growth, had been destroyed. Who could restore +it to life and strength? + +Douglas had, in large degree, redeemed himself in the North from +the obloquy to which he had been subjected since the repeal of the +Missouri Compromise. The victory for free Kansas was perhaps to +an undue extent ascribed to him. The completeness of that victory +was everywhere recognized, and the lawless intruders who had worked +so hard to inflict slavery on the new Territory gradually withdrew. +In the South, Douglas was covered with maledictions. But for his +influence, Southern men felt that Kansas would have been admitted +with a pro-slavery constitution, and the senatorial equality of +the South firmly re-established. Northern Republicans, outside of +Illinois, were in a forgiving frame of mind toward Douglas; and he +had undoubtedly regained a very large share of his old popularity. +But Illinois Republicans were less amiable towards him. They would +not forget that he had broken down an anti-slavery barrier which +had been reared with toil and sanctified by time. He had not, as +they alleged, turned back from any test exacted by the South, until +he had reached the point where another step forward involved +political death to himself. They would not credit his hostility +to the Lecompton Constitution to any nobler motive than the instinct +of self-preservation. This was a harsh judgment, and yet a most +natural one. It inspired the Republicans of Illinois, and they +prepared to contest the return of Douglas to the Senate by formally +nominating Abraham Lincoln as an opposing candidate. + +The contest that ensued was memorable. Douglas had an herculean +task before him. The Republican party was young, strong, united, +conscious of its power, popular, growing. The Democratic party +was rent with faction, and the Administration was irrevocably +opposed to the return of Douglas to the Senate. He entered the +field, therefore, with a powerful opponent in front, and with +defection and betrayal in the rear. He was everywhere known as a +debater of singular skill. His mind was fertile in resources. He +was master of logic. No man perceived more quickly than he the +strength or the weakness of an argument, and no one excelled him +in the use of sophistry and fallacy. Where he could not elucidate +a point to his own advantage, he would fatally becloud it for his +opponent. In that peculiar style of debate, which, in its intensity, +resembles a physical contest, he had no equal. He spoke with +extraordinary readiness. There was no halting in his phrase. He +used good English, terse, vigorous, pointed. He disregarded the +adornments of rhetoric,--rarely used a simile. He was utterly +destitute of humor, and had slight appreciation of wit. He never +cited historical precedents except from the domain of American +politics. Inside that field his knowledge was comprehensive, +minute, critical. Beyond it his learning was limited. He was not +a reader. His recreations were not in literature. In the whole +range of his voluminous speaking it would be difficult to find +either a line of poetry or a classical allusion. But he was by +nature an orator; and by long practice a debater. He could lead +a crowd almost irresistibly to his own conclusions. He could, if +he wished, incite a mob to desperate deeds. He was, in short, an +able, audacious, almost unconquerable opponent in public discussion. + + LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS AS DEBATERS. + +It would have been impossible to find any man of the same type able +to meet him before the people of Illinois. Whoever attempted it +would probably have been destroyed in the first encounter. But +the man who was chosen to meet him, who challenged him to the +combat, was radically different in every phase of character. +Scarcely could two men be more unlike, in mental and moral +constitutions, than Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. Mr. +Lincoln was calm and philosophic. He loved the truth for the +truth's sake. He would not argue from a false premise, or be +deceived himself or deceive others by a false conclusion. He had +pondered deeply on the issues which aroused him to action. He had +given anxious thought to the problems of free government, and to +the destiny of the Republic. He had for himself marked out a path +of duty, and he walked in it fearlessly. His mental processes were +slower but more profound than those of Douglas. He did not seek +to say merely the thing which was best for that day's debate, but +the thing which would stand the test of time and square itself with +eternal justice. He wished nothing to appear white unless it was +white. His logic was severe and faultless. He did not resort to +fallacy, and could detect it in his opponent, and expose it with +merciless directness. He had an abounding sense of humor, and +always employed it in illustration of his argument,--never for the +mere sake of provoking merriment. In this respect he had the +wonderful aptness of Franklin. He often taught a great truth with +the felicitous brevity of an AEsop fable. His words did not flow +in an impetuous torrent as did those of Douglas, but they were +always well chosen, deliberate, and conclusive. + +Thus fitted for the contest, these men proceeded to a discussion +which at the time was so interesting so as to enchain the attention +of the nation,--in its immediate effect so striking as to affect +the organization of parties, in its subsequent effect so powerful +as to change the fate of millions. Mr. Lincoln had opened his own +canvass by a carefully prepared speech in which, after quoting the +maxim that a house divided against itself cannot stand, he uttered +these weighty words: "I believe this government cannot endure +permanently half slave, half free. I do not expect the Union to +be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect +it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all +the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the farther +spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the +belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its +advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful +in all the States, old as well as new, north as well as south." + +Mr. Lincoln had been warned by intimate friends to whom he had +communicated the contents of his speech, in advance of its delivery, +that he was treading on dangerous ground, that he would be +misrepresented as a disunionist, and that he might fatally damage +the Republican party by making its existence synonymous with a +destruction of the government. But he was persistent. It was +borne into his mind that he was announcing a great truth, and that +he would be wronging his own conscience, and to the extent of his +influence injuring his country, by withholding it, or in any degree +qualifying its declaration. If there was a disposition to avoid +the true significance of the contest with the South, he would not +be a party to it. He believed he could discern the scope and read +the destiny of the impending sectional controversy. He was sure +he could see far beyond the present, and hear the voice of the +future. He would not close the book; he would not shut his eyes; +he would not stop his ears. He avowed his faith, and stood firmly +to his creed. + +Mr. Douglas naturally, indeed inevitably, made his first and leading +speech against these averments of Mr. Lincoln. He had returned to +Illinois, after the adjournment of Congress, with a disturbed and +restless mind. He had one great ambition,--to re-instate himself +as a leader of the national Democracy, and, as incidental and +necessary to that end, to carry Illinois against Mr. Lincoln. The +issue embodied in Mr. Lincoln's speech afforded him the occasion +which he had coveted. His quick eye discerned an opportunity to +exclude from the canvass the disagreeable features in his own +political career by arraigning Mr. Lincoln as an enemy of the Union +and as an advocate of an internecine conflict in which the free +States and the slave States should wrestle in deadly encounter. +Douglas presented his indictment artfully and with singular force. +The two speeches were in all respects characteristic. Each had +made a strong presentation of his case, but the superior candor +and directness of Mr. Lincoln had made a deep impression on the +popular mind. + + THE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE. + +In the seven public debates which were held as the result of these +preliminary speeches, the questions at issue were elaborately and +exhaustively treated. The friends of each naturally claimed the +victory for their own champion. The speeches were listened to by +tens of thousands of eager auditors; but absorbing, indeed +unprecedented, as was the interest, the vast throngs behaved with +moderation and decorum. The discussion from beginning to end was +an amplification of the position which each had taken at the outset. +The arguments were held close to the subject, relating solely to +the slavery question, and not even incidentally referring to any +other political issue. Protection, free trade, internal improvements, +the sub-treasury, all the issues, in short, which had divided +parties for a long series of years, and on which both speakers +entertained very decided views, were omitted from the discussion. +The public mind saw but one issue; every thing else was irrelevant. +At the first meeting, Douglas addressed a series of questions to +Mr. Lincoln, skillfully prepared and well adapted to entrap him in +contradictions, or commit him to such extreme doctrine as would +ruin his canvass. Mr. Lincoln's answers at the second meeting, +held at Freeport, were both frank and adroit. Douglas had failed +to gain a point by his resort to the Socratic mode of argument. +He had indeed only given Mr. Lincoln an opportunity to exhibit both +his candor and his skill. After he had answered, he assumed the +offensive, and addressed a series of questions to Mr. Douglas which +were constructed with the design of forcing the latter to an +unmistakable declaration of his creed. Douglas had been a party +to the duplex construction of the Cincinnati platform of 1856, in +which the people of the South had been comforted with the doctrine +that slavery was protected in the Territories by the Constitution +against the authority of Congress and against the power of the +Territorial citizens, until the period should be reached, when, +under an enabling act to form a constitution for a State government, +the majority might decide the question of slavery. Of this doctrine +Mr. Breckinridge was the Southern representative, and he had for +that very reason been associated with Mr. Buchanan on the Presidential +ticket. On the other hand, the North was consoled, it would not +be unfair to say cajoled, with the doctrine of popular sovereignty +as defined by Mr. Douglas; and this gave to the people of the +Territories the absolute right to settle the question of slavery +for themselves at any time. The doctrine had, however, been utterly +destroyed by the Dred Scott decision, and, to the confusion of all +lines of division and distinction, Mr. Douglas had approved the +opinion of the Supreme Court. + +Douglas had little trouble in making answer in an _ad captandum_ +manner to all Mr. Lincoln's questions save one. The crucial test +was applied when Mr. Lincoln asked him "if the people of a Territory +can, in any lawful way, against the wishes of any citizen of the +United States, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the +formation of a State constitution?" In the first debate, when +Douglas had the opening, he had, in the popular judgment, rather +worsted Mr. Lincoln. His greater familiarity with the arts if not +the tricks of the stump had given him an advantage. But now Mr. +Lincoln had the opening, and he threw Mr. Douglas upon the defensive +by the question which reached the very marrow of the controversy. +Mr. Lincoln had measured the force of his question, and saw the +dilemma in which it would place Douglas. Before the meeting he +said, in private, that "Douglas could not answer that question in +such way as to be elected both Senator and President. He might so +answer it as to carry Illinois, but, in doing so, he would +irretrievably injure his standing with the Southern Democracy." +Douglas quickly realized his own embarrassment. He could not, in +the face of the Supreme-Court decision, declare that the people of +the Territory could exclude slavery by direct enactment. To admit, +on the other hand, that slavery was fastened upon the Territories, +--past all hope of resistance or protest on the part of a majority +of the citizens--would be to concede the victory to Mr. Lincoln +without further struggle. Between these impossible roads Douglas +sought a third. He answered that, regardless of the decision of +the Supreme Court, "the people of a Territory have the lawful means +to introduce or exclude slavery as they choose, for the reason that +slavery cannot exist unless supported by local police regulations. +Those police regulations can only be established by the local +legislature; and, if the people are opposed to slavery, they will, +by unfriendly legislation, effectually prevent the introduction." + +This was a lame, illogical, evasive answer; but it was put forth +by Douglas with an air of sincerity and urged in a tone of defiant +confidence. It gave to his supporters a plausible answer. But +Mr. Lincoln's analysis of the position was thorough, his ridicule +of it effective. Douglas's invention for destroying a right under +the Constitution by a police regulation was admirably exposed, and +his new theory that a thing "may be lawfully driven away from a +place where it has a lawful right to go" was keenly reviewed by +Mr. Lincoln. The debate of that day was the important one of the +series. Mr. Lincoln had secured an advantage in the national +relations of the contest which he held to the end. At the same +time Douglas had escaped a danger which threatened his destruction +in the State canvass, and secured his return to the Senate. As to +the respective merits of the contestants, it would be idle to expect +an agreement among contemporary partisans. But a careful reading +of the discussion a quarter of a century after it was held will +convince the impartial that in principle, in candor, in the enduring +force of logic, Mr. Lincoln had the advantage. It is due to fairness +to add that probably not another man in the country, with the +disabilities surrounding his position, could have maintained himself +so ably, so fearlessly, so effectively, as Douglas. + + BUCHANAN'S OPPOSITION TO DOUGLAS. + +Douglas was aided in his canvass by the undisguised opposition of +the administration. The hostility of President Buchanan and his +Southern supporters was the best possible proof to the people of +Illinois that Douglas was representing a doctrine which was not +relished by the pro-slavery party. The courage with which he fought +the administration gave an air of heroism to his canvass and prestige +to his position. It secured to him thousands of votes that would +otherwise have gone to Mr. Lincoln. For every vote which the +administration was able to withhold from Douglas, it added five to +his supporters. The result of the contest was, that, while Douglas +was enabled to secure a majority of eight in the Legislature in +consequence of an apportionment that was favorable to his side, +Mr. Lincoln received a plurality of four thousand in the popular +vote. In a certain sense, therefore, each had won a victory, and +each had incurred defeat. But the victory of Douglas and the means +by which it was won proved to be his destruction in the wider field +of his ambition. Mr. Lincoln's victory and defeat combined in the +end to promote his political fortunes, and to open to him the +illustrious career which followed. + +This debate was not a mere incident in American politics. It marked +an era. Its influence and effect were co-extensive with the +Republic. It introduced a new and distinct phase in the controversy +that was engrossing all minds. The position of Douglas separated +him from the Southern Democracy, and this, of itself, was a fact +of great significance. The South saw that the ablest leader of +the Northern Democracy had been compelled, in order to save himself +at home, to abjure the very doctrine on which the safety of slave +institutions depended. The propositions enunciated by Douglas in +answer to the questions of Mr. Lincoln, in the Freeport debate, +were as distasteful to the Southern mind as the position of Mr. +Lincoln himself. Lincoln advocated a positive inhibition of slavery +by the General Government. Mr. Douglas proposed to submit Southern +rights under the Constitution to the decision of the first mob or +rabble that might get possession of a Territorial legislature, and +pass a police regulation hostile to slavery. Against this construction +of the Constitution the South protested, and the protest carried +with it implacable hostility to Douglas. + +The separation of the Democratic party into warring factions was, +therefore, inevitable. The line of division was the same on which +the Republican party had been founded. It was the North against +the South, the South against the North. The great mass of Northern +Democrats began to consolidate in support of Douglas as determinedly +as the mass of Northern Whigs had followed Seward. The Southern +Democrats began, at the same time, to organize their States against +Douglas. Until his break from the regular ranks in his opposition +to the Lecompton Constitution, Douglas had enjoyed boundless +popularity with his party in the South. In every slave State, +there was still a small number of his old supporters who remained +true to him. But the great host had left him. He could not be +trusted. He had failed to stand by the extreme faith; he had +refused to respond to its last requirement. Even at the risk of +permanently dissevering the Democratic party, the Southern leaders +resolved to destroy Douglas. + +To this end, in the session of Congress following the debate with +Mr. Lincoln, the Democratic senators laid down, in a series of +resolutions, the true exposition of the creed of their party. +Douglas was not personally referred to, but the resolutions were +aimed so pointedly at what they regarded his heretical opinions, +that his name might as well have been incorporated. The resolutions +were adopted during the absence of Douglas from the Senate, on a +health-seeking tour, after his laborious canvass. With only the +dissenting vote of Mr. Pugh of Ohio among the Democrats, it was +declared that "neither Congress nor a territorial legislature, +whether by direct legislation, or legislation of an indirect or +unfriendly character, possesses the power to impair the right of +any citizen of the United States to take his slave property into +the common Territories, and there hold and enjoy the same while +the territorial condition exists." Not satisfied with this utter +destruction of the whole doctrine of popular sovereignty, the +Democratic senators gave one more turn to the wrench, by declaring +that if "the territorial government should fail or refuse to provide +adequate protection to the rights of the slave-holder, it will be +the duty of Congress to supply such deficiency." The doctrine thus +laid down by the Democratic senators was, in plain terms, that the +territorial legislature might protect slavery, but could not prohibit +it; and that even the Congress of the United States could only +intervene on the side of bondage, and never on the side of freedom. + + DOUGLAS AND THE SOUTHERN DEMOCRACY. + +Anxious as Douglas was to be re-established in full relations with +his party, he had not failed to see the obstacles in his way. He +now realized that a desperate fight was to be made against him; +that he was to be humiliated and driven from the Democratic ranks. +The creed laid down by the Southern senators was such as no man +could indorse without forfeiting his political life in free States. +Douglas did not propose to rush on self-destruction to oblige the +Democracy of the slave States; nor was he of the type of men who, +when the right cheek is smitten, will meekly turn the other for a +second blow. When his Democratic associates in the Senate proceeded +to read him out of the party, they apparently failed to see that +they were reading the Northern Democracy out with him. Jefferson +Davis and Judah P. Benjamin might construct resolutions adapted to +the latitude of the Gulf, and dragoon them through the Senate, with +aid and pressure from Buchanan's administration; but Douglas +commanded the votes of the Northern Democracy, and to the edict of +a pro-slavery caucus he defiantly opposed the solid millions who +followed his lead in the free States. + +Without wrangling over the resolutions in the Senate, Douglas made +answer to the whole series in a public letter of June 22, 1859, in +which he said that "if it shall become the policy of the Democratic +party to repudiate their time-honored principles, and interpolate +such new issues as the revival of the African slave-trade, or the +doctrine that the Constitution carries slavery into the Territories +beyond the power of the people to legally control it as other +property," he would not "accept a nomination for the Presidency if +tendered him." The aggressiveness of Southern opinion on the +slavery question was thus shown by Douglas in a negative or indirect +view. It is a remarkable fact, that, in still another letter, +Douglas argued quite elaborately against the revival of the African +slave-trade, which he believed to be among the designs of the most +advanced class of pro-slavery advocates. So acute a statesman as +Douglas could not fail to see, that, at every step of his controversy +with Southern Democrats, he was justifying the philosophy of Lincoln +when he maintained that the country was to become wholly free, or +wholly under the control of the slave power. + +The controversy thus precipitated between Douglas and the South +threatened the disruption of the Democratic party. That was an +event of very serious significance. It would bring the conflict +of sections still nearer by sundering a tie which had for so long +a period bound together vast numbers from the North and the South +in common sympathy and fraternal co-operation. Even those who were +most opposed to the Democratic party beheld its peril with a certain +feeling of regret not unmixed with apprehension. The Whig party +had been destroyed; and its Northern and Southern members, who, +but a few years before, had worked harmoniously for Harrison, for +Clay, for Taylor, were now enrolled in rival and hostile organizations. +A similar dissolution of the Democratic party would sweep away the +only common basis of political action still existing for men of +the free States and men of the slave States. The separation of +the Methodist church into Northern and Southern organizations, a +few years before, had been regarded by Mr. Webster as a portent of +evil for the Union. The division of the Democratic party would be +still more ominous. The possibility of such an event showed how +deeply the slavery question had affected all ranks,--social, +religious, and political. It showed, too, how the spirit of Calhoun +now inspired the party in whose councils the slightest word of +Jackson had once been law. This change, beginning with the defeat +of Van Buren in 1844, was at first slow; but it had afterwards +moved so rapidly and so far, that men in the North, who wished to +remain in the ranks of the Democracy, were compelled to trample on +the principles, and surrender the prejudices, of a lifetime. +Efforts to harmonize proved futile. In Congress the breach was +continually widening. + + FACTIONS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. + +The situation was cause of solicitude, and even grief, with thousands +to whom the old party was peculiarly endeared. The traditions of +Jefferson, of Madison, of Jackson, were devoutly treasured; and +the splendid achievements of the American Democracy were recounted +with the pride which attaches to an honorable family inheritance. +The fact was recalled that the Republic had grown to its imperial +dimensions under Democratic statesmanship. It was remembered that +Louisiana had been acquired from France, Florida from Spain, the +independent Republic of Texas annexed, and California, with its +vast dependencies, and its myriad millions of treasure, ceded by +Mexico, all under Democratic administrations, and in spite of the +resistance of their opponents. That a party whose history was +inwoven with the glory of the Republic should now come to its end +in a quarrel over the status of the negro, in a region where his +labor was not wanted, was, to many of its members, as incomprehensible +as it was sorrowful and exasperating. They protested, but they +could not prevent. Anger was aroused, and men refused to listen +to reason. They were borne along, they knew not whither or by what +force. Time might have restored the party to harmony, but at the +very height of the factional contest the representatives of both +sections were hurried forward to the National Convention of 1860, +with principle subordinated to passion, with judgment displaced by +a desire for revenge. + +[NOTE.--The following are the questions, referred to on p. 147, +which were propounded to Mr. Douglas by Mr. Lincoln in their debate +at Freeport. The popular interest was centred in the second +question. + +_First_, If the people of Kansas shall, by means entirely +unobjectionable in all other respects, adopt a State Constitution, +and ask admission into the Union under it before they have the +requisite number of inhabitants, according to the English bill-- +some ninety-three thousand--will you vote to admit them? + +_Second_, Can the people of a United-States Territory, in any lawful +way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude +slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a State +Constitution? + +_Third_, If the Supreme Court of the United States shall decide +that States cannot exclude slavery from their limits, are you in +favor or acquiescing in, adopting, and following such decision as +a rule of political action? + +_Fourth_, Are you in favor of acquiring additional territory, in +disregard of how such acquisition may affect the nation on the +slavery question?] + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Excited Condition of the South.--The John Brown Raid at Harper's +Ferry.--Character of Brown.--Governor Wise.--Hot Temper.--Course +of Republicans in Regard to John Brown.--Misunderstanding of the +Two Sections.--Assembling of the Charleston Convention.--Position +of Douglas and his Friends.--Imperious Demands of Southern Democrats. +--Caleb Cushing selected for Chairman of the Convention.--The South +has Control of the Committee on Resolutions.--Resistance of the +Douglas Delegates.--They defeat the Report of the Committee.-- +Delegates from Seven Southern States withdraw.--Convention unable +to make a Nomination.--Adjourns to Baltimore.--Convention divides. +--Nomination of both Douglas and Breckinridge.--Constitutional +Union Convention.--Nomination of Bell and Everett.--The Chicago +Convention.--Its Membership and Character.--Mr. Seward's Position. +--His Disabilities.--Work of his Friends, Thurlow Weed and William +M. Evarts.--Opposition of Horace Greeley.--Objections from Doubtful +States.--Various Candidates.--Nomination of Lincoln and Hamlin.-- +Four Presidential Tickets in the Field.--Animated Canvass.--The +Long Struggle over.--The South defeated.--Election of Lincoln.-- +Political Revolution of 1860 complete. + +The South was unnaturally and unjustifiably excited. The people +of the slave States could not see the situation accurately, but, +like a man with disordered nerves, they exaggerated every thing. +Their sense of proportion seemed to be destroyed, so that they +could no longer perceive the intrinsic relation which one incident +had to another. In this condition of mind, when the most ordinary +events were misapprehended and mismeasured, they were startled and +alarmed by an occurrence of extraordinary and exceptional character. +On the quiet morning of October, 1859, with no warning whatever to +the inhabitants, the United-States arsenal, at Harper's Ferry, +Virginia, was found to be in the possession of an invading mob. +The town was besieged, many of its citizens made prisoners, telegraph +wires cut, railway-trains stopped by a force which the people, as +they were aroused from sleep, had no means of estimating. A +resisting body was soon organized, militia came in from the +surrounding country, regular troops were hurried up from Washington. +By the opening of the second day, a force of fifteen hundred men +surrounded the arsenal, and, when the insurgents surrendered, it +was found that there had been but twenty-two in all. Four were +still alive, including their leader, John Brown. + + JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY. + +Brown was a man of singular courage, perseverance, and zeal, but +was entirely misguided and misinformed. He had conceived the +utterly impracticable scheme of liberating the slaves of the South +by calling on them to rise, putting arms in their hands, and aiding +them to gain their freedom. He had borne a very conspicuous and +courageous part in the Kansas struggles, and had been a terror to +the slave-holders on the Missouri border. His bravery was of a +rare type. He had no sense of fear. Governor Wise stated that +during the fight, while Brown held the arsenal, with one of his +sons lying dead beside him, another gasping with a mortal wound, +he felt the pulse of the dying boy, used his own musket, and coolly +commanded his men, all amid a shower of bullets from the attacking +force. While of sound mind on most subjects, Brown had evidently +lost his mental balance on the one topic of slavery. His scheme +miscarried the moment its execution was attempted, as any one not +blinded by fanaticism could have from the first foreseen. + +The matter was taken up in hot wrath by the South, with Governor +Wise in the lead. The design was not known to or approved by any +body of men in the North; but an investigation was moved in the +Senate, by Mr. Mason of Virginia, with the evident view of fixing +the responsibility on the Northern people, or, at least, upon the +Republican party. These men affected to see in John Brown, and +his handful of followers, only the advance guard of another irruption +of Goths and Vandals from the North, bent on inciting servile +insurrection, on plunder, pillage, and devastation. Mr. Mason's +committee found no sentiment in the North justifying Brown, but +the irritating and offensive course of the Virginia senator called +forth a great deal of defiant anti-slavery expression which, in +his judgment, was tantamount to treason. Brown was tried and +executed. He would not permit the plea of unsound mind to be made +on his behalf, and to the end he behaved with that calm courage +which always attracts respect and admiration. Much was made of +the deliverance of the South, from a great peril, and every thing +indicated that the John Brown episode was to be drawn into the +political campaign as an indictment against anti-slavery men. It +was loudly charged by the South, and by their partisans throughout +the North, that such insurrections were the legitimate outgrowth +of Republican teaching, and that the national safety demanded the +defeat and dissolution of the Republican party. Thus challenged, +the Republican party did not stand on the defensive. Many of its +members openly expressed their pity for the zealot, whose rashness +had led him to indefensible deeds and thence to the scaffold. On +the day of his execution, bells were tolled in many Northern towns +--not in approval of what Brown had done, but from compassion for +the fate of an old man whose mind had become distempered by suffering, +and by morbid reflection on the suffering of others; from a feeling +that his sentence, in view of this fact, was severe; and lastly, +and more markedly, as a Northern rebuke to the attempt on the part +of the South to make a political issue from an occurrence which +was as unforeseen and exceptional as it was deplorable. + +The fear and agitation in the South were not feigned but real. +Instead of injuring the Republican party, this very fact increased +its strength in the North. The terror of the South at the bare +prospect of a negro insurrection led many who had not before studied +the slavery question to give serious heed to this phase of it. +The least reflection led men to see that a domestic institution +must be very undesirable which could keep an entire community of +brave men in dread of some indefinable tragedy. Mobs and riots of +much greater magnitude than the John Brown uprising had frequently +occurred in the free States, and they were put down by the firm +authority of law, without the dread hand of a spectre behind which +might in a moment light the horizon with the conflagration of homes, +and subject wives and daughters to a fate of nameless horror. +Instead, therefore, of arresting the spread of Republican principles, +the mad scheme of John Brown tended to develop and strengthen them. +The conviction grew rapidly that if slavery could produce such +alarm and such demoralization in a strong State like Virginia, +inhabited by a race of white men whose courage was never surpassed, +it was not an institution to be encouraged, but that its growth +should be prohibited in the new communities where its weakening +and baleful influence was not yet felt. + +Sentiment of this kind could not be properly comprehended in the +South. It was honestly misrepresented by some, willfully misrepresented +by others. All construed it into a belief, on the part of a large +proportion of the Northern people, that John Brown was entirely +justifiable. His wild invasion of the South, they apprehended, +would be repeated as opportunity offered on a larger scale and with +more deadly purpose. This opinion was stimulated and developed +for political ends by many whose intelligence should have led them +to more enlightened views. False charges being constantly repeated +and plied with incessant zeal, the most radical misconception became +fixed in the Southern mind. It was idle for the Republican party +to declare that their aim was only to prevent the extension of +slavery to free territory, and that they were pledged not to +interfere with its existence in the States. Such distinctions were +not accepted by the Southern people. Their leaders had taught them +that the one necessarily involved the other, and that a man who +was in favor of the Wilmot Proviso was as bitter an enemy to the +South as one who incited a servile insurrection. These views were +unceasingly pressed upon the South by the Northern Democracy, who, +in their zeal to defeat the Republicans at home, did not scruple +to misrepresent their aims in the most reckless manner. They were +constantly misleading the public opinion of the slave States, until +at last the South recognized no difference between the creed of +Seward and the creed of Gerrit Smith, and held Lincoln responsible +for all the views and expressions of William Lloyd Garrison and +Wendell Phillips. The calling of a National Republican Convention +was to their disordered imagination a threat of destruction. The +success of its candidates would, in their view, be just cause for +resistance outside the pale of the Constitution. + + + MEETING OF CHARLESTON CONVENTION. + +It was at the height of this overwrought condition of the Southern +mind, that the National Convention of the Democratic party met at +Charleston on the 23d of April, 1860. The convention had been +assembled in South Carolina, as the most discontented and extreme +of Southern States, in order to signify that the Democracy could +harmonize on her soil, and speak peace to the nation through the +voice which had so often spoken peace before. But the Northern +Democrats failed to comprehend their Southern allies. In their +anxiety to impress the slave-holders with the depth and malignity +of Northern anti-slavery feeling, they had unwittingly implicated +themselves as accessories to the crime they charged on others. If +they were, in fact, the friends to the South which they so loudly +proclaimed themselves to be, now was the time to show their faith +by their works. The Southern delegates had come to the convention +in a truculent spirit,--as men who felt that they were enduring +wrongs which must then and there be righted. They had a grievance +for which they demanded redress, as a preliminary step to further +conference. They wanted no evasion, they would accept no delay. +The Northern delegates begged for the nomination of Douglas as the +certain method of defeating the Republicans, and asked that they +might not be borne down by a platform which they could not carry +in the North. The Southern delegates demanded a platform which +should embody the Constitutional rights of the slave-holder, and +they would not qualify or conceal their requirements. If the North +would sustain those rights, all would be well. If the North would +not sustain them, it was of infinite moment to the South to be +promptly and definitely advised of the fact. The Southern delegates +were not presenting a particular man as candidate. On that point +they would be liberal and conciliatory. But they were fighting +for a principle, and would not surrender it or compromise it. + +The supporters of Douglas from the North saw that they would be +utterly destroyed at home if they consented to the extreme Southern +demand. Their destruction would be equally sure even with Douglas +as their candidate if the platform should announce principles which +he had been controverting ever since his revolt against the Lecompton +bill. For the first time in the history of national Democratic +conventions the Northern delegates refused to submit to the exactions +of the South. Hitherto platforms had been constructed just as +Southern men dictated. Candidates had been taken as their preference +directed. But now the Northern men, pressed by the rising tide of +Republicanism in every free State, demanded some ground on which +they could stand and make a contest at home. + + PROCEEDINGS OF CHARLESTON CONVENTION. + +Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts was chosen President of the Convention. +The political career of Mr. Cushing had not been distinguished for +steady adherence to party. He was elected to Congress in 1834, as +representative from the Essex district in Massachusetts. He was +at that time a zealous member of the Whig party, and was active on +the Northern or anti-slavery side in the discussions relating to +the "right of petition." He served in the House for eight years. +After the triumph of Harrison in 1840, Mr. Cushing evidently aspired +to be a party leader. In the quarrel which ensued between President +Tyler and Mr. Clay, he saw an opportunity to gratify his ambition +by adhering to the administration. This brought him into very +close relations with Mr. Webster, who remained in Tyler's Cabinet +after his colleagues retired, and threw him at the same time into +rank antagonism with Mr. Clay, to whose political fortunes he had +previously been devoted. In view of the retirement of Mr. Webster +from the State Department in 1843, President Tyler nominated Mr. +Cushing for Secretary of the Treasury, but the Whig senators, +appreciating his power and influence in that important position, +procured his rejection. Some Democratic votes from the South were +secured against him because of his course in the House of +Representatives. The President then nominated him as Commissioner +to China, and he was promptly confirmed. Oriental diplomatists +never encountered a minister better fitted to meet them with their +own weapons. + +Upon his return home, Mr. Cushing found that Mr. Webster had resumed +his place as the leader of the Northern Whigs. Mr. Clay had +meanwhile been defeated for the Presidency, his followers were +discouraged, the administration of Mr. Polk was in power. Mr. +Cushing at once joined the Democracy, and was made a Brigadier- +General in the army raised for the war with Mexico. From that time +onward he became a partisan of the extreme State-rights school of +the Southern Democracy, and was appropriately selected for Attorney- +General by President Pierce in 1853. In conjunction with Jefferson +Davis, he was considered to be the guiding and controlling force +in the administration. His thorough education, his remarkable +attainments, his eminence in the law, his ability as an advocate, +rendered his active co-operation of great value to the pro-slavery +Democrats of the South. He was naturally selected for the important +and difficult duty of presiding over the convention whose deliberations +were to affect the interests of the Government, and possibly the +fate of the Union. + +It was soon evident that the South would have every advantage in +the convention which an intelligent and skillful administration of +parliamentary law could afford. Without showing unfairness, the +presiding officer, especially in a large and boisterous assembly, +can impart confidence and strength to the side with which he may +sympathize. But, apart from any power to be derived from having +the chairman of the convention, the South had a more palpable +advantage from the mode in which the standing committees must, +according to precedent, be constituted. As one member must be +taken from each State, the Southern men obtained the control of +all the committees, from the fact that the delegates from California +and Oregon steadily voted with them. There were thirty-three States +in the Union in 1860,--eighteen free and fifteen slave-holding. +California and Oregon, uniting with the South, gave to that section +seventeen, and left to the North but sixteen on all the committees. +The Democratic delegates from the Pacific States assumed a weighty +responsibility in thus giving to the Disunionists of the South +preliminary control of the convention, by permitting them to shape +authoritatively all the business to be submitted. It left the real +majority of the convention in the attitude of a protesting minority. +The Southern majority of one on the committees was fatal to Democratic +success. In a still more important aspect its influence was in +the highest degree prejudicial to the Union of the States. + +Constituted in the manner just indicated, the Committee on Resolutions +promptly and unanimously agreed on every article of the Democratic +creed, except that relating to slavery. Here they divided, stubbornly +and irreconcilably. The fifteen slave States, re-enforced by +California and Oregon, gave to the Southern interest a majority of +one vote on the committee. The other free States, sixteen in all, +were hostile to the extreme Southern demands, and reported a +resolution, which they were willing to accept. The South required +an explicit assertion of the right of citizens to settle in the +Territories with their slaves,--a right not "to be destroyed or +impaired by Congressional or Territorial legislation." They required +the further declaration that it is the duty of the Federal Government, +when necessary, to protect slavery "in the Territories, and wherever +else its constitutional authority extends." This was in substance, +and almost identically in language, the extreme creed put forth by +the Southern Democratic senators in the winter of 1858-59, after +the "popular sovereignty" campaign of Douglas against Lincoln. It +was the most advanced ground ever taken by the statesmen of the +South, and its authorship was generally ascribed to Judah F. +Benjamin, senator from Louisiana. Its introduction in the Charleston +platform was intended apparently as an insult to Douglas. The +evident purpose was to lay down doctrines and prescribe tests which +Douglas could not accept, and thus to exclude him, not only from +candidacy, but from further participation in the councils of the +party. + + QUARREL OF DEMOCRATIC FACTIONS. + +The courage of the Northern Democrats was more conspicuously shown +in their resistance to these demands than in the declarations which +they desired to substitute. They quietly abandoned all their +assertions in regard to popular sovereignty, refrained from any +protest against the doctrine that the Constitution carried slavery +as far as its jurisdiction extended, and contented themselves with +a resolution that "inasmuch as differences of opinion exist in the +Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the powers of a +Territorial Legislature, and as to the powers and duties of Congress +under the Constitution of the United States over the institution +of slavery within the Territories, the Democratic party will abide +by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States upon +questions of Constitutional law." This was perhaps the best device +practicable at the time; and had it been adopted with Douglas as +the candidate, and a united Democracy supporting him, it is not +improbable that a successful campaign might have been made. But +it was a makeshift, uncandid, unfair, cunningly contrived to evade +the full responsibility of the situation. It was a temporizing +expedient, and did not frankly meet the question which was engaging +the thoughts of the people. Had it succeeded, nothing would have +been settled. Every thing would have been postponed, and the crisis +would have inevitably recurred. So far as the Supreme Court could +determine the questions at issue, it had already been done in the +Dred Scott decision; and that decision, so far from being final, +was a part of the current controversy. There was, therefore, +neither logic nor principle in the proposition of the Douglas +minority. The Southern delegates keenly realized this fact, and +refused to accept the compromise. They could not endure the thought +of being placed in a position which was not only evasive, but might +be deemed cowardly. They were brave men, and wished to meet the +question bravely. They knew that the Republicans in their forthcoming +convention would explicitly demand the prohibition of slavery in +the Territories. To hesitate or falter in making an equally explicit +assertion of their own faith would subject them to fatal assault +from their slave-holding constituencies. + +The Douglas men would not yield. They were enraged by the domineering +course of the Southern Democrats. They could not comprehend why +they should higgle about the language of the platform when they +could carry the slave States on the one form of expression as well +as the other. In the North it was impossible for the Democrats to +succeed with the Southern platform, but in the South it was, in +their judgment, entirely easy to carry the Douglas platform. From +the committee the contest was transferred to the convention, and +there the Douglas men were in a majority. They did not hesitate +to use their strength, and by a vote of 165 to 138 they substituted +the minority platform for that of the majority. It was skillfully +accomplished under the lead of Henry B. Payne of Ohio and Benjamin +Samuels of Iowa. The total vote of the convention was 303,--the +number of Presidential electors; and every vote had been cast on +the test question. The South voted solidly in the negative, and +was aided by the vote of California and Oregon, and a few scattering +delegates from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The other fourteen +States of the North voted unanimously on the side of Douglas, and +gave him a majority of twenty-seven. + +The Northern victory brought with it a defeat. A large number of +the Southern delegates, though fairly and honorably outvoted, +refused to abide by the decision. Seven States--Louisiana, Alabama, +South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas--withdrew +from the convention, and organized a separate assemblage, presided +over by Senator James A. Bayard of Delaware. By this defection +the Douglas men were left in absolute control of the convention. +But the friends of Douglas fatally obstructed his program by +consenting to the two-thirds rule, so worded as to required that +proportion of a full convention to secure a nomination. The first +vote disclosed the full strength of Douglas to be 152. He required +202 to be declared the nominee. After an indefinite number of +ballots, it was found impossible to make a nomination; and on the +3d of May the convention adjourned to meet in Baltimore on the 18th +of June. In the intervening weeks it was hoped that a more harmonious +spirit would return to the party. But the expectation was vain. +The differences were more pronounced than ever when the convention +re-assembled, and, all efforts to find a common basis of action +having failed, the convention divided. The Southern delegates with +California and Oregon, and with some scattering members from other +States, among whom were Caleb Cushing and Benjamin F. Butler of +Massachusetts, nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for +President, and Joseph Lane of Oregon for Vice-President. The +Northern convention, with a few scattering votes from the South, +nominated Stephen A. Douglas for President, and Herschel V. Johnson +of Georgia for Vice-President. Of the seventeen States that made +up the Breckinridge convention, it was deemed probable that he +could carry all. Of the sixteen that voted for Douglas, it was +difficult to name one in which with a divided party he could be +sure of victory. United in support of either candidate, the party +could have made a formidable contest, stronger in the North with +Douglas, stronger in the South with Breckinridge. Had the Democracy +presented Douglas and Breckinridge as their National nominees, they +would have combined all the elements of strength in their party. +But passion and prejudice prevented. The South was implacable +toward Douglas, and deliberately resolved to accept defeat rather +than secure a victory under his lead. + + DISRUPTION OF THE DEMOCRACY. + +The disruption of the Democracy was undoubtedly hastened by the +political events which had occurred since the adjournment at +Charleston. An organization, styling itself the Constitutional- +Union Party, representing the successors of the Old Whigs and +Americans, had met in Baltimore, and nominated John Bell of Tennessee +for President, and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for Vice-President. +The strength of the party was in the South. In the slave States +it formed the only opposition to the Democratic party, and was as +firm in defense of the rights of the slave-holder as its rival. +Its members had not been so ready to repeal the Missouri Compromise +as the Democrats, and they were unrelenting in their hostility to +Douglas, and severe in their exposure of his dogma of popular +sovereignty. They had effectively aided in bringing both the +doctrine and its author into disrepute in the South, and, if the +Democrats had ventured to nominate Douglas, they had their weapons +ready for vigorous warfare against him. + +With a Southern slave-holder like Mr. Bell at the head of the +ticket, and a Northern man of Mr. Everett's well-known conservatism +associated with him, the Constitutional-Union Party was in a position +to make a strong canvass against Douglas in the South. It was this +fact which, on the re-assembling of the Democratic convention at +Baltimore, had increased the hostility of the South to Douglas, +and made their leaders firm in their resolution not to accept him. +Had the Union party nominated a Northern man instead of Mr. Bell +for President, the case might have been different for Douglas; but +the Southern Democrats feared that their party would be endangered +in half the slave States if they should present Douglas as a +candidate against a native Southerner and slave-holder of Bell's +character and standing. If they were to be beaten in the contest +for the Presidency, they were determined to retain, if possible, +the control of their States, and not to risk their seats in the +Senate and the House in a desperate struggle for Douglas. It would +be poor recompense to them to recover certain Northern States from +the Republicans, if at the same time, and by co-ordinate causes, +an equal number of Southern States should be carried by Bell, and +the destiny of the South be committed to a conservative party, +which would abandon threats and cultivate harmony. Bell's nomination +had, therefore, proved the final argument against the acceptance +of Douglas by the Southern Democracy. + +Meanwhile, between the adjournment of the Democratic convention at +Charleston, and its re-assembling at Baltimore, the Republicans +had held their national convention at Chicago. It was a representative +meeting of the active and able men of both the old parties in the +North, who had come together on the one overshadowing issue of the +hour. Differing widely on many other questions, inheriting their +creeds from antagonistic organizations of the past, they thought +alike on the one subject of putting a stop to the extension of +slavery. Those who wished to go farther were restrained, and an +absolute control of opinion and action was commanded on this one +line. In the entire history of party conventions, not one can be +found so characteristic, so earnest, so determined to do the wisest +thing, so little governed by personal consideration, so entirely +devoted to one absorbing idea. It was made up in great part of +young men, though there were gray-haired veterans in sufficient +number to temper action with discretion. A large proportion of +the delegates were afterwards prominent in public life. At least +sixty of them, till then unknown beyond their districts, were sent +to Congress. Many became governors of their States, and in other +ways received marks of popular favor. It was essentially a convention +of the free States--undisguisedly sectional in the political +nomenclature of the day. The invitation was general, but, in the +larger portion of the South, no one could be found who would risk +his life by attending as a delegate. Nevertheless, there were +delegates present from the five slave States which bordered on the +free States, besides a partial and irregular representation from +Texas. + + REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION. + +The anti-slavery character of the assemblage was typified by the +selection of David Wilmot for temporary chairman, and its conservative +side by the choice of an old Webster Whig, in the person of George +Ashmun of Massachusetts, for permanent president. This tendency +to interweave the radical and conservative elements, and, where +practicable, those of Whig with those of Democratic antecedents, +was seen in many delegations. John A. Andrew and George S. Boutwell +came from Massachusetts, William M. Evarts and Preston King from +New York, Thaddeus Stevens and Andrew H. Reeder from Pennsylvania, +Thomas Corwin and Joshua R. Giddings from Ohio, David Davis and N. +B. Judd from Illinois. Outside of the regular delegations, there +were great crowds of earnest men in Chicago, all from the free +States. The number in attendance was reckoned by tens of thousands. +Considering the restricted facilities for travel at that time, the +multitude was surprising and significant. The whole mass was +inspired with energy, and believed, without shadow of doubt, that +they had come to witness the nomination of the next President of +the United States. Confidence of strength is as potential an +element in a political canvass as in a military campaign, and never +was a more defiant sense of power exhibited than by the Chicago +convention of 1860 and by the vast throng which surrounded its +meetings. Such a feeling is contagious, and it spread from that +centre until it enveloped the free States. + +The impression in the country, for a year preceding the convention, +was that Mr. Seward would be nominated. As the time drew nigh, +however, symptoms of dissent appeared in quarters where it had not +been expected. New parties are proverbially free from faction and +jealousy. Personal antagonisms, which come with years, had not +then been developed in the Republican ranks. It was not primarily +a desire to promote the cause of other candidates which led to the +questioning of Mr. Seward's availability, nor was there any +withholding of generous recognition and appreciation of all that +he had done for Republican principles. His high character was +gladly acknowledged, his eminent ability conceded, the magnitude +and unselfishness of his work were everywhere praised. Without +his aid, the party could not have been organized. But for his wise +leadership, it would have been wrecked in the first years of its +existence. He was wholly devoted to its principles. He had staked +every thing upon its success. + +Mr. Seward had, however, some weak points as a candidate. A large +proportion of the Republicans had been connected with the American +organization, and still cherished some of its principles. Mr. +Seward had been the determined foe of that party. In battling for +the rights of the negro, he deemed it unwise and inconsistent to +increase the disabilities of the foreign-born citizen. His influence, +more than that of any other man, had broken down the proscriptive +creed of the American party, and turned its members into the +Republican ranks. But many of them came reluctantly, and in a +complaining mood against Mr. Seward. This led political managers +to fear that Mr. Seward would lose votes which another candidate +might secure. Others though that the radicalism of Mr. Seward +would make him weak, where a more conservative representative of +Republican principles might be strong. He had been at the forefront +of the battle for twelve years in the Senate, and every extreme +thing he had said was remembered to his injury. He had preached +the doctrine of an "irrepressible conflict" between the forces of +slavery and the forces of freedom, and timid men dreaded such a +trial as his nomination would presage. The South had made continuous +assault on this speech, and on the particular phrase which +distinguished it, and had impressed many Northern men with the +belief that Mr. Seward had gone too far. In short, he had been +too conspicuous, and too many men had conceived predilections +against him. + +When the convention assembled, notwithstanding all adverse influences, +Mr. Seward was still the leading and most formidable candidate. +His case was in strong and skillful hands. Mr. Thurlow Weed, who +had been his lifelong confidential friend, presented his claims, +before the formal assembling of the convention, with infinite tact. +Mr. Weed, though unable to make a public speech, was the most +persuasive of men in private conversation. He was quiet, gentle, +and deferential in manner. He grasped a subject with a giant's +strength, presented its strong points, and marshaled its details +with extraordinary power. Whatever Mr. Weed might lack was more +than supplied by the eloquent tongue of William M. Evarts. Seldom +if ever in the whole field of political oratory have the speeches +of Mr. Evarts at Chicago been equaled. Even those who most decidedly +differed from him followed him from one delegation to another +allured by the charm of his words. He pleaded for the Republic, +for the party that could save it, for the great statesman who had +founded the party, and knew where and how to lead it. He spoke as +one friend for another, and the great career of Mr. Seward was +never so illumined as by the brilliant painting of Mr. Evarts. + + REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION. + +With all the potential efforts and influences in his behalf, Mr. +Seward was confronted with obstacles which were insuperable. He +was seriously injured by the open defection of Horace Greeley. +Not able, or even desirous, to appear on the New-York delegation, +Mr. Greeley sat in the convention as a representative from Oregon. +The old firm of Seward, Weed, and Greeley, according to his own +humorous expression, had been dissolved by the withdrawal of the +junior partner; and a bitter dissension had in fact existed for +six years without public knowledge. With his great influence in +the agricultural regions of the country, Mr. Greeley was enabled +to turn a strong current of popular feeling against the eminent +senator from New York. Mr. Seward sustained further injury by the +action of the States which were regarded as politically doubtful. +Pennsylvania and Indiana took part against him. Henry S. Lane had +just been nominated for governor of Indiana, with Oliver P. Morton +--not then known beyond his State--for lieutenant-governor. It +was understood that Lane would be sent to the Senate if the +Republicans should carry the State, and that Morton, whose strength +of character was known and appreciated at home, would become +governor. Both candidates, having each a personal stake in the +contest, united in declaring that the nomination of Mr. Seward +meant a Democratic victory in Indiana. Andrew G. Curtin, who had +been nominated for governor of Pennsylvania, gave the same testimony +respecting that State; and his judgment was sustained by his faithful +friend and adviser, Alexander K. McClure. Delegates from other +States, where the contest was close, sympathized with the views of +Pennsylvania and Indiana, and there was a rapid and formidable +combination against Mr. Seward. The reformer and his creed rarely +triumph at the same time, and the fate of Mr. Seward was about to +add one more illustration of this truth. + +But if not Mr. Seward, who? The Blairs and Horace Greeley answered, +"Edward Bates of Missouri,"--an old Whig, a lawyer of ability, a +gentleman of character. Though still in vigorous life, he had sat +in the convention which framed the constitution of Missouri in +1820. He had revered the Compromise of that year, and had joined +the Republicans in resentment of its repeal. Ohio, in a half- +hearted manner, presented Salmon P. Chase, who, with great ability +and spotless fame, lacked the elements of personal popularity. +Pennsylvania, with an imposing delegation, named Simon Cameron; +New Jersey desired William L. Dayton; Vermont wanted Jacob Collamer; +and delegates here and there suggested Judge McLean or Benjamin +F. Wade. The popular candidate of 1856, John C. Fremont, had +forbidden the use of his name. + +Illinois had a candidate. He was held back with sound discretion, +and at the opportune moment presented with great enthusiasm. Ever +since the discussion with Douglas, Mr. Lincoln had occupied a +prominent place before the public; but there had been little mention +of his name for the Presidency. His friends at home had apparently +hoped to nominate him for Vice-President on the ticket with Mr. +Seward. But as the proofs of hostility to Seward multiplied, +speculation was busy as to the man who could be taken in his stead. +At the moment when doubts of Seward's success were most prevalent, +and when excitement in regard to the nomination was deepest, the +Republicans of Illinois met in State convention. It was but a few +days in advance of the assembling of the National convention. By +a spontaneous movement they nominated Mr. Lincoln for President. +It was a surprise to the convention that did it. The man who +created the great outburst for Mr. Lincoln in that Illinois +assemblage, who interpreted the feelings of delegates to themselves, +was Richard J. Oglesby, a speaker of force and eloquence, afterward +honorably prominent and popular in military and civil life. He +was seconded with unanimity, and with boisterous demonstrations of +applause. The whole State was instantly alive and ablaze for +Lincoln. A delegation competent for its work was sent to the +convention. David Davis, O. H. Browning, Burton C. Cook, Gustavus +Koerner, and their associates, met no abler body of men in a +convention remarkable for its ability. They succeeded in the +difficult task assigned to them. They did not in their canvass +present Mr. Lincoln as a rival to Mr. Seward, but rather as an +admirer and friend. The votes which were given to Mr. Lincoln on +the first ballot were, in large part, from delegations that could +not be induced in any event to vote for Mr. Seward. The presentation +of Mr. Lincoln's name kept these delegates from going to a candidate +less acceptable to the immediate friends of Mr. Seward. No management +could have been more skillful, no tact more admirable. The result +attested the vigor and wisdom of those who had Mr. Lincoln's fortunes +in charge. + +Mr. Seward's support, however, after all the assaults made upon +it, was still very formidable. On the first ballot he received +1751/2 votes, while Mr. Lincoln received but 102. Delegates to the +number of 190 divided their votes between Bates, Chase, Cameron, +Dayton, McLean, and Collamer. They held the balance of power, and +on the second ballot it was disclosed that the mass of them favored +Mr. Lincoln as against Mr. Seward. The latter gained but nine +votes, carrying his total up to 1841/2, while Mr. Lincoln received +181. On the third ballot, Mr. Lincoln was nominated by general +consent. + + NOMINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + +It is one of the contradictions not infrequently exhibited in the +movement of partisan bodies, that Mr. Seward was defeated because +of his radical expressions on the slavery questions, while Mr. +Lincoln was chosen in spite of expressions far more radical than +those of Mr. Seward. The "irrepressible conflict" announced by +Mr. Seward at Rochester did not go so far as Mr. Lincoln's declaration +at Springfield, that "the Union could not exist half slave, half +free." Neither Mr. Seward nor Mr. Lincoln contemplated the +destruction of the government, and yet thousands had been made to +believe that Mr. Seward made the existence of the Union depend on +the abolition of slavery. Mr Lincoln had announced the same doctrine +in advance of Mr. Seward, with a directness and bluntness which +could not be found in the more polished phrase of the New-York +senator. Despite these facts, a large number of delegates from +doubtful States--delegates who held the control of the convention +--supported Mr. Lincoln, on the distinct ground that the anti- +slavery sentiment which they represented was not sufficiently +radical to support the author of the speech in which had been +proclaimed the doctrine of an "irrepressible conflict" between +freedom and slavery. + +In a final analysis of the causes and forces which nominated Mr. +Lincoln, great weight must be given to the influence which came +from the place where the convention was held, and from the sympathy +and pressure of the surrounding crowd. Illinois Republicans, from +Cairo to the Wisconsin line, were present in uncounted thousands. +The power of the mob in controlling public opinion is immeasurable. +In monarchical governments it has dethroned kings, and in republics +it dictates candidates. Had the conditions been changed and the +National convention of the Republicans assembled in Albany, it is +scarcely to be doubted that Mr. Seward would have been nominated. +It is quite certain that Mr. Lincoln would not have been nominated. +The great achievement at Chicago was the nomination of Mr. Lincoln +without offending the supporters of Seward. This happy result +secured victory for the party in the national contest. No wounds +were inflicted, no hatreds planted, no harmonies disturbed. The +devotion to the cause was so sincere and so dominant, that the +personal ambitions of a lifetime were subordinated in an instant +upon the demand of the popular tribunal whose decision was final. +The discipline of defeat was endured with grace, and self-abnegation +was accepted as the supreme duty of the hour. + +A wise selection was made for Vice-President. Hannibal Hamlin +belonged originally to the school of Democrats who supported Jackson, +and who took Silas Wright as their model. After the repeal of the +Missouri Compromise he separated himself from his old associates, +and proved to be a powerful factor in the formation of the Republican +party. His candidacy for Governor of Maine, in 1856, broke down +the Democratic party in that State, and gave a great impulse to +the Republican campaign throughout the country. In strong common +sense, in sagacity and sound judgment, in rugged integrity of +character, Mr. Hamlin has had no superior among public men. It is +generally fortunate for a political party if the nominee for Vice- +President does not prove a source of weakness in the popular canvass. +Mr. Hamlin proved a source of strength, and the imparted confidence +and courage to the great movement against the Democratic party. + +In the four Presidential tickets in the field, every shade of +political opinion was represented, but only two of the candidates +embodied positive policies. Mr. Lincoln was in favor of prohibiting +the extension of slavery by law. Mr. Breckinridge was in favor of +protecting its extension by law. No issue could have been more +pronounced than the one thus presented. Mr. Douglas desired to +evade it, and advocated his doctrine of non-intervention which was +full of contradictions, and was in any event offensive to the anti- +slavery conscience. It permitted what was considered a grievous +moral wrong to be upheld, if a majority of white men would vote in +favor of upholding it. Mr. Bell desired to avoid the one question +that was in the popular mind, and to lead the people away from +every issue except the abstract one of preserving the Union. By +what means the Union could be preserved against the efforts of +Southern secessionists, Mr. Bell's party did not explain. The +popular apprehension was that Mr. Bell would concede all they asked, +and insure the preservation of the Union by yielding to the demands +of the only body of men who threatened to destroy it. + + ELECTION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + +As the canvass grew animated, and the questions at issue were +elaborately discussed before the people, the conviction became +general that the supporters of Breckinridge contemplated the +destruction of the government. This was not simply the belief of +the Republicans. It was quite as general among the supporters of +Douglas and the supporters of Bell. In an earlier stage of the +anti-slavery contest, this fact would have created great alarm in +the Northern States, but now the people would not yield to such a +fear. They were not only inspired by the principles they upheld, +but there was a general desire to test the question thus presented. +If a President, constitutionally elected, could not be inaugurated, +it was better then and there to ascertain the fact than to postpone +the issue by an evasion or a surrender. The Republicans were +constantly strengthened by recruits from the Douglas ranks. Many +of the friends of Douglas had become enraged by the course of the +Southern Democrats, and now joined the Republicans, in order to +force the issue upon the men who had been so domineering and +offensive in the Charleston and Baltimore conventions. Mr. Lincoln +gained steadily and derived great strength from the division of +his opponents. But their union could not have defeated him. In +New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, but one electoral ticket +was presented against Mr. Lincoln, his opponents having coalesced +in a joint effort to defeat him. In New Jersey, the "Fusion" +ticket, as the combination was termed, was made up of three Douglas, +two Bell, and two Breckinridge representatives. Owing to the fact +that some of the supporters of Douglas refused to vote for the +Breckinridge and Bell candidates, Mr. Lincoln received four electoral +votes in New Jersey, though, in the aggregate popular vote, the +majority was against him. In California and Oregon he received +pluralities. In every other free State he had an absolute majority. +Breckinridge carried every slave State except four,--Virginia, +Kentucky, and Tennessee voting for Bell, and Missouri voting for +Douglas. + +The long political struggle was over. A more serious one was about +to begin. For the first time in the history of the government, +the South was defeated in a Presidential election where an issue +affecting the slavery question was involved. There had been grave +conflicts before, sometimes followed by compromise, oftener by +victory for the South. But the election of 1860 was the culmination +of a contest which was foreshadowed by the Louisiana question of +1812; which became active and angry over the admission of Missouri; +which was revived by the annexation of Texas, and still further +inflamed by the Mexican war; which was partially allayed by the +compromises of 1850; which was precipitated for final settlement +by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, by the consequent struggle +for mastery in Kansas, and by the aggressive intervention of the +Supreme Court in the case of Dred Scott. These are the events +which led, often slowly, but always with directness, to the political +revolution of 1860. The contest was inevitable, and the men whose +influence developed and encouraged it may charitably be regarded +as the blind agents of fate. But if personal responsibility for +prematurely forcing the conflict belongs to any body of men, it +attaches to those who, in 1854, broke down the adjustments of 1820 +and of 1850. If the compromises of those years could not be +maintained, the North believed that all compromise was impossible; +and they prepared for the struggle which this fact foreshadowed. +They had come to believe that the house divided against itself +could not stand; that the Republic half slave, half free, could +not endure. They accepted as their leader the man who proclaimed +these truths. The peaceful revolution was complete when Abraham +Lincoln was chosen President of the United States. + + +In the closing and more embittered period of the political struggle +over the question of Slavery, public opinion in the South grew +narrow, intolerant, and cruel. The mass of the Southern people +refused to see any thing in the anti-slavery movement except +fanaticism; they classed Abolitionists with the worst of malefactors; +they endeavored to shut out by the criminal code and by personal +violence the enlightened and progressive sentiment of the world. +Their success in arousing the prejudice and unifying the action of +the people in fifteen States against the surging opinion of +Christendom is without parallel. Philanthropic movements elsewhere +were regarded with jealousy and distrust. Southern statesmen of +the highest rank looked upon British emancipation in the West Indies +as designedly hostile to the prosperity and safety of their own +section, and as a plot for the ultimate destruction of the Republic. +Each year the hatred against the North deepened, and the boundary +between the free States and the slave States was becoming as marked +as a line of fire. The South would see no way of dealing with +Slavery except to strengthen and fortify it at every point. Its +extinction they would not contemplate. Even a suggestion for its +amelioration was regarded as dangerous to the safety of the State +and to the sacredness of the family. + + BRITISH SUPPORT OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. + +Southern opinion had not always been of this type. It had changed +with the increase in the number of slaves, and with the increased +profit from their labor. Before the Revolutionary war, Virginia +had earnestly petitioned George III. to prohibit the importation +of slaves from Africa, and the answer of His Majesty was a peremptory +instruction to the Royal Governor at Williamsburg, "not to assent +to any law of the Colonial Legislature by which the importation of +slaves should in any respect be prohibited or obstructed." Anti- +slavery opinion was developed in a far greater degree in the American +Colonies than in the mother country. When the Convention of 1787 +inserted in the Federal Constitution a clause giving to Congress +the power to abolish the slave-trade after the year 1808, they took +a step far in advance of European opinion. A society was formed +in London, in the year 1787, for the suppression of the slave-trade. +Although it was organized under the auspices of the distinguished +philanthropists, William Clarkson and Granville Sharp, it had at +the time as little influence upon the popular opinion of England +as the early efforts of William Lloyd Garrison and the Society for +the Abolition of Domestic Slavery had upon the public opinion of +the United States. It was not until 1791 that Mr. Wilberforce +introduced in Parliament his first bill for the suppression of the +slave-trade, and though he had the enlightened sympathy of Mr. +Pitt, the eminent premier did not dare to make it a ministerial +measure. The bill was rejected by a large vote. It was not until +fifteen years later that the conscience of England won a victory +over the organized capital engaged in the infamous traffic. It +was the young and struggling Republic in America that led the way, +and she led the way under the counsel and direction of Southern +statesmen. American slave-holders were urging the abolition of +the traffic while London merchants were using every effort to +continue it, and while Bristol, the very headquarters of the trade, +was represented in Parliament by Edmund Burke. Even among the +literary men of England,--if Boswell's gossip may be trusted,--Dr. +Johnson was peculiar in his hatred of the infamy--a hatred which +is obsequious biographer mollifies to an "unfavorable notion," and +officiously ascribes to "prejudice and imperfect or false information." +The anti-slavery work of England was originally inspired from +America, and the action of the British Parliament was really so +directed as to make the prohibition of the slave-trade correspond +in time with that prescribed in the Federal Constitution. The +American wits and critics of that day did not fail to note the +significance of the date, and to appreciate the statesmanship and +philosophy which led the British Parliament to terminate the trade +at the precise moment when the American Congress closed the market. + +The slaves in the United States numbered about seven hundred thousand +when Washington's administration was organized. They had increased +to four millions when Lincoln was chosen President. Their number +in 1860 was less in proportion to the white population than it was +in 1789. The immigration of whites had changed the ratio. But +the more marked and important change had been in the value of slave +labor. In 1789 the slaves produced little or no surplus, and in +many States were regarded as a burden. In 1860 they produced a +surplus of at least three hundred millions of dollars. The power +of agricultural production in the Southern States had apparently +no limit. If the institution of Slavery could be rendered secure, +the dominant minds of the South saw political power and boundless +wealth within their grasp. They saw that they could control the +product and regulate the price of a staple in constant demand among +every people on the globe. The investment of the South in slaves +represented a capital of two thousand millions of dollars, reckoned +only upon the salable value of the chattel. Estimated by its +capacity to produce wealth, the institution of Slavery represented +to the white population of the South a sum vastly in excess of two +thousand millions. Without slave-labor, the cotton, rice, and +sugar lands were, in the view of Southern men, absolutely valueless. +With the labor of the slave, they could produce three hundred +millions a year in excess of the food required for the population. +Three hundred millions a year represented a remunerative interest +on a capital of five thousand millions of dollars. In the history +of the world there has perhaps never been so vast an amount of +productive capital firmly consolidated under one power, subject to +the ultimate control and direction of so small a number of men. + + THE SOUTH AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. + +With such extraordinary results attained, the natural desire of +slave-holders was to strive for development and expansion. They +had in the South more land than could be cultivated by the slaves +they then owned, or by their natural increase within any calculable +period. So great was the excess of land that, at the time Texas +was annexed, Senator Ashley of Arkansas declared that his State +alone could, with the requisite labor, produce a larger cotton-crop +than had ever been grown in the whole country. In the minds of +the extreme men of the South the remedy was to be found in re- +opening the African slave-trade. So considerate and withal so +conservative a man as Alexander H. Stephens recognized the situation. +When he retired from public service, at the close of the Thirty- +sixth Congress, in 1859, he delivered an address to his constituents, +which was in effect a full review of the Slavery question. He told +them plainly that they could not keep up the race with the North +in the occupation of new territory "unless they could get more +Africans." He did not avowedly advocate the re-opening of the +slave-trade, but the logic of his speech plainly pointed to that +end. + +John Forsythe of Alabama, an aggressive leader of the most radical +pro-slavery type, carried the argument beyond the point where the +prudence of Mr. Stephens permitted him to go. In recounting the +triumphs of the South, he avowed that one stronghold remained to +be carried, "the abrogation of the prohibition of the slave-trade." +So eminent a man as William L. Yancey formally proposed in a Southern +commercial convention, in 1858, that the South should demand the +repeal of the laws "declaring the slave-trade to be piracy;" and +Governor Adams of South Carolina pronounced those laws to be "a +fraud upon the slave-holders of the South." The Governor of +Mississippi went still farther, and exhibited a confidence in the +scheme which was startling. He believed that "the North would not +refuse so just a demand if the South should unitedly ask it." +Jefferson Davis did not join in the movement, but expressed a hearty +contempt for those "who prate of the inhumanity and sinfulness of +the slave-trade." + +Quotations of this character might be indefinitely multiplied. +The leaders of public opinion in the Cotton States were generally +tending in the same direction, and, in the language of Jefferson +Davis, were basing their conclusion on "the interest of the South, +and not on the interest of the African." Newspapers and literary +reviews in the Gulf States were seconding and enforcing the position +of their public men, and were gradually but surely leading the mind +of the South to a formal demand for the privilege of importing +Africans. A speaker in the Democratic National Convention at +Charleston, personally engaged in the domestic slave-trade, frankly +declared that the traffic in native Africans would be far more +humane. The thirty thousand slaves annually taken from the border +States to the cotton-belt represented so great an aggregation of +misery, that the men engaged in conducting it were, even by the +better class of slave-holders, regarded with abhorrence, and spoken +of as infamous. + +It is worthy of observation that the re-opening of the African +slave-trade was not proposed in the South until after the Dred +Scott decision. This affords a measure of the importance which +pro-slavery statesmen attached to the position of the Supreme Court. +In the light of these facts, the repeated protests of Senator +Douglas "against such schemes as the re-opening of the African +slave-trade" were full of significance; nor could any development +of Southern opinion have vindicated more completely the truth +proclaimed by Mr. Lincoln, that the country was destined to become +wholly anti-slavery or wholly pro-slavery. The financial interest +at stake in the fate of the institution was so vast, that Southern +men felt impelled to seek every possible safeguard against the +innumerable dangers which surrounded it. The revival of the African +slave-trade was the last suggestion for its protection, and was +the immediate precursor of its destruction. + + +In reckoning the wealth-producing power of the Southern States, +the field of slave labor has been confined to the cotton-belt. In +the more northern of the slave-holding States, free labor was more +profitable, and hence the interest in Slavery was not so vital or +so enduring as in the extreme South. There can be little doubt +that the slave States of the border would have abolished the +institution at an early period except for the fact that their slaves +became a steady and valuable source of labor-supply for the increased +demand which came from the constantly expanding area of cotton. +But his did not create so palpable or so pressing an interest as +was felt in the Gulf States, and the resentment caused by the +election of Lincoln was proportionately less. The border States +would perhaps have quietly accepted the result, however distasteful, +except for the influence brought upon them from the extreme South, +where the maintenance of Slavery was deemed vital to prosperity +and to safety. + +In the passions aroused by the agitation over slavery, Southern +men failed to see (what in cooler moments they could readily +perceive) that the existence of the Union and the guaranties of +the Constitution were the shield and safeguard of the South. The +long contest they had been waging with the anti-slavery men of the +free States had blinded Southern zealots to the essential strength +of their position so long as their States continued to be members +of the Federal Union. But for the constant presence of national +power, and its constant exercise under the provisions of the +Constitution, the South would have had no protection against the +anti-slavery assaults of the civilized world. Abolitionists from +the very beginning of their energetic crusade against slavery had +seen the Constitution standing in their way, and with the unsparing +severity of their logic had denounced it as "a league with hell +and a covenant with death." The men who were directing public +opinion in the South were trying to persuade themselves, and had +actually persuaded many of their followers, that the election of +Lincoln was the overthrow of the Constitution, and that their safety +in the Union was at an end. They frightened the people by Lincoln's +declaration that the Republic could not exist half slave, half +free. They would not hear his own lucid and candid explanation of +his meaning, but chose rather to accept the most extreme construction +which the pro-slavery literature and the excited harangues of a +Presidential canvass had given to Mr. Lincoln's language. + + SOUTHERN CONFIDENCE IN SECESSION. + +The confidence of Southern men in their power to achieve whatever +end they should propose was unbounded. They apparently did not +stop to contemplate the effect upon slavery which a reckless course +on their part might produce. Having been schooled to the utmost +conservatism in affairs of government, they suddenly became rash +and adventurous. They were apparently ready to put every thing to +hazard, professing to believe that nothing could be as fatal as to +remain under what they termed the "Government of Lincoln." They +believed they could maintain themselves against physical force, +but they took no heed of a stronger power which was sure to work +against them. They disregarded the enlightened philanthropy and +the awakened conscience which had abolished slavery in every other +Republic of America, which had thrown the protection of law over +the helpless millions of India, which had moved even the Russian +Autocracy to consider the enfranchisement of the serf. They would +not realize that the contest they were rashly inviting was not +alone with the anti-slavery men of the free States, not alone with +the spirit of loyalty to the Republic, but that it carried with it +a challenge to the progress of civilization, and was a fight against +the nineteenth century. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +The Tariff Question in its Relation to the Political Revolution of +1860.--A Century's Experience as to Best Mode of levying Duties.-- +Original Course of Federal Government in Regard to Revenue.--First +Tariff Act.--The Objects defined in a Preamble.--Constitutional +Power to adopt Protective Measure.--Character of Early Discussions. +--The Illustrious Men who participated.--Mr. Madison the Leader.-- +The War Tariff of 1812.--Its High Duties.--The Tariff of 1816.-- +Interesting Debate upon its Provisions.--Clay, Webster, and Calhoun +take part.--Business Depression throughout the Country.--Continues +until the Enactment of the Tariff of 1824.--Protective Character +of that Tariff.--Still Higher Duties levied by the Tariff of 1828. +--Southern Resistance to the Protective Principle.--Mr. Calhoun +leads the Nullification Movement in South Carolina.--Compromise +effected on the Tariff Question.--Financial Depression follows.-- +Panic of 1837.--Protective Tariff passed in 1842.--Free-trade +Principles triumph with the Election of President Polk.--Tariff of +1846.--Prosperous Condition of the Country.--Differences of Opinion +as to the Causes.--Surplus Revenue.--Plethoric Condition of the +Treasury.--Enactment of the Tariff of 1857.--Both Parties support +it in Congress.--Duties lower than at Any Time since the War of +1812.--Panic of 1857.--Dispute as to its causes.--Protective and +Free-trade Theories as presented by their Advocates.--Connection +of the Tariff with the Election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency. +--General Review. + +The Slavery question was not the only one which developed into a +chronic controversy between certain elements of Northern opinion +and certain elements of Southern opinion. A review of the sectional +struggle would be incomplete if it did not embrace a narrative of +those differences on the tariff which at times led to serious +disturbance, and, on one memorable occasion, to an actual threat +of resistance to the authority of the government. The division +upon the tariff was never so accurately defined by geographical +lines as was the division upon slavery; but the aggressive elements +on each side of both questions finally coalesced in the same States, +North and South. Massachusetts and South Carolina marched in the +vanguard of both controversies; and the States which respectively +followed on the tariff issue were, in large part, the same which +followed on the slavery question, on both sides of Mason and Dixon's +line. Anti-slavery zeal and a tariff for protection went hand in +hand in New England, while pro-slavery principles became nearly +identical with free-trade in the Cotton States. If the rule had +its exception, it was in localities where the strong pressure of +special interest was operating, as in the case of the sugar-planter +of Louisiana, who was willing to concede generous protection to +the cotton-spinner of Lowell if he could thereby secure an equally +strong protection, in his own field of enterprise, against the +pressing competition of the island of Cuba. + + PROTECTION AND FREE-TRADE SECTIONAL. + +The general rule, after years of experimental legislation, resolved +itself into protection in the one section and free-trade in the +other. And this was not an unnatural distinction. Zeal against +slavery was necessarily accompanied by an appreciation of the +dignity of free labor; and free labor was more generously remunerated +under the stimulus of protective laws. The same considerations +produced a directly opposite conclusion in the South, where those +interest in slave labor could not afford to build up a class of +free laborers with high wages and independent opinions. The question +was indeed one of the kind not infrequently occurring in the +adjustment of public policies where the same cause is continually +producing different and apparently contradictory effects when the +field of its operation is changed. + +The issues growing out of the subject of the tariff were, however, +in many respects entirely distinct from the slavery question. The +one involved the highest moral considerations, the other was governed +solely by expediency. Whether one man could hold property in +another was a question which took deep hold of the consciences of +men, and was either right or wrong in itself. But whether the rate +of duty upon a foreign import should be increased or lowered was +a question to be settled solely by business and financial +considerations. Slavery in the United States, as long experience +had proved, could be most profitably employed in the cultivation +of cotton. The cost of its production, in the judgment of those +engaged in it, was increased by the operation of a tariff, whereas +its price, being determined by the markets of the world, derived +no benefit from protective duties. The clothing of the slave, the +harness for the horses and mules, the ploughs, the rope, the bagging, +the iron ties, were all, they contended, increased in price to the +planter without any corresponding advance in the market value of +the product. In the beginning of the controversy it was expected +that the manufacture of cotton would grow up side by side with its +production, and that thus the community which produced the fibre +would share in the profit of the fabric. During this period the +representatives from the Cotton States favored high duties; but as +time wore on, and it became evident that slave-labor was not adapted +to the factory, and that it was undesirable if not impossible to +introduce free white labor with remunerative wages side by side +with unpaid slave-labor, the leading minds of the South were turned +against the manufacturing interest, and desired to legislate solely +in aid of the agricultural interest. + +It was this change in the South that produced the irritating +discussions in Congress,--discussions always resulting in sectional +bitterness and sometimes threatening the public safety. The tariff +question has in fact been more frequently and more elaborately +debated than any other issue since the foundation of the Federal +Government. The present generation is more familiar with questions +relating to slavery, to war, to reconstruction; but as these +disappear by permanent adjustment the tariff returns, and is eagerly +seized upon by both sides to the controversy. More than any other +issue, it represents the enduring and persistent line of division +between the two parties which in a generic sense have always existed +in the United States;--the party of strict construction and the +party of liberal construction, the party of State Rights and the +party of National Supremacy, the party of stinted revenue and +restricted expenditure, and the party of generous income with its +wise application to public improvement; the part, in short, of +Jefferson as against the party of Hamilton, the party of Jackson +as against that of Clay, the party of Buchanan and Douglas as +against that of Lincoln and Seward. Taxes, whether direct or +indirect, always interest the mass of mankind, and the differences +of the systems by which they shall be levied and collected will +always present an absorbing political issue. Public attention may +be temporarily engrossed by some exigent subject of controversy, +but the tariff alone steadily and persistently recurs for agitation, +and for what is termed settlement. Thus far in our history, +settlement has only been the basis of new agitation, and each +successive agitation leads again to new settlement. + + EXPERIENCE IN TARIFF LEGISLATION. + +After the experience of nearly a century on the absorbing question +of the best mode of levying duties on imports, the divergence of +opinion is as wide and as pronounced as when the subject first +engaged the attention of the Federal Government. Theories on the +side of high duties and theories on the side of low duties are +maintained with just as great vigor as in 1789. In no question of +a material or financial character has there been so much interest +displayed as in this. On a question of sentiment and of sympathy +like that of slavery, feeling is inevitable; but it has been matter +of surprise that the adjustment of a scale of duties on importations +of foreign merchandise should be accompanied, as it often has been, +by displays of excitement often amounting to passion. + +The cause is readily apprehended when it is remembered that the +tariff question is always presented as one not merely affecting +the general prosperity, but as specifically involving the question +of bread to the millions who are intrusted with the suffrage. The +industrial classes study the question closely; and, in many of the +manufacturing establishments of the country, the man who is working +for day wages will be found as keenly alive to the effect of a +change in the protective duty as the stockholder whose dividends +are to be affected. Thus capital and labor coalesce in favor of +high duties to protect the manufacturer, and, united, they form a +political force which has been engaged in an economic battle from +the foundation of the government. Sometimes they have suffered +signal defeat, and sometimes they have gained signal victories. + +The landmarks which have been left in a century of discussion and +of legislative experiment deserve a brief reference for a better +understanding of the subject to-day. Our financial experience has +been practically as extended as that of the older nations of Europe. +When the Republic was organized, Political Economy as understood +in the modern sense was in its elementary stage, and indeed could +hardly be called a science. Systems of taxation were everywhere +crude and ruthless, and were in large degree fashioned after the +Oriental practice of mulcting the man who will pay the most and +resist the least. Adam Smith had published his "Enquiry into the +Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" in the year of the +Declaration of Independence. Between that time and the formation +of the Federal Government his views had exerted no perceptible +influence on the financial system of England. British industries +were protected by the most stringent enactments of Parliament, and +England was the determined enemy not only of free trade but of fair +trade. The emancipated Colonies found therefore in the mother +country the most resolute foe to their manufacturing and commercial +progress. American statesmen exhibited wisdom, moderation, and +foresight in overcoming the obstacles to the material prosperity +of the new Republic. + +When the administration of Washington was organized in 1789, the +government which he represented did not command a single dollar of +revenue. They inherited a mountain of debt from the Revolutionary +struggle, they had no credit, and the only representative of value +which they controlled was the vast body of public land in the North- +west Territory. But this was unavailable as a resource for present +needs, and called for expenditure in the extensive surveys which +were a prerequisite to sale and settlement. In addition therefore +to every other form of poverty, the new government was burdened in +the manner so expressively described as _land poor_, which implies +the ownership of a large extent of real estate constantly calling +for heavy outlay, and yielding no revenue. The Federal Government +had one crying need, one imperative demand,--money! + +An immediate system of taxation was therefore required, and the +newly organized Congress lost no time in proceeding to the +consideration of ways and means. As soon as a quorum of each branch +of Congress was found to be present, the House gave its attention +to the pressing demand for money. They did not even wait for the +inauguration of President Washington, but began nearly a month +before that important event to prepare a revenue bill which might, +at the earliest moment, be ready for the Executive approval. Duties +on imports obviously afforded the readiest resource, and Congress +devoted itself with assiduous industry to the consideration of that +form of revenue. With the exception of an essential law directing +the form of oath to be taken by the Federal officers, the tariff +Act was the first passed by the new government. It was enacted +indeed two months in advance of the law creating a Treasury +Department, and providing for a Secretary thereof. The need of +money was indeed so urgent that provision was made for raising it +by duties on imports before the appointment of a single officer of +the Cabinet was authorized. Even a Secretary of State, whose first +duty it was to announce the organization of the government to +foreign nations, was not nominated for a full month after the Act +imposing duties had been passed. + + THE TARIFF ENACTED BY FIRST CONGRESS. + +All the issues involved in the new Act were elaborately and +intelligently debated. The first Congress contained a large +proportion of the men who had just before been engaged in framing +the Federal Constitution, and who were therefore fresh from the +councils which had carefully considered and accurately measured +the force of every provision of that great charter of government. +It is therefore a fact of lasting importance that the first tariff +law enacted under the Federal Government set forth its object in +the most succinct and explicit language. It opened, after the +excellent fashion of that day, with a stately preamble beginning +with the emphatic "whereas," and declaring that "it is necessary +for the support of government, for the discharge of the debts of +the United States, _and for the encouragement and protection of +manufactures_, that duties be laid on imported goods, wares, and +merchandise." Among the men who agreed to that declaration were +some of the most eminent in our history. James Madison, then young +enough to add junior to his name, was the most conspicuous; and +associated with him were Richard Henry Lee, Theodorick Bland, +Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Rufus King, George Clymer, Oliver +Ellsworth, Elias Boudinot, Fisher Ames, Elbridge Gerry, Roger +Sherman, Jonathan Trumbull, Lambert Cadwalader, Thomas Fitzsimons, +the two Muhlenbergs, Thomas Tudor Tucker, Hugh Williamson, Abraham +Baldwin, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, and many other leading men, both +from the North and the South. + +It is a circumstance of curious interest that nearly, if not quite, +all the arguments used by the supporters and opponents of a protective +system were presented at that time and with a directness and ability +which have not been surpassed in any subsequent discussion. The +"_ad valorem_" system of levying duties was maintained against +"specific" rates in almost the same language employed in the +discussions of recent years. The "infant manufactures," the need +of the "fostering care of the government" for the protection of +"home industry," the advantages derived from "diversified pursuits," +the competition of "cheap labor in Europe," were all rehearsed with +a familiarity and ease which implied their previous and constant +use in the legislative halls of the different States before the +power to levy imposts was remitted to the jurisdiction of Congress. +A picture of the industrial condition of the country at that day +can be inferred from the tariff bill first passed; and the manufactures +that were deemed worthy of encouragement are clearly outlined in +the debate. Mr. Clymer of Pennsylvania asked for a protective duty +on steel, stating that a furnace in Philadelphia "had produced +three hundred tons in two years, and with a little encouragement +would supply enough for the consumption of the whole Union." The +Pennsylvania members at the same time strenuously opposed a duty +on coal which they wished to import as cheaply as possible to aid +in the development of their iron ores. The manufacture of glass +had been started in Maryland, and the members from that State +secured a duty on the foreign article after considerable discussion, +and with the significant reservation, in deference to popular +habits, that "black quart-bottles" should be admitted free. + +Mr. Madison opposed a tax on cordage, and "questioned the propriety +of raising the price of any article that entered materially into +the structure of vessels," making in effect the same argument on +that subject which has been repeated without improvement so frequently +in later years. Indigo and tobacco, two special products of the +South, were protected by prohibitory duties, while the raising of +cotton was encouraged by a duty of three cents per pound on the +imported article. Mr. Burke of South Carolina said the culture of +cotton was contemplated on a large scale in the South, "if good +seed could be procured." The manufacture of iron, wool, leather, +paper, already in some degree developed, was stimulated by the +bill. The fisheries were aided by a bounty on every barrel caught; +and the navigation interest received a remarkable encouragement by +providing that "a discount of ten per cent on all duties imposed +by this Act shall be allowed on such goods, wares, and merchandise +as shall be imported in vessels built in the United States, and +wholly the property of a citizen or citizens thereof." The bill +throughout was an American measure, designed to promote American +interests; and as a first step in a wide field of legislation, it +was characterized in an eminent degree by wisdom, by moderation, +and by a keen insight into the immediate and the distant future of +the country. The ability which framed the Constitution was not +greater than that displayed by the first generation of American +statesmen who were called to legislate under its generous provisions +and its wise restrictions. + +These great statesmen proceeded in the light of facts which taught +them that, though politically separated from the mother country, +we were still in many ways dependent upon her, in as large a degree +as when we were Colonies, subject to her will and governed for her +advantage. The younger Pitt boasted that he had conquered the +Colonies as commercial dependencies, contributing more absolutely +and in larger degree to England's prosperity than before the +political connection was severed. He treated the States, after +the close of the peace of 1783, with a haughty assumption of +superiority, if not indeed with contempt--not even condescending +to accredit a diplomatic representative to the country, though John +Adams was in London as Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary +from the United States. English laws of protection under the Pitt +administration were steadily framed against the development of +manufactures and navigation in America, and the tendency when the +Federal Constitution was adopted had been, in the planting States +especially, towards a species of commercial dependence which was +enabling England to absorb our trade. + + TARIFF ACT APPROVED BY WASHINGTON. + +The first tariff Act was therefore in a certain sense a second +Declaration of Independence; and by a coincidence which could not +have been more striking or more significant, it was approved by +President Washington on the fourth day of July, 1789. Slow as were +the modes of communicating intelligence in those days, this Act of +Congress did, in a suggestive way, arouse the attention of both +continents. The words of the preamble were ominous. The duties +levied were exceedingly moderate, scarcely any of them above fifteen +per cent, the majority not higher than ten. But the beginning was +made; and the English manufacturers and carriers saw that the power +to levy ten per cent. could at any time levy a hundred per cent. +if the interest of the new government should demand it. The separate +States had indeed possessed the power to levy imposts, but they +had never exercised it in any comprehensive manner, and had usually +adapted the rate of duty to English trade rather than to the +protection of manufacturing interests at home. The action of the +Federal Government was a new departure, of portentous magnitude, +and was so recognized at home and abroad. + +It was not the percentage which aroused and disturbed England. It +was the power to levy the duty at all. In his famous speech on +American taxation in the House of Commons fifteen years before, +Mr. Burke asserted that it was "not the weight of the duty, but +the weight of the preamble, which the Americans were unable and +unwilling to bear." The tax actually imposed was not oppressive, +but the preamble implied the power to levy upon the Colonies whatever +tax the British Government might deem expedient, and this led to +resistance and to revolution. The force of the preamble was now +turned against Great Britain. She saw that the extent to which +the principle of protective duties might be carried was entirely +a matter of discretion with the young Republic whose people had +lately been her subjects and might now become her rivals. The +principle of protecting the manufactures and encouraging the +navigation of America had been distinctly proclaimed in the first +law enacted by the new government, and was thus made in a suggestive +and emphatic sense the very corner-stone of the republican edifice +which the patriots of the Revolution were aiming to construct. + +The opinions of Mr. Madison as thus shown in the first legislation +by Congress are the more significant from the fact that he belonged +in the Jeffersonian school, believed in the strictest construction +of granted power, was a zealous Republican in the partisan divisions +of the day, and was always opposed to the more liberal, or, as he +would regard them, the more latitudinarian views of the Federal +party. In regard to the protection and encouragement of manufactures +there seemed to be no radical difference between parties in the +early period of the government. On that issue, to quote a phrase +used on another occasion, "they were all Federalists and all +Republicans." Mr. Hamilton's celebrated report on Manufactures, +submitted in answer to a request from the House of Representatives +of December, 1790, sustained and elaborated the views on which +Congress had already acted, and brought the whole influence of the +Executive Department to the support of a Protective Tariff. Up to +that period no minister of finance among the oldest and most advanced +countries of Europe had so ably discussed the principles on which +national prosperity was based. The report has long been familiar +to students of political economy, and has had, like all Mr. Hamilton's +work, a remarkable value and a singular application in the developments +of subsequent years. + + MR. HAMILTON'S PROTECTION VIEWS. + +Mr. Hamilton sustained the plan of encouraging home manufactures +by protective duties, even to the point in some instances of making +those "duties equivalent to prohibition." He did not contemplate +a prohibitive duty as the means of encouraging a manufacture not +already domesticated, but declared it "only fit to be employed when +a manufacture has made such a progress, and is in so many hands, +as to insure a due competition and an adequate supply on reasonable +terms." This argument did not seem to follow the beaten path which +leads to the protection of "infant manufactures," but rather aimed +to secure the home market for the strong and well-developed +enterprises. Mr. Hamilton did not turn back from the consequences +which his argument involved. He perceived its logical conclusions +and frankly accepted them. He considered "the monopoly of the +domestic market to its own manufacturers as the reigning policy of +manufacturing nations," and declared that "a similar policy on the +part of the United States in every proper instance was dictated by +the principles of distributive justice, certainly by the duty of +endeavoring to secure to their own citizens a reciprocity of +advantages." He avowed his belief that "the internal competition +which takes place, soon does away with every thing like monopoly, +and by degrees reduces the price of the article to the _minimum_ +of a reasonable profit on the capital employed. This accords with +the reason of the thing and with experience." He contended that +"a reduction has in several instances immediately succeeded the +establishment of domestic manufacture." But even if this result +should not follow, he maintained that "in a national view a temporary +enhancement of price must always be well compensated by a permanent +reduction of it." The doctrine of protection, even with the enlarged +experience of subsequent years, has never been more succinctly or +more felicitously stated. + +Objections to the enforcement of the "protective" principle founded +on a lack of constitutional power were summarily dismissed by Mr. +Hamilton as "having no good foundation." He had been a member of +the convention that formed the Constitution, and had given attention +beyond any other member to the clauses relating to the collection +and appropriation of revenue. He said the "power to raise money" +as embodied in the Constitution "is plenary and indefinite," and +"the objects for which it may be appropriated are no less comprehensive +than the payment of the public debts, the providing for the common +defense and the _general welfare_." He gives the widest scope to +the phrase "general welfare," and declares that "it is of necessity +left to the discretion of the national Legislature to pronounce +upon the objects which concern the general welfare, and for which +under that description an appropriation of money is requisite and +proper." Mr. Hamilton elaborates his argument on this head with +consummate power, and declares that "the only qualification" to +the power of appropriation under the phrase "general welfare" is +that the purpose for which the money is applied shall "be _general_, +and not _local_, its operation extending in fact throughout the +Union, and not being confined to a particular spot." The limitations +and hypercritical objections to the powers conferred by the +Constitution, both in the raising and appropriating of money, +originated in large part after the authors of that great charter +had passed away, and have been uniformly stimulated by class +interests which were not developed when the organic law was enacted. + +Some details of Mr. Hamilton's report are especially interesting +in view of the subsequent development of manufacturing enterprises. +"Iron works" he represents as "greatly increasing in the United +States," and so great is the demand that "iron furnished before +the Revolution at an average of sixty-four dollars per ton" was +then sold at "eighty." Nails and spikes, made in large part by +boys, needed further "protection," as 1,800,000 pounds had been +imported the previous year. Iron was wholly made by "charcoal," +but there were several mines of "fossil coal" already "worked in +Virginia," and "a copious supply of it would be of great value to +the iron industry." Respecting "cotton" Mr. Hamilton attached far +more consideration to its manufacture than to its culture. He +distrusted the quality of that grown at home because so far from +the equator, and he wished the new factories in Rhode Island and +Massachusetts to have the best article at the cheapest possible +rate. To this end the repeal of the three-cent duty on cotton +levied the preceding year was "indispensable." He argued that "not +being, like hemp, an universal production of the country, cotton +affords less assurance of an adequate internal supply." If the +duty levied on glass should not prove sufficient inducement to its +manufacture, he would stimulate it "by a direct bounty." + +Mr. Hamilton's conceptions of an enlarged plan of "protection" +included not only "prohibitive duties," but when necessary a system +of "bounties and premiums" in addition. He was earnestly opposed +to "a capitation-tax," and declared such levies as an income-tax +to be "unavoidably hurtful to industry." Indirect taxes were +obviously preferred by him whenever they were practicable. Indeed +upon any other system of taxation he believed it would prove +impossible for the Republic of 1790 to endure the burden imposed +upon the public treasury by the funding of the debt of the Revolution. +More promptly than any other financier of that century he saw that +ten dollars could be more easily collected by indirect tax than +one dollar by direct levy, and that he could thus avoid those +burdensome exactions from the people which had proved so onerous +in Europe, and which had just aided in precipitating France into +bloody revolution. + + THE WAR TARIFF ENACTED IN 1812. + +Important and radical additions to the revenue system promptly +followed Mr. Hamilton's recommendations. From that time onward, +for a period of more than twenty years, additional tariff laws were +passed by each succeeding Congress, modifying and generally increasing +the rate of duties first imposed, and adding many new articles to +the dutiable list. When the war of 1812 was reached, a great but +temporary change was made in the tariff laws by increasing the +entire list of duties one hundred per cent.--simply doubling the +rate in every case. Not content with this sweeping and wholesale +increase of duty, the law provided an additional ten per cent. upon +all goods imported in foreign vessels, besides collecting an +additional tonnage-tax of one dollar and a half per ton on the +vessel. Of course this was war-legislation, and the Act was to +expire within one year after a treaty of peace should be concluded +with Great Britain. With the experience of recent days before him, +the reader does not need to be reminded that, under the stimulus +of this extraordinary rate of duties, manufactures rapidly developed +throughout the country. Importations from England being absolutely +stopped by reason of the war, and in large part excluded from other +countries by high duties, the American market was for the first +time left substantially, or in large degree, to the American +manufacturers. + +With all the disadvantages which so sudden and so extreme a policy +imposed on the people, the progress for the four years of these +extravagant and exceptional duties was very rapid, and undoubtedly +exerted a lasting influence on the industrial interests of the +United States. But the policy was not one which commanded general +support. Other interests came forward in opposition. New England +was radically hostile to high duties, for the reason that they +seriously interfered with the shipping and commercial interest in +which her people were largely engaged. The natural result moreover +was a sharp re-action, in which the protective principle suffered. +Soon after the Treaty of Ghent was signed, movements were made for +a reduction of duties, and the famous tariff of 1816 was the result. + +In examining the debates on that important Act, it is worthy of +notice that Mr. Clay, from an extreme Western State, was urging a +high rate of duties on cotton fabrics, while his chief opponent +was Daniel Webster, then a representative from Massachusetts. An +additional and still stranger feature of the debate is found when +Mr. Calhoun, co-operating with Mr. Clay, replied to Mr. Webster's +free-trade speech in an elaborate defense of the doctrine of +protection to our manufactures. + +Mr. Calhoun spoke with enthusiasm, and gave an interesting _resume_ +of the condition of the country as affected by the war with Great +Britain. He believed that the vital deficiency in our financial +condition was the lack of manufactures, and to supply that deficiency +he was willing to extend the protecting arm of the government. +"When our manufactures are grown to a certain perfection, as they +soon will be under the fostering care of the government, we shall +no longer experience these evils. The farmer will find a ready +market for his surplus products, and, what is almost of equal +consequence, a certain and cheap supply for all his wants. His +prosperity will diffuse itself through every class in the community." +Not satisfied with this unqualified support of the protective +system, Mr. Calhoun supplemented it by declaring that "to give +perfection to this state of things, it will be necessary to add as +soon as possible a system of internal improvements." Mr. Webster's +opposition to protection was based on the fact that it tended to +depress commerce and curtail the profits of the carrying-trade. + +The tariff of 1816 was termed "moderately protective," but even in +that form it encountered the opposition of the commercial interest. +It was followed in the country by severe depression in all departments +of trade, not because the duties were not in themselves sufficiently +high, but from the fact that it followed the war tariff, and the +change was so great as to produce not only a re-action but a +revolution in the financial condition of the country. All forces +of industry languished. Bankruptcy was wide-spread, and the distress +between 1817 and 1824 was perhaps deeper and more general than at +any other period of our history. There was no immigration of +foreigners, and consequently no wealth from that source. There +was no market for agricultural products, and the people were +therefore unable to indulge in liberal expenditure. Their small +savings could be more profitably invested in foreign than in domestic +goods, and hence American manufactures received little patronage. +The traditions of that period, as given by the generation that +lived through it, are sorrowful and depressing. The sacrifice of +great landed estates, worth many millions could they have been +preserved for the heirs of the next generation, was a common feature +in the general distress and desolation. The continuance of this +condition of affairs had no small influence on the subsequent +division of parties. It naturally led to a change in the financial +system, and in 1824 a tariff Act was passed, materially enlarging +the scope of the Act of 1816. + + THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF OF 1824. + +The Act of 1824 was avowedly protective in its character and was +adopted through the influence of Mr. Clay, then Speaker of the +House of Representatives. His most efficient ally on the floor +was Mr. Buchanan of Pennsylvania who exerted himself vigorously in +aid of the measure. Mr. Webster again appeared in the debate, +arguing against the "obsolete and exploded notion of protection," +and carrying with him nearly the whole vote of Massachusetts in +opposition. Mr. Clay was enabled to carry the entire Kentucky +delegation for the high protective tariff, and Mr. Calhoun's views +having meanwhile undergone a radical change, South Carolina was +found to be unanimous in opposition, and cordially co-operating +with Massachusetts in support of free-trade. The effect of that +tariff was undoubtedly favorable to the general prosperity, and +during the administration of John Quincy Adams every material +interest of the country improved. The result was that the supporters +of the protective system, congratulating themselves upon the effect +of the work of 1824, proceeded in 1828 to levy still higher duties. +They applied the doctrine of protection to the raw materials of +the country, the wool, the hemp, and all unmanufactured articles +which by any possibility could meet with damaging competition from +abroad. + +It was indeed an era of high duties, of which, strange as it may +seem to the modern reader, Silas Wright of New York and James +Buchanan of Pennsylvania appeared as the most strenuous defenders, +and were personally opposed in debate by John Davis of Massachusetts +and Peleg Sprague of Maine. To add to the entanglement of public +opinion, Mr. Webster passed over to the side of ultra-protection +and voted for the bill, finding himself in company with Martin Van +Buren of New York, and Thomas H. Benton of Missouri. It was an +extraordinary commingling of political elements, in which it is +difficult to find a line of partition logically consistent either +with geographical or political divisions. Mr. Webster carried with +him not more than two or three votes of the Massachusetts delegation. +His colleague in the Senate, Nathaniel Silsbee, voted against him, +and in the House such personal adherents as Edward Everett and +Isaac C. Bates recorded themselves in the negative. There was a +great deal of what in modern phase would be called "fencing for +position" in the votes on this test question of the day. The names +of no less than five gentlemen who were afterwards Presidents of +the United States were recorded in the yeas and nays on the passage +of the bill in the two Houses,--Mr. Van Buren, General Harrison, +John Tyler, in the Senate, and Mr. Polk and Mr. Buchanan in the +House. + +There was a general feeling that the Act of 1828 marked a crisis +in the history of tariff discussion, and that it would in some way +lead to important results in the fate of political parties and +political leaders. Mr. Calhoun was this year elected Vice-President +of the United States, with General Jackson as President, and Mr. +Van Buren was transferred from the Senate to the State Department +as the head of Jackson's cabinet. When by his address and tact he +had turned the mind of the President against Calhoun as his successor, +and fully ingratiated himself in executive favor, the quarrel began +which is elsewhere detailed at sufficient length. In this controversy, +purely personal at the outset, springing from the clashing ambitions +of two aspiring men, the tariff of 1828, especially with the vote +of Mr. Van Buren in favor of it, was made to play an important +part. The quarrel rapidly culminated in Mr. Calhoun's resignation +of the Vice-Presidency, his leadership of the Nullification contest +in South Carolina, and his re-election to the Senate of the United +States some time before the expiration of the Vice-Presidential +term for which he had been chosen. The result was a reduction of +duties, first by the Act of July, 1832, and secondly by Mr. Clay's +famous compromise Act of March 2, 1833, in which it was provided +that by a sliding-scale all the duties in excess of twenty per +cent. should be abolished within a period of ten years. It was +this Act which for the time calmed excitement in the South, brought +Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Clay into kindly relations, and somewhat +separated Mr. Webster and Mr. Clay,--at least producing one of +those periods of estrangement which, throughout their public career, +alternated with the cordial friendship they really entertained for +each other. + + THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF OF 1842. + +During the operation of this Act,--which was really an abandonment +of the protective principle,--the financial crisis of 1837 came +upon the country, and a period of distress ensued, almost equal to +that which preceded the enactment of the tariff of 1824. Many +persons, still in active business, recall with something of horror +the hardships and privations which were endured throughout the +country from 1837 to 1842. The long-continued depression produced +the revolution against the Democratic party which ended in the +overthrow of Mr. Van Buren and the election of General Harrison as +President of the United States in 1840. The Whig Congress that +came into power at the same time, proceeded to enact the law +popularly known as the tariff of 1842, which was strongly protective +in its character though not so extreme as the Act of 1828. The +vote in favor of the bill was not exclusively Whig, as some of the +Northern Democrats voted for it and some of the Southern Whigs +against it. Conspicuous among the former were Mr. Buchanan of +Pennsylvania and Mr. Wright of New York, who maintained a consistency +with their vote for the tariff of 1828. Conspicuous among Southern +Whigs against it were Berrien of Georgia, Clayton of Delaware, +Mangum of North Carolina, Merrick of Maryland, and Rives of Virginia. +The two men who above all others deserve honor for successful +management of the bill were George Evans, the brilliant and +accomplished senator from Maine, and Thomas M. T. McKennan, for +many years an able, upright, and popular representative from +Pennsylvania. John Quincy Adams, in a public speech delivered in +1843 in the town of Mr. McKennan's residence, ascribed to that +gentleman the chief credit of carrying the Protective Tariff Bill +through the House of Representatives. The vote showed, as all +tariff bills before had, and as all since have shown, that the +local interest of the constituency determines in large measure the +vote of the representative; that planting sections grow more and +more towards free-trade and manufacturing sections more and more +towards protection. + +The friends of home industry have always referred with satisfaction +to the effect of the tariff of 1842 as an explicit and undeniable +proof of the value of protection. It raised the country from a +slough of despond to happiness, cheerfulness, confidence. It +imparted to all sections a degree of prosperity which they had not +known since the repeal of the tariff of 1828. The most suggestive +proof of its strength and popularity was found in the contest of +1844 between Mr. Polk and Mr. Clay, where the Democrats in the +critical Northern States assumed the advocacy of the tariff of 1842 +as loudly as the supporters of Mr. Clay. Other issues overshadowed +the tariff, which was really considered to be settled, and a +President and Congress were chosen without any distinct knowledge +on the part of their constituents as to what their action might be +upon this question. The popular mind had been engrossed with the +annexation of Texas and with the dawn of the free-soil excitement; +hence protection and free-trade were in many States scarcely debated +from lack of interest, and, in the States where interest prevailed, +both parties took substantially the same side. + +A deception had however been practiced in the manufacturing States +of the North, and when the administration of Mr. Polk was installed, +the friends of protection were startled by the appointment of a +determined opponent of the tariff of 1842, as Secretary of the +Treasury. Robert J. Walker was a senator from Mississippi when +the Act was passed, and was bitterly opposed to it. He was a man +of great originality, somewhat speculative in his views, and willing +to experiment on questions of revenue to the point of rashness. +He was not a believer in the doctrine of protection, was persuaded +that protective duties bore unjustly and severely upon the planting +section with which he was identified; and he came to his office +determined to overthrow the tariff Act, which he had been unable +to defeat in the Senate. Mr. Walker was excessively ambitious to +make his term in the Treasury an era in the history of the country. +He had a difficult task before him,--one from which a conservative +man would have shrunk. The tariff was undoubtedly producing a +valuable revenue; and, as the administration of Mr. Polk was about +to engage in war, revenue was what they most needed. Being about +to enter upon a war, every dictate of prudence suggested that +aggressive issues should not be multiplied in the country. But +Mr. Walker was not Secretary of War or Secretary of State, and he +was unwilling to sit quietly down and collect the revenue under a +tariff imposed by a Whig Congress, against which he had voted, +while Buchanan in directing our foreign relations, and Marcy in +conducting a successful war, would far outstrip him in public +observation and in acquiring the elements of popularity adapted to +the ambition which all three alike shared. + +Mr. Walker made an elaborate report on the question of revenue, +and attacked the tariff of 1842 in a manner which might well be +termed savage. He arraigned the manufacturers as enjoying unfair +advantages,--advantages held, as he endeavored to demonstrate, at +the expense and to the detriment of the agriculturist, the mechanic, +the merchant, the ship-owner, the sailor, and indeed of almost +every industrial class. In reading Mr. Walker's report a third of +a century after it was made, one might imagine that the supporters +of the tariff of 1842 were engaged in a conspiracy to commit fraud, +and that the manufacturers who profited by its duties were guilty +of some crime against the people. But extreme as were his declarations +and difficult as were the obstructions in his path, he was able to +carry his point. Mr. Buchanan, the head of the Cabinet, had voted +for the tariff of 1842, and Mr. Dallas, the Vice-President, had +steadily and ably upheld the doctrine of protection when a member +of the Senate. It was the position of Buchanan and Dallas on the +tariff that won the October election of 1844 for Francis R. Shunk +for governor of Pennsylvania, and thus assured the election of Mr. +Polk. The administration of which Buchanan and Dallas were such +conspicuous and influential members could not forswear protection +and inflict a free-trade tariff on Pennsylvania, without apparent +dishonor and the abandonment of that State to the Whigs. It was +therefore regarded not only as impracticable but as politically +impossible. + + THE FREE-TRADE TARIFF OF 1846. + +It was soon ascertained however that Mr. Polk sympathized with Mr. +Walker, and Mr. Buchanan was silenced and overridden. The free- +trade tariff of 1846 was passed; and Mr. Dallas, who had been +nominated because of his record as a protectionist, was subjected +to the humiliation of giving his casting vote as Vice-President in +favor of a tariff which was execrated in Pennsylvania, and which +was honestly believed to be inimical in the highest degree to the +interest of the American manufacturer and the American mechanic. +The Act had no small influence in the overthrow of the Polk +administration at the elections for the next ensuing Congress, and +in the defeat of General Cass for the Presidency in 1848. As +senator from Michigan, General Cass had voted for the bill, influenced +thereto by his Southern associates, for whom he always did so much, +and from whom he always received so little. Pennsylvania was at +that time really a Democratic State, but she punished General Cass +for his free-trade course by giving her electoral vote to Taylor. +If she had given it to Cass he would have been chosen President. + +It was in connection with the tariff agitation of 1846 that Simon +Cameron originally obtained his strong hold upon the popular sympathy +and support of Pennsylvania. He was a Democrat; had long been +confidential adviser to Mr. Buchanan, and had supported Mr. Polk. +But he was a believer in the doctrine of protection; and as he had +aided in carrying Pennsylvania by declaring himself a friend to +the tariff of 1842, he maintained his faith. When the Polk +administration was organized, a vacancy was created in the Senate +by Mr. Buchanan's appointment as Secretary of State. George W. +Woodward was the regular nominee of the Democratic party for the +place. But Cameron bolted, and with the aid of Whig votes was +chosen senator. He resisted the passage of the tariff of 1846, +stood firmly and consistently for the industrial interests of his +State, cultivated an alliance with the Whigs in the Senate, and by +their aid thwarted all the attempts of the Polk administration to +interfere with his plans and purposes in Pennsylvania. The President +endeavored to heal Judge Woodward's wounds by placing him on the +bench of the Supreme Court as the successor of the eminent Henry +Baldwin. Cameron induced the Whigs to reject him, and then forced +the administration to nominate Robert C. Grier whose appointment +was personally acceptable and agreeable to him. In the successful +tactics then employed by Cameron may be found the secret of his +remarkable career as a party manager in the field in which, for a +full half-century, he was an active and indefatigable worker. + +The Whig victory of 1848 was not sufficiently decisive to warrant +any attempt, even had there been desire, to change the tariff. +General Taylor had been elected without subscribing to a platform +or pledging himself to a specific measure, and he was therefore in +a position to resist and reject appeals of the ordinary partisan +character. Moreover the tariff of 1846 was yielding abundant +revenue, and the business of the country was in a flourishing +condition at the time his administration was organized. Money +became very abundant after the year 1849; large enterprises were +undertaken, speculation was prevalent, and for a considerable period +the prosperity of the country was general and apparently genuine. +After 1852 the Democrats had almost undisputed control of the +government, and had gradually become a free-trade party. The +principles embodied in the tariff of 1846 seemed for the time to +be so entirely vindicated and approved that resistance to it ceased, +not only among the people but among the protective economists, and +even among the manufacturers to a large extent. So general was +this acquiescence that in 1856 a protective tariff was not suggested +or even hinted by any one of the three parties which presented +Presidential candidates. + + THE FREE-TRADE TARIFF OF 1857. + +It was not surprising therefore that with a plethoric condition of +the National Treasury for two or three consecutive years, the +Democratic Congress, in the closing session of Pierce's administration, +enacted what has since been known as the tariff of 1857. By this +law the duties were placed lower then they had been at any time +since the war of 1812. The Act was well received by the people, +and was indeed concurred in by a considerable proportion of the +Republican party. The Senate had a large Democratic majority, but +in the House three parties divided the responsibility,--no one of +them having an absolute majority. The Republicans had a plurality +and had chosen Mr. Banks Speaker, but the American party held the +balance of power in the House and on several of the leading +committees. Some prominent Republicans, however, remaining true +to their old Whig traditions, opposed the reduction of duties. +Mr. Seward voted against it, but his colleague, Mr. Hamilton Fish, +voted for it. Mr. Seward represented the protective tendencies of +the country districts of New York, and Mr. Fish the free-trade +tendencies of the city. Mr. Sumner and Mr. Wilson both voted for +it, as did also Senator Allen of Rhode Island, the direct representative +of the manufacturers of that State. Mr. Bell of New Hampshire +voted for it, while Senators Collamer and Foote of Vermont voted +against it. Mr. Fessenden did not oppose it, but his colleague, +Mr. Nourse, voted against it. The Connecticut senators, Foster +and Toucey, one of each party, supported the measure. + +In the House, the New-England representatives generally voted for +the bill, but Mr. Morrill of Vermont opposed it. The Pennsylvania +delegation, led by James H. Campbell and John Covode, did all in +their power to defeat it. The two Washburns, Colfax, and George G. +Dunn headed a formidable opposition from the West. Humphrey Marshall +and Samuel F. Swope of Kentucky were the only representatives from +slave States who voted in the negative; though in the Senate three +old and honored Whigs, John Bell of Tennessee, John B. Thompson of +Kentucky, and Henry S. Geyer of Missouri maintained their ancient +faith and voted against lowering the duties. It was an extraordinary +political combination that brought the senators from Massachusetts +and the senators from South Carolina, the representatives from New +England and the representatives from the cotton States, to support +the same tariff bill,--a combination which had not before occurred +since the administration of Monroe. This singular coalition +portended one of two results: Either an entire and permanent +acquiescence in the rule of free-trade, or an entire abrogation of +that system, and the revival, with renewed strength, of the doctrine +of protection. Which it should be was determined by the unfolding +of events not then foreseen, and the force of which it required +years to measure. + +The one excuse given for urging the passage of the Act of 1857 was +that under the tariff of 1846 the revenues had become excessive, +and the income of the government must be reduced. But it was soon +found to be a most expensive mode of reaching that end. The first +and most important result flowing from the new Act was a large +increase in importations and a very heavy drain in consequence upon +the reserved specie of the country, to pay the balance which the +reduced shipments of agricultural products failed to meet. In the +autumn of 1857, half a year after the passage of the tariff Act, +a disastrous financial panic swept over the country, prostrating +for the time all departments of business in about the same degree. +The agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing interests were +alike and equally involved. The distress for a time was severe +and wide-spread. The stagnation which ensued was discouraging and +long continued, making the years from 1857 to 1860 extremely dull +and dispiriting in business circles throughout the Union. The +country was not exhausted and depleted as it was after the panic +of 1837, but the business community had no courage, energy was +paralyzed, and new enterprises were at a stand-still. + +It soon became evident that this condition of affairs would carry +the tariff questions once more into the political arena, as an +active issue between parties. Thus far, the new Republican +organization had passively acquiesced in existing laws on the +subject; but the general distress caused great bodies of men, as +is always the case, to look to the action of the Government for +relief. The Republicans found therefore a new ground for attacking +the Democracy,--holding them responsible for the financial depression, +initiating a movement for returning to the principle and practice +of protection, and artfully identifying the struggle against slavery +with the efforts of the workingmen throughout the North to be freed +from injurious competition with the cheapened labor of Europe. +This phase of the question was presented with great force in certain +States, and the industrial classes, by a sort of instinct of self- +preservation as it seemed to them, began to consolidate their votes +in favor of the Republican party. They were made to see, by clever +and persuasive speakers, that the slave labor of the South and the +ill-paid labor of Europe were both hostile to the prosperity of +the workingman in the free States of America, and that the Republican +party was of necessity his friend, by its opposition to all the +forms of labor which stood in the wy of his better remuneration +and advancement. + + REPUBLICAN PARTY FAVORS PROTECTION. + +The convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln met when the feeling +against free-trade was growing, and in many States already deep- +rooted. A majority of those who composed that convention had +inherited their political creed from the Whig party, and were +profound believers in the protective teachings of Mr. Clay. But +a strong minority came from the radical school of Democrats, and, +in joining the Republican party on the anti-slavery issue, had +retained their ancient creed on financial and industrial questions. +Care was for that reason necessary in the introduction of new issues +and the imposition of new tests of party fellowship. The convention +therefore avoided the use of the word "protection," and was contented +with the moderate declaration that "sound policy requires such an +adjustment of imposts as will encourage the development of the +industrial interests of the whole country." A more emphatic +declaration might have provoked resistance from a minority of the +convention, and the friends of protection acted wisely in accepting +what was offered with unanimity, rather than continue the struggle +for a stronger creed which would have been morally weakened by +party division. They saw also that the mere form of expression +was not important, so long as the convention was unanimous on what +theologians term the "substance of doctrine." It was noted that +the vast crowd which attended the convention cheered the tariff +resolution as lustily as that which opposed the spread of slavery +into free territory. From that hour the Republican party gravitated +steadily and rapidly into the position of avowed advocacy of the +doctrine of protection. The national ticket which they presented +was composed indeed of an original Whig protectionist and an original +Democratic free-trader; but the drift of events, as will be seen, +carried both alike into the new movement for a protective system. + + +A review of the tariff legislation in the period between the war +of 1812 and the political revolution of 1860 exhibits some sudden +and extraordinary changes on the part of prominent political leaders +in their relation to the question. The inconsistency involved is +however more apparent than real. Perhaps it would be correct to +say that the inconsistency was justifiable in the eyes of those +who found it necessary to be inconsistent. Mr. Webster was a +persistent advocate of free-trade so long as Massachusetts was a +commercial State. But when, by the operation of laws against the +enactment of which he had in vain protested, Massachusetts became +a manufacturing State, Mr. Webster naturally and inevitably became +a protectionist. Mr. Calhoun began as a protectionist when he +hoped for the diffusion and growth of manufactures throughout all +sections alike. He became a free-trader when he realized that the +destiny of the South was to be purely agricultural, devoted to +products whose market was not, in his judgment, to be enlarged by +the tariff, and whose production was enhanced in cost by its +operation. Colonel Benton's change was similar to Mr. Calhoun's, +though at a later period, and not so abrupt or so radical. Mr. Van +Buren's shifting of position was that of a man eagerly seeking the +current of popular opinion, and ready to go with the majority of +his party. Of all the great lights, but one burned steadily and +clearly. Mr. Clay was always a protectionist, and, unlike Mr. Van +Buren, he forced his party to go with him. But as a whole, the +record of tariff legislation, from the very origin of the government, +is the record of enlightened selfishness; and enlightened selfishness +is the basis of much that is wisest in legislation. + +It is natural that both sides to the tariff controversy should +endeavor to derive support for their principles from the experience +of the country. Nor can it be denied that each side can furnish +many arguments which apparently sustain its own views and theories. +The difficulty in reaching a satisfactory and impartial conclusion +arises from the inability or unwillingness of the disputants to +agree upon a common basis of fact. If the premises could be candidly +stated, there would be not trouble in finding a true conclusion. +In the absence of an agreement as to the points established, it is +the part of fairness to give a succinct statement of the grounds +maintained by the two parties to the prolonged controversy,--grounds +which have not essentially changed in a century of legislation and +popular contention. + +It is maintained by free-traders that under the moderate tariff +prevailing from the origin of the government to the war of 1812 +the country was prosperous, and manufactures were developing as +rapidly as was desirable or healthful. Protectionists on the other +hand aver that the duty levied in 1789 was the first of uniform +application throughout all the States, and that, regardless of its +percentage, its influence and effect were demonstrably protective; +that it was the first barrier erected against the absolute commercial +supremacy of England, and that it effectually did its work in +establishing the foundation of the American system. In the absence +of that tariff, they maintain that England, under the influence of +actual free-trade, had monopolized our market and controlled our +industries. Finally they declare that the free-traders yield the +whole case in acknowledging that the first tariff imparted an +impetus to manufactures and to commercial independence wholly +unknown while the States were under the Articles of Confederation +and unable to levy uniform duties on imports. + + COMPARISON OF REVENUE SYSTEMS. + +The free-traders point to the destructive effect of the war tariff +of 1812, which unduly stimulated and then inevitably depressed the +country. They assume this to be a pregnant illustration of a truth, +otherwise logically deduced by them, as to the re-action sure to +follow an artificial stimulus given to any department of trade. +The protectionists declining to defend the war duties as applicable +to a normal condition, find in the too sudden dropping of war rates +the mistake which precipitated the country into financial trouble. +Depression, they say, would naturally have come; but it was hastened +and increased by the inconsiderate manner in which the duties were +lowered in 1816. From that time onward the protectionists claim +that the experience of the country has favored their theories of +revenue and financial administration. The country did not revive, +or prosperity re-appear, until the protective tariff of 1824 was +enacted. The awakening of all branches of industry by that Act +was further promoted by the tariff of 1828, to which the protectionists +point as the perfected wisdom of their school. Mr. Clay publicly +asserted that the severest depression he had witnessed in the +country was during the seven years preceding the tariff of 1824, +and that the highest prosperity was during the seven years following +that Act. + +The free-traders affirm that the excitement in the South and the +sectional resistance to the tariff of 1828 show the impossibility +of maintaining high duties. The protectionists reply that such an +argument is begging the question, and is simply tantamount to +admitting that protection is valuable if it can be upheld. The +protectionists point to the fact that their system was not abandoned +in 1832 upon a fair consideration of its intrinsic merits, but as +a peace-offering to those who were threatening the destruction of +the government if the duties were not lowered. Many protectionists +believe that if Mr. Clay had been willing to give to General Jackson +the glory of an absolute victory over the Nullifiers of South +Carolina, the revenue system of the country would have been very +different. They think however that the temptation to settle the +question by compromise instead of permitting Jackson to settle it +by force was perhaps too strong to be resisted by one who had so +many reasons for opposing and hating the President. + +A more reasonable view held by another school of protectionists is +that Mr. Clay did the wisest possible thing in withdrawing the +tariff question from a controversy where it was complicated with +so many other issues,--some of them bitter and personal. He justly +feared that the protective principle might be irretrievably injured +in the collision thought to be impending. He believed moreover +that the best protective lesson would be taught by permitting the +free-traders to enforce their theories for a season, trusting for +permanent triumph to the popular re-action certain to follow. +There was nothing in the legislation to show that Mr. Clay or his +followers had in any degree abandoned or changed their faith in +protective duties of their confidence in the ultimate decision of +the public judgment. The protectionists aver that the evils which +flowed from the free-trade tariff of 1833, thus forced on the +country by extraneous considerations, were incalculably great, and +negatively established the value of the tariff of 1828 which had +been so unfairly destroyed. They maintain that it broke down the +manufacturing interest, led to excessive importations, threw the +balance of trade heavily against us, drained us of our specie, and +directly led to the financial disasters of 1837 and the years +ensuing. They further declare that this distressing situation was +not relieved until the protective tariff of 1842 was passed, and +that thenceforward, for the four years in which that Act was allowed +to remain in force, the country enjoyed general prosperity,--a +prosperity so marked and wide-spread that the opposing party had +not dared to make an issue against the tariff in States where there +was large investment in manufacturing. + +The free-traders consider the tariff of 1846 to be a conclusive +proof the beneficial effect of low duties. They challenge a +comparison of the years of its operation, between 1846 and 1857, +with any other equal period in the history of the country. +Manufacturing, they say, was not forced by a hot-house process to +produce high-priced goods for popular consumption, but was gradually +encouraged and developed on a healthful and self-sustaining basis, +not to be shaken as a reed in the wind by every change in the +financial world. Commerce, as they point out, made great advances, +and our carrying trade grew so rapidly that in ten years from the +day the tariff of 1846 was passed our tonnage exceeded the tonnage +of England. The free-traders refer with especial emphasis to what +the term the symmetrical development of all the great interests of +the country under this liberal tariff. Manufactures were not +stimulated at the expense of the commercial interest. Both were +developed in harmony, while agriculture, the indispensable basis +of all, was never more flourishing. The farmers and planters at +no other period of our history were in receipt of such good prices, +steadily paid to them in gold coin, for their surplus product, +which they could send to the domestic market over our own railways +and to the foreign market in our own ships. + + COMPARISON OF REVENUE SYSTEMS. + +Assertions as to the progress of manufactures in the period under +discussion are denied by the protectionists. While admitting the +general correctness of the free-trader's statements as to the +prosperous condition of the country, they call attention to the +fact that directly after the enactment of the tariff of 1846 the +great famine occurred in Ireland, followed in the ensuing years by +short crops in Europe. The prosperity which came to the American +agriculturist was therefore from causes beyond the sea and not at +home,--causes which were transient, indeed almost accidental. +Moreover an exceptional condition of affairs existed in the United +States in consequence of our large acquisition of territory from +Mexico at the close of the war and the subsequent and almost +immediate discovery of gold in California. A new and extended +field of trade was thus opened in which we had the monopoly, and +an enormous surplus of money was speedily created from the products +of the rich mines on the Pacific coast. At the same time Europe +was in convulsion from the revolutions of 1848, and production was +materially hindered over a large part of the Continent. This +disturbance had scarcely subsided when three leading nations of +Europe, England, France, and Russia, engaged in the wasteful and +expensive war of the Crimea. This struggle began in 1853 and ended +in 1856, and during those years it increased consumption and +decreased production abroad, and totally closed the grain-fields +of Russia from any competition with the United States. + +The protectionists therefore hold that the boasted prosperity of +the country under the tariff of 1846 was abnormal in origin and in +character. It depended upon a series of events exceptional at home +and even more exceptional abroad,--events which by the doctrine of +probabilities would not be repeated for centuries. When peace was +restored in Europe, when foreign looms and forges were set going +with renewed strength, when Russia resumed her export of wheat, +and when at home the output of the gold-mines suddenly decreased, +the country was thrown into distress, followed by a panic and by +long years of depression. The protectionists maintain that from +1846 to 1857 the United States would have enjoyed prosperity under +any form of tariff, but that the moment the exceptional conditions +in Europe and in America came to an end, the country was plunged +headlong into a disaster from which the conservative force of a +protective tariff would in large part have saved it. The protectionists +claim moreover that in these averments they are not wise after the +fact. They show a constant series of arguments and warnings from +leading teachers of their economic school, especially from Horace +Greeley and Henry C. Carey, accurately foretelling the disastrous +results which occurred at the height of what was assumed to be our +solid and enduring prosperity as a nation. These able writers were +prophets of adversity, and the inheritors of their faith claim that +their predictions were startlingly verified. + +The free-traders, as an answer to this arraignment of their tariff +policy, seek to charge responsibility for the financial disasters +to the hasty and inconsiderate changes made in the tariff in 1857, +for which both parties were in large degree if not indeed equally +answerable. The protectionists will not admit the plea, and insist +that the cause was totally inadequate to the effect, considering +the few months the new tariff had been in operation. They admit +that the low scale of duties in the new tariff perhaps may have +added to the distress, by the very rapid increase of importations +which it invited; but they declare that its period of operation +was entirely too brief to create a result so decided, if all the +elements of disaster had not been in existence, and in rapid +development, at the time the Act was passed. The tariff of 1846 +therefore under which there had been a very high degree of prosperity, +was, in the judgment of the protectionists, successfully impeached, +and a profound impression in consequence made on the public mind +in favor of higher duties. + + PROTECTION IN PENNSYLVANIA. + +The question of the tariff was of especial significance and influence +in Pennsylvania. Important in that State, it became important +everywhere. Pennsylvania had been continuously and tenaciously +held by the Democratic party. In the old political divisions she +had followed Jefferson and opposed Adams. In the new divisions +she had followed Jackson and opposed Clay. She was Republican as +against the Federalists, she was Democratic as against the Whigs. +From the election of Jackson in 1828 to the year 1860,--a period +that measured the lifetime of a generation,--she had, with very +few exceptions, sustained the Democratic party. Joseph Ritner was +elected governor by the Whigs in 1835, in consequence of Democratic +divisions. Harrison, in the political convulsion of 1840, triumphed +in the State by the slight majority of three hundred. Taylor +received her electoral vote, partly in consequence of dissensions +between Cass and Van Buren, and partly in consequence of the free- +trade opinions of Cass. In 1854 James Pollock was chosen governor +by the sudden uprising and astounding development of the Native- +American excitement as organized by the _Know-Nothing_ party. The +repeal of the Missouri Compromise aided the canvass of Pollock, +but that alone would not have loosened the strong moorings of the +Pennsylvania Democracy. Mr. Buchanan recovered the State two years +afterwards, and would have held it firmly in his grasp but for the +financial revulsion and the awakened demand for a protective tariff. + +Dissociated from the question of protection, opposition to the +extension of slavery was a weak issue in Pennsylvania. This was +conclusively shown in the gubernatorial contest of 1857, when David +Wilmot, the personal embodiment of Free-soil principles, was the +Republican candidate for governor. Besides the general strength +of the Territorial issue, Mr. Wilmot had the advantage of all the +anti-slavery zeal which was aroused by the announcement of the Dred +Scott decision, with the censurable connection therewith of President +Buchanan. Thus an angry element was superadded for personal +prejudice and effective agitation. Yet Mr. Wilmot was disastrously +beaten by the Democratic candidate, Governor Parker, the adverse +majority reaching indeed tens of thousands. + +The crushing Republican defeat received in the person of Wilmot +occurred on the very eve of the financial distress of 1857. The +Democratic canvass had been made while there was yet no suspicion +of impending panic and revulsion,--made indeed with constant boasts +of the general prosperity and with constant ascription of that +prosperity to the well-defined and long-continued policy of the +Democratic party. From that time the Democratic party became +embarrassed in Pennsylvania. With a tariff of their own making, +with a President of their own choice, with both branches of Congress +and every department of the government under their control, a +serious disaster had come upon the country. The promises of +Democratic leaders had failed, their predictions had been falsified, +and as a consequence their strength was shattered. The Republicans +of Pennsylvania, seeing their advantage, pressed it by renewed and +urgent demands for a protective tariff. On the other issues of +the party they had been hopelessly beaten, but the moment the +hostility to slave-labor in the Territories became identified with +protected labor in Pennsylvania, the party was inspired with new +hopes, received indeed a new life. + +It was this condition of public opinion in Pennsylvania which made +the recognition of the protective system so essential in the Chicago +platform of 1860. It was to that recognition that Mr. Lincoln in +the end owed his election. The memorable victory of Andrew G. +Curtin, when he was chosen governor by a majority of thirty-two +thousand, was largely due to his able and persuasive presentation +of the tariff question, and to his effective appeals to the laboring- +men in the coal and iron sections of the State. But for this issue +there was in fact no reason why Curtin should have been stronger +in 1860 than Wilmot was in 1857. Indeed, but for that issue he +must have been weaker. The agitation over the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise had somewhat subsided with the lapse of years: the free- +State victory in Kansas was acknowledged and that angry issue +removed; while the Dred Scott decision, failing to arouse popular +resentment at the time it was pronounced, could hardly be effective +for an aggressive canvass three years later. If Governor Curtin +could have presented no other issue to the voters of Pennsylvania, +he would undoubtedly have shared the fate which Wilmot met when he +had these anti-slavery questions as his only platform. Governor +Curtin gave a far greater proportion of his time to the discussion +of the tariff and financial issues than to all others combined, +and he carried Pennsylvania because a majority of her voters believed +that the Democratic party tended to free-trade, and that the +Republican party would espouse and maintain the cause of protection. + + PENNSYLVANIA'S INFLUENCE IN 1860. + +Had the Republicans failed to carry Pennsylvania, there can be no +doubt that Mr. Lincoln would have been defeated. An adverse result +in Pennsylvania in October would certainly have involved the loss +of Indiana in November, besides California and Oregon and the four +votes in New Jersey. The crisis of the national campaign was +therefore reached in the triumph of Governor Curtin in the State +election which preceded by four weeks the direct choice of President. +It would be difficult to compute the possible demoralization in +the Republican ranks if Pennsylvania had been lost in October. +The division among the Democrats was a fruitful source of encouragement +and strength to the Republicans, but would probably have disappeared +with the positive assurance of success in the national struggle. +Whether in the end Douglas or Breckinridge would have been chosen +President is matter of speculation, but it is certain that Mr. +Lincoln would have been defeated. The October election of Pennsylvania +was for so long a period an unerring index to the result of the +contest for the Presidency, that a feeling almost akin to superstition +was connected with it. Whichever party carried it was sure, in +the popular judgment, to elect the President. It foretold the +crushing defeat of John Quincy Adams in 1828; it heralded the +disaster to Mr. Clay in 1844; it foredoomed General Cass in 1848. +The Republicans, having elected their candidate for governor in +1854 by a large majority, confidently expected to carry the State +against Mr. Buchanan in 1856. But the Democratic party prevailed +in the October election, and the supporters of Fremont at once +recognized the hopelessness of their cause. The triumph of Governor +Curtin was the sure precursor of Mr. Lincoln's election, and that +very fact added immeasurably to his popular strength in the closing +month of the prolonged and exciting struggle. + +In reviewing the agencies therefore which precipitated the political +revolution of 1860, large consideration must be given to the +influence of the movement for Protection. To hundreds of thousands +of voters who took part in that memorable contest, the tariff was +not even mentioned. Indeed this is probably the fact with respect +to the majority of those who cast their suffrages for Mr. Lincoln. +It is none the less true that these hundreds of thousands of ballots, +cast in aid of free territory and as a general defiance to the +aggressions of the pro-slavery leaders of the South, would have +been utterly ineffectual if the central and critical contest in +Pennsylvania had not resulted in a victory for the Republicans in +October. The tariff therefore had a controlling influence not only +in deciding the contest for political supremacy but in that more +momentous struggle which was to involve the fate of the Union. It +had obtained a stronger hold on the Republican party than even the +leaders of that organization were aware, and it was destined to a +larger influence upon popular opinion than the most sagacious could +foresee. + + +In the foregoing summary of legislation upon the tariff, the terms +Free-trade and Protection are used in their ordinary acceptation +in this country,--not as accurately defining the difference in +revenue theories, but as indicating the rival policies which have +so long divided political parties. Strictly speaking, there has +never been a proposition by any party in the United States for the +adoption of free-trade. To be entirely free, trade must encounter +no obstruction in the way of tax, either upon export or import. +In that sense no nation has ever enjoyed free-trade. As +contradistinguished from the theory of protection, England has +realized freedom of trade by taxing only that class of imports +which meet no competition in home production, thus excluding all +pretense of favor or advantage to any of her domestic industries. +England came to this policy after having clogged and embarrassed +trade for a long period by the most unreasonable and tyrannical +restrictions, ruthlessly enforced, without regard to the interests +or even the rights of others. She had more than four hundred Acts +of Parliament, regulating the tax on imports, under the old +designations of "tonnage and poundage," adjusted, as the phrase +indicates, to heavy and light commodities. Beyond these, she had +a cumbersome system of laws regulating and in many cases prohibiting +the exportation of articles which might teach to other nations the +skill by which she had herself so marvelously prospered. + +When by long experiment and persistent effort England had carried +her fabrics to perfection; when by the large accumulation of wealth +and the force of reserved capital she could command facilities +which poorer nations could not rival; when by the talent of her +inventors, developed under the stimulus of large reward, she had +surpassed all other countries in the magnitude and effectiveness +of her machinery, she proclaimed free-trade and persuasively urged +it upon all lands with which she had commercial intercourse. +Maintaining the most arbitrary and most complicated system of +protection so long as her statesmen considered that policy +advantageous, she resorted to free-trade only when she felt able +to invade the domestic markets of other countries and undersell +the fabrics produced by struggling artisans who were sustained by +weaker capital and by less advanced skill. So long as there was +danger that her own marts might be invaded, and the products of +her looms and forges undersold at home, she rigidly excluded the +competing fabric and held her own market for her own wares. + + FREE-TRADE POLICY OF ENGLAND. + +England was however neither consistent nor candid in her advocacy +and establishment of free-trade. She did not apply it to all +departments of her enterprise, but only to those in which she felt +confident that she could defy competition. Long after the triumph +of free-trade in manufactures, as proclaimed in 1846, England +continued to violate every principle of her own creed in the +protection she extended to her navigation interests. She had +nothing to fear from the United States in the domain of manufacturers, +and she therefore asked us to give her the unrestricted benefit of +our markets in exchange for a similar privilege which she offered +to us in her markets. But on the sea we were steadily gaining upon +her, and in 1850-55 were nearly equal to her in aggregate tonnage. +We could build wooden vessels at less cost than England and our +ships excelled hers in speed. When steam began to compete with +sail she saw her advantage. She could build engines at less cost +than we, and when, soon afterward, her ship-builders began to +construct the entire steamer of iron, her advantages became evident +to the whole world. + +England was not content however with the superiority which these +circumstances gave to her. She did not wait for her own theory of +Free-trade to work out its legitimate results, but forthwith +stimulated the growth of her steam marine by the most enormous +bounties ever paid by any nation to any enterprise. To a single +line of steamers running alternate weeks from Liverpool to Boston +and New York, she paid nine hundred thousand dollars annually, and +continued to pay at this extravagant rate for at least twenty years. +In all channels of trade where steam could be employed she paid +lavish subsidies, and literally destroyed fair competition, and +created for herself a practical monopoly in the building of iron +steamers, and a superior share in the ocean traffic of the world. +But every step she took in the development of her steam marine by +the payment of bounty, was in flat contradiction of the creed which +she was at the same time advocating in those departments of trade +where she could conquer her competitors without bounty. + +With her superiority in navigation attained and made secure through +the instrumentality of subsidies, England could afford to withdraw +them. Her ships no longer needed them. Thereupon, with a promptness +which would be amusing if it did not have so serious a side for +America, she proceeded to inveigh through all her organs of public +opinion against the discarded and condemned policy of granting +subsidies to ocean steamers. Her course in effect is an exact +repetition of that in regard to protection of manufactures, but as +it is exhibited before a new generation, the inconsistency is not +so readily apprehended nor so keenly appreciated as it should be +on this side of the Atlantic. Even now there is good reason for +believing that many lines of English steamers, in their effort to +seize the trade to the exclusion of rivals, are paid such extravagant +rates for the carrying of letters as practically to amount to a +bounty, thus confirming to the present day (1884) the fact that no +nation has ever been so persistently and so jealously protective +in her policy as England so long as the stimulus of protection is +needed to give her the command of trade. What is true of England +is true in greater or less degree of all other European nations. +They have each in turn regulated the adoption of free-trade by the +ratio of their progress towards the point where they could overcome +competition. In all those departments of trade where competition +could overcome them, they have been quick to interpose protective +measures for the benefit of their own people. + +The trade policy of the United States at the foundation of the +government had features of enlightened liberality which were unknown +in any other country of the world. The new government was indeed +as far in advance of European nations in the proper conception of +liberal commerce as it was on questions relating to the character +of the African slave-trade. The colonists had experienced the +oppression of the English laws which prohibited export from the +mother country of the very articles which might advance their +material interest and improve their social condition. They now +had the opportunity, as citizens of a free Republic, to show the +generous breadth of their statesmanship, and they did so by providing +in their Constitution, that Congress should never possess the power +to levy "a tax or duty on articles exported from any State." + +At the same time trade was left absolutely free between all the +States of the Union, no one of them being permitted to levy any +tax on exports or imports beyond what might be necessary for its +inspection laws. Still further to enforce this needful provision, +the power to regulate commerce between the States was given to the +General Government. The effect of these provisions was to insure +to the United States a freedom of trade beyond that enjoyed by any +other nation. Fifty-five millions of American people (in 1884), +over an area nearly as large as the entire continent of Europe, +carry on their exchanges by ocean, by lake, by river, by rail, +without the exactions of the tax-gatherer, without the detention +of the custom house, without even the recognition of State lines. +In these great channels, the domestic exchanges represent an annual +value perhaps twenty-five times as great as the total of exports +and imports. It is the enjoyment of free-trade and protection at +the same time which has contributed to the unexampled development +and marvelous prosperity of the United States. + + OPERATION OF PROTECTIVE LAWS. + +The essential question which has grown up between political parties +in the United States respecting our foreign trade, is whether a +duty should be laid upon any import for the direct object of +protecting and encouraging the manufacture of the same article at +home. The party opposed to this theory does not advocate the +admission of the article free, but insists upon such rate of duty +as will produce the largest revenue and at the same time afford +what is termed "incidental protection." The advocates of actual +free-trade according to the policy of England--taxing only those +articles which are not produced at home--are few in number, and +are principally confined to _doctrinaires_. The instincts of the +masses of both parties are against them. But the nominal free- +trader finds it very difficult to unite the largest revenue from +any article with "incidental protection" to the competing product +at home. If the duty be so arranged as to produce the greatest +amount of revenue, it must be placed at that point where the foreign +article is able to undersell the domestic article and thus command +the market to the exclusion of competition. This result goes beyond +what the so-called American free-trader intends in practice, but +not beyond what he implies in theory. + +The American protectionist does not seek to evade the legitimate +results of his theory. He starts with the proposition that whatever +is manufactured at home gives work and wages to our own people, +and that if they duty is even put so high as to prohibit the import +of the foreign article, the competition of home producers will, +according to the doctrine of Mr. Hamilton, rapidly reduce the price +to the consumer. He gives numerous illustrations of articles which +under the influence of home competition have fallen in price below +the point at which the foreign article was furnished when there +was no protection. The free-trader replies that the fall in price +has been still greater in the foreign market, and the protectionist +rejoins that the reduction was made to compete with the American +product, and that the former price would probably have been maintained +so long as the importer had the monopoly of our market. Thus our +protective tariff reduced the price in both countries. This has +notably been the result with respect to steel rails, the production +of which in America has reached a magnitude surpassing that of +England. Meanwhile rails have largely fallen in price to the +consumer, the home manufacture has disbursed countless millions of +money among American laborers, and has added largely to our industrial +independence and to the wealth of the country. + +While many fabrics have fallen to as low a price in the United +States as elsewhere, it is not to be denied that articles of clothing +and household use, metals and machinery, are on an average higher +than in Europe. The difference is due in large degree to the wages +paid to labor, and thus the question of reducing the tariff carries +with it the very serious problem of a reduction in the pay of the +artisan and the operative. This involves so many grave considerations +that no party is prepared to advocate it openly. Free-traders do +not, and apparently dare not, face the plain truth--which is that +the lowest priced fabric means the lowest priced labor. On this +point protectionists are more frank than their opponents; they +realize that it constitutes indeed the most impregnable defense of +their school. Free-traders have at times attempted to deny the +truth of the statement; but every impartial investigation thus far +has conclusively proved that labor is better paid, and the average +condition of the laboring man more comfortable, in the United States +than in any European country. + +An adjustment of the protective duty to the point which represents +the average difference between wages of labor in Europe and in +America, will, in the judgment of protectionists, always prove +impracticable. The difference cannot be regulated by a scale of +averages because it is constantly subject to arbitrary changes. +If the duty be adjusted on that basis for any given date, a reduction +of wages would at once be enforced abroad, and the American +manufacturer would in consequence be driven to the desperate choice +of surrendering the home market or reducing the pay of workmen. +The theory of protection is not answered, nor can its realization +to attained by any such device. Protection, in the perfection of +its design as described by Mr. Hamilton, does not invite competition +from abroad, but is based on the controlling principle that +competition at home will always prevent monopoly on the part of +the capitalist, assure good wages to the laborer, and defend the +consumer against the evils of extortion. + + + TENDENCY OF OVER-PRODUCTION. + +An argument much relied upon and strongly presented by the advocates +of free-trade is the alleged tendency to over-production of protected +articles, followed uniformly by seasons of depression and at certain +intervals by financial panic and wide-spread distress. These +results are unhappily too familiar in the United States, but the +protectionists deny that the cause is correctly given. They aver +indeed that a glut of manufactured articles is more frequently seen +in England than in the United States, thus proving directly the +reverse of the conclusion assumed by the free-traders, and establishing +the conservative and restraining power of a protective tariff. +The protectionists direct attention to the fact that the first +three instances in our history in which financial panic and prolonged +depression fell upon the country, followed the repeal of protective +tariffs and the substitution of mere revenue duties,--the depression +of 1819-24, that of 1837-42, and that of 1857-61. They direct +further attention to the complementary fact that, in each of these +cases, financial prosperity was regained through the agency of a +protective tariff, the operation of which was prompt and beneficent. + +On the other hand the panic of 1873 and the depression which lasted +until 1879 undoubtedly occurred after a protective tariff had been +for a long time in operation. Free-traders naturally make much of +this circumstance. Protectionists, however, with confidence and +with strong array of argument, make answer that the panic of 1873 +was due to causes wholly unconnected with revenue systems,--that +it was the legitimate and the inevitable outgrowth of an exhausting +war, a vitiated and redundant currency, and a long period of reckless +speculation directly induced by these conditions. They aver that +no system of revenue could have prevented the catastrophe. They +maintain however that by the influence of a protective tariff the +crisis was long postponed; that under the reign of free-trade it +would have promptly followed the return of peace when the country +was ill able to endure it. They claim that the influence of +protection would have put off the re-action still longer if the +rebuilding of Chicago and Boston, after the fires of 1871 and 1872, +had not enforced a sudden withdrawal of $250,000,000 of ready money +from the ordinary channels of trade to repair the loss which these +crushing disasters precipitated. + +The assailants of protection apparently overlook the fact that +excessive production is due, both in England and in America, to +causes beyond the operation of duties either high or low. No cause +is more potent than the prodigious capacity of machinery set in +motion by the agency of steam. It is asserted by an intelligent +economist that, if performed by hand, the work done by machinery +in Great Britain would require the labor of seven hundred millions +of men,--a far larger number of adults than inhabit the globe. It +is not strange that, with this vast enginery, the power to produce +has a constant tendency to outrun the power to consume. Protectionists +find in this a conclusive argument against surrendering the domestic +market of the United States to the control of British capitalists, +whose power of production has no apparent limit. When the harmonious +adjustment of international trade shall ultimately be established +by "the Parliament of man" in "the Federation of the world," the +power of production and the power of consumption will properly +balance each other; but in traversing the long road and enduring +the painful process by which that end shall be reached, the +protectionist claims that his theory of revenue preserves the newer +nations from being devoured by the older, and offers to human labor +a shield against the exactions of capital. + + +CHAPTER X. + +Presidential Election of 1860.--The Electoral and Popular Vote.-- +Wide Divergence between the Two.--Mr. Lincoln has a Large Majority +of Electors.--In a Minority of 1,000,000 on Popular Vote.--Beginning +of Secession.--Rash Course of South Carolina.--Reluctance on the +Part of Many Southern States.--Unfortunate Meeting of South-Carolina +Legislature.--Hasty Action of South-Carolina Convention.--The Word +"Ordinance."--Meeting of Southern Senators in Washington to promote +Secession.--Unwillingness in the South to submit the Question to +Popular Vote.--Georgia not eager to Secede.--Action of Other States. +--Meeting of Congress in December, 1860.--Position of Mr. Buchanan. +--His Attachment to the Union as a Pennsylvanian.--Sinister Influences +in his Cabinet.--His Evil Message to Congress.--Analysis of the +Message.--Its Position destructive to the Union.--The President's +Position Illogical and Untenable.--Full of Contradictions.--Extremists +of the South approve the Message.--Demoralizing Effect of the +Message in the North and in the South.--General Cass resigns from +State Department.--Judge Black succeeds him.--Character of Judge +Black.--Secretaries Cobb, Floyd, and Thompson.--Their Censurable +Conduct in the Cabinet.--Their Resignation.--Re-organization of +Cabinet.--Dix, Holt, Stanton.--Close of Mr. Buchanan's Administration. +--Change in the President's Course.--The New Influences.--Analysis +of the President's Course.--There were two Mr. Buchanans.--Personal +and Public Character of Mr. Buchanan. + +The winter following the election of Mr. Lincoln was filled with +deplorable events. In the whole history of the American people, +there is no epoch which recalls so much that is worthy of regret +and so little that gratifies pride. The result of the election +was unfortunate in the wide divergence between the vote which Mr. +Lincoln received in the electoral colleges and the vote which he +received at the polls. In the electoral colleges he had an aggregate +of 180. His opponents, united, had but 123. Of the popular vote, +Lincoln received 1,866,452; Douglas, 1,291,547; Breckinridge, +850,082; Bell, 646,124. Mr. Lincoln's vote was wholly from the +free States, except some 26,000 cast for him in the five border +slave States. In the other slave States his name was not presented +as a candidate. Mr. Douglas received in the South about 163,000 +votes. In the North the votes cast distinctively for the Breckinridge +electoral ticket were less than 100,000, and distinctively for the +Bell electoral ticket about 80,000. + +It was thus manifest that the two Northern Presidential candidates, +Lincoln and Douglas, had absorbed almost the entire vote in the +free States, and the two Southern Presidential candidates, Breckinridge +and Bell, had absorbed almost the entire vote in the slave States. +The Northern candidate received popular support in the South in +about the same degree that the Southern candidate received popular +support in the North. In truth as well as in appearance it was a +sectional contest in which the North supported Northern candidates, +and the South supported Southern candidates. It was the first time +in the history of the government in which the President was chosen +without electoral votes from both the free and the slave States. +This result was undoubtedly a source of weakness to Mr. Lincoln,-- +weakness made more apparent by his signal failure to obtain a +popular majority. He had a large plurality, but the combined vote +of his opponents was nearly a million greater than the vote which +he received. + +The time had now come when the Southern Disunionists were to be +put to the test. The event had happened which they had declared +in advance to be cause of separation. It was perhaps the belief +that their courage and determination were challenged, which forced +them to action. Having so often pledged themselves not to endure +the election of an anti-slavery President, they were now persuaded +that, if they quietly submitted, they would thereby accept an +inferior position in the government. This assumed obligation of +consistency stimulated them to rash action; for upon every +consideration of prudence and wise forecast, they would have quietly +accepted a result which they acknowledged to be in strict accordance +with the Constitution. The South was enjoying exceptional prosperity. +The advance of the slave States in wealth was more rapid then at +any other period of their history. Their staple products commanded +high prices and were continually growing in amount to meet the +demands of a market which represented the wants of the civilized +world. In the decade between 1850 and 1860 the wealth of the South +had increased three thousand millions of dollars, and this not from +an overvalution of slaves, but from increased cultivation of land, +the extension of railways, and all the aids and appliances of vast +agricultural enterprises. Georgia alone had increased in wealth +over three hundred millions of dollars, no small proportion of +which was from commercial and manufacturing ventures that had proved +extremely profitable. There was never a community of the face of +the globe whose condition so little justified revolution as that +of the slave States in the year 1860. Indeed, it was a sense of +strength born of exceptional prosperity which led them to their +rash adventure of war. + + THE FIRST EFFORT AT SECESSION. + +It would however be an injustice to the People of the South to say +that in November, 1860, they desired, unanimously, or by a majority, +or on the part of any considerable minority, to engage in a scheme +of violent resistance to the National authority. The slave-holders +were in the main peacefully disposed, and contented with the +situation. But slavery as an economical institution and slavery +as a political force were quite distinct. Those who viewed it and +used it merely as a system of labor, naturally desired peace and +dreaded commotion. Those who used it as a political engine for +the consolidation of political power had views and ambitions +inconsistent with the plans and hopes of law-abiding citizens. It +was only by strenuous effort on the part of the latter class that +an apparent majority of the Southern people committed themselves +to the desperate design of destroying the National Government. + +The first effort at secession was made, as might have been expected, +by South Carolina. She did not wait for the actual result of the +election, but early in October, on the assumption of Lincoln's +success, began a correspondence with the other Cotton States. The +general tenor of the responses did not indicate a decided wish or +purpose to separate from the Union. North Carolina was positively +unwilling to take any hasty step. Louisiana, evidently remembering +the importance and value of the Mississippi River and of its numerous +tributaries to her commercial prosperity, expressed an utter +disinclination to separate from the North-West. Georgia was not +ready to make resistance, and at most advocated some form of +retaliatory legislation. It was evident that even in the Cotton- +belt and the Gulf States there was in the minds of sober people +the gravest objection to revolutionary measures. + +It happened, most unfortunately, that the South-Carolina Legislature +assembled early in November for the purpose of choosing Presidential +electors, who in that State were never submitted to the popular +vote. While it might seem extravagant to ascribe the revolution +which convulsed the country to an event so disconnected and apparently +so inadequate, it is nevertheless true that the sudden _furor_ +which seized a large number of the Southern people came directly +from that event. Indeed, it is scarcely an exaggeration to say +that the great civil war, which shook a continent, was precipitated +by the fact that the South-Carolina Legislature assembled at the +unpropitious moment. Without taking time for reflection, without +a review of the situation, without stopping to count the cost, with +a boldness born of passionate resentment against the North, the +rash men of South Carolina fired the train. In a single hour they +created in their own State a public sentiment which would not brook +delay or contradiction or argument. The leaders of it knew that +the sober second thought, even in South Carolina, would be dangerous +to the scheme of a Southern confederacy. They knew that the feeling +of resentment among the Southern people must be kept at white-heat, +and that whoever wished to speak a word of caution or moderation +must be held as a public enemy, and subjected to the scorn and the +vengeance of the people. + +In this temper a convention was ordered by the Legislature. The +delegates were to be chosen directly by the people, and when +assembled were to determine the future relation of South Carolina +to the Government of the United States. The election was to be +held in four weeks, and the convention was to assemble on the 17th +of December. The unnatural and unprecedented haste of this action, +by which South Carolina proceeded, as she proclaimed, to throw off +her national relations, is more easily comprehended by recalling +the difficult mode provided in every State for a change in its +constitution. In not a single State of the American Union can the +organic law be changed in less than a year, or without ample +opportunity for serious consideration by the people. At that very +moment the people of South Carolina were inhibited from making the +slightest alteration in their own constitution except by slow and +conservative processes which gave time for deliberation and +reflection. In determining a question momentous beyond all +calculation to themselves and to their posterity, they were hurried +into the election of delegates, and the delegates were hurried into +convention, and the convention was hurried into secession by a +terror of public opinion that would not endure resistance and would +not listen to reason. + +The few who were left in possession of coolness and sound judgment +among the public men of South Carolina, desired to stay the rush +of events by waiting for co-operation with the other slave-holding +States. Their request was denied and their argument answered by +the declaration that co-operation had been tried in 1850, and had +ended in defeating all measures looking to Disunion. One of the +members declared that if South Carolina again waited for co-operation, +slavery and State-rights would be abandoned, State-sovereignty and +the cause of the South would be lost forever. The action of the +convention was still further stimulated by the resignation of Mr. +Hammond and Mr. Chestnut, United-States senators from South Carolina, +and by the action of Governor Pickens in appointing a cabinet of +the same number and of the same division of departments that had +been adopted in the National Government. + + THE ACTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. + +South Carolina was urged forward in this course by leading Disunionists +in other States who needed the force of one bold example of secession +to furnish the requisite stimulus to their own communities. The +members of the South Carolina convention, recognizing the embarrassment +and incongruity of basing their action simply upon the constitutional +election of a President, declared that the public opinion of their +State "had for a long period been strengthening and ripening for +Disunion." Mr. Rhett, eminent in the public service of his State, +asserted "that the secession of South Carolina was not produced by +Mr. Lincoln's election, or by the non-execution of the Fugitive- +slave Law; that it was a matter which had been gathering head for +thirty years," and that they were now "determined upon their course +at whatever risk." + +Among the singular incidents of the South-Carolina secession, +followed subsequently by other States, was the solemn import attached +to the word _ordinance_. The South gave it a significance which +elevated its authority above the Constitution, and above the laws +of their own State and of the United States. And yet, neither in +legal definition nor in any ordinary use of the word, was there +precedent or authority for attaching to it such impressive meaning. +An _ordinance_ of Parliament was but a temporary Act which the +Commons might alter at their pleasure. An _Act_ of Parliament +could not be changed except by the consent of king, lords, and +commons. In this country, aside from the use of the word in +declaring the freedom of the North-west Territory in 1787, _ordinance_ +has uniformly been applied to Acts of inferior bodies, to the +councils of cities, to the authorities of towns, to the directors +of corporations,--rarely if ever to the Acts of legislative assemblies +which represent the power of the State. + +It is still more singular that, in passing the ordinance of Secession, +the convention worded it so that it should seem to be the repeal +of the ordinance of the 23d of May, 1788, whereby the Constitution +of the United States was ratified by South Carolina, when, in simple +truth, the Act of that State ratifying the Federal Constitution +was never called an ordinance. Mirabeau said that words were +things; and this word was so used in the proceedings of Secession +conventions as to impress the mind of the Southern people with its +portentous weight and solemnity. With an amendment to the +constitutions of their States they had all been familiar. In the +enactment of their laws thousands had participated. But no one of +them had ever before seen or heard or dreamed of any thing of such +momentous and decisive character as an Ordinance. Even to this +day, when disunion, secession, rebellion have all been destroyed +by the shock of arms, and new institutions have been built over +their common grave, the word "ordinance" has, in the minds of many +people both in the North and in the South, a sound which represents +the very majesty of popular power. + +If the other Southern States would have been left to their own +counsels, South Carolina would have stood alone, and her Secession +of 1860 would have proved as abortive as her Nullification of 1832. +The Disunion movement in the remaining States of the South originated +in Washington. Finding that the Cotton States, especially those +bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, were moving too slowly, the senators +from Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, +and Florida held a meeting in Washington on the 5th of January, +1861. The South had always contended for the right of States to +instruct their senators, but now the Southern senators proceeded +to instruct their States. In effect they sent out commands to the +governing authorities and to the active political leaders, that +South Carolina must be sustained; that the Cotton States must stand +by her; and that the secession of each and all of them must be +accomplished in season for a general convention to be held at +Montgomery, not later than Feb. 15, and, in any event, before the +inauguration of Mr. Lincoln. The design was that the new President +of the United States should find a Southern Confederacy in actual +existence, with the ordinary departments of government in regular +operation, with a name and a flag and a great seal, and all the +insignia of national sovereignty visible. + +It is a suggestive fact that, in carrying out these designs, the +political leaders determined, as far as possible, to prevent the +submission of the ordinances of Secession to the popular vote. It +is not indeed probable that, in the excited condition to which they +had by this time brought the Southern mind, Secession would have +been defeated; but the withholding of the question from popular +decision is at least an indication that there was strong apprehension +of such a result, and that care was taken to prevent the divisions +and acrimonious contests which such submission might have caused. +In the Georgia convention the resolution declaring it to be her +right and her duty to secede was adopted only by a vote of 165 to +130. A division of similar proportion in the popular vote would +have stripped the secession of Georgia of all moral force, and +hence the people were not allowed to pass upon the question. + + ACTION OF OTHER COTTON STATES. + +Georgia was really induced to secede, only upon the delusive +suggestion that better terms could be made with the National +Government by going out for a season than by remaining steadfastly +loyal. The influence of Alexander H. Stephens, while he was still +loyal, was almost strong enough to hold the State in the Union; +and but for the phantasm of securing better terms outside, the +Empire State of the South would have checked and destroyed the +Secession movement at the very outset. Mississippi followed +Jefferson Davis with a vote amounting almost to unanimity. Florida, +Louisiana, and Alabama followed with secession ordained by conventions +and no vote allowed to the people. Texas submitted the ordinance, +after the other States had seceded, and by the force of their +example carried it by a vote of about three to one. These were +the original seven States that formed the nucleus of the Confederacy. +They had gone through what they deemed the complete process of +separation from the Union, without the slightest obstruction from +any quarter and without the interposition of any authority from +the National Government against their proceedings. + + +Long before the Secession movement had been developed to the extent +just detailed, Congress was in session. It assembled one month +after the Presidential election, and fifteen days before the +Disunionists of South Carolina met in their ill-starred convention. +Up to that time there had been excitement, threats of resistance +to the authority of the government in many sections of the South, +and an earnest attempt in the Cotton States to promote co-operation +in the fatal step which so many were bent on taking. But there +had been no overt act against the national authority. Federal +officers were still exercising their functions in all the States; +the customs were still collected in Southern ports; the United- +States mails were still carried without molestation from the Potomac +to the Rio Grande. But the critical moment had come. The Disunion +conspiracy had reached a point where it must go forward with +boldness, or retreat before the displayed power and the uplifted +flag of the Nation. The administration could adopt no policy so +dangerous as to permit the enemies of the Union to proceed in their +conspiracy, and the hostile movement to gain perilous headway. At +that juncture Mr. Buchanan confronted a graver responsibility than +had ever before been imposed on a President of the United States. +It devolved on him to arrest the mad outbreak of the South by +judicious firmness, or by irresolution and timidity to plunge the +Nation into dangers and horrors, the extent of which was mercifully +veiled from the vision of those who were to witness and share them. + + PENNSYLVANIA AND THE UNION. + +There could be no doubt in the mind of any one that the destruction +of the Union would be deplored by Mr. Buchanan as profoundly as by +any living man. His birth and rearing as a Pennsylvanian leave no +other presumption possible. In the original Union, Pennsylvania +was appropriated denominated the Keystone of the arch, supported +by, and in turn supporting, the strength of all. Of the "old +thirteen" there were six free States north of her, and six slave +States south of her. She was allied as warmly by ties of friendship +and of blood with her Maryland and Virginia neighbors on the one +side as with those of New Jersey and New York on the other. Her +political and social connection on both sides were not more intimate +than those of a business and commercial character. As the Union +grew in power and increased in membership, Pennsylvania lost nothing +of her prestige. She held to the new States as intimate relations +as she held to the old. The configuration of the country and the +natural channels of communication have bound her closely to all +sections. Her northern border touching the great lakes, connected +her by sail and steam, before the era of the railway, with the +magnificent domain which lies upon the shores of those inland seas. +Her western rivers, whose junction marks the site of a great city, +form part of the most extensive system of interior water-communications +on the globe, affording a commercial highway twenty thousand miles +in length through seventeen States not included in the original +Union. Patriotic tradition increased Pennsylvania's attachment to +the National Government. It was on her soil that the Declaration +of Independence was proclaimed. It was in her Legislative halls +that the Constitution was formed and the "more perfect Union" of +the States ordained. From geographical position therefore, from +material interest, from inherited pride, from every association +and sympathy, from every aspiration, and from every hope, Pennsylvania +was for the Union, inviolable and indissoluble. No threat of its +destruction ever came from her councils, and no stress of circumstances +could ever seduce her into a calculation of its value, or drive +her to the contemplation of its end. + +With all his attachment to the Union, Mr. Buchanan had been brought +under influences which were hostile to it. In originally constituting +his Cabinet, sinister agencies had controlled him, and far-seeing +men anticipated trouble when the names were announced. From the +South he had selected Howell Cobb of Georgia for the Treasury, John +B. Floyd of Virginia for Secretary of War, Jacob Thompson of Missouri +for the Interior, and Aaron V. Brown of Tennessee for Postmaster- +General. From the North he had selected Lewis Cass of Michigan +for the State Department, Isaac Toucey of Connecticut for the Navy, +and Jeremiah S. Black of Pennsylvania for Attorney-General. It +seemed extraordinary that out of seven Cabinet officers four should +be given to the South, when the North had a vast preponderance of +population and wealth. It was hardly less than audacious that the +four departments assigned to the South should be those which dealt +most intimately and most extensively with the finances, the +manufactures, and the commerce of the country. The quiet manner +in which the North accepted this inequitable distribution of +political power added only another proof of the complete ascendency +which the South had acquired in the councils of the Democratic +party. + +Mr. Buchanan had always looked to the statesmen of the South as a +superior class; and after a political life wholly spent in close +association and constant service with them, it could not be expected +that, even in a crisis threatening destruction to the Union, he +would break away from them in a day. They had fast hold of him, +and against the influence of the better men in his Cabinet they +used him for a time to carry out their own ends. Secessionists +and Abolitionists Mr. Buchanan no doubt regarded as equally the +enemies of the Union. But the Secessionists all came from the +party that elected him President, and the Abolitionists had all +voted against him. The Abolitionists, in which phrase Mr. Buchanan +included all men of anti-slavery conviction, had no opportunity, +even if they had desired, to confer with the President, while the +Secessionists from old and friendly association, were in daily and +intimate relations with him. They undoubtedly persuaded the +President by the most plausible arguments that they were not in +fault; that the whole responsibility lay at the door of the Northern +anti-slavery men; and that, if these disturbers of the peace could +be suppressed, all would be well. It was under these influences, +artfully insinuated and persistently plied, that Mr. Buchanan was +induced to write his mischievous and deplorable message of the +first Monday of December, 1860,--a message whose evil effect can +never be estimated, and whose evil character can hardly be +exaggerated. + +The President informed Congress that "the long-continued and +intemperate interference of the Northern people with the question +of slavery in the Southern States has at last produced its natural +effect. . . . The time has arrived so much dreaded by the Father +of his Country, when hostile geographical parties have been formed." +He declared that he had "long foreseen and often forewarned" his +countrymen of "the impending danger." Apparently arguing the case +for the Southern extremists, the President believed that the danger +"does not proceed solely from the attempt to exclude slavery from +the Territories, nor from the efforts to defeat the execution of +the Fugitive-slave Law." Any or all of these evils, he said, "might +have been endured by the South," trusting to time and reflection +for a remedy. "The immediate peril," Mr. Buchanan informed the +country, "arises from the fact that the long-continued agitation +in the free States has at length produced its malign influence on +the slaves, and inspired them with vague notions of freedom. Hence +a sense of security no longer exists around the family altar. The +feeling of peace at home has given place to apprehensions of servile +insurrections, and many a matron throughout the South retires at +night in dread of what may befall herself and her children before +morning." The President was fully persuaded that "if this apprehension +of domestic danger should extend and intensify itself, disunion +will become inevitable." + + PRESIDENT BUCHANAN AND THE SOUTH. + +Having thus stated what he believed to be the grievances of the +South, Mr. Buchanan proceeded to give certain reasons why the slave- +holders should not break up the government. His defensive plea +for the North was worse, if worse were possible, than his aggressive +statements on behalf of the South. "The election of any one of +our fellow-citizens to the office of President," Mr. Buchanan +complacently asserted, "does not of itself afford just cause for +dissolving the Union." And then he adds an extraordinary qualification: +"This is more especially true if his election has been effected by +a mere plurality, and not a majority, of the people, and has resulted +from transient and temporary causes, which may probably never again +occur." Translated into plainer language, this was an assurance +to the Southern Disunionists that they need not break up the +government at that time, because Mr. Lincoln was a minority President, +and was certain to be beaten at the next election. He reminded +the Southern leaders moreover that in the whole history of the +Federal Government "no single Act had ever passed Congress, unless +the Missouri Compromise be an exception, impairing in the slightest +degree the rights of the South to their property in slaves." The +Missouri Compromise had been repealed, so that the entire body of +national statutes, from the origin of the government to that hour +was, according to President Buchanan, guiltless of transgression +against the rights of slave-holders. Coming from such a source, +the admission was one of great historic value. + +The President found that the chief grievance of the South was in +the enactments of the free States known as "personal liberty laws." +When the Fugitive-slave Law subjected the liberty of citizens to +the decision of a single commissioner, and denied jury trial to a +man upon the question of sending him to lifelong and cruel servitude, +the issue throughout the free States was made one of self-preservation. +Without having the legal right to obstruct the return of a fugitive +slave to his servitude, they felt not only that they had the right, +but that it was their duty, to protect free citizens in their +freedom. Very likely these enactments, inspired by an earnest +spirit of liberty, went in many cases too far, and tended to produce +conflicts between National and State authority. That was a question +to be determined finally and exclusively by the Federal Judiciary. +Unfortunately Mr. Buchanan carried his argument beyond that point, +coupling it with a declaration and an admission fatal to the +perpetuity of the Union. After reciting the statutes which he +regarded as objectionable and hostile to the constitutional rights +of the South, and after urging their unconditional repeal upon the +North, the President said: "The Southern States, standing on the +basis of the Constitution, have a right to demand this act of +justice from the States of the North. Should it be refused, then +the Constitution, to which all the States are parties, will have +been willfully violated by one portion of them in a provision +essential to the domestic security and happiness of the remainder. +In that event, the injured States, after having used all peaceful +and constitutional means to obtain redress, would be justified in +revolutionary resistance to the government of the Union." + +By this declaration the President justified, and in effect advised, +an appeal from the constitutional tribunals of the country to a +popular judgment in the aggrieved States, and recognized the right +of those States, upon such popular judgment, to destroy the +Constitution and Union. The "constitutional means" of redress were +the courts of the country, and to these the President must have +referred in the paragraph quoted. After an appeal to the courts, +and a decision upon the questions presented, it would have been +the plain duty of the parties to accept the decision as authoritative +and final. By the advice of the President, the States of the South +were to accept the decision obtained by constitutional means, in +case it was favorable to them, and to disregard it, and to destroy +both the Constitution and the Union, if it should prove to be +adverse to the popular opinion in those States. + +It is not improbable that the President's language conveyed more +than his real meaning. He may have intended to affirm that if the +free States should refuse to repeal their obnoxious statutes after +a final decision against their constitutionality, then the slave +States would be justified in revolutionary resistance. But he had +no right to make such an argument or suggest such an hypothesis, +for never in the history of the Federal Government had the decision +of the Supreme judicial tribunal been disobeyed or disregarded by +any State or by any individual. The right of "revolutionary +resistance" was not so foreign to the conception of the American +citizen as to require suggestion and enforcement from Mr. Buchanan. +His argument in support of the right at that crisis was prejudicial +to the Union, and afforded a standing-ground for many Southern men +who were beginning to feel that the doctrine of Secession was +illogical, unsafe, untenable. They now had the argument of a +Northern President in justification of "revolutionary resistance." +Throughout the South, the right of Secession was abandoned by a +large class, and the right of Revolution substituted. + + FATAL ADMISSION OF THE PRESIDENT. + +Having made his argument in favor of the right of "Revolution," +Mr. Buchanan proceeded to argue ably and earnestly against the +assumption by any State of an inherent right to secede from the +government at its own will and pleasure. But he utterly destroyed +the force of his reasoning by declaring that "after much serious +reflection" he had arrived at "the conclusion that no power has +been delegated to Congress, or to any other department of the +Federal Government, to coerce a State into submission which is +attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn," from the Union. +He emphasized his position by further declaring that, "so far from +this power having been delegated to Congress, it was expressly +refused by the convention which framed the Constitution." Congress +"possesses many means," Mr. Buchanan added, "of preserving the +Union by conciliation; but the sword was not placed in their hands +to preserve it by force." + +The fatal admission was thus evolved from the mind of the President, +that any State which thought itself aggrieved and could not secure +the concessions demanded, might bring the Government down in ruins. +The power to destroy was in the State. The power to preserve was +not in the Nation. The President apparently failed to see that if +the Nation could not be preserved by force, its legal capacity for +existence was dependent upon the concurring and continuing will of +all the individual States. The original bond of union was, therefore, +for the day only, and the provision of the Constitution which gave +to the Supreme Court jurisdiction in controversies between States +was binding no further than the States chose to accept the decisions +of the Court. + +The difference between the President and the Secessionists of the +South was a difference of opinion as to the time for action, and +as to the name by which that action should be called. In principle +there was concurrence. The President insisted that the injured +party should appeal to the aggressor, and then to the courts, with +the reserved right of revolution always in view and to be exercised +if neither the aggressor nor the courts furnished satisfactory +redress. The President recognized the reserved right of revolution +in the States, and it was a necessary incident of that right that +each State might decide when the right should be exercised. He +suggested that, as justification of revolution, the Federal Government +must be guilty of "a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise" +of powers not granted by the Constitution, quoting from the text +of the State-rights declaration by Virginia in 1798. But in all +his arguments he left the State to be the ultimate judge of the +constitutionality of the Acts of the Federal Government. Under +these doctrines the Government of the United States was shorn of +all power to preserve its own existence, and the Union might crumble +and fall while its constituted authorities stood paralyzed and +impotent. + +This construction was all that the extremists of the South desired. +With so much conceded, they had every thing in their own hands. +They could march out of the Union at their own will and caprice, +without resistance from the National Government, and they could +come back upon such conditions as, with the President's aid, they +might extort from an alarmed and weakening North. Assured by the +language of the President that they could with impunity defy the +constitutional authority of the government, the Secessionists were +immeasurably encouraged. The Southern men had for three generations +been cherishing the belief that they were as a class superior to +Northern men, and they were more than ever confirmed in this pleasing +illusion when they saw a Northern President, with the power of the +nation in his hands, deliberately affirming that he could exercise +no authority over or against them. + +Men who, under the wholesome restraint of executive power, would +have refrained from taking aggressive steps against the National +Government, were by Mr. Buchanan's action forced into a position +of hostility. Men in the South, who were disposed to avoid extreme +measures, were by taunt and reproach driven into the ranks of +Secession. They were made to believe, after the President's message, +that the South would be ruined if she did not assert a position +which the National authority confessed it had no right and no means +to contest. The Republicans had been taunting Southern men with +the intention of using only bluster and bravado, and if they should +now fail to take a decisive step in the direction of Disunion, they +felt that it would be a humiliating retraction of all they had said +in the long struggle over slavery. It would be an invitation to +the Abolitionists and fanatics of the North, to deal hereafter with +the South, and with the question of slavery, in whatever manner +might seem good in their sight. No weapon of logic could have been +more forcible; and, wielded as it was by Southern leaders with +skill and courage, they were able to consolidate the public opinion +and control the political action of their section. + +The evil effects of Mr. Buchanan's message were not confined to +the slave States. It did incalculable harm in the free States. +It fixed in the minds of tens of thousands of Northern men who were +opposed to the Republican party, the belief that the South was +justified in taking steps to break up the government, if what they +termed a war on Southern institutions should be continued. This +feeling had in turn a most injurious influence in the South, and +stimulated thousands in that section to a point of rashness which +they would never have reached but for the sympathy and support +constantly extended to them from the North. Even if a conflict of +arms should be the ultimate result of the Secession movement, its +authors and its deluded followers were made to believe that, against +a South entirely united, there would be opposed a North hopelessly +divided. They were confident that the Democratic party in the free +States held the views expressed in Mr. Buchanan's message. They +had conclusively persuaded themselves that the Democrats, together +with a large proportion of the conservative men in the North who +had supported Mr. Bell for the Presidency, would oppose an "abolition +war," and would prove a distracting and destructive force in the +rear of the Union army if it should ever commence its march +Southward. + + THE SECRETARY OF STATE RESIGNS. + +The most alarming feature of the situation to reflecting men in +the North was that, so far as known, all the members of Mr. Buchanan's +Cabinet approved the destructive doctrines of the message. But as +the position of the President was subjected to examination and +criticism by the Northern press, uneasiness was manifested in +Administration circles. It was seen that if the course foreshadowed +by Mr. Buchanan should be followed, the authority of the Union +would be compelled to retreat before the usurpations of seceding +States, and that a powerful government might be quietly overthrown, +without striking one blow of resistance, or uttering one word of +protest. General Cass was the first of the Cabinet to feel the +pressure of loyalty from the North. The venerable Secretary of +State, whose whole life had been one of patriotic devotion to his +country, suddenly realized that he was in a false position. When +it became known that the President would not insist upon the +collection of the national revenue in South Carolina, or upon the +strengthening of the United-States forts in the harbor of Charleston, +General Cass concluded that justice to his own reputation required +him to separate from the Administration. He resigned on the twelfth +of December,--nine days after Mr. Buchanan had sent his fatal +message to Congress. + + CHARACTER AND CONDUCT OF JUDGE BLACK. + +Judge Black, who had from the beginning of the Administration been +Mr. Buchanan's chief adviser, now became so by rank as the successor +of General Cass in the State Department. He was a man of remarkable +character. He was endowed by nature with a strong understanding +and a strong will. In the profession of the law he had attained +great eminence. His learning had been illustrated by a prolonged +service on the bench before the age at which men, even of exceptional +success at the bar, usually attract public observation. He had +added to his professional studies, which were laborious and +conscientious, a wide acquaintance with our literature, and had +found in its walks a delight which is yielded to few. In history, +biography, criticism, romance, he had absorbed every thing in our +language worthy of attention. Shakspeare, Milton, indeed all the +English poets, were his familiar companions. There was not a +disputed passage or an obscure reading in any one of the great +plays upon which he could not off-hand quote the best renderings, +and throw original light from his own illumined mind. Upon theology +he had apparently bestowed years of investigation and reflection. +A sincere Christian, he had been a devout and constant student of +the Bible, and could quote its passages and apply its teachings +with singular readiness and felicity. To this generous store of +knowledge he added fluency of speech, both in public address and +private communication, and a style of writing which was at once +unique, powerful, and attractive. He had attained unto every +excellence of mental discipline described by Lord Byron. Reading +had made him a full man, talking a ready man, writing an exact man. +The judicial literature of the English tongue may be sought in vain +for finer models than are found in the opinions of Judge Black when +he sat, and was worthy to sit, as the associate of John Bannister +Gibson, on the Supreme Bench of Pennsylvania. + +In political opinion he was a Democrat, self-inspired and self- +taught, for his father was a Whig who had served his State in +Congress. He idolized Jefferson and revered Jackson as embodying +in their respective characters all the elements of the soundest +political philosophy, and all the requisites of the highest political +leadership. He believed in the principles of Democracy as he did +in a demonstration of Euclid,--all that might be said on the other +side was necessarily absurd. He applied to his own political creed +the literal teachings of the Bible. If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob +had held slaves without condemnation or rebuke from the Lord of +hosts, he believed that Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia might do +the same. He found in the case of Onesiums, St. Paul's explicit +approval of the Fugutive-slave Law of 1850, and in the cruel case +of Passmore Williamson he believed himself to be enforcing the +doctrines of the New Testament. Personally unwilling to hold even +a beast of burden in oppressive bondage, nothing could induce him +to condemn slave-holding in those whose conscience permitted them +to practice it. In the Abolitionists he found the chief disturbers +of the Republic, and he held New England answerable to posterity +and to God for all the heresies which afflicted either Church or +State. He had an uncompromising hostility to what are termed New- +England ideas, though the tenderest ties of his life were of New- +England origin. "The New-Englander individually I greatly affect," +he often said, "but, in the mass, I judge them to be stark mad." +"I think, too," he would add, "that if you are going to make much +of a New-Englander, he should, like Dr. Johnson's Scotchman, be +caught young." + +To his native State Judge Black was devotedly attached. He inherited +the blood of two strong elements of its population,--the German +and the Scotch-Irish,--and he united the best characteristics of +both in his own person. He had always looked upon Pennsylvania as +the guardian of the Federal Union, almost as the guarantor of its +safety and its perpetuity. He spoke of her as the break-water that +protected the slave States from the waves of radicalism which were +threatening to ingulf Southern institutions. The success of the +Republican party in 1860 he regarded as a portent of direst evil, +--indeed, as a present disaster, immeasurably sorrowful. The +excitement in the Southern States over the probability of Mr. +Lincoln's election he considered natural, their serious protest +altogether justifiable. He desired the free States to be awakened +to the gravity of the situation, to be thoroughly alarmed, and to +repent of their sins against the South. He wished it understood +from ocean to ocean that the position of the Republican party was +inconsistent with loyalty to the Union, and that its permanent +success would lead to the destruction of the government. It was +not unnatural that with these extreme views he should be carried +beyond the bounds of prudence, and that, in his headlong desire to +rebuke the Republican party as enemies of the Union, he should aid +in precipitating a dissolution of the government before the +Republicans could enter upon its administration. He thus became +in large degree responsible for the unsound position and the +dangerous teachings of Mr. Buchanan. In truth some of the worst +doctrines embodied in the President's evil message came directly +from an opinion given by Judge Black as Attorney-General, and, made +by Mr. Buchanan still more odious and more dangerous by the quotation +of a part and not the whole. + +It was soon manifest however to Judge Black, that he was playing +with fire, and that, while he was himself desirous only of arousing +the country to the dangers of anti-slavery agitation, Mr. Buchanan's +administration was every day effectually aiding the Southern +conspiracy for the destruction of the Union. This light dawned on +Judge Black suddenly and irresistibly. He was personally intimate +with General Cass, and when that venerable statesman retired from +the Cabinet to preserve his record of loyalty to the Union, Judge +Black realized that he was himself confronted by an issue which +threatened his political destruction. Could he afford, as Secretary +of State, to follow a policy which General Cass believed would +destroy his own fame? General Cass was nearly fourscore years of +age, with his public career ended, his work done. Judge Black was +but fifty, and he had before him possibly the most valuable and +most ambitious period of his life. He saw at a glance that if +General Cass could not be sustained in the North-West, he could +not be sustained in Pennsylvania. He possessed the moral courage +to stand firm to the end, in defiance of opposition and regardless +of obloquy, if he could be sure he was right. But he had begun to +doubt, and doubt led him to review with care the position of Mr. +Buchanan, and to examine its inevitable tendencies. He did it with +conscience and courage. He had none of that subserviency to Southern +men which had injured so many Northern Democrats. Until he entered +the Cabinet in 1857, he had never come into personal association +with men from the slave-holding States, and his keen observation +could not fail to discern the inferiority to himself of the four +Southern members of the Cabinet. + +Judge Black entered upon his duties as Secretary of State on the +17th of December,--the day on which the Disunion convention of +South Carolina assembled. He found the malign influence of Mr. +Buchanan's message fully at work throughout the South. Under its +encouragement only three days were required by the convention at +Charleston to pass the Ordinance of Secession, and four days later +Governor Pickens issued a proclamation declaring "South Carolina +a separate, sovereign, free, and independent State, with the right +to levy war, conclude peace, and negotiate treaties." From that +moment Judge Black's position towards the Southern leaders was +radically changed. They were no longer fellow-Democrats. They +were the enemies of the Union to which he was devoted: they were +conspirators against the government to which he had taken a solemn +oath of fidelity and loyalty. + +Judge Black's change, however important to his own fame, would +prove comparatively fruitless unless he could influence Mr. Buchanan +to break with the men who had been artfully using the power of his +administration to destroy the Union. The opportunity and the test +came promptly. The new "sovereign, free, and independent" government +of South Carolina sent commissioners to Washington to negotiate +for the surrender of the national forts, and the transfer of the +national property within her limits. Mr. Buchanan prepared an +answer to their request which was compromising to the honor of the +Executive and perilous to the integrity of the Union. Judge Black +took a decided and irrevocable stand against the President's +position. He advised Mr. Buchanan that upon the basis of that +fatal concession to the Disunion leaders he could not remain in +his Cabinet. It was a sharp issue, but was soon adjusted. Mr. +Buchanan gave way, and permitted Judge Black, and his associates +Holt and Stanton, to frame a reply for the administration. + + THE PRESIDENT AND THE SOUTHERN LEADERS. + +Jefferson Davis, Mr. Toombs, Mr. Benjamin, Mr. Slidell, who had +been Mr. Buchanan's intimate and confidential advisers, and who +had led him to the brink of ruin, found themselves suddenly +supplanted, and a new power installed at the White House. Foiled, +and no longer able to use the National Administration as an +instrumentality to destroy the National life, the Secession leaders +in Congress turned upon the President with angry reproaches. In +their rage they lost all sense of the respect due to the Chief +Magistrate of the Nation, and assaulted Mr. Buchanan with coarseness +as well as violence. Senator Benjamin spoke of him as "a senile +Executive under the sinister influence of insane counsels." This +exhibition of malignity towards the misguided President afforded +to the North the most convincing and satisfactory proof that there +had been a change for the better in the plans and purposes of the +Administration. They realized that it must be a deep sense of +impending danger which could separate Mr. Buchanan from his political +associations with the South, and they recognized in his position +a significant proof of the desperate determination to which the +enemies of the Union had come. + +The stand taken by Judge Black and his loyal associates was in the +last days of December, 1860. The re-organization of the Cabinet +came as a matter of necessity. Mr. John B. Floyd resigned from +the War Department, making loud proclamation that his action was +based on the President's refusal to surrender the national forts +in Charleston Harbor to the Secession government of South Carolina. +This manifesto was not necessary to establish Floyd's treasonable +intentions toward the government; but, in point of truth, the plea +was undoubtedly a pretense, to cover reasons of a more personal +character which would at once deprive him of Mr. Buchanan's +confidence. There had been irregularities in the War Department +tending to compromise Mr. Floyd, for which he was afterwards indicted +in the District of Columbia. Mr. Floyd well knew that the first +knowledge of these shortcomings would lead to his dismissal from +the Cabinet. Whatever Mr. Buchanan's faults as an Executive may +have been, his honor in all transactions, both personal and public, +was unquestionable, and he was the last man to tolerate the slightest +deviation from the path of rigid integrity. + +Mr. Thompson, the Secretary of the Interior, followed Mr. Floyd +after a short interval. Mr. Cobb had left the Treasury a few days +before General Cass resigned from the Cabinet, and had gone to +Georgia to stimulate her laggard movements in the scheme of destroying +the government. His successor was Philip Francis Thomas of Maryland, +who entered the Cabinet as a representative of the principles whose +announcement had forced General Cass to resign. The change of +policy to which the President was now fully committed, forced Mr. +Thomas to retire, after a month's service. He frankly stated that +he was unable to agree with the President and his chief advisers +"in reference to the condition of things in South Carolina," and +therefore tendered his resignation. Mr. Thomas adhered to the +Union, and always maintained an upright and honorable character, +but his course at that crisis deprived him subsequently of a seat +in the United-States Senate, though at a later period he served in +the House as representative from Maryland. + +Mr. Cobb, Mr. Floyd, and Mr. Thompson had all remained in the +Cabinet after the Presidential election in November, in full +sympathy, and so far as was possible in full co-operation, with +the men in the South who were organizing resistance to the authority +of the Federal Government. Neither those gentlemen, nor any friend +in their behalf, ever ventured to explain how, as sworn officers +of the United States, they could remain at their posts consistently +with the laws of honor,--laws obligatory upon them not only as +public officials who had taken a solemn oath of fidelity to the +Constitution, but also as private gentlemen whose good faith was +pledged anew every hour they remained in control of the departments +with whose administration they had been intrusted. Their course +is unfavorably contrasted with that of many Southern men (of whom +General Lee and the two Johnstons were conspicuous examples), who +refused to hold official positions under the National Government +a single day after they had determined to take part in the scheme +of Disunion. + + BUCHANAN'S RECONSTRUCTED CABINET. + +By the re-organization of the Cabinet, the tone of Mr. Buchanan's +administration was radically changed. Judge Black had used his +influence with the President to secure trustworthy friends of the +Union in every department. Edwin M. Stanton, little known at the +time to the public, but of high standing in his profession, was +appointed Attorney-General soon after Judge Black took charge of +the State Department. Judge Black had been associated with Stanton +personally and professionally, and was desirous of his aid in the +dangerous period through which he was called to serve. + +Joseph Holt, who, since the death of Aaron V. Brown in 1859, had +been Postmaster-General, was now appointed Secretary of War, and +Horatio King of Maine, for many years the upright first assistant, +was justly promoted to the head of the Post-office Department. +Mr. Holt was the only Southern man left in the Cabinet. He was a +native of Kentucky, long a resident of Mississippi, always identified +with the Democratic party, and affiliated with its extreme Southern +wing. Without a moment's hesitation he now broke all the associations +of a lifetime, and stood by the Union without qualification or +condition. His learning, his firmness, and his ability, were +invaluable to Mr. Buchanan in the closing days of his administration. + +General John A. Dix of New York was called to the head of the +Treasury. He was a man of excellent ability, of wide experience +in affairs, of spotless character, and a most zealous friend of +the Union. He found the Treasury bankrupt, the discipline of its +officers in the South gone, its orders disregarded in the States +which were preparing for secession. He at once imparted spirit +and energy into the service,--giving to the administration of this +department a policy of pronounced loyalty to the government. No +act of his useful and honorable life has been so widely known or +will be so long remembered as his dispatch to the Treasury agent +at New Orleans to take possession of a revenue cutter whose commander +was suspected of disloyalty and of a design to transfer his vessel +to the Confederate service. Lord Nelson's memorable order at +Trafalgar was not more inspiring to the British navy than was the +order of General Dix to the American people, when, in the gloom of +that depressing winter, he telegraphed South his peremptory words, +"If any man attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on +the spot." + +Thus reconstructed, the Cabinet as a whole was one of recognized +power,--marked by high personal character, by intellectual training, +by experience in affairs, and by aptitude for the public service. +There have been Cabinets perhaps more widely known for the possession +of great qualities; but, if the history of successive administrations +from the origin of the government be closely studied, it will be +found that the re-organized Cabinet of President Buchanan must take +rank as one of exceptional ability. + +For the remaining two months of Mr. Buchanan's administration the +destinies of the country were in the keeping of these constitutional +advisers. If in any respect they failed to come to the standard +of a loyalty that was quickened by subsequent developments, they +no doubt fairly represented the demand of the Northern States at +the time. There was everywhere the most earnest desire to avert +a conflict, and an unwillingness to recognize the possibility of +actual war. The majority of the Republican party in both branches +of Congress was not advocating a more decided or more aggressive +course with the South, during the months of January and February, +than the Cabinet, with Judge Black at its head, was pursuing. The +time for executive acts of a more pronounced character was directly +after the Presidential election, when the first symptoms of resistance +to national authority were visible in the South. If the new Cabinet +had been then in power, the history of the civil revolt might have +been different. But the force that will arrest the first slow +revolution of a wheel cannot stand before it when, by unchecked +velocity, it has acquired a destructive momentum. The measures +which might have secured repression in November would only have +produced explosion in January. + + THE PRESIDENT'S NEW POSITION. + +The change of position on the part of Mr. Buchanan was not left to +inference, or to the personal assurance of the loyal men who composed +his re-organized Cabinet. He announced it himself in a special +message to Congress on the 8th of January, 1861. The tone was so +different from the message of December, that it did not seem possible +that the two could have been written by the same man. It was +evident from many passages in the second message that he was trying +to reconcile it with the first. This was the natural course +suggested by the pride of one who overrated the virtue of consistency. +The attempt was useless. The North with unaffected satisfaction, +the South with unconcealed indignation, realized that the President +had entirely escaped from the influences which dictated the first +message. He now asserted that, "as the Chief Executive under the +Constitution of the United States," he had no alternative but "to +collect the public revenues, and to protect the public property, +so far as this might be practicable under existing laws." Remarking +that his province "was to execute, and not to make, the laws," he +threw upon Congress the duty "of enlarging their provisions to meet +exigencies as they may occur." He declared it as his own conviction +that "the right and the duty to use military force defensively +against those who resist the federal officers in the execution of +their legal functions, and against those who assail the property +of the Federal Government, are clear and undeniable." Conceding +so much, the mild denial which the President re-asserted, of "the +right to make aggressive war upon any State," may be charitably +tolerated; for, under the defensive power which he so broadly +approved, the whole force of national authority could be used +against a State aggressively bent upon Secession. + +The President did not fail to fortify his own position at every +point with great force. The situation had become so serious, and +had "assumed such vast and alarming proportions, as to place the +subject entirely above and beyond Executive control." He therefore +commended "the question, in all its various bearings, to Congress, +as the only tribunal possessing the power to meet the existing +exigency." He reminded Congress that "to them belongs exclusively +the power to declare war, or to authorize the employment of military +force in all cases contemplated by the Constitution." Not abandoning +the hope of an amicable adjustment, the President pertinently +informed Congress that "they alone possess the power to remove +grievances which might lead to war, and to secure peace and union." +As a basis of settlement, he recommended a formal compromise by +which "the North shall have exclusive control of the territory +above a certain line, and Southern institutions shall have protection +below that line." This plan, he believed, "ought to receive +universal approbation." He maintained that on Congress, and "on +Congress alone, rests the responsibility." As Congress would +certainly in a few days be under the control of the Republicans in +both branches,--by the withdrawal of senators and representatives +from the seceding States,--Mr. Buchanan's argument had a double +force. Not only was he vindicating the position of the Executive +and throwing the weight of responsibility on the Legislative +Department of the government, but he was protecting the position +of the Democratic party by saying, in effect, that the President +chosen by that party stood ready to approve and to execute any laws +for the protection of the government and the safety of the Union +which a Republican Congress might enact. + +A certain significance attached to the date which the President +had selected for communicating his message to Congress. It was +the eighth day of January, the anniversary of the Battle of New +Orleans, celebrated that year with enthusiastic demonstrations in +honor of the memory of Andrew Jackson, who had, on a memorable +occasion not unlike the present, sworn an emphatic oath that "the +Federal Union must and shall be preserved." There was also marked +satisfaction throughout the loyal States with Mr. Buchanan's +assurance of the peace of the District of Columbia on the ensuing +4th of March, on the occasion of Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. He +did not himself "share in the serious apprehensions that were +entertained of disturbance" on that occasion, but he made this +declaration, which was received in the North with hearty applause: +"In any event, it will be my duty to preserve the peace, and this +duty shall be performed." + +The change of sentiment towards Mr. Buchanan after the delivery of +the special message, was as marked in the North as it was in the +South, though in the opposite direction. It would not be true to +say that any thing like popularity attended the President in his +new position; but the change of feeling was so great that the +Legislature of Massachusetts, on the 23d of January, 1861, adopted +resolutions in which they declared that they regarded "with unmingled +satisfaction the determination evinced in the recent firm and +patriotic special message of the President of the United States to +amply and faithfully discharge his constitutional duty of enforcing +the laws, and preserving the integrity of the Union." The Legislature +"proffered to the President, through the Governor of the Commonwealth, +such aid in men and money as he may require to maintain the authority +of the National Government." These resolutions were forwarded to +Mr. Buchanan by Governor Andrew. They were only one of many +manifestations which the President received of approval of his +course. + +The Massachusetts Legislature was radically Republican in both +branches, and even in making a reference to "men and money" as +requisite to maintain the Union, they had gone farther than the +public sentiment at that time approved. Coercive measures were +generally condemned. A few days after the action of the Legislature, +a large meeting of the people of Boston, held in Faneuil Hall, +declared that they "depended for the return of the seceding States, +and the permanent preservation of the Union, on conciliatory +counsels, and a sense of the benefits which the Constitution confers +on all the States, and not on military coercion." They declared +that they shrunk "with horror from the thought of civil war between +the North and the South." + +It must always be remembered that the disbelief in ultimate secession +was nearly universal throughout the free States. The people of +the North could not persuade themselves that the proceedings in +the Southern States would lead to any thing more serious than +hostile demonstrations, which would end, after coaxing and compromise, +in a return to the Union. But with this hope of final security +there was, on the part of the great mass of the people in the free +States, the gravest solicitude throughout the winter of 1860-61, +and a restless waiting and watching for a solution of the troubles. +Partisan leaders were busy on both sides seeking for an advantage +that might survive the pending trials. Northern Democrats in many +instances sought to turn the occasion to one of political advantage +by pointing out the lamentable condition to which anti-slavery +agitation had brought the country. This was naturally answered by +Republicans with defiance, and with an affected contempt and +carelessness of what the South might do. Much that was written +and much that was spoken throughout the North during that winter, +both by Democrats and Republicans, would have remained unwritten +and unspoken if they had realized the seriousness and magnitude of +the impending calamity. + + + FINAL ESTIMATE OF MR. BUCHANAN. + +In a final analysis and true estimate of Mr. Buchanan's conduct in +the first stages of the revolt, the condition of the popular mind +as just described must be taken into account. The same influences +and expectations that wrought upon the people were working also +upon him. There were indeed two Mr. Buchanans in the closing months +of the administration. The first was Mr. Buchanan of November and +December, angered by the decision of the Presidential election and +more than willing that the North, including his own State, should +be disciplined by fright to more conservative views and to a stricter +observance of what he considered solemn obligations imposed by the +Constitution. If the Southern threat of resistance to the authority +of the Union had gone no farther than this, Mr. Buchanan would have +been readily reconciled to its temporary violence, and would probably +have considered it a national blessing in disguise.--The second +was Mr. Buchanan of January and February, appalled by surrounding +and increasing perils, grieved by the conduct of Southern men whom +he had implicitly trusted, overwhelmed by the realization of the +evils which had obviously followed his official declarations, hoping +earnestly for the safety of the Union, and yet more disturbed and +harrowed in his mind than the mass of loyal people who did not +stand so near the danger as he, or so accurately measure its alarming +growth. The President of December with Cobb and Floyd and Thompson +in his Cabinet, and the President of January with Dix and Stanton +and Holt for his councilors, were radically different men. No true +estimate of Mr. Buchanan in the crisis of his public career can +ever be reached if this vital distinction be overlooked. + +It was Mr. Buchanan's misfortune to be called to act in an emergency +which demanded will, fortitude, and moral courage. In these +qualities he was deficient. He did not possess the executive +faculty. His life had been principally devoted to the practice of +law in the most peaceful of communities, and to service in legislative +bodies where he was borne along by the force of association. He +had not been trained to prompt decision, had not been accustomed +to exercise command. He was cautious and conservative to the point +of timidity. He possessed ability of a high order, and, though he +thought slowly, he could master the most difficult subject with +comprehensive power. His service of ten years in the House and an +equal period in the Senate was marked by a conscientious devotion +to duty. He did not rank with the ablest members of either body, +but always bore a prominent part in important discussions and +maintained himself with credit. + + PERSONAL CHARACTER OF MR. BUCHANAN. + +It was said of Mr. Buchanan that he instinctively dreaded to assume +responsibility of any kind. His keenest critic remarked that in +the tentative period of political issues assumed by his party, Mr. +Buchanan could always be found two paces to the rear, but in the +hour of triumph he marched proudly in the front rank. He was not +gifted with independence or self-assertion. His bearing towards +Southern statesmen was derogatory to him as a man of spirit. His +tone towards administrations of his own party was so deferential +as almost to imply a lack of self-respect. He was not a leader +among men. He was always led. He was led by Mason and Soule into +the imprudence of signing the Ostend Manifesto; he was led by the +Southern members of his Cabinet into the inexplicable folly and +blunder of indorsing the Lecompton iniquity; he was led by Disunion +senators into the deplorable mistake contained in his last annual +message. Fortunately for him he was led a month later by Black +and Holt and Stanton to a radical change of his compromising +position. + +If Mr. Buchanan had possessed the unconquerable will of Jackson or +the stubborn courage of Taylor, he could have changed the history +of the revolt against the Union. A great opportunity came to him +but he was not equal to it. Always an admirable adviser where +prudence and caution were the virtues required, he was fatally +wanting in a situation which demanded prompt action and strong +nerve. As representative in Congress, as senator, as minister +abroad, as Secretary of State, his career was honorable and +successful. His life was singularly free from personal fault or +short-coming. He was honest and pure-minded. His fame would have +been more enviable if he had never been elevated to the Presidency. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Congress during the Winter of 1860-61.--Leave-taking of Senators +and Representatives.--South Carolina the First to secede.--Her +Delegation in the House publish a Card withdrawing.--Other States +follow.--Mr. Lamar of Mississippi.--Speeches of Seceding Senators. +--Mr. Yulee and Mr. Mallory of Florida.--Mr. Clay and Mr. Fitzpatrick +of Alabama.--Jefferson Davis.--His Distinction between Secession +and Nullification.--Important Speech by Mr. Toombs.--He defines +Conditions on which the Union might be allowed to survive.--Mr. +Iverson's Speech.--Georgia Senators withdraw.--Insolent Speech of +Mr. Slidell of Louisiana.--Mr. Judah P. Benjamin's Special Plea +for his State.--His Doctrine of "A Sovereignty held in Trust."-- +Same Argument of Mr. Yulee for his State.--Principle of State +Sovereignty.--Disproved by the Treaty of 1783.--Notable Omission +by Secession Senators.--Grievances not stated.--Secession Conventions +in States.--Failure to state Justifying Grounds of Action.-- +Confederate Government fail likewise to do it.--Contrast with the +Course of the Colonies.--Congress had given no Cause.--Had not +disturbed Slavery by Adverse Legislation.--List of Measures Favorable +to Slavery.--Policy of Federal Government steadily in that Direction. +--Mr. Davis quoted Menaces, not Acts.--Governing Class in the South. +--Division of Society there.--Republic ruled by an Oligarchy.-- +Overthrown by Election of Lincoln.--South refuses to acquiesce. + +No feature of the extraordinary winter of 1860-61 is more singular +in retrospect than the formal leave-taking of the Southern senators +and representatives in their respective Houses. Members of the +House from the seceding States, with few exceptions, refrained from +individual addresses, either of farewell or defiance, but adopted +a less demonstrative and more becoming mode. The South-Carolina +representatives withdrew on the 24th of December (1860), in a brief +card laid before the House by Speaker Pennington. They announced +that, as the people of their State had "in their sovereign capacity +resumed the powers delegated by them to the Federal Government of +the United States," their "connection with the House of Representatives +was thereby dissolved." They "desired to take leave of those with +whom they had been associated in a common agency, with mutual regard +and respect for the rights of each other." They "cherished the +hope" that in future relations they might "better enjoy the peace +and harmony essential to the happiness of a free and enlightened +people." + + SOUTHERN REPRESENTATIVES WITHDRAW. + +Other delegations retired from the House in the order in which +their States seceded. The leave-taking, in the main, was not +undignified. There was no defiance, no indulgence of bravado. +The members from Mississippi "regretted the necessity" which impelled +their State to the course adopted, but declared that it met "their +unqualified approval." The card was no doubt written by Mr. L. Q. +C. Lamar, and accurately described his emotions. He stood firmly +by his State in accordance with the political creed in which he +had been reared, but looked back with tender regret to the Union +whose destiny he had wished to share and under the protection of +whose broader nationality he had hoped to live and die. A few +Southern representatives marked their retirement by speeches bitterly +reproaching the Federal Government, and bitterly accusing the +Republican party; but the large majority confined themselves to +the simpler form of the card. + +Whether the ease and confidence as to the future which these Southern +representatives manifested was really felt or only assumed, can +never be known. They were all men of intelligence, some of them +conspicuously able; and it seems incredible that they could have +persuaded themselves that a great government could be dissolved +without shock and without resistance. They took leave with no more +formality than that with which a private gentleman, aggrieved by +discourteous treatment, withdraws from a company in which he feels +that he can no longer find enjoyment. Their confidence was based +on the declarations and admissions of Mr. Buchanan's message; but +they had, in effect, constructed that document themselves, and the +slightest reflection should have warned them that, with the change +of administration to occur in a few weeks, there would be a different +understanding of Executive duty, and a different appeal to the +reason of the South. + +The senators from the seceding States were more outspoken than the +representatives. They took the opportunity of their retirement to +say many things which, even for their own personal fame, should +have been left unsaid. A clear analysis of these harangues is +impossible. They lacked the unity and directness of the simple +notifications with which the seceding representatives had withdrawn +from the House. The valedictories in the Senate were a singular +compound of defiance and pity, of justification and recrimination. +Some of the speeches have an insincere and mock-heroic tone to the +reader twenty years after the event. They appear to be the +expressions of men who talked for effect, and who professed themselves +ready for a shock of arms which they believed would never come. +But the majority of the utterances were by men who meant all they +said; who, if they did not anticipate a bloody conflict, were yet +prepared for it, and who were too deeply stirred by resentment and +passion to give due heed to consequences. + +On the 21st of January the senators from Florida, Alabama, and +Mississippi formally withdrew from the Senate. Their speeches +showed little variety of thought, consisting chiefly of indictments +against the free States for placing the government under the control +of an anti-slavery administration. Mr. Yulee was the first to +speak. He solemnly announced to the Senate that "the State of +Florida, though a convention of her people, had decided to recall +the powers which she had delegated to the Federal Government, and +to assume the full exercise of all her sovereign rights as an +independent and separate community." At what particular period in +the history of the American continent Florida had enjoyed "sovereign +rights," by what process she had ever "delegated powers to the +Federal Government," or at what time she had ever been "an independent +and separate community," Mr. Yulee evidently preferred not to inform +the Senate. His colleague, Mr. Mallory, implored the people of +the North not to repeat the fatal folly of the Bourbons by imagining +that "the South would submit to the degradation of a constrained +existence under a violated Constitution." Mr. Mallory regarded +the subjugation of the South by war as impossible. He warned the +North that they were dealing with "a nation, and not with a +faction." + +Mr. Clement C. Clay, Jr., of Alabama, boasted that in the convention +which adopted the Ordinance of Secession in his State there was +not one friend of the Union; and he resented with indignation what +he termed the offensive calumny of the Republicans in denouncing +slavery and polygamy as twin relics of barbarism. The action of +Alabama, he said, was not from "sudden, spasmodic, and violent +passion." It was the conclusion her people had reached "after +years of enmity, injustice, and injury at the hands of their Northern +brethren." Instead of causing surprise, "it is rather matter of +reproach that they have endured so much and so long, and have +deferred this act of self-defense until to-day." Mr. Clay's speech +was insulting and exasperating to the last degree. His colleague, +Mr. Fitzpatrick, a man of better tempter, showed reserve and an +indisposition to discuss the situation. He contented himself with +the expression of a general concurrence in the views of Mr. Clay, +adding no word of bitterness himself. He said that he "acknowledged +loyalty to no other power than to the sovereign State of Alabama." +But for the pressure brought upon him, Mr. Fitzpatrick would have +been glad to retain his seat in the Senate and wait the course of +events. He was not in his heart a Disunionist, as his colleague +was. He would have accepted the nomination for the Vice-Presidency +on the ticket with Douglas the preceding year, if the whole political +power of the Cotton States had not opposed his wishes and forced +him into the support of Breckinridge. + + VALEDICTORY OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. + +Jefferson Davis expressed his concurrence in the action of the +people of Mississippi. He believed that action was necessary and +proper, but would "have felt himself equally bound if his belief +had been otherwise." He presented an analysis of the difference +between the remedies of nullification and secession. Nullification +was a remedy inside of the Union; secession a remedy outside. He +expressed himself as against the theory of nullification, and +explained that, so far from being identified with secession, the +two are antagonistic principles. Mr. Calhoun's mistake, according +to Mr. Davis, was in trying to "nullify" the laws of the Union +while continuing a member of it. He intimated that President +Jackson would never have attempted to "execute the laws" in South +Carolina as he did against the nullifiers in 1832, if the State +had seceded, and that therefore his great example could not be +quoted in favor of "coercion." It is not believed that Mr. Davis +had the slightest authority for this aspersion upon the memory of +Jackson. It seems rather to have been a disingenuous and unwarranted +statement of the kind so plentifully used at the time for the +purpose of "firing the Southern heart." + +There had been an impression in the country that Mr. Davis was +among the most reluctant of those who engaged in the secession +movement; but in his speech he declared that he had conferred with +the people of Mississippi before the step was taken, and counseled +them to the course which they had adopted. This declaration was +a great surprise to Northern Democrats, among whom Mr. Davis had +many friends. For several years he had been growing in favor with +a powerful element in the Democracy of the free States, and, but +for the exasperating quarrel of 1860, he might have been selected +as the Presidential candidate of his party. No man gave up more +than Mr. Davis in joining the revolt against the Union. In his +farewell words to the Senate, there was a tone of moderation and +dignity not unmixed with regretful and tender emotions. There was +also apparent a spirit of confidence and defiance. He evidently +had full faith that he was going forth to victory and to power. + +Mr. Toombs of Georgia did not take formal leave, but on the 7th of +January delivered a speech which, though addressed to the Senate +of the United States, was apparently intended to influence public +sentiment in Georgia, where there was an uncomfortable halting in +the progress of secession. The speech had special interest, not +alone from Mr. Toombs's well-known ability, but because it was the +only presentation of the conditions on which the scheme of Disunion +might be arrested, and the Cotton States held fast in their loyalty +to the government,--conditions which, in the language of Mr. Toombs, +would "restore fraternity and peace and unity to all of us." It +was not believed that Mr. Toombs had the faintest expectation that +his proposition would receive favorable consideration in the free +States. His point would be fully gained by showing that the free +States would not accept conditions which Georgia had the right to +exact as the basis of her remaining in the Union. Once firmly +persuaded that she was deprived of her constitutional rights, +Georgia could the more easily be led or forced into secession. + +The first condition prescribed by Mr. Toombs was, that in all the +territory owned or to be acquired by the United States, slave +property should be securely protected until the period of the +formation of a State government, when the people could determine +the question for themselves. The second condition was, that property +in slaves should be entitled to the same protection from the +Government of the United States in all its departments everywhere, +which is extended to other property, provided that there should be +no interference with the liberty of a State to prohibit or establish +slavery within its limits. The third condition was, that persons +committing crimes against slave property in one State, and fleeing +to another, should be delivered up in the same manner as persons +committing crimes against other forms of property, and that the +laws of the State from which such persons flee should be the test +of the criminality of the act. The fourth condition was, that +fugitive slaves should be surrendered under the Act of 1850 without +being entitled to a writ of _habeas corpus_, or trial by jury, or +other obstructions in the States to which they might flee. The +fifth and last demand was, that Congress should pass efficient laws +for the punishment of all persons in any of the States who should +in any manner aid or abet invasion or insurrection in any other +State, or commit any other act against the law of nations tending +to disturb the tranquility of the people or government of any other +State. Without the concession of these points Mr. Toombs said the +Union could not be maintained. If some satisfactory arrangement +should not be made, he was for immediate action. "We are," he +said, "as ready to fight now as we ever shall be. I will have +equality or war." He denounced Mr. Lincoln as "an enemy to the +human race, deserving the execration of all mankind." + + GEORGIA SENATORS WITHDRAW. + +Three weeks later the Georgia senators withdrew. Georgia had on +the 19th of January, after much dragooning, passed the Ordinance +of Secession, and on the 28th, Mr. Alfred Iverson, the colleague +of Mr. Toombs, communicated the fact to the Senate in a highly +inflammatory speech. He proclaimed that Georgia was the sixth +State to secede, that a seventh was about to follow, and that "a +confederacy of their own would soon be established." Provision +would be made "for the admission of other States," and Mr. Iverson +assured the Senate that within a few months "all the slave-holding +States of the late confederacy of the United States will be united +together in a bond of union far more homogenous, and therefore more +stable, than the one now being dissolved." His boasting was +unrestrained, but his conception of the contest which he and his +associates were inviting was pitiably inadequate. "Your conquest," +said he, addressing the Union senators, "will cost you a hundred +thousand lives and a hundred millions of dollars." + +The conclusion of Mr. Iverson's harangue disclosed his fear that +after all Georgia might prefer the old Union. "For myself," said +he, "unless my opinions greatly change, I shall never consent to +the reconstruction of the Federal Union. The Rubicon is passed, +and with my consent shall never be recrossed." But these bold +declarations were materially qualified by Mr. Iverson when he +reflected on the powerful minority of Union men in Georgia, and +the general feeling in that State against a conflict with the +National Government. "In this sentiment," said he, "I may be +overruled by the people of my State and of the other Southern +States." . . . "Nothing, however, will bring Georgia back except +a full and explicit recognition and guaranty of the safety and +protection of the institution of domestic slavery." This was the +final indication of the original weakness of the secession cause +in Georgia, and of the extraordinary means which were taken to +impress the people of that State with the belief that secession +would lead to reconstruction on a basis of more efficient protection +to the South and greater strength to the whole Union. + +On the 4th of February Mr. Slidell and Mr. Benjamin delivered their +valedictories as senators from Louisiana. Mr. Slidell was aggressively +insolent. He informed the Senate that if any steps should be taken +to enforce the authority of the Union in the seceded States, they +would be resisted. "You may," he said, "under color of enforcing +your laws and collecting your revenue, blockade our ports. This +will be war, and we shall meet it with different but equally +efficient weapons. We will not permit the consumption or introduction +of any of your manufactures. Every sea will swarm with our +privateers, the volunteer militia of the ocean." He confidently +expected foreign aid. "How long," he asked, "will the great naval +powers of Europe permit you to impede their free intercourse with +their best customers, and to stop the supply of the great staple +which is the most important basis of their manufacturing industry?" +"You were," said he, adding taunt to argument, "with all the wealth +of this once great confederacy, but a fourth or fifth rate naval +power. What will you be when emasculated by the withdrawal of +fifteen States, and warred upon by them with active and inveterate +hostility?" + +In a tone of patronizing liberality, Mr. Slidell gave assurance +that the new confederacy would recognize the rights of the inhabitants +of the valley of the Mississippi and its tributaries to free +navigation, and would guarantee to them "a free interchange of +agricultural production without impost, and the free transit from +foreign countries of every species of merchandise, subjected only +to such regulations as may be necessary for a protection of the +revenue system which we may establish." Had Mr. Slidell been less +inspired by insolence, and more largely endowed with wisdom, he +would have remembered that when the Union contained but six millions +of people, they were willing to fight any one of three great European +powers for freedom of access to the sea for the inhabitants of the +valley of the Mississippi, and that it was from the first a physical +impossibility to close it or in any way restrict it against the +rights of the North-West. The people of that section, even without +the prestige of the national flag, were immeasurably stronger than +the people of the South-West, and were, unaided, fully competent +to fight their way to the ocean over any obstacles which the powers +behind Mr. Slidell could interpose. In the mere matching of local +strength, it was sheer folly for the States of the lower Mississippi +to attempt to control the mouth of that river. + + SPEECHES OF BENJAMIN AND SLIDELL. + +Mr. Judah P. Benjamin spoke in a tone of moderation as contrasted +with the offensive dictation of Mr. Slidell. He devoted himself +mainly to answering an argument which came instinctively to every +man's mind, and which bore with particular severity upon the action +of Louisiana. Mr. Benjamin brought his eminent legal ability to +the discussion, but failed even to satisfy himself. The State of +Louisiana was formed from territory which had been bought and paid +for by the United States out of the common treasury of the whole +people. Whatever specious plea might be made for the independent +and separate sovereignty of the old thirteen States, the argument +could not apply to Louisiana. No one could maintain that Louisiana +had ever enjoyed a separate sovereignty of any kind, nominal or +real. She had been originally owned by France, had been sold to +Spain, had been sold back again to France, and had been bought by +the United States. These sales had been made without protest from +any one, and the title conferred at each transfer was undisputed, +the sovereignty of the purchasing power undeniable. + +Confronting these facts, and realizing the difficulty they presented, +Mr. Benjamin was reduced to desperate straits for argument. "Without +entering into the details of the negotiation," he said, "the archives +of our State Department show the fact to be that although the +domain, the public lands and other property of France in the ceded +province, were conveyed by absolute title to the United States, +the sovereignty was not conveyed _otherwise than in trust_." This +peculiar statement of a sovereignty that was "conveyed in trust" +Mr. Benjamin attempted to sustain by quoting the clause in the +treaty which gave the right of the people of Louisiana to be +incorporated into the Union "on terms of equality with the other +States." From this he argued that the sovereignty of the _Territory_ +of Louisiana held in trust by the Federal Government, and conveyed +to the _State_ of Louisiana on her admission to the Union, was +necessarily greater than the National sovereignty. Indeed, Mr. +Benjamin recognized no "Nation" in the United States and no real +sovereignty in the General Government which was but the agent of +the sovereign States. It properly and logically followed, according +to Mr. Benjamin, that the "sovereignty held in trust," might, when +conferred, be immediately and rightfully employed to destroy the +life of the trustee. The United States might or might not admit +Louisiana to the Union, for the General Government was sole judge +as to time and expediency--but when once admitted, the power of +the State was greater than the power of the Government which +permitted the State to come into existence. Such were the +contradictions and absurdities which the creed of the Secessionists +inevitably involved, and in which so clever a man as Mr. Benjamin +was compelled to blunder and flounder. + +Pursuing his argument, Mr. Benjamin wished to know whether those +who asserted that Louisiana had been bought by the United States +meant that the United States had the right based on that fact to +sell Louisiana? He denied in every form that there had ever been +such a purchase of Louisiana as carried with it the right of sale. +"I deny," said he, "the fact on which the argument is founded. I +deny that the Province of Louisiana or the people of Louisiana were +ever conveyed to the United States for a price as property that +could be bought or sold at will." However learned Mr. Benjamin +may have been in the law, he was evidently ill informed as to the +history of the transaction of which he spoke so confidently. He +should have known that the United States, sixteen years after it +bought Louisiana from France, actually sold or exchanged a large +part of that province to the King of Spain as part of the consideration +in the purchase of the Floridas. He should have known that at the +time the Government of the United States disposed of a part of +Louisiana, there was not an intelligent man in the world who did +not recognize its right and power to dispose of the whole. The +theory that the United States acquired a less degree of sovereignty +over Louisiana than was held by France when she transferred it, or +by Spain when she owned it, was never dreamed of when the negotiation +was made. It was an afterthought on the part of the hard-pressed +defenders of the right of secession. It was the ingenious but lame +device of an able lawyer who undertook to defend what was +indefensible. + +Mr. Yulee of Florida had endeavored to make the same argument on +behalf of his State, feeling the embarrassment as did Mr. Benjamin, +and relying, as Mr. Benjamin did, upon the clause in the treaty +with Spain entitling Florida to admission to the Union. Mr. Benjamin +and Mr. Yulee should both have known that the guaranty which they +quoted was nothing more and nothing less than the ordinary condition +which every enlightened nation makes in parting with its subjects +or citizens, that they shall enter into the new relation without +discrimination against them and with no lower degree of civil rights +than had already been enjoyed by those who form the nation to which +they are about to be annexed. Louisiana, when she was transferred +to the United States, received no further guaranty than Napoleon +in effect gave to Spain at the treaty of San Ildefonso, or than +the Spanish Bourbons had given to the French Bourbons in the treaty +of 1763 at the close of the Seven Years' War. In each of the three +transfers of the sovereignty of Louisiana, the same condition was +perfectly understood as to the rights of the inhabitants. Mr. +Benjamin drew the conclusion which was not only diametrically wrong +in morals, but diametrically erroneous in logic. Instead of +inferring that a State, situated as Louisiana was, should necessarily +become greater than the power which purchased it, simply because +other States in the Union which she joined had assumed such power, +a discriminating mind of Mr. Benjamin's acuteness should have seen +that the very position proved the reverse of what he stated, and +demonstrated, in the absurdity of Louisiana's secession, the equal +absurdity of the secession of South Carolina and Georgia. + + THE ARGUMENT OF MR. BENJAMIN. + +It seemed impossible for Mr. Benjamin or for any other leader of +Southern opinion to argue the question of State rights fairly or +dispassionately. They had been so persistently trained in the +heresy that they could give no weight to the conclusive reasoning +of the other side. The original thirteen, they averred, were "free, +sovereign, and independent States," acknowledged to be such by the +King of Great Britain in the Treaty of peace in 1783. The new +States, so the argument ran, were all admitted to the Union of +terms of equality with the old. Hence all were alike endowed with +sovereignty. Even the historical part of this argument was strained +and fallacious. Much was made in the South of Mr. Toombs's +declaration that "the original thirteen" were as "independent of +each other as Australia and Jamaica." So indeed they were as long +as they remained British Colonies. Their only connection in that +condition was in their common dependence on the Crown. But the +first step towards independence of the Crown was to unite. From +that day onward they were never separate. Nor did the King of +Great Britain acknowledge the "independence and sovereignty" of +the thirteen individual and separate States. The Treaty of peace +declares that "His Majesty acknowledges the said United States +[naming them] to be free, sovereign, and independent States."--not +separately and individually, but the "said _United_ States." The +King then agrees that "the following are and shall be the boundaries +of the said United States,"--proceeding to give, not the boundaries +of each State, but the boundaries of the whole as one unit, one +sovereignty, one nationality. Last of all, the commissioners who +signed the treaty with the King's commissioner were not acting for +the individual States, but for the _United_ States. Three of them, +John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, were from the North, +and Henry Laurens from the South. The separate sovereignties whose +existence was so persistently alleged by Mr. Benjamin and Mr. Toombs +were not represented when independence was conceded. Mr. Benjamin's +conclusion, therefore, was not only illogical, but was completely +disproved by plain historical facts. + +It seems never to have occurred to Mr. Benjamin, or to Mr. Yulee, +or to the Texas senators, or to the Arkansas senators, that the +money paid from a common treasury of the nation gave any claim to +National sovereignty. Their philosophy seems to have been that +the General Government had been paid in full by the privilege of +nurturing new States, of improving their rivers and harbors, of +building their fortifications, of protecting them in peace, of +defending them in war. The privilege of leading the new communities +through the condition of Territorial existence up to the full +majesty of States, was, according to secession argument, sufficient +compensation, and removed all shadow of the title or the sovereignty +of the National Government, the moment the inhabitants thus benefitted +announced their desire to form new connections. Louisiana had cost +fifteen millions of dollars at a time when that was a vast sum of +money. It had cost five millions of money and the surrender of a +province, to purchase Florida, and nearly a hundred millions more +to extinguish the Indian title, and make the State habitable for +white men. Texas cost the National Treasury ninety millions of +dollars in the war which was precipitated by her annexation, and +ten millions more paid to her in 1850, in adjustment of her boundary +trouble. All these States apparently regarded the tie that bound +them to the National Government as in no degree mutual, as imposing +no duty upon them. By some mysterious process still unexplained, +the more they gained from connection with the National authority, +the less was their obligation thereto, the more perfect their right +to disregard and destroy the beneficent government which had created +them and fostered them. + + + SOUTHERN GRIEVANCES NOT STATED. + +In all the speeches delivered by the senators from the seceding +States, there was no presentation of the grievances which, in their +own minds, justified secession. This fact elicited less notice at +the time than it calls forth in retrospect. Those senators held +in their hands in the beginning, the fate of the secession movement. +If they had advised the Southern States that it was wiser and better +to abide in the Union, and at least to wait for some overt act of +wrong against the slave States, the whole movement would have +collapsed. But they evidently felt that this would be a shrinking +and cowardly policy after the numerous manifestoes they had issued. +South Carolina had taken the fatal step, and to fail in sustaining +her would be to co-operate in crushing her. While these motives +and aims are intelligible, it seems utterly incredible that not +one of the senators gave a specification of the wrongs which led +the South to her rash step. Mr. Toombs recounted the concessions +on which the South would agree to remain; but these were new +provisions and new conditions, never intended by the framers of +the Federal Constitution; and they were abhorrent to the civilization +of the nineteenth century. + +Mr. Toombs, Mr. Jefferson Davis, and Mr. Benjamin were the three +ablest senators who spoke in favor of secession. Not one of them +deemed it necessary to justify his conduct by a recital of the +grounds on which so momentous a step could bear the test of historic +examination. They dealt wholly in generalities as to the past, +and apparently based their action on something that was to happen +in the future. Mr. John Slidell sought to give a strong reason +for the movement, in the statement that, if Lincoln should be +inaugurated with Southern assent, the 4th of March would witness, +in various quarters, outbreaks among the slaves which, although +they would be promptly suppressed, would carry ruin and devastation +to many a Southern home. It was from Mr. Slidell that Mr. Buchanan +received the information which induced him to dwell at length in +his annual message on this painful feature of the situation. But +it was probably an invention of Mr. Slidell's fertile brain--imposed +upon the President and intended to influence public sentiment in +the North. It was in flat contradiction of the general faith in +the personal fealty of their slaves, so constantly boasted by the +Southern men,--a faith abundantly justified by the subsequent fact +that four years of war passed without a single attempt to servile +insurrection. At the time of the John Brown disturbance the South +resented the imputation of fear, made upon it by the North. If +now the danger was especially imminent, Southern leaders were solely +to blame. They would not accept the honorable assurance of the +Republican party and of the President-elect that no interference +with slavery in the States was designed. They insisted in all +their public addresses that Mr. Lincoln was determined to uproot +slavery everywhere, and they might well fear that these repeated +declarations had been heard and might be accepted by their slaves. + +The omission by individual senators to present the grievances which +justified secession is perhaps less notable then the same omission +by the conventions which ordained secession in the several States. +South Carolina presented, as a special outrage, the enactment of +personal-liberty bills in the free States, and yet, from the +foundation of the Federal Government, she had probably never lost +a slave in consequence of these enactments. In Georgia the attempt +at justification reached the ludicrous when solemn charge was made +that a bounty had been paid from the Federal Treasury to New-England +fishermen. The tariff was complained of, the navigation laws were +sneered at. But these were all public policies which had been in +operation with Southern consent and largely with Southern support, +throughout the existence of the Republic. When South Carolina +attempted, somewhat after the illustrious model of the Declaration +of Independence, to present justifying reasons for her course, the +very authors of the document must have seen that it amounted only +to a parody. + +Finding no satisfactory exhibit of grievances, either in the speeches +of senators or in the declarations of conventions, one naturally +infers that the Confederate Government, when formally organized at +Montgomery in February, must have given a full and lucid statement +to the world of the reasons for this extraordinary movement. When +our fathers were impelled to break their loyalty to the English +king, and to establish an independent government, they declared in +the very fore-front of the document which contained their reasons, +that "when it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the +political bonds which have connected them with another, and to +assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station +to which the laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a +decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that _they should +declare the causes which impel them to the separation_." They +followed this assertion with an exhibit of causes which, in the +judgment of the world, has been and ever will be, a complete +justification of their revolutionary movement. + + THOMAS JEFFERSON AND JEFFERSON DAVIS. + +The Confederate Government saw fit to do nothing of the kind. +Their Congress put forth no declaration or manifesto, and Jefferson +Davis in his Inaugural as President utterly failed--did not even +attempt--to enumerate the grounds of complaint upon which the +destruction of the American Union was based. He said that "the +declared compact of the Union from which we have withdrawn was to +establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the +common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing +of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. And when, in the judgment +of the sovereign States now composing this confederacy, it has been +perverted from the purposes for which it was ordained, and ceases +to answer the ends for which it was established, a peaceful appeal +to the ballot-box declared, that, so far as they were concerned, +the government created by that compact should cease to exist. In +this they merely assert the right which the Declaration of Independence +of 1776 defined to be inalienable." But in what manner, at what +time, by what measure, "justice, domestic tranquillity, common +defense, the general welfare," had been destroyed by the government +of the Union, Mr. Jefferson Davis did not deign to inform the world +to whose opinion he appealed. + +Mr. Jefferson, in draughting the Declaration of Independence which +Davis quotes as his model, said "the history of the present King +of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, +all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny +over these States." What would have been thought of Mr. Jefferson +if he had stopped there and adduced no instance and given no proof +of his serious indictment against George III.? But Mr. Jefferson +and his fellow-patriots in that great Act proceeded to submit their +proof to the judgment of a candid world. They recited twenty-eight +distinct charges of oppression and tyranny, depriving them of rights +to which they were entitled as subjects of the Crown under the +British Constitution. From that hour to this, there has been no +disproval of the truth of these charges or of the righteousness of +the resistance to which our forefathers resorted. It would have +been well for the dignity of the Southern Confederacy in history +if one of its many able men had placed on record, in an authentic +form, the grounds upon which, and the grievances for which, +destruction of the Union could be justified. + +In his message to the Confederate Congress, Mr. Davis apparently +attempted to cure the defects of his Inaugural address, and to give +a list of measures which he declared to have been hostile to Southern +interests. But it is to be observed that not one of these measures +had been completed. They were merely menaced or foreshadowed. As +matter of fact, emphasized by Mr. Buchanan in his message, and +known to no one better than to Mr. Davis, not a single measure +adverse to the interests of slavery had been passed by the Congress +of the United States from the foundation of the government. If +the Missouri Compromise of 1820 be alleged as an exception to this +sweeping assertion, it must be remembered that that compromise was +a Southern and not a Northern measure, and was a triumph of the +pro-slavery members of Congress over the anti-slavery members; and +that its constitutionality was upheld by the unanimous voice of +the Cabinet in which Mr. Crawford of Georgia and Mr. Calhoun of +South Carolina were leading members. + +On the other hand, the policy of the government had been steadily +in favor of slavery; and the measures of Congress which would +strengthen it were not only numerous, but momentous in character. +They are familiar to every one who knows the simplest elements of +our national history. The acquisition of Louisiana, the purchase +of Florida, the Mexican war, were all great national movements +which resulted in strengthening the slave power. Every demand +which the South made for protection had been conceded. More +stringent provisions for the return of fugitive slaves were asked, +and a law was enacted trampling under foot the very spirit of +liberty, and putting in peril the freedom of men who were citizens +of Northern States. The Missouri Compromise, passed with the +consent and support of the South, was repealed by Southern dictation +the moment its operation was found to be hostile to the spread of +slavery. The rights of slavery in the Territories required judicial +confirmation, and the Supreme Court complied by rendering the famous +decision in the case of Dred Scott. Against all these guaranties +and concessions for the support of slavery, Mr. Davis could quote, +not anti-slavery aggressions which had been made, but only those +which might be made in the future. + + SOUTHERN RESISTANCE TO LAW. + +This position disclosed the real though not the avowed cause of +the secession movement. Its authors were not afraid of an immediate +invasion of the rights of the slave-holder in the States, but they +were conscious that the growth of the country, the progress of +civilization, and the expansion of our population, were all hostile +to their continued supremacy as the governing element in the +Republic. The South was the only section in which there was +distinctively a governing class. The slave-holders ruled their +States more positively than ever the aristocratic classes ruled +England. Besides the distinction of free and slave, or black and +white, there was another line of demarcation between white men that +was as absolute as the division between patrician and plebeian. +The nobles of Poland who dictated the policy of the kingdom were +as numerous in proportion to the whole population as the rich class +of slave-holders whose decrees governed the policy of their States. +It was, in short, an oligarchy which by its combined power ruled +the Republic. No President of any party had ever been elected who +was opposed to its supremacy. The political revolution of 1860 +had given to the Republic an anti-slavery President, and the Southern +men refused to accept the result. They had been too long accustomed +to power to surrender it to an adverse majority, however lawful or +constitutional that majority might be. They had been trained to +lead and not to follow. They were not disciplined to submission. +They had been so long in command that they had become incapable of +obedience. Unwillingness to submit to Constitutional authority +was the controlling consideration which drove the Southern States +to the desperate design of a revolution, peaceful they hoped it +would be, but to a revolution even if it should be one of blood. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Congress in the Winter of 1860-61.--The North offers Many Concessions +to the South.--Spirit of Conciliation.--Committee of Thirteen in +the Senate.--Committee of Thirty-three in the House.--Disagreement +of Senate Committee.--Propositions submitted to House Committee.-- +Thomas Corwin's Measure.--Henry Winter Davis.--Justin S. Morrill-- +Mr. Houston of Alabama.--Constitutional Amendment proposed by +Charles Francis Adams.--Report of the Committee of Thirty-three.-- +Objectionable Measures proposed.--Minority Report by Southern +Members.--The Crittenden Compromise proposed.--Details of that +Compromise.--Mr. Adams's Double Change of Ground.--An Old Resolution +of the Massachusetts Legislature.--Mr. Webster's Criticism Pertinent. +--Various Minority Reports.--The California Members.--Washburn and +Tappan.--Amendment to the Constitution passed by the House.--By +the Senate also.--New Mexico.--The Fugitive-slave Law.--Mr. Clark +of New Hampshire.--Peace Congress.--Invited by Virginia.--Assembles +in Washington.--Peace Measures proposed.--They meet no Favor in +Congress.--Territories of Colorado, Dakota, and Nevada originated. +--Prohibition of Slavery abandoned.--Republicans in Congress do +not ask it.--Explanation required.--James S. Green of Missouri.-- +His Character as a Debater.--Northern Republicans frightened at +their own Success.--Anxious for a Compromise.--Dread of Disunion. +--Northern Democrats.--Dangerous Course pursued by them.--General +Demoralization of Northern Sentiment. + +While the Secession leaders were engaged in their schemes for the +disruption of the National Government and the formation of a new +confederacy, Congress was employing every effort to arrest the +Disunion tendency by making new concessions, and offering new +guaranties to the offended power of the South. If the wild +precipitation of the Southern leaders must be condemned, the +compromising course of the majority in each branch of Congress will +not escape censure,--censure for misjudgment, not for wrong intention. +The anxiety in both Senate and House to do something which should +allay the excitement in the slave-holding section served only to +develop and increase its exasperation and its resolution. A man +is never so aggressively bold as when he finds his opponent afraid +of him; and the efforts, however well meant, of the National Congress +in the winter of 1860-61 undoubtedly impressed the South with a +still further conviction of the timidity of the North, and with a +certainty that the new confederacy would be able to organize without +resistance, and to dissolve the Union without war. + + COMMITTEES OF CONCILIATION. + +Congress had no sooner convened in December, 1860, and received +the message of Mr. Buchanan, with its elaborate argument that the +National Government possessed no power to coerce a State, than in +each branch special committees of conciliation were appointed. +They were not so termed in the resolutions of the Senate and House, +but their mission was solely one of conciliation. They were charged +with the duty of giving extraordinary assurances that Slavery was +not to be disturbed, and of devising measures which might persuade +Southern men against the rashness on which they seemed bent. In +the Senate they raised a committee of thirteen, representing the +number of the original States of the Union. In the House the +committee was composed of thirty-three members, representing the +number of States then existing. In the Senate, Mr. Powell of +Kentucky was chairman of the committee of thirteen, which was +composed of seven Democrats, five Republicans, and the venerable +Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky, who belonged to neither party. It +contained the most eminent men in the Senate of all shades of +political opinion. In the House, Thomas Corwin was made chairman, +with a majority of Republicans of the more conservative type, a +minority of Democrats, and Mr. Henry Winter Davis of Maryland, who +held a position similar to that occupied by Mr. Crittenden in the +Senate. + +The Senate committee promptly disagreed, and before the close of +December reported to the Senate their inability to come to any +conclusion. The committee of thirty-three was more fortunate, or +perhaps unfortunate, in being able to arrive at a series of +conclusions which tended only to lower the tone of Northern opinion +without in the least degree appeasing the wrath of the South. The +record of that committee is one which cannot be reviewed with pride +or satisfaction by any citizen of a State that was loyal to the +Union. Every form of compromise which could be suggested, every +concession of Northern prejudice and every surrender of Northern +pride, was urged upon the committee. The measures proposed to the +committee by members of the House were very numerous, and those +suggested by the members of the committee themselves seemed designed +to meet every complaint made by the most extreme Southern agitators. +The propositions submitted would in the aggregate fill a large +volume, but a selection from the mass will indicate the spirit +which had taken possession of Congress. + +Mr. Corwin of Ohio wished a declaration from Congress that it was +"highly inexpedient to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia +unless with the consent of the States of Maryland and Virginia." +Mr. Winter Davis suggested the Congress should request the States +to revise their statutes with a view to repeal all personal-liberty +bills, and further that the Fugitive-slave Law be so amended as to +secure trial by jury to the fugitive slave, not in the free State +where he was arrested, but in the slave State to which he might be +taken. Mr. Morrill of Vermont offered a resolution declaring that +all accessions of foreign territory shall hereafter be made by +treaty stipulation, and that no treaty shall be ratified until it +had received the legislative assent of two-thirds of all the States +of the Union, and that neither Congress nor any Territorial +Legislature shall pass any law establishing or prohibiting slavery +in any Territory thus acquired until it shall have sufficient +population to entitle it to admission to the Union. Mr. Houston +of Alabama urged the restitution of the Missouri line of 36 deg. 30'. +There was in the judgment of many Southern men a better opportunity +to effect an adjustment on this line of partition than upon any +other basis that had been suggested. But the plea carried with it +a national guaranty and protection of slavery on the southern side +of the line, and its effect would inevitably have been in a few +years to divide the Republic from ocean to ocean. Mr. Taylor of +Louisiana wanted the Constitution so amended that the rights of +the slave-holder in the Territories could be guarantied, and further +amended so that no person, "unless he was of the Caucasian race +and of pure and unmixed blood," should ever be allowed to vote for +any officer of the National Government. + + PROPOSITIONS OF COMPROMISE. + +Mr. Charles Francis Adams proposed that the Constitution of the +United States be so amended that no subsequent amendment thereto, +"having for its object any interference with slavery, shall originate +with any State that does not recognize that relation within its +own limits, or shall be valid without the assent of every one of +the States composing the Union." No Southern man, during the long +agitation of the slavery questions extending from 1820 to 1860, +had ever submitted so extreme a proposition as that of Mr. Adams. +The most precious muniment of personal liberty never had such deep +embedment in the organic law of the Republic as Mr. Adams now +proposed for the protection of slavery. The well-grounded jealousy +and fear of the smaller States had originally secured a provision +that their right to equal representation in the Senate should never +be taken from them even by an amendment of the Constitution. Mr. +Adams now proposed to give an equal safeguard and protection to +the institution of slavery. Yet the proposition was opposed by +only three members of the committee of thirty-three,--Mason W. +Tappan of New Hampshire, Cadwallader C. Washburn of Wisconsin, +and William Kellogg of Illinois. + +After a consideration of the whole subject, the majority of the +committee made a report embodying nearly every objectionable +proposition which had been submitted. The report included a +resolution asking the States to repeal all their personal-liberty +bills, in order that the recapture and return of fugitive slaves +should in no degree be obstructed. It included an amendment to +the Constitution as proposed by Mr. Adams. It offered to admit +New Mexico, which then embraced Arizona, immediately, with its +slave-code as adopted by the Territorial Legislature,--thus confirming +and assuring its permanent character as a slave State. It proposed +to amend the Fugitive-slave Law by providing that the right to +freedom of an alleged fugitive should be tried in the slave State +from which he was accused of fleeing, rather than in the free State +where he was seized. It proposed, according to the demand of Mr. +Toombs, that a law should be enacted in which all offenses against +slave property by persons fleeing to other States should be tried +where the offense was committed, making the slave-code, in effect, +the test of the criminality of the act,--an act which, in its +essential character, might frequently be one of charity and good +will. + +These propositions had the precise effect which, in cooler moments, +their authors would have anticipated. They humiliated the North +without appeasing or satisfying the South. Five Southern members +made a minority report in which still further concessions were +demanded. They submitted what was known as the Crittenden Compromise, +demanding six amendments to the Constitution for the avowed purpose +of placing slavery under the guardianship and protection of the +National Government, and, after the example of Mr. Adams's proposed +amendment, intrenching the institution where agitation could not +disturb it, where legislation could not affect it, where amendments +to the Constitution would be powerless to touch it. + +--The first amendment proposed that in "all the territory of the +United States south of the old Missouri line, either now held or +to be hereafter acquired, the slavery of the African race is +recognized as existing, not to be interfered with by Congress, but +to be protected as property by all the departments of the Territorial +Government during its continuance." + +--The second amendment declared that "Congress shall have no power +to interfere with slavery even in those places under its exclusive +jurisdiction in the slave States." + +--The third amendment took away from Congress the exclusive +jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, as guarantied in the +Constitution, declaring that Congress should "never interfere with +slavery in the District, except with the consent of Virginia and +Maryland, so long as it exists in the State of Virginia or Maryland, +nor without the consent of the inhabitants of the District, nor +without just compensation for the slaves. Nor shall Congress +prohibit officers of the General Government nor members of Congress +from bringing with them their slaves to the District, holding them +there during the time their duties may require them to remain, and +afterwards taking them from the District." + +--The fourth amendment prohibited Congress from interfering with +the transportation of slaves from one State to another, or from +one State to any Territory south of the Missouri line, whether that +transportation be by land, by navigable river, or by the sea. + +--The fifth amendment conferred upon Congress the power, and +prescribed its duty, to provide for the payment to the owner of a +fugitive slave his full value from the National Treasury, in all +cases where the marshal was prevented from arresting said fugitive +by violence or intimidation, or where the fugitive, after arrest, +was rescued by force. + +--The sixth amendment provided for a perpetual existence of the +five amendments just quoted, by placing them beyond the power of +the people to change or revise--declaring that "no future amendment +to the Constitution shall ever be passed that shall affect any +provision of the five amendments just recited; that the provision +in the original Constitution which guaranties the count of three- +fifths of the slaves in the basis of representation, shall never +be changed by any amendment; that no amendment shall ever be made +which alters or impairs the original provision for the recovery of +fugitives from service; that no amendment shall be made that shall +ever permit Congress to interfere in any way with slavery in the +State where it may be permitted." + + PROPOSITIONS OF COMPROMISE. + +Before Mr. Corwin submitted his report, Mr. Charles Francis Adams +appears to have become disgusted with his own proposition for the +amendment of the Constitution. This disgust was caused by the +refusal of the Southern members of the committee to agree to the +declaration that "peaceful acquiescence in the election of the +Chief Magistrate, accomplished in accordance with every legal and +constitutional requirement, is the paramount duty of every good +citizen of the United States." The proposition of Mr. Adams to +this effect was amended by Mr. Millson of Virginia, who substituted +"high and imperative" for "paramount." But even in this modified +form, seven Southern members asked to be excused from voting upon +it, and Mr. Adams seems wisely to have thought that "if there could +not be agreement on a proposition so fundamental and essential as +that, it was of no use to seek any remedy for the existence of +evils by legislation of Congress." Mr. Adams, therefore, made a +report dissenting from the committee, stating that he had changed +his course, and now declined to recommend the very measures which +he had in good faith offered. This was on the 14th of January. + +On the 31st of January Mr. Adams changed his course again, and +returned to the unqualified support of the measures proposed by +the committee. In his speech of that date, he asked, addressing +the South, "How stands the case, then? We offer to settle the +question finally in all of the present territory that you claim, +by giving you every chance of establishing Slavery that you have +any right to require of us. You decline to take the offer because +you fear it will do you no good. Slavery will not go there. Why +require protection where you will have nothing to protect? . . . +All you appear to desire it is for New Mexico. Nothing else is +left. Yet you will not accept New Mexico at once, because ten +years of experience have proved to you that protection has been of +no use thus far." These are somewhat extraordinary words in 1861 +from a man who in 1850 had, as a Conscience Whig, declined to +support Mr. Webster for making in advance the same statements, and +for submitting arguments that were substantially identical. + +During the debate, in which Mr. Adams arraigned the Disunionists +of the South with considerable power, he was somewhat embarrassed +by a Southern member who quoted resolutions which Mr. Adams had +introduced in the Massachusetts Legislature in 1844, and which had +been passed by that body, respecting the annexation of Texas. He +had declared therein, just as Josiah Quincy had declared with +reference to the acquisition of Louisiana, "that the power to unite +an independent foreign State with the United States is not among +the powers delegated to the General Government by the Constitution +of the United States." He declared, further, that "the Commonwealth +of Massachusetts, faithful to the compact between the people of +the United States, according to the plain meaning and intent in +which it was understood and acceded to by them, is sincerely anxious +for its preservation; and that it is determined, as it doubts not +other States are, to submit to undelegated powers in no body of +men on earth; and that the project of the annexation of Texas, +unless resisted on the threshold, may tend to drive these States +into a dissolution of the Union." This resolution of Mr. Adams +was unfortunate in every respect for his position in the debate on +that day, since it really included and justified every constitutional +heresy entertained by Mr. Calhoun, and claimed for the State of +Massachusetts every power of secession or dissolution which was +now asserted by the Southern States. + +Mr. Webster, in one of his ablest speeches (in reply to Mr. Calhoun +in February, 1833), devoted his great powers to demonstrating that +the Constitution was not "a compact," and that the people of the +States had not "acceded" to it. Mr. Adams had unfortunately used +the two words which, according to Mr. Webster, belonged only to +the lexicon of disloyalty. "If," said Mr. Webster, "in adopting +the Constitution nothing was done but _acceding to a compact_, +nothing would seem necessary in order to break it up but to _secede +from the same compact_." "Accession," as a word applied to +political association, implies coming into a league, treaty, or +confederacy. "Secession" implied departing from such league or +confederacy. Mr. Adams had further declared that the people of +Massachusetts are "faithful to the compact according to the plain +meaning and intent in which it was understood by them." But +according to Mr. Webster, and in accordance with the principles +absolutely essential to maintain a constitutional government, +Massachusetts had no part or lot in deciding the question which +Mr. Adams's resolution covered. If Massachusetts reserved to +herself the right to determine the sense in which she understood +her accession to the compact of the Federal Government, she gave +full warrant to South Carolina to determine for herself the sense +of the compact to which she acceded, and therefore justified the +action of the Southern States. Whether Texas was constitutionally +or unconstitutionally annexed to the Union was no more to be decided +by Massachusetts than the constitutionality of the prohibition of +Slavery north of the Missouri line was to be decided by South +Carolina. The position of Mr. Adams in 1844 had therefore returned +to plague its inventor in 1861, and in a certain sense to weaken +the position of the loyal States. + + REPORT OF COMPROMISE COMMITTEE. + +Various reports were submitted by members of the minority, of no +special significance, differing often on immaterial points. The +members from California and Oregon who represented the Breckinridge +party of the North, united in a recommendation for a general +convention to be called under the authority of the Constitution, +to propose such amendments as would heal all existing differences, +and afford sufficient guaranties to the growing interests of the +government and people. The only bold words spoken were in the able +report by Cadwallader C. Washburn of Wisconsin and Mason W. Tappan +of New Hampshire. They made an exhaustive analysis of the situation +in plain language. They reviewed ably and conclusively the report +made by Mr. Corwin for the majority of the committee, and spoke as +became men who represented the justice and the power of a great +Republic. They vindicated the conduct of the General Government, +and showed that the Union was not to be preserved by compromises +nor by sacrifice of principle. They regarded the discontent and +hostility in the South as without just cause, and intimated that +those States might purchase at a high price some valuable information +to be learned only in the school of experience. They embodied +their entire recommendations in a single resolution in which they +declared that the provisions of the Constitution were ample for +the preservation of the Union; that it needed to be obeyed rather +than amended; and that "our extrication from present difficulties +is to be looked for in efforts to preserve and protect the public +property and enforce the laws, rather than in new guaranties for +particular interests, or in compromises, or concessions to unreasonable +demands." + +When the report of the committee of thirty-three came before the +House for action, the series of resolution were first tested by a +motion to lay upon the table, which was defeated by a vote of nearly +two to one; and after angry debate running through several days, +the resolutions, which were only directory in their character, were +adopted by a large majority. When the constitutional amendment was +reached, Mr. Corwin substituted for that which was originally +draughted by Mr. Adams, an amendment declaring that "no amendment +shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to +Congress the power to abolish, or interfere, within any State, with +the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held +to labor or service by the laws of said State." This was adopted +by a vote of 133 to 65. It was numbered as the thirteenth amendment +to the Federal Constitution, and would have made slavery perpetual +in the United States, so far as any influence or power of the +National Government could affect it. It intrenched slavery securely +in the organic law of the land, and elevated the privilege of the +slave-holder beyond that of the owner of any other species of +property. It received the votes of a large number of Republicans +who were then and afterwards prominent in the councils of the party. +Among the most distinguished were Mr. Sherman of Ohio, Mr. Colfax, +Mr. C. F. Adams, Mr. Howard of Michigan, Mr. Windom of Minnesota, +and Messrs. Moorhead and McPherson of Pennsylvania. The sixty-five +negative votes were all Republicans whom the excitement of the hour +did not drag from their moorings, and many of whom have since done, +as they had done before, signal service for their party and their +country. Thaddeus Stevens was at their head, and he was sustained +by the two Washburns, by Bingham of Ohio, by Roscoe Conkling, by +Anson Burlingame, by Owen Lovejoy, by Marston and Tappan of New +Hampshire, by Galusha A. Grow, by Reuben E. Fenton, and by others +who, if less conspicuous, were not less deserving. + +When the proposition reached the Senate, it was adopted by a vote +of 24 to 12, precisely the requisite two-thirds. Among those who +aided in carrying it were Hunter of Virginia, Nicholson of Tennessee, +Sebastian of Arkansas, and Gwin of California, who soon after +proceeded to join the Rebellion. Eight Republican senators, Anthony +of Rhode Island, Baker of Oregon, Dixon and Foster of Connecticut, +Grimes and Harlan of Iowa, Morrill of Maine, and Ten Eyck of New +Jersey, voted in the affirmative. Only twelve out of twenty-five +Republican senators voted in the negative. Mr. Seward, Mr. Fessenden, +Mr. Collamer, and others among the weightiest Republican leaders +are not recorded as voting. As pairs were not announced, it may +be presumed that they consented to the passage of the amendment. +Before the resolution could reach the States for concurrence, either +by convention or Legislature, the evidences of Southern outbreak +had so increased that all such efforts at conciliation were seen +to be vain, and in the end they proved hurtful. Only two States, +Maryland and Ohio, gave their assent to the amendment. In the New- +England States it was rejected, and in many it was not acted upon. +Whoever reads the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution as it +now stands, and compares it with the one which was proposed by the +Thirty-sixth Congress, will be struck with the rapid revolution of +public sentiment, and will not be at a loss to draw some useful +lessons as to the course of public opinion and the conduct of public +men in times of high excitement. + + THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE. + +The propositions of the committee of thirty-three to admit New +Mexico as a slave State, and to amend the Fugitive-slave Law, were +both passed by the House, but were defeated or not acted upon in +the Senate. In that body the efforts of the friends of conciliation +were mainly confined to the Crittenden compromise which has already +been outlined in the proceedings of the House. But for the eminent +respectability of the venerable senator from Kentucky, his propositions +would have had short consideration. They were of a character not +to be entertained by a free people. They dealt wholly in the +finding of new guaranties for slavery, without attempting to intimate +the possible necessity of new guaranties for freedom. Perhaps the +most vicious feature in this whole series of proposed amendments +to the Constitution was the guaranty of slavery against the power +of Congress in all territory of the United States south of 36 deg. 30'. +This offered a premium upon the acquisition of territory, and was +an encouragement to schemes of aggression against friendly powers +south of the United States, which would always have had the sympathy +and support of one-half the Union, and could hardly have been +resisted by any moral power of the General Government. It would +have opened anew the old struggle for equality between free States +and slave States, and would in all probability have led the country +to war within three years from its adoption,--war with Mexico for +the border States of that Republic, war with Spain for the acquisition +of Cuba. This would have followed as matter of policy with Southern +leaders, whether they intended to abide in the Union, or whether +they intended, at some more advantageous and opportune moment, to +secede from it. If they concluded to remain, their political power +in the National Government would have been greatly increased from +the acquisition of new States. If they desired to secede, they +would have acquired a much more formidable strength and vastly +larger area by the addition of Southern territory to which the +Crittenden propositions would not only have invited but driven them. + +While these propositions were under discussion, Mr. Clark of New +Hampshire offered as a substitute the resolution with which Messrs. +Washburn and Tappan had closed their report in the House,--a +resolution of which Mr. Clark was the author, and which he had +previously submitted to the consideration of the Senate. The test +question in the Senate was whether Mr. Clark's resolution should +be substituted for the Crittenden proposition, and this was carried +by a vote of 25 to 23. The twenty-five were all Republicans; the +twenty-three were all Democrats, except Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky +and Mr. Kennedy of Maryland, who had been supporters of Mr. Bell +in the Presidential election. It is a fact worthy of note that +six senators from the extreme Southern States sat in their seats +and refused to vote on the proposition. Had they chosen they could +have defeated the action. But they believed, with a certain +consistency and wisdom, that no measure could be of value to the +South unless it had the concurrence of senators from the North; +and with this motive they imposed upon the Republicans of the Senate +the responsibility of deciding the Crittenden proposition. It was +matter of congratulation with Republicans who did not lose their +judgment in that trying season, that the Senate stood firmly against +the fatal compromise which was urged by so many strong influences. +Much was forgiven for other unwise concessions, so long as this +was definitely rejected. + + + PROPOSITIONS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE. + +Meanwhile a body of men had assembled in the National Capital upon +the invitation of the State of Virginia, for the purpose of making +an earnest effort to adjust the unhappy controversy. The Peace +Congress, as it was termed, came together in the spirit in which +the Constitution was originally formed. Its members professed, +and no doubt felt, an earnest desire to afford to the slave-holding +States, consistently with the principles of the Constitution, +adequate guaranties for the security of their rights. Virginia's +proposition was brought to the National Capital by Ex-President +John Tyler, deputed by his State to that honorable duty. In response +to the invitation twenty-one States, fourteen free and seven slave, +had sent delegates, who assembled in Washington on the 4th of +February, 1861. After remaining in session some three weeks, the +Peace Congress submitted an article of amendment to the Constitution, +contained in seven sections, making as many distinct propositions. + +--The first section restored the line of the Missouri Compromise +as it was before the repeal in 1854. + +--The second provided that no further acquisition of territory +should be made except by the consent of a majority of all the +senators from the slave-holding States and a majority of all the +senators from the free States. + +--The third declared that no amendment to the Constitution shall +be made interfering with Slavery in the States, nor shall Congress +prohibit it in the District of Columbia, nor interfere with the +inter-State slave-trade, nor place any higher rate of taxation on +slaves than upon land. At the same time it abolished the slave- +trade in the District of Columbia. + +--The fourth provided that no construction of the Constitution +shall prevent any of the States aiding, by appropriate legislation, +in the arrest and delivery of fugitive slaves. + +--The fifth forever prohibited the foreign slave-trade. + +--The sixth declared that the amendments to the Constitution herein +proposed shall not be abolished or changed without the consent of +all the States. + +--The seventh provided for the payment from the National Treasury +for all fugitive slaves whose recapture is prevented by violence. + +These propositions met with little favor in either branch of Congress. +Mr. Crittenden, finding that he could not pass his own resolutions, +endeavored to substitute these, but could induce only six senators +to concur with him. In the House there was no action whatever upon +the report. The venerable Ex-President was chosen to preside over +the deliberations of the conference, but was understood not to +approve the recommendations. Far as they went, they had not gone +far enough to satisfy the demands of Virginia, and still less the +demands of the States which had already seceded. It is a curious +circumstance that one of the delegates from Pennsylvania, Mr. J. +Henry Puleston, was not a citizen of the United States, but a +subject of Queen Victoria, and is now (1884), and has been for +several years, a member of the British Parliament. + + +To complete the anomalies and surprises of that session of Congress, +it is necessary to recall the fact, that, with a Republican majority +in both branches, Acts organizing the Territories of Colorado, +Dakota, and Nevada were passed without containing a word of +prohibition on the subject of slavery. From the day that the +administration of Mr. Polk began its career of foreign acquisition, +the question of slavery in the Territories had been a subject of +controversy between political parties. When the Missouri Compromise +was repealed, and the Territories of the United States north of +the line of 36 deg. 30' were left without slavery inhibition or +restriction, the agitation began which ended in the overthrow of +the Democratic party and the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency +of the United States. It will therefore always remain as one of +the singular contradictions in the political history of the country, +that, after seven years of almost exclusive agitation on this one +question, the Republicans, the first time they had the power as a +distinctive political organization to enforce the cardinal article +of their political creed, quietly and unanimously abandoned it. +And the abandoned it without a word of explanation. Mr. Sumner +and Mr. Wade and Mr. Chandler, the most radical men in the Senate +on the Republican side, sat still and allowed the bill to be passed +precisely as reported by James S. Green of Missouri, who had been +the ablest defender of the Breckinridge Democracy in that body. +In the House, Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, Mr. Owen Lovejoy, the Washburns, +and all the other radical Republicans vouchsafed no word explanatory +of this extraordinary change of position. + + COLORADO, DAKOTA, AND NEVADA. + +If it be said in defense of this course that all the Territories +lay north of 36 deg. 30', and were therefore in no danger of slavery, +it only introduces fresh embarrassment by discrediting the action +of the Republican party in regard to Kansas, and discrediting the +earnest and persistent action of the anti-slavery Whigs and Free- +Soilers, who in 1848 successfully insisted upon embodying the Wilmot +Proviso in the Act organizing the Territory of Oregon. Surely, if +an anti-slavery restriction were needed for Oregon, it was needed +for Dakota which lay in the same latitude. Beyond doubt, if the +Territory of Kansas required a prohibition against slavery, the +Territory of Colorado and the Territory of Nevada, which lay as +far south, needed it also. To allege that they could secure the +President's approval of the bills in the form in which they were +passed, and that Mr. Buchanan would veto each and every one of them +if an anti-slavery proviso were embodied, is to give but a poor +excuse, for, five days after the bills received the Executive +signature, Mr. Buchanan went out of office, and Abraham Lincoln +was installed as President. + +If, indeed, it be fairly and frankly admitted, as was the fact, +that receding from the anti-slavery position was part of the +conciliation policy of the hour, and that the Republicans did it +the more readily because they had full faith that slavery never +could secure a foothold in any of the Territories named, it must +be likewise admitted that the Republican party took precisely the +same ground held by Mr. Webster in 1850, and acted from precisely +the same motives that inspired the 7th of March speech. Mr. Webster +maintained for New Mexico only what Mr. Sumner now admitted for +Colorado and Nevada. Mr. Webster acted from the same considerations +that now influenced and controlled the judgment of Mr. Seward. As +matter of historic justice, the Republicans who waived the anti- +slavery restriction should at least have offered and recorded their +apology for any animadversions they had made upon the course of +Mr. Webster ten years before. Every prominent Republican senator +who agreed in 1861 to abandon the principle of the Wilmot Proviso +in organizing the Territories of Colorado and Nevada, had, in 1850, +heaped reproach upon Mr. Webster for not insisting upon the same +principle for the same territory. Between the words of Mr. Seward +and Mr. Sumner in the one crisis and their votes in the other, +there is a discrepancy for which it would have been well to leave +on record an adequate explanation. The danger to the Union, in +which they found a good reason for receding from the anti-slavery +restriction on the Territories, had been cruelly denied to Mr. +Webster as a justifying motive. They found in him only a guilty +recreancy to sacred principle for the same act which in themselves +was inspired by devotion to the Union. + +It was certainly a day of triumph for Mr. Douglas. He was justified +in his boast that, after all the bitter agitation which followed +the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, the Republicans adopted +his principle and practically applied its provisions in the first +Territory which they had the power to organize. Mr. Douglas had +been deprived of his chairmanship of the Committee of Territories +by the Southern leaders, and his place had been given to James S. +Green of Missouri. His victory therefore was complete when Mr. +Seward waived the anti-slavery guaranty on behalf of the Republicans, +and when Mr. Green waived the pro-slavery guaranty on behalf of +the Breckinridge Democracy. It was the apotheosis of Popular +Sovereignty, and Mr. Douglas was pardonable even for an excessive +display of self-gratulation over an event so suggestive and so +instructive. Mr. Grow, the chairman of Territories in the House, +frankly stated that he had agreed with Mr. Green, chairman of +Territories in the Senate, that there should be no reference whatever +to the question of slavery in any of the Territorial bills. It +cannot be denied that this action of the Republican party was a +severe reflection upon that prolonged agitation for prohibition of +slavery in the Territories by Congressional enactment. A surrender +of the principle with due explanation of the reasons, properly +recorded for the instruction of those who should come after, would +have left the Republican party in far better position than did the +precipitate retreat which they made without a word of apology, +without an attempt at justification. + +If receding from the anti-slavery creed of the Republican party +was intended as a conciliation to the South, the men who made the +movement ought to have seen that it would prove ineffectual. The +Republicans no more clearly perceived that they risked nothing on +the question of slavery in organizing those Territories without +restriction, than the Southern leaders perceived that they would +gain nothing by it. In vain is the net spread in the sight of any +bird. The South had realized their inability to compete with +Northern emigration by their experience in attempting to wrest +Kansas from the control of free labor. They were not to be deluded +now by a nominal equality of rights in Territories where, in a long +contest for supremacy, they were sure to be outnumbered, outvoted, +and finally excluded by organic enactment. The political agitation +and the sentimental feeling on this question were therefore exposed +on both sides,--the North frankly confessing that they did not +desire a Congressional restriction against slavery, and the South +as frankly conceding that the demand they had so loudly made for +admission to the Territories was really worth nothing to the +institution of slavery. The whole controversy over the Territories, +as remarked by a witty representative from the South, related to +an imaginary negro in an impossible place. + +James Stephens Green, who was so prominent in this legislation, +who prepared and reported the bills, and who was followed by a +unanimous Senate, terminated his public service on the day Mr. +Lincoln was inaugurated. He was then but forty-four years of age, +and had served only four years in the Senate. He died soon after. +No man among his contemporaries had made so profound an impression +in so short a time. He was a very strong debater. He had peers, +but no master, in the Senate. Mr. Green on the one side and Mr. +Fessenden on the other were the senators whom Douglas most disliked +to meet, and who were the best fitted in readiness, in accuracy, +in logic, to meet him. Douglas rarely had a debate with either in +which he did not lose his temper, and to lose one's temper in debate +is generally to lose one's cause. Green had done more than any +other man in Missouri to break down the power of Thomas H. Benton +as a leader of the Democracy. His arraignment of Benton before +the people of Missouri in 1849, when he was but thirty-two years +of age, was one of the most aggressive and successful warfares in +our political annals. His premature death was a loss to the country. +He was endowed with rare powers which, rightly directed, would have +led him to eminence in the public service. + + NORTHERN DEMORALIZATION. + +It would be unjust to the senators and representatives in Congress +to leave the impression that their unavailing efforts at conciliating +the South were any thing more or less than a compliance with a +popular demand which overspread the free States. As soon as the +election was decided in favor of Mr. Lincoln, and the secession +movement began to develop in the South, tens of thousands of those +who had voted for the Republican candidates became affrighted at +the result of their work. This was especially true in the Middle +States, and to a very considerable extent in New England. Municipal +elections throughout the North during the ensuing winter showed a +great falling-off in Republican strength. There was, indeed, in +every free State what might, in the political nomenclature of the +day, be termed an utter demoralization of the Republican party. +The Southern States were going farther than the people had believed +was possible. The wolf which had been so long used to scare, seemed +at last to have come. Disunion, which had been so much threatened +and so little executed, seemed now to the vision of the multitude +an accomplished fact,--a fact which inspired a large majority of +the Northern people with a sentiment of terror, and imparted to +their political faith an appearance of weakness and irresolution. + +Meetings to save the Union upon the basis of surrender of principle +were held throughout the free States, while a word of manly resistance +to the aggressive disposition of the South, or in re-affirmation +of principles so long contended for, met no popular response. Even +in Boston, Wendell Phillips needed the protection of the police in +returning to his home after one of his eloquent and defiant harangues, +and George William Curtis was advised by the Republican mayor of +Philadelphia that his appearance as a lecturer in that city would +be extremely unwise. He had been engaged to speak on "The Policy +of Honesty." But so great had been the change in popular feeling +in a city which Mr. Lincoln had carried by a vast majority, that +the owner of the hall in which Mr. Curtis was to appear, warned +him that a riot was anticipated if he should speak. Its doors were +closed against him. This was less than five weeks after Mr. Lincoln +was elected, and the change of sentiment in Philadelphia was but +an index to the change elsewhere in the North. + +The South, meanwhile, had been encouraged in the work of secession +by thousands of Democrats who did not desire or look for the +dissolution of the Union, but wished to plot of secession to go +far enough, and the danger to the Union to become just imminent +enough, to destroy their political opponents. Men who afterwards +attested their loyalty to the Union by their lives, took part in +this dangerous scheme of encouraging a revolt which they could not +repress. They apparently did not comprehend that lighted torches +cannot be carried with safety through a magazine of powder; and, +though they were innocent of intentional harm, they did much to +increase an evil which was rapidly growing beyond all power of +control. As already indicated, the position of President Buchanan +and the doctrines of his message had aided in the development of +this feeling in the North. It was further stimulated by the +commercial correspondence between the two sections. The merchants +and factors in the South did not as a class desire Disunion, and +they were made to believe that the suppression of Abolitionism in +the North would restore harmony and good feeling. Abolitionism +was but another name for the Republican party, and in business +circles in the free State that party had come to represent the +source of all our trouble. These men did not yet measure the full +scope of the combination against the Union, and persisted in +believing that its worst enemies were in the North. The main result +of these misconceptions was a steady and rapid growth of strength +throughout the slave States in the movement for Secession. + + + ENACTMENT OF THE MORRILL TARIFF. + +Fruitless and disappointing as were the proceedings of this session +of Congress on the subjects which engrossed so large a share of +public attention, a most important change was accomplished in the +revenue laws,--a change equivalent to a revolution in the economic +and financial system of the government. The withdrawal of the +Southern senators and representatives left both branches of Congress +under the control of the North, and by a considerable majority +under the direction of the Republican party. In the preceding +session of Congress the House, having a small Republican majority, +had passed a bill advancing the rate of duties upon foreign +importations. This action was not taken as an avowed movement for +protection, but merely as a measure to increase the revenue. +During Mr. Buchanan's entire term the receipts of the Treasury had +been inadequate to the payment of the annual appropriations by +Congress, and as a result the government had been steadily incurring +debt at a rate which was afterwards found to affect the public +credit at a critical juncture in our history. To check this +increasing deficit the House insisted on a scale of duties that +would yield a larger revenue, and on the 10th of May, 1860, passed +the bill. In the Senate, then under the control of the Democratic +party, with the South in the lead, the bill encountered opposition. +Senators from the Cotton States thought they saw in it the hated +principle of protection, and protection meant in their view, strength +and prestige for the manufacturing States of the North. The bill +had been prepared in committee and reported in the House by a New- +England member, Mr. Morrill of Vermont, which of itself was sufficient +in the eyes of many Southern men to determine its character and +its fate. + +Mr. Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia was at the time Chairman of +the Senate Committee of Finance. He was a man of sturdy common +sense, slow in his methods, but strong and honest in his processes +of reasoning. He advanced rapidly in public esteem, and in 1839, +at thirty years of age, was chosen Speaker of the House of +Representatives. He was a sympathizer with the South-Carolina +extremists, and coalesced with the Whigs to defeat the regular +Democrats who were sustaining the Administration of Mr. Van Buren. +In 1847 Mr. Hunter was chosen senator from Virginia, and served +continuously till the outbreak of the war. He was a conservative +example of that class of border State Democrats who were blinded +to all interests except those of slavery. + +The true wealth of Virginia, in addition to her agriculture and in +aid of it, lay in her vast deposits of coal and iron, in her +extensive forests, in her unsurpassed water power. Her natural +resources were beyond computation, and suggested for her a great +career as a commercial and manufacturing State. Her rivers on the +eastern slope connected her interior with the largest and finest +harbor on the Atlantic coast of North America, and her jurisdiction +extended over an empire beyond the Alleghanies. Her climate was +salubrious, and so temperate as to forbid the plea always used in +justification of negro slavery in the Cotton States, that the white +man could not perform agricultural labor. A recognition of Virginia's +true destiny would point to Northern alliances and Northern +sympathies. Mr. Hunter's sympathies were by birth and rearing with +the South. The alliances he sought looked towards the Gulf and +not towards the Lakes. Any measure which was displeasing to South +Carolina or Alabama was displeasing to Mr. Hunter, and he gave no +heed to what might be the relations of Virginia with the New England, +Middle, and Western States. He measured the policy of Virginia by +the policy of States whose geographical position, whose soil, +climate, products, and capacities were totally different from hers. +By Mr. Hunter's policy, Virginia could sell only slaves to the +South. A more enlightened view would have enabled Virginia to +furnish a large proportion of the fabrics which the Southern States +were compelled to purchase in communities far to the north of her. +Mr. Hunter was no doubt entirely honest in this course. He was +upright in all his personal and political relations, but he could +not forget that he was born a Southern man and a slave-holder. He +had a full measure of that pride in his State so deeply cherished +by Virginians. At the outset of his public career he became +associated with Mr. Calhoun, and early imbibed the doctrines of +that illustrious senator, who seldom failed to fascinate the young +men who fell within the sphere of his personal influence. + +Mr. Hunter therefore naturally opposed the new tariff, and under +his lead all action upon it was defeated for the session. This +conclusion was undoubtedly brought about by considerations outside +of the legitimate scope of the real question at issue. The struggle +for the Presidency was in progress, and any concession by the slave +States on the tariff question would weaken the Democratic party +in the section where its chief strength lay, and would correspondingly +increase the prestige of Lincoln's supporters in the North and of +Mr. Fillmore's followers in the South. Mr. Hunter had himself just +received a strong support in the Charleston convention for the +Presidency, securing a vote almost equal to that given to Douglas. +This was an additional tie binding him to the South, and he responded +to the wishes of that section by preventing all action on the tariff +bill of the House pending the Presidential struggle of 1860. + + SENATE VOTES ON THE MORRILL TARIFF. + +But the whole aspect of the question was changed when at the ensuing +session of Congress the senators and representatives from the Cotton +States withdrew, and betook themselves to the business of establishing +a Southern Confederacy. Mr. Hunter's opposition was not relaxed, +but his supporters were gone. Opposition was thus rendered powerless, +and the first important step towards changing the tariff system +from low duties to high duties, from free-trade to protection, was +taken by the passage of the Morrill Bill on the second day of March, +1861. Mr. Buchanan was within forty-eight hours of the close of +his term and he promptly and cheerfully signed the bill. He had +by this time become not only emancipated from Southern thraldom +but in some degree embittered against Southern men, and could +therefore readily disregard objections from that source. His early +instincts and declarations in favor of a protective policy doubtless +aided him in a conclusion which a year before he could not have +reached without a conflict in his Cabinet that would probably have +ended in its disruption. + +The passage of the Morrill Tariff was an event which would almost +have marked an era in the history of the government if public +attention had not been at once absorbed in struggles which were +far more engrossing than those of legislative halls. It was however +the beginning of a series of enactments which deeply affected the +interests of the country, and which exerted no small influence upon +the financial ability of the government to endure the heavy +expenditure entailed by the war which immediately followed. Theories +were put aside in the presence of a great necessity, and the belief +became general that in the impending strain on the resources of +the country, protection to home industry would be a constant and +increasing strength to the government. + +On the passage of the bill in the Senate, on the 20th of February, +the yeas were 25 and the nays 14. No Democratic senator voted in +the affirmative and no Republican senator in the negative. It was +not only a sharp division on the party line but almost equally so +on the sectional line. Mr. Douglas, Mr. Rice of Minnesota, Mr. +Latham of California, and Mr. Lane of Oregon were the only Northern +senators who united with the compact South against the bill. +Senators from Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas +were still taking part in the proceedings. Mr. Crittenden of +Kentucky and Mr. Kennedy of Maryland were favorable to the policy +of protection, but on this bill they withheld their votes. They +had not abandoned all hope of an adjustment of the Disunion troubles, +and deemed the pending measure too radical a change of policy to +be adopted in the absence of the senators and representatives from +seven States so deeply interested. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, +sympathizing warmly with the Republicans on all questions relating +to the preservation of the Union, was too firmly wedded to the +theory of free-trade to appreciate the influence which this measure +would exert in aid of the national finances. + +The test vote in the House was taken on the 27th of February, on +a motion made by Mr. Branch of North Carolina to lay the bill on +the table. Only 43 votes were given in favor, while 102 were +recorded against this summary destruction of the measure. The +sectional line was not so rigidly maintained as it was in the House. +Of the hostile vote 28 were from the South and 15 from the North. +The Virginia delegation, following Mr. Hunter's example, voted +solidly in opposition. The Southern men who voted for the bill +were in nearly every instance distinguished for their hostility to +secession. John A. Gilmer of North Carolina, Thomas A. R. Nelson, +and William B. Stokes of Tennessee, William C. Anderson, Francis +M. Bristow, Green Adams, and Laban T. Moore of Kentucky, separated +from their section, and in their support of a protective tariff +openly affiliated with the North. + +The Morrill Tariff, as it has since been popularly known, was part +of a bill whose title indicates a wider scope than the fixing of +duties on imports. It provided also for the payment of outstanding +Treasury notes and authorized a loan. These additional features +did little to commend it to those who were looking to an alliance +with the Secessionists, nor did the obvious necessity of money for +the national Treasury induce the ultra disciples of free-trade in +the North to waive their opposition to a measure which distinctly +looked to the establishment of protection. It was a singular +combination of circumstances which on the eve of the Southern revolt +led to the inauguration of a policy that gave such industrial and +financial strength to the Union in its hour of dire necessity, in +the very crisis of its fate. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Mr. Lincoln's Journey from Springfield to Washington.--Speeches on +the Way.--Reaches Washington.--His Secret Journey.--Afterwards +regretted.--Precautions for his Safety.--President Buchanan.-- +Secretary Holt.--Troops for the Protection of Washington.--Inauguration +of Mr. Lincoln.--Relief to the Public Anxiety.--Inaugural Address. +--Hopefulness and Security in the North.--Mr. Lincoln's Appeal to +the South.--Fails to appease Southern Wrath.--Dilemma of the South. +--The New Cabinet.--The "Easy Accession" of Former Times.--Seward +Secretary of State.--Chase at the Head of the Treasury.--Radical +Republicans dissatisfied.--Influence of the Blairs.--Comment of +Thaddeus Stevens.--The National Flag in the Confederacy.--Flying +at only Three Points.--Defenseless Condition of the Government.-- +Confidence of Disunion Leaders.--Extra Session of the Senate.-- +Douglas and Breckinridge.--Their Notable Debate.--Douglas's Reply +to Wigfall.--His Answer to Mason.--Condition of the Territories.-- +Slavery not excluded by Law.--Public Opinion in Maine, 1861.--Mr. +Lincoln's Difficult Task.--His Wise Policy.--His Careful Preparation. +--Statesmanship of his Administration. + +When Southern confidence was at its height, and Northern courage +at its lowest point, Mr. Lincoln began his journey from Springfield +to Washington to assume the government of a divided and disorganized +Republic. His speeches on the way were noticeable for the absence +of all declaration of policy or purpose touching the impending +troubles. This peculiarity gave rise to unfavorable comments in +the public press of the North, and to unfounded apprehensions in +the popular mind. There was fear that he was either indifferent +to the peril, or that he failed to comprehend it. The people did +not understand Mr. Lincoln. The failure to comprehend was on their +part, not on his. Had he on that journey gratified the aggressive +friends of the Union who had supported him for the Presidency, he +would have added immeasurably to the serious troubles which already +confronted him. He had the practical faculty of discerning the +chief point to be reached, and then bending every energy to reach +it. He saw that the one thing needful was his regular, constitutional +inauguration as President of the United States. Policies both +general and in detail would come after that. He could not afford +by imprudent forwardness of speech or premature declaration of +measures to increase the embarrassment which already surrounded +him. "Let us do one thing at a time and the big things first" was +his homely but expressive way of indicating the wisdom of his +course. + +A man of ordinary courage would have been overwhelmed by the task +before him. But Mr. Lincoln possessed a certain calmness, firmness, +and faith that enabled him to meet any responsibility, and to stand +unappalled in any peril. He reached Washington by a night journey, +taken secretly much against his own will and to his subsequent +chagrin and mortification, but urged upon him by the advice of +those in whose judgment and wisdom he was forced to confide. It +is the only instance in Mr. Lincoln's public career in which he +did not patiently face danger, and to the end of his life he +regretted that he had not, according to his own desire, gone through +Baltimore in open day, trusting to the hospitality of the city, to +the loyalty of its people, to the rightfulness of his cause and +the righteousness of his aims and ends. He came as one appointed +to a great duty, not with rashness, not with weakness, not with +bravado, not with shrinking, but in the perfect confidence of a +just cause and with the stainless conscience of a good man. Threats +that he never should be inaugurated had been numerous and serious, +and it must be credited to the administration of Mr. Buchanan, that +ample provision had been made for the protection of the rightful +ruler of the nation. + + PATRIOTIC CONDUCT OF JOSEPH HOLT. + +The active and practical loyalty of Joseph Holt in this crisis +deserves honorable mention. When, at the close of December, 1860, +he succeeded Mr. Floyd as Secretary of War, no troops were stationed +in Washington or its neighborhood. After consultation with General +Scott, then in command of the army, and with the full approval of +President Buchanan, Secretary Holt thought it wise to make precautions +for the safety of the National Capital. Seven companies of artillery +and one company of sappers and miners were accordingly brought to +Washington. This movement gave offense to the Southern men who +still remained in Congress, and Mr. Branch of North Carolina offered +a resolution declaring that "the quartering of troops around the +capital was impolitic and offensive," and that, "if permitted, it +would be destructive of civil liberty, and therefore the troops +should be forthwith removed." The House laid the resolution on +the table by a vote of 125 to 35. Ex-President Tyler had formally +complained to the President from the Peace Congress, that United- +States troops were to march in the procession which was to celebrate +the 22d of February. When so many of the Southern people were +engaged in seizing the forts and other property of the government, +it was curious to witness their uneasiness at the least display of +power on the part of the National Government. + +The tone of Secretary Holt's report to the President in regard to +the marshaling of troops in the National Capital was a manifestation +of courage in refreshing contrast with the surrounding timidity. +He stated in very plain language that "a revolution had been in +progress for the preceding three months in several of the Southern +States;" that its history was one of "surprise, treacheries, and +ruthless spoliations;" that forts of the United States had been +captured and garrisoned, and "hostile flags unfurled from the +ramparts;" that arsenals had been seized, and the arms which they +contained appropriated to the use of the captors; that more than +half a million of dollars, found in the mint of New Orleans, had +been unscrupulously applied to replenish the treasury of Louisiana; +that a conspiracy had been entered into for the armed occupation +of Washington as part of the revolutionary programme; and that he +could not fail to remember that, if the early admonitions in regard +to the designs of lawless men in Charleston Harbor had been acted +on, and "adequate re-enforcements sent there before the revolution +began, the disastrous political complications which ensued might +not have occurred." + +The inauguration of Mr. Lincoln was an immense relief to the country. +There had been an undefined dread throughout the Northern States, +colored and heightened by imagination, that Mr. Lincoln would in +some way, by some act of violence or of treachery, be deprived of +the Presidency, and the government thrown into anarchy. Mr. +Breckinridge was the Vice-President, and there had been a vague +fear that the count of the electoral votes, over which he presided, +would in some way be obstructed or tampered with, and that the +regularity of the succession might be interrupted, and its legitimacy +stained. But Mr. Breckinridge had performed his official duty with +scrupulous fidelity, and Mr. Lincoln had been declared by him, in +the presence of the two Houses of Congress, to be lawfully and +constitutionally elected President of the United States. Anarchy +and disorder in the North would at that time have proved so +advantageous to the leaders of Secession, that the apprehension +was firmly fixed in the Northern mind that some attempt would be +made to bring it about. The very fact, therefore, that Mr. Lincoln +was in possession of the office, that he was quietly living in the +Executive mansion, that the Senate of the United States was in +session, with a quorum present, ready to act upon his nominations, +imported a new confidence and opened a new prospect to the friends +of the Union. + +The Inaugural address added to the feeling of hopefulness and +security in the North. It effectually removed every trace of +unfavorable impression which had been created by Mr. Lincoln's +speeches, and gave at once a new view and an exalted estimate of +the man. He argued to the South, with persuasive power, that the +institution of Slavery in the States was not in danger by his +election. He admitted the full obligation under the Constitution +for the return of fugitive slaves. He neither affirmed nor denied +any position touching Slavery in the Territories. He was fully +aware that many worthy, patriotic citizens desired that the National +Constitution should be amended; and, while he declined to make any +recommendation, he recognized the full authority of the people over +the subject, and said he should favor rather than oppose a fair +opportunity for them to act upon it. He expressed a preference, +if the Constitution was to be amended, for a general convention +rather than for action through State Legislatures. He so far +departed from his purpose not to speak of particular amendments as +to allude to the one submitted by the late Congress, to the effect +that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic +institutions of the States; and he said that, holding such a +provision to be now implied in the Constitution, he had no objection +to its being made express and irrevocable. He pleaded earnestly, +even tenderly, with those who would break up the Union. "In your +hands," said he, "my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in +mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will +not assail you. You can have no conflict without yourselves being +the aggressors. You can have no oath registered in heaven to +destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to +preserve, protect, and defend it. I am loath to close. We are +not enemies, but friends. Though passion may have strained, it +must not break, our bonds of affection." + +While the effect produced by the Inaugural in the North was so +auspicious, no corresponding impression was made in the South. +Mr. Lincoln's concise and candid statement of his opinions and +purposes in regard to Slavery, his majestic and unanswerable argument +against Secession, and his pathetic appeal to the people and States +of the South, all alike failed to win back the disaffected communities. +The leaders of the Secession movement were only the more enraged +by witnessing the favor with which Mr. Lincoln's position was +received in the North. The declaration of the President that he +should execute the laws in all parts of the country, as required +by his oath, and that the jurisdiction of the nation under the +Constitution would be asserted everywhere and constantly, inspired +the doubting with confidence, and gave to the people of the North +a common hope and a common purpose in the approaching struggle. +The address left to the seceding States only the choice of retiring +from the position they had taken, or of assuming the responsibilities +of war. It was clear that the assertion of jurisdiction by two +separate governments over the same territory and people must end +in bloodshed. In this dilemma was the South placed by the Inaugural +address of President Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan had admitted the right +of Secession, while denying the wisdom of its exercise; but the +right when exercised carried jurisdiction with it. Hence it was +impossible for Mr. Buchanan to assert jurisdiction and attempt its +exercise over the territory and people of the seceding States. +But Mr. Lincoln, by his Inaugural address, set himself free from +all logical entanglements. His emphatic words were these: "I +therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, +the Union is unbroken; and to the extent of my ability, I shall +take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, +that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. +. . . I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as +a declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend +and maintain itself." + + + THE CABINET OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +Mr. Lincoln constituted his Cabinet in a manner at least unusual +if not unprecedented. It had been the general practice of Presidents, +from the first organization of the government, to tender the post +of Secretary of State to the man considered to be next in prominence +to himself in the party to which both belonged. In the earlier +history of the country, the expected successor in the Executive +office was selected. This was indeed for a long period so uniform +that the appointment to the State Department came to be regarded +as a designation to the Presidency. In political phrase, this mode +of reaching the coveted place was known as the "easy accession." +By its operation Madison succeeded Jefferson, Monroe succeeded +Madison, John Quincy Adams succeeded Monroe. After successful +application for a quarter of a century the custom fell into disfavor +and, by bitter agitation, into disuse. The cause of its overthrow +was the appointment of Henry Clay to the State Department, and the +baseless scandal of a "bargain and sale" was invented to deprive +Mr. Clay of the "easy accession." After a few years, when National +Conventions were introduced, it became the habit of the President +to tender the State Department to a leading or prominent competitor +for the Presidential nomination. Thus General Harrison offered +the post to Mr. Clay, who declined; and then to Mr. Webster, who +accepted. President Polk appointed Mr. Buchanan. President Pierce +appointed Mr. Marcy. President Buchanan appointed General Cass. + +Following in the same line, Mr. Lincoln now invited his chief rival, +Mr. Seward, to the State Department. But his courtesy did not stop +there. He was generous beyond all example to his rivals. He called +Salmon P. Chase to the Treasury, appointed Simon Cameron to the +War Department, and made Edward Bates of Missouri Attorney-General. +These were the three who, next to Mr. Seward, received the largest +votes of the minority in the convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln. +The Cabinet was completed by the appointment of Gideon Welles of +Connecticut Secretary of the Navy, Caleb B. Smith of Indiana +Secretary of the Interior, and Montgomery Blair of Maryland Postmaster- +General. + +The announcement of these names gave fair satisfaction to the party, +though the most advanced and radical element of the Republicans +regarded its composition with distrust. There had been strong hope +on the part of the conservative friends of the Union that some +prominent man from the Cotton States would be included in the +Cabinet, and overtures were undoubtedly made to that effect directly +after the election in November. But the rapidly developing revolt +against the Union made such an appointment undesirable if not +altogether impracticable. By the time of the inauguration it was +found that such an olive-branch from the President would exert no +influence over the wild passions which had been aroused in the +South. The name most frequently suggested was that of Mr. John A. +Gilmer of North Carolina, who was a sincere friend of the Union, +and did all in his power to avert a conflict; but his appointment +to the Cabinet would have destroyed him at home, without bringing +strength at that crisis to the National cause. + +The opinions and characteristics of each member of the Cabinet were +very closely scanned and criticised. Mr. Seward was known to be +fully committed to the policy of conciliation towards the South, +and to the adoption of every measure consistent with the honor of +the country to avert war and induce the return of the seceding +States. Mr. Chase was understood to favor a moderate policy, but +did not go so far as Mr. Seward. Mr. Cameron sympathized with Mr. +Seward more than with Mr. Chase. Mr. Bates was extremely conservative, +but a zealous friend of the Union, and a lifelong disciple of Mr. +Clay. Mr. Welles was of Democratic antecedents, a follower of Van +Buren and Wright, an associate of John M. Niles, anti-slavery in +principle, a strict constructionist, instinctively opposed to Mr. +Seward, readily co-operating with Mr. Chase. His appointment was +a surprise to New-England Republicans who expected a much more +prominent member of the party to be called to the Cabinet. It was +understood that the selection was due to the counsel of Vice- +President Hamlin, who soon after had such serious differences with +Mr. Welles that a state of absolute non-intercourse existed between +them during the whole period of his incumbency of the Navy Department. +Mr. Caleb B. Smith had been prominent in the House of Representatives +when Mr. Lincoln was a member, had been popular as a public speaker +in the West, but had no aptitude for so serious a task as the +administration of a great department, and did not long retain his +position. + + THE CABINET OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +Mr. Blair was appointed as a citizen of Maryland. This gave serious +offense to many of Mr. Lincoln's most valued supporters, and was +especially distasteful to the Union men of Maryland, with Henry +Winter Davis at their head. They regarded Mr. Blair as a non- +resident, as not in any sense identified with them, and as disposed +from the outset to foment disturbance where harmony was especially +demanded. Mr. Bates had been appointed from Missouri largely by +the influence of Francis P. Blair, Jr.; and the border-State +Republicans were dissatisfied that the only two members of the +Cabinet from the slave States had been appointed apparently without +any general consultation among those who were best fitted to give +the President advice on so important a matter. The extreme men in +the Republican party, of the type of Benjamin F. Wade and Owen +Lovejoy, believed that the Cabinet was so constituted as to insure +what they termed "a disgraceful surrender to the South." It was +a common saying at the time in Washington, among the radical +Republicans, that Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet did not contain three as +absolute and strong defenders of the Union as Dix, Holt, and Stanton, +who had just retired with Mr. Buchanan. Thaddeus Stevens, with +his accustomed sharpness of speech, said the Cabinet was composed +of an assortment of rivals whom the President appointed from +courtesy, one stump-speaker from Indiana, and two representatives +of the Blair family. + + +In the seven States which constituted the original Southern +Confederacy, the flag of the United States was flying at only three +points on the day of Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. The army of the +United States still held Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston; +Fort Pickens, opposite the Pensacola Navy Yard; and Key West, the +extreme southern point of Florida. Every other fort, arsenal, dock- +yard, mint, custom-house, and court-house had been seized by the +Confederacy, and turned to hostile use. Fort Moultrie, Castle +Pinckney, and the United-States arsenal at Charleston had been +seized by the troops of South Carolina; Forts Jackson and Pulaski, +and the United-States arsenal at Augusta, by the troops of Georgia; +the Chattahoochee and St. Augustine arsenals and the Florida forts, +by the troops of that State; the arsenal at Baton Rouge, and Forts +Jackson and St. Philip, together with the New-Orleans mint and +custom-house, by the troops of Louisiana; the Little-Rock arsenal +by the troops of Arkansas; Forts Johnson and Caswell by the troops +of North Carolina; and General Twiggs had traitorously surrendered +to the State of Texas all the military stores in his command, +amounting in value to a million and a half of dollars. By these +means the seceding States had come into possession of all the +artillery, small arms, ammunition, and supplies of war needed for +immediate use, and were well prepared for the opening of the +campaign. On the part of the government there was no such preparation. +Indeed the government did not at that moment have twelve thousand +available troops against the most formidable rebellion in history. +Its whole navy could not make one large squadron, and its most +effective ships were at points remote from the scene of conflict. +The revenues of the country were not then yielding more than thirty +millions per annum, and the credit was so low that one per cent. +a month had been paid by the retiring administration for the funds +necessary to close its unfortunate career. + +In view of all these facts, it cannot be matter of wonder that the +Disunion leaders in the South laughed to scorn any efforts on the +part of the Government of the United States to arrest their progress, +much less to subdue them, and enforce their return to the Union. +North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas had not yet +seceded. The Union sentiment was strong in each one of these +States, and the design of Mr. Lincoln was to pursue a policy so +mild and conciliatory as to win them to the side of the government. +Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri were excited by strong minorities +who desired to aid the South, while no strong element in their +population was ready to take decisive measures for the Union. +Palliation, conciliation, concession, compromise, were the only +words heard, and the almost universal opinion in the South, shared +largely by the North, was that to precipitate war would be to +abandon the last hope for restoration of the Union. + + EXTRA SESSION OF THE SENATE. + +The extra session of the Senate, called by Mr. Buchanan for the +convenience of the new administration, assembled on the 4th of +March. All the Southern States were represented in full except +those which had members in the Confederate Congress at Montgomery, +and from one of these--the State of Texas--both senators, John +Hemphill and Louis T. Wigfall, were present. Texas was indeed +represented in the Congress of the Confederate States at Montgomery +and in the Congress of the United States at Washington at the same +time. Some excuse was given for the continuance of the senators +by an alleged lack of completeness in the secession proceedings of +their State; but to the apprehension of the ordinary mind, a +secession that was complete enough to demand representation at +Montgomery was complete enough to end it at Washington. The Texas +senators, therefore, did not escape the imputation of seizing a +mere pretext for remaining at Washington somewhat in the character +of spies upon the new administration. John C. Breckinridge of +Kentucky and Thomas L. Clingman of North Carolina took the usual +oath to support the Constitution--Clingman for his second term, +Breckinridge for his first. Salmon P. Chase was sworn in as senator +from Ohio, and retired the next day to the Treasury Department. +John Sherman was his successor. Among the new senators who entered, +and who afterwards became conspicuous, were Howe of Wisconsin and +Baker of Oregon. The session was only for Executive purposes, and +of course possessed no legislative power; but the debates were of +interest and of value to the country. + +Mr. Douglas, with the characteristic boldness of a leader and with +a patriotism which did him honor, defended the Inaugural address +of Mr. Lincoln against the assault of opposition senators. In +reply to Wigfall of Texas, who wished to know Douglas's views upon +certain points of policy, he said, "I do not choose to proclaim +what my policy would be, in view of the fact that the senator does +not regard himself as the guardian of the honor and the interests +of my country, but is looking to the interests of another which he +thinks is in hostility. It would hardly be good policy or wisdom +for me to reveal what I think ought to be our policy to one who +may so soon be in the councils of the enemy and in the command of +his armies." Being pressed by Wigfall to know what he would advise +the President to do in the critical condition of Fort Sumter, +Douglas sarcastically answered that he "should have no hesitancy +in replying to the senator from Texas if that senator held himself +bound by his oath to support the Constitution of the United States, +and to protect and aid the honor of the country instead of +communicating it to the enemy to be used against us." It was a +vast gain to the Union that Douglas spoke so boldly in defense of +Mr. Lincoln; and it was significant that Wigfall received imputations +upon his honor without threats of a duel, and without even using +the language of resentment. + +Mr. Mason of Virginia came to the aid of Wigfall in the debate, +but fared badly at the hands of Douglas. He asked Douglas to define +what should be done in this crisis in regard to Fort Sumter. "If +the senator from Virginia," said Douglas, "had voted right in the +last Presidential election, I should have been, perhaps, in a +position to-day to tell him authoritatively what ought to be done. +Not occupying that position, I must refer the senator from Virginia +to those who have been intrusted by the American people, according +to the Constitution, with the decision of that question." The +speech of Wigfall had given great offense, and the castigation +administered by Douglas was heartily responded to throughout the +North. Wigfall had boasted that he owed no allegiance to the +government; that he was a foreigner and owed allegiance to another +government. On the next day, reciting these words as a preamble, +Mr. Foster of Connecticut moved "that Louis T. Wigfall be and hereby +is expelled from the Senate." Mr. Clingman of North Carolina moved +as a substitute a declaration that "Texas having seceded from the +Union, and being no longer one of the United States, is not entitled +to be represented in this body." After a brief debate, the +resolutions were referred to the Judiciary by the votes of Republican +senators, who, not wishing to precipitate any issue prematurely, +and persuaded that Wigfall's presence was helping rather than +harming the Union cause, concluded to let the matter rest. + + BRECKINRIDGE AND DOUGLAS. + +A notable debate took place between Breckinridge and Douglas, in +which the issues that had led to the disruption of the Democracy +in the late Presidential election were, in a certain sense, fought +over again. Mr. Breckinridge's speech was carefully prepared, and +presented the Southern side in a tone of dignity and confidence; +but the reply of Douglas exhibited his superiority as a debater. +Breckinridge had declared that whatever settlement be made of other +questions, there must be a concession to the South of the right to +emigrate into all the Territories, or at least an equitable partition +of the National Domain. In reply, Douglas reminded him that the +South had, by the action of a Republican Congress, the full right +to emigrate into all the territory of the United States; and that, +with the consent of the Republican Congress, every inch of the +territory of the United States south of the thirty-seventh degree +of latitude was at that hour open to slavery. "So far," said he, +"as the doctrine of popular sovereignty and non-intervention is +concerned, the Colorado Bill and the Nevada Bill and the Dakota +Bill are identically the same with the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and +in its precise language." The answer was at once a complete +destruction of the argument of Breckinridge, and a severe indictment +of the Republican party. Never before in the existence of the +Federal Government had its territory been so open, by Congressional +enactment and by judicial decision, to the slave-holder as on the +day that Abraham Lincoln assumed the office of President of the +United States. It is a singular fact that, on the eve of the utter +destruction of the institution of Slavery, its legal status was +stronger than ever before in the history of the government, and +the area over which it might lawfully spread was far larger than +at any previous period. Douglas showed in this debate how absolutely +groundless was the excuse of slave-holders for basing secession or +revolution upon the failure to acquire their rights in the Territories, +when never before had their rights in the Territories been so +absolutely complete. + + +Public opinion in March, 1861, was so unsettled, the popular mind +so impressible, that a spirit of discontent soon began to spread +over the loyal States on the part of those who had hoped for what +they termed a vigorous administration. For a few weeks the conduct +of the government fell under the animadversion of all classes in +the North. To those who wanted an instant settlement, and the +return of the seceding States upon their own terms, the administration +seemed too radical. To those who demanded that the flag be +maintained, and Fort Sumter promptly re-enforced, who would be +satisfied with nothing less than the recovery of every piece of +public property of which the Confederates had possessed themselves, +the administration appeared altogether too conservative. The +overwhelming public desire after all was for peace, and the +overwhelming public opinion was against the extremists who would, +by any possibility, precipitate war. The administration thus began +its career with no firm footing beneath it, with an aggressive and +defiant enemy in front of it, with a public opinion divided, +distrustful, and compromising, behind it. + +No more difficult task has ever been presented to any government +than that which Mr. Lincoln and his Cabinet assumed in the month +of March, 1861. To judge it now by any appearance of irresolution, +or by any seeming deficiency of courage, would be trying it by a +standard totally inapplicable and unfair. Before and beyond all +things, Mr. Lincoln desired to prevent war, and he felt that every +day of peace gave fresh hope that bloodshed might be avoided. In +his Inaugural address he had taken the strongest ground for the +preservation of the Union, and had carefully refrained from every +act and every expression which would justify, even in the public +opinion of the South, an outbreak of violence on the part of the +Confederates. He believed that the Southern revolt had attained +its great proportions in consequence of Mr. Buchanan's assertion +that he had not power to coerce a seceding State. Mr. Lincoln had +announced a different creed, and every week that the South continued +peaceful, his hope of amicable adjustment grew stronger. He believed +that with the continuance of peace, the Secessionists could be +brought to see that Union was better than war for all interests, +and that in an especial degree the institution of Slavery would be +imperiled by a resort to arms. He had faith in the sober second- +thought. If the South would deliberate, the Union would be saved. +He feared that the Southern mind was in the condition in which a +single untoward circumstance might precipitate a conflict, and he +determined that the blood of his brethren should not be on his +hands. + + STATESMANSHIP OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +Mr. Lincoln saw, moreover, that war between a divided North and a +united South would be a remediless calamity. If, after all efforts +at peace, war should be found unavoidable, the Administration had +determined so to shape its policy, so to conduct its affairs, that +when the shock came it should leave the South entirely in the wrong, +and the government of the Union entirely in the right. Consolidated +as might be the front which the Rebellion would present, the +administration was resolved that it should not be more solid, more +immovable, more courageous, than that with which the supporters of +the government would meet it. Statesmanship cannot be judged upon +theories. It must be decided by results. When that conclusive +test is brought to bear, Mr. Lincoln's administration of the +government in the weeks immediately following his inauguration +deserves the highest praise; and all the more because it was +compelled to disregard the clamor and disappoint the expectations +of many who had been conspicuously influential in bringing it into +power, and who therefore thought themselves entitled to give +counsel. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +President Lincoln and the Confederate Commissioners.--Misleading +Assurance given by Judge Campbell.--Mr. Seward's Answer to Messrs. +Forsythe and Crawford.--An Interview with the President is desired +by the Commissioners.--Rage in the South.--Condition of the Montgomery +Government.--Roger A. Pryor's Speech.--President determines to send +Provisions to Fort Sumter.--Advises Governor Pickens.--Conflict +precipitated.--The Fort surrenders.--Effect of the Conflict on the +North.--President's Proclamation and Call for Troops.--Responses +of Loyal States.--Popular Uprising.--Democratic Party.--Patriotism +of Senator Douglas.--His Relations with Mr. Lincoln.--His Death.-- +Public Service and Character.--Effect of the President's Call on +Southern States.--North Carolina.--Tennessee.--Virginia.--Senator +Mason's Letter.--Responses of Southern Governors to the President's +Call for Troops.--All decline to comply.--Some of them with Insolent +Defiance.--Governors of the Free States.--John A. Andrew, E. D. +Morgan, Andrew G. Curtin, Oliver P. Morton.--Energetic and Patriotic +Action of all Northern Governors.--Exceptional Preparation in +Pennsylvania for the Conflict.--Governors of Free States all +Republicans except in California and Oregon.--Critical Situation +on Pacific Coast.--Loyalty of its People.--President's Reasons for +postponing Session of Congress.--Election in Kentucky.--Union +Victory.--John J. Crittenden and Garrett Davis.--John Bell.-- +Disappoints Expectation of Union Men.--Responsibility of Southern +Whigs.--Their Power to arrest the Madness.--Audacity overcomes +Numbers.--Whig Party of the South.--Its Brilliant Array of Leaders. +--Its Destruction. + +The negotiation which the seceding State of South Carolina had +unsuccessfully attempted with President Buchanan, for the surrender +of Fort Sumter, was now formally renewed by the Confederate Government +with the administration of Mr. Lincoln. The week following the +inauguration, John Forsythe of Alabama and Martin J. Crawford of +Georgia appeared in Washington in the character of Commissioners +from the Confederate States, "with a view," as they defined it, +"to a speedy adjustment of all questions growing out of the political +separation, upon such terms of amity and good will as the respective +interests, geographical contiguity, and future welfare of the two +nations, may render necessary." They addressed their communication +to the Secretary of State as a matter pertaining to the Foreign +Department of the government, and waited with confidence for an +answer that would practically recognize the nationality which they +assumed to represent. Judge Campbell of the Supreme Court, a +citizen of Alabama, had held some conferences with Mr. Seward, the +result of which was his personal assurance to the Commissioners +that Fort Sumter would be evacuated before the 25th of March; and +he urged them not to insist upon too prompt an answer to their +demand. At his instance, the reply of Mr. Seward was withheld from +official delivery, and, though dated the 15th of March, was really +not read by the Commissioners until the 7th or 8th of April. + + THE CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS. + +Mr. Seward's answer threw the Commissioners and the entire South +into a rage. He declined to comply with the request of Messrs. +Forsythe and Crawford. He saw in them, "not a rightful and +accomplished revolution, not an independent nation with an established +government, but only the perversion of a temporary and partisan +excitement, and an inconsiderate purpose of unjustifiable and +unconstitutional aggression upon the rights and the authority vested +in the Federal Government." Mr. Seward further advised them that +he "looked for the cure of evils which should result from proceedings +so unnecessary, so unwise, so unusual, so unnatural, not to irregular +negotiations having in view untried relations, but to regular, +considerate action of the people of those States through the Congress +of the United States, and through such extraordinary conventions, +if there be need thereof, as the Federal Constitution contemplates +and authorizes to be assembled." Under these circumstances, Mr. +Seward informed the Commissioners that his official duties were +confined to the conduct of the foreign relations of his country, +and did not at all embrace domestic questions, or questions arising +between the several States and the Federal Government. + +The Secretary of State was unable, therefore, to comply with the +request of Messrs. Forsythe and Crawford, and declined to appoint +a day on which they might submit the objects of their visit to the +President of the United States. He refused to recognize them as +diplomatic agents, and would not hold correspondence or further +communication with them. Lest the Commissioners might console +themselves with the reflection that Mr. Seward was speaking only +for himself, and that the President might deal with them less +curtly, he informed them that he had cheerfully submitted his answer +to Mr. Lincoln, who coincided in the views it expressed, and +sanctioned the Secretary's decision declining official intercourse +with Messrs. Forsythe and Crawford. The rejoinder of the Confederate +Commissioners to Mr. Seward was in a threatening tone, upbraiding +him with bad faith, and advising him that "Fort Sumter cannot be +provisioned without the effusion of blood;" reminding him also that +they had not come to Washington to ask the Government of the United +States to recognize the independence of the Confederacy, but for +an "adjustment of new relations springing from a manifest and +accomplished revolution." + +Up to this time there had not been the slightest collision between +the forces of the Confederacy and the forces of the Union. The +places which had been seized, belonging to the Federal Government, +had been taken without resistance; and the authorities of Montgomery +appeared to a great many Southern people to be going through blank +motions, and to be aping power rather than exercising it. Their +defiant attitude had been demoralizing to the public sentiment in +the North, but their failure to accomplish any thing in the way of +concession from the National Government, and their apparent timidity +in refraining from a shock of arms, was weakening the Disunion +sentiment in the States which composed the Confederacy. Jefferson +Davis had been inaugurated with great pomp and pretension in +February, and now April had been reached with practically nothing +done but the issuing of manifestoes, and the maintenance of a mere +shadow of government, without its substance. The Confederates had +as yet no revenue system and no money. They had no armed force +except some military companies in the larger cities, organized long +before secession was contemplated. They had not the pretense of +a navy, or any power apparently to create one. While the administration +of Mr. Lincoln, therefore, was disappointing great numbers in the +North by its failure to do something decisive towards re-establishing +the National authority in the rebellious States, the inhabitants +of those States were becoming daily dissatisfied with the fact that +the administration of Mr. Davis was doing nothing to consolidate +and protect the Confederacy. + + DISSATISFACTION WITH THE CONFEDERACY. + +Ever since the inauguration of Jefferson Davis, the flag of the +United States had been flying over the strongest fortress in the +Confederacy, and no forcible effort had been made to displace it. +The first flush of joy and congratulation was over, and re-action +had begun throughout the revolting States. The Confederate Government +was reminded by many of the leading newspapers of the South that +unless some decisive step were taken to assert its authority and +establish its prestige, it would quietly crumble to pieces. The +apparent non-resistance of Mr. Lincoln's administration had, in +many minds, the effect of casting contempt upon the whole Southern +movement, and the refusal to recognize or receive commissioners of +Mr. Davis's appointment was regarded as a direct insult to their +government, which, unless met by some decisive step, would subject +the leaders to the derision of public opinion throughout the new +Confederacy. Mr. Buchanan had been willing to receive commissioners +from seceding States, so far as to confer with them, even when he +declared that he had no power to take any action in the premises. +Mr. Lincoln had advanced beyond the position of Mr. Buchanan when +he refused even to give audience to representatives bearing the +commission of the Confederate States. + +The situation therefore had become strained. The point had been +reached where it was necessary to go forward or go backward; where +the Confederacy must assert itself, or the experiment of secession +be abandoned. From all quarters of the seven States came the demand +upon the Montgomery government to do something decisive. A prominent +member of the Alabama Legislature told Jefferson Davis that "unless +he sprinkled blood in the face of the Southern people they would +be back in the old Union in less than ten days." Public meetings +were held to urge the government to action. At Charleston, in +answer to a large crowd who came to pay him honor, Roger A. Pryor +(whose attractive eloquence has since been used to better ends) +told the people that only one thing was necessary to force Virginia +into the Southern Confederacy: "to strike a blow." That done, he +promised them that "Virginia would secede in less than an hour by +Shrewsbury clock." + +The indifference of Mr. Lincoln's administration to the program of +the Southern Confederacy was apparent and not real. In his Inaugural +he had declared that the power confided to him would be used to +hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the +government, and to collect the duties and imposts, but, beyond what +was necessary for those objects, there would be no invasion, no +use of force against or among the people anywhere. Influential +persons connected with Mr. Lincoln's administration may have wavered +in regard to the expediency of re-enforcing Major Anderson and +holding possession of Fort Sumter, but the President himself wisely +concluded that to retreat from that point would be an almost fatal +step. There was not a citizen in the North who had not become +interested in the fate of Major Anderson and the brave soldiers +under his command. Though many patriotic men of conservative or +timid nature advised a quiet withdrawal from Fort Sumter rather +than an open conflict for its possession, there was an instinctive +undertone in the masses of the people in the Northern States against +a concession so humiliating. If prestige were needed for the +government at Montgomery, Mr. Lincoln felt that it was needed for +the government at Washington, and if he withdrew from Sumter he +could not see any point where he could make a stand. + +The President determined, therefore, to send supplies to Major +Anderson. He wisely saw that if he failed to do this he would be +receding from the temperate and conservative position taken in the +Inaugural, and that it would give to the Confederates a degree of +courage, and to the North a degree of despondency, which would +vastly increase the difficulty of restoring the Union. In Mr. +Lincoln's own language: "the abandonment of Sumter would be utterly +ruinous, under the circumstances." . . . "At home it would discourage +the friends of the Union, embolden its adversaries, and go far to +insure to the latter a recognition abroad. In fact, it would be +our national destruction consummated." Having taken this determination, +he communicated it to Governor Pickens of South Carolina just at +the time that Mr. Seward delivered to the commissioners of Jefferson +Davis the government's refusal to receive them. The answer to the +commissioners, and the determination not to permit Anderson to be +starved out of Fort Sumter with the hostile guns of the Confederacy +pointed at him, brought on the conflict. As soon as the two events +were made public, the Confederate Secretary of War instructed +General Beauregard that if the information conveyed to Governor +Pickens was authentic, he should proceed to reduce the fort. The +conflict came on the 12th of April, and after a furious cannonade +of thirty-four hours, Major Anderson, being out of provisions, was +compelled to surrender. The fleet that was bringing him relief +arrived too late, and the flag of the United States was lowered to +the Confederacy. Those who had urged Mr. Davis to strike a blow +and to sprinkle blood in the faces of the people as a means of +consolidating Southern opinion, were undoubtedly successful. +Throughout the States of the Confederacy the inhabitants were crazed +with success. They had taken from the National Government its +strongest fortress on the South-Atlantic coast. They felt suddenly +awakened to a sense of power, and became wild with confidence in +their ability to defy the authority of the United States. + + EFFECT OF FORT SUMTER'S FALL. + +The Confederate Government, however, had not anticipated the effect +of an actual conflict on the people of the North. Until the hour +of the assault on Sumter they had every reason for believing that +Mr. Lincoln's administration was weak; that it had not a sustaining +force of public opinion behind it in the free States; that, in +short, Northern people were divided very much on the line of previous +party organizations, and that his opponents had been steadily +gaining, his supporters as steadily losing, since the day of the +Presidential election in November. The Confederates naturally +counted much on this condition of Northern sentiment, and took to +themselves the comforting assurance that vigorous war could never +be made by a divided people. They had treasured all the extreme +sayings of Northern Democrats about resisting the march of a Black +Republican army towards the South, and offering their dead bodies +as obstructions to its progress. They believed, and had good reason +for believing, that half the population of the North was opposed +to the policy of subjugation, and they accepted the creed of Mr. +Buchanan that there was no power in the Constitution to coerce a +sovereign State. + +Never was popular delusion so suddenly and so completely dispelled. +The effect of the assault on Sumter and the lowering of the National +flag to the forces of the Confederacy acted upon the North as an +inspiration, consolidating public sentiment, dissipating all +differences, bringing the whole people to an instant and unanimous +determination to avenge the insult and re-establish the authority +of the Union. Yesterday there had been doubt and despondency; to- +day had come assurance and confidence. Yesterday there had been +division; to-day there was unity. The same issue of the morning +paper that gave intelligence of the fall of Sumter, brought also +a call from the President of the United States for seventy-five +thousand men to aid him "in suppressing combinations against the +law, too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial +proceedings." He notified the people that "the first service +assigned to the force hereby called forth will probably be to +repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized +from the Union;" and he concluded by convening an extra session of +Congress to assemble on the fourth day of the ensuing July. The +President stated, in his Proclamation, that the laws of the United +States had been "for some time past opposed, and their execution +obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, +Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too +powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial +procedure, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law." He +had therefore "called forth the militia to suppress such combinations, +and to cause the laws to be duly executed." He appealed to all +loyal citizens "to aid in maintaining the honor, the integrity, +and the existence of the National Union, and the perpetuity of +popular government." The Proclamation was general. The Call for +troops was issued specifically to every State except the seven +already in revolt. + +The Proclamation was responded to in the loyal States with an +unparalleled outburst of enthusiasm. On the day of its issue +hundreds of public meetings were held, from the eastern border of +Maine to the extreme western frontier. Work was suspended on farm +and in factory, and the whole people were roused to patriotic ardor, +and to a determination to subdue the Rebellion and restore the +Union, whatever might be the expenditure of treasure or the sacrifice +of life. Telegrams of congratulation and sympathy fell upon the +White House like snow-flakes in a storm; and the President was made +to feel, after all the months of gloom and darkness through which +he had passed since his election, that light had broken, that day +had dawned, and that the open struggle for the Union, however severe +and however sanguinary it might prove, was preferable to the slough +of despond in which the nation had been cast, and the valley of +humiliation through which the government had been groping. + +In the history of popular uprisings and of manifestations of National +enthusiasm, there is perhaps no equal to that which was seen in +the free States of the Union in the weeks immediately following +the rash attack on Fort Sumter. While the feeling was too deep to +brook resistance, or quietly to endure a word of opposition, it +was happily so tempered with discretion as to prevent personal +outrages upon the few who did not join in the general chorus for +the Union. Suspected men were waited upon and requested to speak +for the loyal cause, and newspapers, which before the firing of +Sumter had been offensive in tone, were compelled to hoist the +National flag over their offices, and openly support the government. +But these cases were few and exceptional; and it is due to the +Democracy of the North to say, that however strongly they had +opposed the election of Mr. Lincoln, and however hostile they had +been to the principles which he represented, the mass of the party +responded with noble enthusiasm and with patriotic fidelity to the +Union. Their great leader, Senator Douglas, set a worthy example +by promptly waiting on the President, and expressing his deepest +sympathy and his most earnest co-operation in the struggle for the +life of the nation. + + PATRIOTIC COURSE OF MR. DOUGLAS. + +The patriotic course of Mr. Douglas had been of invaluable service +to the government from the hour of Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. +The old friendship between the illustrious rivals from Illinois, +which had begun when each was in his youth, was now strongly revived. +Differing always on political issues, they were at once in accord +when the fate of the government was at stake. The position of +Douglas during the extra session of the Senate had given marked +satisfaction to Mr. Lincoln, and when the deliberations came to a +close, on the 28th of March, the President said that a great gain +had been made to the cause of the Union, by the direction which +the speeches of Douglas would give to the sympathy and action of +the Northern Democracy. From the hour of actual danger, Mr. Douglas +had spoken no partisan word, had known no partisan division, had +labored only for the government of the nation, had looked only to +its safety and its honor. He had a larger following than any other +party leader of his day. Nearly a million and a half of men believed +in his principles, were devoted to him personally, trusted him +implicitly. The value of his active loyalty to the Union may be +measured by the disaster which would have been caused by hesitation +on his part. When he returned to his State, after the firing on +Sumter, the Republican Legislature of Illinois received him with +a display of feeling as profound as that with which they would have +welcomed Mr. Lincoln. His address on that memorable occasion was +worthy of the loftiest patriot, and was of inestimable value to +the cause of the Union. Perhaps no words spoken carried confidence +to more hearts, or gave greater strength to the National cause. + +Mr. Douglas did not live to return to the Senate. The extra session +of March closed his public service. He died in Chicago on the +third day of June, 1861, at the early age of forty-eight. His last +days were his best days. The hour of his death was the hour of +his greatest fame. In his political career he had experienced the +extremes of popular odium and of popular approval. His name had +at different periods been attended with as great obloquy as ever +beset a public man. It was his happy fate to have changed this +before his death, and to have secured the enthusiastic approbation +of every lover of the Union. His career had been stormy, his +partisanship aggressive, his course often violent, his political +methods sometimes ruthless. He had sought favor at the South too +long to regain mastery of the North, and he had been defeated in +the Presidential struggle of 1860,--a struggle in which the ambition +of his life had been centred. But with danger to the Union his +early affections and the associations of his young life had come +back. He remembered that he was a native of New England, that he +had been reared in New York, that he had been crowned with honors +by the generous and confiding people of Illinois. He believed in +the Union of the States, and he stood by his country with a fervor +and energy of patriotism which enshrined his name in the history +and in the hearts of the American people. His death created the +profoundest impression in the country, and the Administration felt +that one of the mighty props of the Union had been torn away. + +The rank of Mr. Douglas as a statesman is not equal to his rank as +a parliamentary leader. As a statesman, he was full of resources, +fertile in expedients. But he lacked the truest form of conservatism, +and more than once in his career carried partisan contests beyond +the point of safety. His participation in the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise is an illustration, all the more pertinent and impressive +because his own judgment was against the measure, and he allowed +himself to be controlled by the fear that another might usurp the +place in Southern regard so long held by himself. In parliamentary +discussion it is not easy to overstate the power of Mr. Douglas. +Indeed, it would be difficult to name his superior. He did not +attain the dignity of Webster's stately style. He was not gifted +with the fire that burned through Clay's impulsive speech. But as +a ready, comprehensive speaker, armed at all points and using his +weapons with deadliest effect, he was the equal of either. In the +rapidity with which he marshaled the facts favorable to his position, +in the consummate skill with which he presented his argument, in +the dashing and daring manner by which he overcame an opponent more +strongly intrenched than himself, Mr. Douglas is entitled to rank +with the most eminent of parliamentary debaters. + + + ADDITIONS TO THE CONFEDERACY. + +The effect of Major Anderson's surrender of Sumter and of the +President's call for troops proved prejudicial to the Union sentiment +in the slave States which had not yet seceded. It would be more +correct, perhaps, to say that Mr. Lincoln's Proclamation was a test +of loyalty which revealed the actual character of public sentiment +in those States, till then not known in the North. Mr. Lincoln +had done every thing in his power to conciliate them, and to hold +them fast in their loyalty to the Union. But the sympathy with +the South, engendered by the common danger to the institution of +Slavery, was too powerful to be resisted. North Carolina, which +had always been moderate, conservative, and Union-loving, threw +her fortunes with the Confederacy. Tennessee, distracted by the +unforeseen defection of such staunch Union men as John Bell and +Baillie Peyton,* went Southward with the general current. Virginia +could not be restrained, although she was warned and ought to have +seen, that if she joined the Rebellion she would inevitably become +the battle-ground, and would consign her territory to devastation +and her property to destruction. The Virginia convention which +was in session before the firing on Fort Sumter, and which was +animated by a strong friendship for the Union, was carried in to +the vortex of secession by the surrounding excitement. By a vote +of 88 to 55 the State determined to join the Confederacy. The +wonder is that in the prevailing excitement and arrogant dictation, +there could have been found fifty-five men to resist so powerful +a tide of public opinion. The minority was strong enough, however, +to command the submission of the ordinance to a vote of the people, +--a submission which was in form and not in substance, for in +reality no freedom of opinion was conceded. + +The ordinance which was passed on the 17th of April, three days +after the fall of Sumter, declared that "it should take effect when +ratified by a majority of the votes of the people of the State, +cast at a poll to be taken thereon on the fourth Thursday in May." +The Convention did not submit its work to popular review and decision +in a fair and honorable way. Eight days after the act of submission, +the Convention passed another ordinance, by which Virginia agreed +"to adopt and ratify the Constitution of the Provisional Government +of the Confederate States." They provided that this second ordinance +should have no effect if the first should be rejected by the people. +It is not difficult to see that the action was taken in order to +render the rejection of the first ordinance impossible. Under the +second ordinance, the Convention at once entered into a formal +alliance, offensive and defensive, with the Confederate States. +Their Vice-President, Alexander H. Stephens, appeared in Richmond +as commissioner of his government, and the Convention appointed Ex- +President John Tyler, William Ballard Preston, James P. Holcombe, +and other leading citizens, as commissioners for Virginia. These +joint commissioners made a formal compact between Virginia and the +Confederate States on the 25th of April, the day after the Convention +had adopted the Confederate Constitution. By this compact, Virginia, +"looking to a speedy union with the Confederate States," placed +"the whole military force of the Commonwealth under the control +and direction of the Confederate States, upon the same basis and +footing as if said Commonwealth were now a member of said +Confederacy." + +Without waiting for the decision of the people on the question of +secession, the national flag was removed from the public buildings, +and the Confederate flag was raised. All the property of the +General Government was seized and, by an article in the agreement +with the Confederate commissioner, was in due time to be turned +over to the Montgomery government. In short, the State Government +of Virginia proceeded in its mad career of hostility to the Union, +without the slightest regard to the future decision of the people +on the important issue which in form had been submitted to them. +They evidently intended to make a rejection of the Disunion ordinance +impossible. For their own honor, the man who contrived and guided +these proceedings would better have adopted the bold precedent of +those States which refused altogether to submit the ordinance to +popular vote. + +It ought not to escape notice that General Robert E. Lee is not +entitled to the defense so often made for him, that in joining the +Disunion movement he followed the voice of his State. General Lee +resigned his commission in the army of the Union and assumed command +of Confederate troops, long before Virginia had voted upon the +ordinance of secession. He gave the influence of his eminent name +to the schemes of those who, by every agency, _fas aut nefas_, were +determined to hurl Virginia into secession. The very fact that +General Lee had assumed command of the troops in Virginia was a +powerful incentive with many to vote against the Union. Jefferson +Davis had anticipated and measured the full force of the effect +which would be produced upon Virginians by General Lee's identification +with the Confederate cause. Whether or not there be ground for +making General Lee the subject of exceptional censure, there is +surely none for excusing him as one who reluctantly obeyed the +voice of his State. If he had remained in the national army until +the people of Virginia voted on the ordinance of secession, the +strength of the Union cause in his State would have been greater. +If he had chosen, as a citizen of Virginia, to stand by the Union +until his State decided against him, secession might have been +defeated. It is fair that his action should be clearly understood, +and that his name should bear the just responsibility. + + THE SECESSION OF VIRGINIA. + +All pretense of a fair submission of the question to popular vote +was finally abandoned, and the abandonment practically proclaimed +in a letter of Senator James M. Mason, which was published on the +16th of May, some ten days in advance of the election. "If it be +asked," wrote Mr. Mason, "what those shall do who cannot in conscience +vote to separate Virginia from the United States, the answer is +simple and plain. Honor and duty alike require that they should +not vote on the question, and if they retain such opinions they +must leave the State." Mr. Mason thus accurately defined what the +South understood by the submission of secession ordinances to +popular vote. It meant that a man might vote for an ordinance but +not against it; if he desired to vote against it, and persisted in +the desire, he should leave the State. It is rather a matter of +surprise that of 161,000 votes cast in Virginia on the question, +32,000 were registered against secession. These friends of the +Government were, it is true, in large part from the western section +of the State where slaves were few and the loyal sentiment was +strong. It is an interesting fact that along the mountain range +through Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and even as far South +as Georgia, the inhabitants generally sympathized with the Union. +Though often forced to aid the Rebellion, they were at heart loyal +to the government of their fathers, and on many important occasions +rendered the most valuable service to the National cause. The +devotion of large numbers in East Tennessee to the Federal Government +seriously embarrassed the new Confederacy. The remaining slave +States, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, gave trouble to the +administration, but did not succeed in separating themselves from +the Union. Large numbers of their people joined the Southern army, +but the political power of those States was wielded in favor of +the loyal cause. They desired to enact the part of neutrals; but +the National Government, from the first, took strong ground against +a policy so dishonorable in the States, so injurious to the Union. + +The responses made by the Southern governors to the President's +call for troops are so characteristic, and afford so true a picture +of the times, as to merit notice. Nearly every one returned a +scornful and defiant message. Governor Magoffin replied that +Kentucky "would furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing +her sister States of the South." Governor Letcher declared that +"the militia of Virginia would not be furnished to the powers at +Washington for any such use or purpose as they had in view, which +was the subjugation of the Southern States," and that "the civil +war which the powers at Washington had chosen to inaugurate would +be met by the South in a spirit as determined." Governor Jackson +considered "the call to be illegal, unconstitutional, and revolutionary; +its objects to be inhuman and diabolical," and it "would not be +complied with by Missouri." Governor Harris said that Tennessee +"would not furnish a single man for coercion, but would raise fifty +thousand men for the defense of her rights, and those of her Southern +brethren." Governor Ellis of North Carolina answered that he "could +be no party to the wicked violation of the laws of the country and +to the war upon the liberties of a free people." Governor Rector +declared that the President's call for troops was only "adding +insult to injury, and that the people of Arkansas would defend, to +the last extremity, their honor and their property against Northern +mendacity and usurpation." Governor Hicks for prudential reasons +excused Maryland at the time from responding to the President's +call, and when a month afterwards he notified the War Department +of his readiness to comply with the request of the Government, he +was informed that three-months' men were not needed, and that +arrangements had been made for accepting three-years' volunteers +from Maryland. Governor Burton of Delaware replied that "there +was no organized militia in the State, and no law authorizing such +organization." Indisposition to respond to the President was +therefore in different degrees manifest in every part of the Union +where Slavery had wrought its demoralizing influence. Mr. Lincoln +was disappointed at this proof of the sectional character of the +contest, and he realized that if American nationality was to be +preserved, it must look for help to the abounding resources and +the patriotic loyalty of the free States. + + THE GOVERNORS OF LOYAL STATES. + +It fortunately happened that the governors of the free States were +devoted to the Union in as great degree as the Southern governors +were devoted to the Confederacy. It may well be doubted whether +at any time in history of the government there had been so large +a number of able men occupying the gubernatorial chairs of the +Northern States. They were not only eminent in an intellectual +point of view, but they had a special fitness for the arduous and +patriotic duties so unexpectedly devolved upon them. They became +popularly known as the "War Governors," and they exercised a +beneficent and decisive influence upon the fortunes of the Union. + +The Governor of Massachusetts, John A. Andrew, added fervor to the +patriotism of the whole people, and nobly led his State in her +generous outpouring of aid and comfort to the loyal cause. The +vigor which Massachusetts had imparted to the Revolution against +the Crown was surpassed by the ardor with which she now threw +herself into the contest for the Union. She had been often reproached +for urging forward the anti-slavery agitation, which was the excuse +of the South for rebelling against the National authority. A +somewhat similar accusation had been lodged against her by the +Royal Governors and by the Tories a century before. But the men +who found this fault with Massachusetts--a fault wholly on virtue's +side--will not deny that when the hour of trial came, when convictions +of conscience were to be maintained by the strength of the right +arm, and faith in principle was to be attested by a costly sacrifice +of blood, her sons added imperishable honor to their ancestral +record of heroism in the cause of human Liberty and Constitutional +Government. + +The other New-England States were not less ardent than Massachusetts. +Israel Washburn, the Governor of Maine, impulsive, energetic, +devoted to the cause of the Union, was sustained by the people of +the State without regard to party and with the noblest enthusiasm. +William A. Buckingham of Connecticut, of mature years and stainless +life, was a young man once more when his country demanded his best +energies. The young Governor of Rhode Island, William Sprague, +laid aside the civilian's dress for the uniform of a soldier, and +led the troops of his State to the National Capital. Ichabod +Goodwin of New Hampshire and Erastus Fairbanks of Vermont, two of +their most honored and useful men, filled out the list of New +England's worthy Executives. Throughout the six States there was +but one anxiety, one resolve,--anxiety for the safety of the +government, resolve to subdue the revolt against it. + +New England is not mentioned first except in a geographical sense. +More important even than her patriotic action was the course of +the great Central and Western States. New York and Pennsylvania +of themselves constituted no mean power, with a population of seven +millions, with their boundless wealth, and their ability to produce +the material of war. Edwin D. Morgan was the Executive of New +York. He was a successful merchant of high character, of the +sturdiest common sense and soundest judgment. A man of wealth +himself, he possessed the entire confidence of the bankers and +capitalists of the metropolis. His influence in aid of the finances +of the government in its early period of depression was given +without stint and was of incalculable value. In the neighboring +State of New Jersey, Governor Charles Olden was ready for hearty +co-operation, and seconded with patriotic zeal every movement in +aid of the loyal cause. + +Of a different type from Governor Morgan, but equally valuable and +more enthusiastic, was the Governor of Pennsylvania, Andrew G. +Curtin. Circumstances had thrown him into close and cordial +relations with Mr. Lincoln,--relations which had their origin at +the time of the Chicago Convention, and which had grown more intimate +after Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated. Before the firing on Sumter, +but when the States of the Confederacy were evidently preparing +for war, Mr. Lincoln earnestly desired a counter signal of readiness +on the part of the North. Such a movement in New England would +have been regarded in the South merely as a fresh ebullition of +radicalism. In New York the tone was too conservative and Governor +Morgan too cautious to permit the demonstration to be made there. +Governor Curtin undertook to do it in Pennsylvania at the President's +special request. On the eleventh day of April, one day before the +South precipitated the conflict, the Legislature of Pennsylvania +passed an Act for the better organization of the militia, and +appropriated five hundred thousand dollars to carry out the details +of the measure. The manifest reference to the impending trouble +was in the words prescribing the duty of the Adjutant-General of +the State in case the President should call out the militia. It +was the first official step in the loyal States to defend the Union, +and the generous appropriation, made in advance of any blow struck +by the Confederacy, enabled Governor Curtin to rally the forces of +the great Commonwealth to the defense of the Union with marvelous +promptness. His administration was vigorous, and his support of +the Union cause was in the highest degree efficient, patriotic, +and successful. He attained an exceptional popularity with the +soldiers, and against the most bitter attacks never lost his hold +on the confidence and personal regard of Mr. Lincoln. + + GOVERNORS OF LOYAL STATES. + +In the West the commanding figure among a number of distinguished +Executives was Oliver P. Morton of Indiana. He was of stalwart +frame, full health, and the highest physical vigor. His energy +was untiring, his will unconquerable. In the closely balanced +condition of parties in his State, he had been trained to the most +aggressive and exacting form of leadership, so that he entered upon +his gubernatorial duties with a certain experience in the control +of men which was of marked value. He possessed a mind of extraordinary +strength; and in frequent contests at the bar and upon the stump, +he had thoroughly disciplined his faculties. In debate he was +formidable. It cannot be said that he exhibited striking originality +of thought, or that he possessed in large degree the creative power. +But in the art of presenting with force and clearness a subject +which he had studied, of analyzing it and simplifying it to the +comprehension of the common mind, of clothing it in language as +plain and forcible as the diction of John Bunyan, he has had few +equals among the public men of America. + +The Governor of Iowa was Samuel J. Kirkwood, a man of truth, courage, +and devoted love of country. Distinguished for comprehensive +intelligence, for clear foresight, for persuasive speech, for +spotless integrity, for thorough acquaintance with the people, he +was a model of executive efficiency. Alexander Ramsey, the first +governor of the Territory of Minnesota, was now governor of that +State. As strong in character as he was in popularity, as able as +he was patriotic, he broadened by his executive career a personal +fame already enviable. Austin Blair of Michigan was a worthy +compeer of these eminent officials, and administered his high trust +with honor to himself and with advantage to his country. Richard +Yates of Illinois had been chosen governor the day Mr. Lincoln was +elected President, and enjoyed an exceptional popularity with the +people of his State. William Dennison had succeeded Salmon P. +Chase in the gubernatorial chair of Ohio, and was unremitting in +his labor for the Union. Alexander W. Randall of Wisconsin had +contributed in no small degree by public and attractive speech to +the triumph of Mr. Lincoln, and was now intrusted with an important +duty, to which he gave himself with genuine zeal. + +In these sixteen States--all the non-slaveholding Commonwealths +east of the Rocky Mountains--the governors were members of the +Republican party. They were in political accord, and in complete +personal sympathy with the administration. This was regarded by +Mr. Lincoln as not in all respects a fortunate circumstance. It +was his belief, as it was the belief of many others, that if loyal +Democrats had been in the executive chairs of some of the largest +States, the effect would have been more impressive. It would have +suggested a more absolute unity of the Northern people in support +of the government. It would in some degree have relieved the +struggle for national life from the opprobrium contained in the +reproach which subsequently became too common, that after all it +was "a Republican war," waged merely for the abolition of slavery. + +The two States on the Pacific coast had Democratic governors, and, +by reason of the strong influence which the Southern Democrats had +exercised in both under the influence of William M. Gwin and Joseph +Lane, there was deep solicitude as to the course of event in that +important outpost of the Union. The loyal adherence of those States +to the National Government was a profound disappointment to the +Confederacy. Jefferson Davis had expected, with a confidence +amounting to certainty, and based, it is believed, on personal +pledges, that the Pacific Coast, if it did not actually join the +South, would be disloyal to the Union, and would, from its remoteness +and its superlative importance, require a large contingent of the +national forces to hold it in subjection. It was expected by the +South that California and Oregon would give at least as much trouble +as Kentucky and Missouri, and would thus indirectly but powerfully +aid the Southern cause. The enthusiastic devotion which these +distant States showed to the Union was therefore a surprise to the +South and a most welcome relief to the National Government. The +loyalty of the Pacific Coast was in the hearts of its people, but +it was made more promptly manifest and effective by the patriotic +conduct of Governor Downey and Governor Whittaker, and by the fervid +and persuasive eloquence of Thomas Starr King. + +The war wrought a great change in the relative position of parties +in California. In the autumn of 1861 the Republican candidate, +Leland Stanford, was chosen Governor of the State. He received +56,036 votes, while John Conness, a war Democrat, received 30,944, +and McConnell who was the representative of the Gwin Democracy, +which had so long controlled the State, received 32,750. The men +who supported Conness, if driven to the choice, would have supported +Stanford as against McConnell, thus showing the overwhelming +sentiment of California in favor of the Union. Two years before, +in the election of 1859, Mr. Stanford, as the Republican candidate, +received but 10,110 votes, while Milton S. Latham, representing +the Buchanan administration, received 62,255, and Curry, the Douglas +candidate, 31,298. The majority of the Douglas men, if forced to +choose, would have voted for Latham as against Stanford. In the +Presidential election of 1860 California gave Mr. Lincoln 38,734 +votes, Mr. Douglas 38,120, Mr. Breckinridge 33,975, Mr. Bell 9,136. +The vote which Governor Stanford received in September, 1861, shows +how rapid, radical, and complete was the political revolution caused +in California by the Southern Rebellion. + + + THE ELECTION IN KENTUCKY. + +In the eager desire of the loyal people to hasten all measures of +preparation for the defense of the Union, fault was found with Mr. +Lincoln for so long postponing the session of Congress. Between +the date of his proclamation and the date of the assembling of +Congress, eighty days were to elapse. Zealous and impatient +supporters of the loyal cause feared that the Confederacy would be +enabled to consolidate its power, and to gather its forces for a +more serious conflict than they could make if more promptly confronted +with the power of the Union. But Mr. Lincoln judged wisely that +time was needed for the growth and consolidation of Northern opinion, +and that senators and representatives, after the full development +of patriotic feeling in the free States, would meet in a frame of +mind better suited to the discharge of the weighty duties devolving +upon them. An additional and conclusive reason with the President +was, that Kentucky had not yet elected her representatives to the +Thirty-seventh Congress, and would not do so, under the constitution +and laws, until the ensuing August. Mr. Lincoln desired to give +ample time for canvassing Kentucky for the special election, which +was immediately ordered by the governor of the State for the +twentieth of June. From the first, Mr. Lincoln had peculiar interest +in the course and conduct of Kentucky. It was his native State, +and Mr. Clay had been his political exemplar and ideal. He believed +also that in the action of her people would be found the best index +and the best test of the popular opinion of the Border slave States. +He did every thing therefore that he could properly do, to aid +Kentucky in reaching a conclusion favorable to the Union. He was +rewarded with a great victory. Of the ten representatives chosen, +nine were decided friends of the Union, with the venerable Crittenden +at their head, ably seconded by Robert Mallory and William H. +Wadsworth. Only one member, Henry C. Burnett, was disloyal to the +government, and he, after a few months' tarry in the Union councils, +went South and joined the Rebellion. The popular vote showed 92,365 +for the Union candidates, and 36,995 for the Secession candidates, +giving a Union majority of more than 55,000. Mr. Lincoln regarded +the result in Kentucky as in the highest degree auspicious, and as +amply vindicating the wisdom of delaying the extra session of +Congress. The effect was to stimulate a rapidly developing loyalty +in the western part of Virginia, to discourage rebellious movements +in Missouri, and to arrest Disunion tendencies in Maryland. + +Under the protection of the administration, and inspired by the +confidence of its support, the Union men of Kentucky had done for +that State what her Union men might have done for Tennessee if John +Bell and his Whig associates had been as bold and as true to their +old principles and John J. Crittenden and Garrett Davis had proved +in Kentucky. The conduct of Mr. Bell was a sad surprise to his +Northern friends, and a keen mortification to those Southern Whigs +who had remained firm in their attachment to the Union. The vote +which he had received in the South at the Presidential election +was very nearly as large as that given to Breckinridge. The vote +of Bell and Douglas united, exceeded that given to Breckinridge in +the slave States by more than a hundred thousand. The popular +judgment in the North had been that the Disunion element in the +South was massed in support of Breckinridge, and that all who +preferred the candidacy of Bell or Douglas might be relied upon in +the supreme crisis as friends of the Union. Two Southern States, +Kentucky and Tennessee, had given popular majorities for Mr. Bell, +and there was no reason for supposing that the Union sentiment of +Tennessee was any less pronounced than that of Kentucky. Indeed, +Tennessee had the advantage of Mr. Bell's citizenship and long +identification with her public service, while Kentucky encountered +the personal influence and wide-spread popularity of Mr. Breckinridge, +who took part against the Union. + +If Mr. Bell had taken firm ground for the Union, the Secession +movement would have been to a very great extent paralyzed in the +South. Mr. Badger of North Carolina, of identically similar +principles with Crittenden, could have given direction to the old +Whig sentiment of his State, and could have held it steadily as +Kentucky was held to the Union. The Bell and Everett campaign had +been conducted upon the single and simple platform of the Union +and the Constitution,--devotion to the Union, obedience to the +Constitution. Mr. Everett, whose public life of grace, eloquence, +and purity had not been especially distinguished for courage, +pronounced with zeal and determination in favor of Mr. Lincoln's +administration, and lent his efforts on the stump to the cause of +the Union with wonderful effect through the Northern States. The +eagerness of Virginia Democrats never could have swept their State +into the whirlpool of Secession if the supporters of Mr. Bell in +Tennessee and North Carolina had thrown themselves between the Old +Dominion and the Confederacy. With that aid, the former Whigs of +Virginia, led by Stuart and Botts and Wickham and Baldwin, and +united with the loyal Democrats of the mountain and the valley, +could have held the State firmly to the support of the Union, and +could have effectively nullified the secret understanding between +Mr. Mason and the Montgomery government, that Virginia should secede +as soon as her open co-operation was needed for the success of the +Southern revolt. + + THE WHIGS OF THE SOUTH. + +A large share of the responsibility for the dangerous development +of the Rebellion must therefore be attributed to John Bell and his +half million Southern supporters, who were all of the old Whig +party. At the critical moment they signally failed to vindicate +the principles upon which they had appealed in the preceding canvass +for popular support. They are not justly chargeable with original +Disunion proclivities. Sentiments of that kind had been consolidated +in the Breckinridge party. But they are responsible for permitting +a party whose rank and file did not outnumber their own to lead +captive the public opinion of the South, and for permitting themselves +to be pressed into a disavowal of their political principles, and +to the adoption of the extreme views against which they had always +warred. The precipitate manner in which the Southern men of the +ancient Whig faith yielded their position as friends of the Union +was an instructive illustration of the power which a compact and +desperate minority can wield in a popular struggle. In a secret +ballot, where every man could have voted according to his own +convictions and desires, the Secession scheme would have been +defeated in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and +Arkansas. But the men who led the Disunion movement, understood +the practical lesson taught by the French revolutionist, that +"audacity" can overcome numbers. In such a contest conservatism +always goes down, and radicalism always triumphs. The conservative +wishes to temporize and to debate. The radical wishes to act, and +is ready to shoot. By reckless daring a minority of Southern men +raised a storm of sectional passion to which the friends of the +Union bowed their heads and surrendered. + +It would be incorrect to speak of a Whig party in the South at the +outbreak of the civil war. There were many Whigs, but their +organization was gone. It was the destruction of that party which +had prepared the way for a triumph of the Democratic Disunionists. +In the day of their strength the Whigs could not have been overborne +in the South by the Secessionists, nor would the experiment have +been tried. No party in the United States ever presented a more +brilliant array of talent than the Whigs. In the South, though +always resting under the imputation of not being so devoted to the +support of Slavery as their opponents, they yet maintained themselves, +by the power of intellect and by the prestige of chivalric leadership, +in some extraordinary political battles. Many of their eminent +men have a permanent place in our history. Others, with less +national renown, were recognized at home as possessing equal power. +In their training, in their habits of mind, in their pride and +independence, in their lack of discipline and submission, they were +perhaps specially fitted for opposition, and not so well adapted +as men of less power, to the responsibility and detail of +administration. But an impartial history of American statesmanship +will give some of the most brilliant chapters to the Whig party +from 1830 to 1850. If their work cannot be traced in the National +statute-books as prominently as that of their opponents, they will +be credited by the discriminating reader of our political annals +as the English of to-day credit Charles James Fox and his Whig +associates--for the many evils which they prevented. + +[* Baillie Peyton is erroneously described as uniting with the +South. He remained true to the Union throughout the contest.] + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Thirty-Seventh Congress assembles.--Military Situation.--List of +Senators: Fessenden, Sumner, Collamer, Wade, Chandler, Hale, +Trumbull, Breckinridge, Baker of Oregon.--List of Members of the +House of Representatives: Thaddeus Stevens, Crittenden, Lovejoy, +Washburne, Bingham, Conkling, Shellabarger.--Mr. Grow elected +Speaker.--Message of President Lincoln.--Its Leading Recommendations. +--His Account of the Outbreak of the Rebellion.--Effect of the +Message on the Northern People.--Battle of Bull Run.--Its Effect +on Congress and the Country.--The Crittenden Resolution adopted.-- +Its Significance.--Interesting Debate upon it in the Senate.--First +Action by Congress Adverse to Slavery.--Confiscation of Certain +Slaves.--Large Amount of Business dispatched by Congress.--Striking +and Important Debate between Baker and Breckinridge.--Expulsion of +Mr. Breckinridge from the Senate.--His Character.--Credit due to +Union Men of Kentucky.--Effect produced in the South of Confederate +Success at Bull Run.--Rigorous Policy adopted by the Confederate +Government.--Law respecting "Alien Enemies."--Law sequestrating +their Estates.--Rigidly enforced by Attorney-General Benjamin.--An +Injudicious Policy. + +The Thirty-seventh Congress assembled according to the President's +proclamation, on the fourth day of July, 1861. There had been no +ebb in the tide of patriotic enthusiasm which overspread the loyal +States after the fall of Sumter. Mr. Lincoln's sagacity in fixing +the session so late had apparently been well approved. The temper +of the senators and representatives as they came together could +not have been better for the great work before them. Startling +events, following each other thick and fast, had kept the country +in a state of absorbing excitement, and Congress saw around it on +every side the indications of a sanguinary struggle to come. Even +after the firing on Sumter, anxious and thoughtful men had not +given up all hope of an adjustment. The very shock of arms in the +harbor of Charleston, it was believed by many, might upon sober +second thought induce Southern men to pause and consider and +negotiate before taking the fatal plunge. Such expectations were +vain. The South felt that their victory was pre-ordained. Jefferson +Davis answered Mr. Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men by +a proclamation ordering the enlistment of one hundred thousand. +The Confederacy was growing in strength daily. State after State +was joining it, and energy and confidence prevailed throughout all +its borders. The situation grew every day more embarrassing and +more critical. Without waiting for the action of Congress, Mr. +Lincoln had called for forty-two thousand additional volunteers, +and added eleven new regiments, numbering some twenty-two thousand +men, to the regular army. A blockade of the Southern ports had +been ordered on the 19th of April, and eighteen thousand men had +been added to the navy. + +No battle of magnitude or decisive character had been fought when +Congress assembled; but there had been activity on the skirmish +line of the gathering and advances forces and, at many points, +blood collision. In Baltimore, on the historic 19th of April, the +mob had endeavored to stop the march of Massachusetts troops hurrying +to the protection of the National Capital. In Missouri General +Nathaniel Lyon had put to flight the disloyal governor, and +established the supremacy of National authority. In Western Virginia +General McClellan had met with success in some minor engagements, +and on the upper Potomac the forces under General Robert Patterson +had gained some advantages. A reverse of no very serious character +had been experienced at Big Bethel, near Hampton Roads, by the +troops under General Benjamin F. Butler. General Robert C. Schenck, +in command of a small force, had met with a repulse a few miles +from Washington, near Vienna in the State of Virginia. These +incidents were not in themselves of special importance, but they +indicated an aggressive energy on the part of the Confederates, +and foreshadowed the desperate character which the contest was +destined to assume. Congress found itself legislating in a fortified +city, with patrols of soldiers on the streets and with a military +administration which had practically superseded the civil police +in the duty of maintaining order and protecting life. The situation +was startling and serious, and for the first time people began to +realize that we were to have a war with bloody fighting and much +suffering, with limitless destruction of property, with costly +sacrifice of life. + + UNITED-STATES SENATORS. + +The spirit in both branches of Congress was a fair reflection of +that which prevailed in the North. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee +was the only senator who appeared from the eleven seceding States. +John C. Breckinridge was present from Kentucky, somewhat mortified +by the decisive rebuke which he had received in the vote of his +State. The first important act of the Senate was the seating of +James H. Lane and Samuel C. Pomeroy as senators from the new State +of Kansas, which had been admitted at the last session of Congress +as a free State,--in a bill which, with historic justice, Mr. +Buchanan was called upon to approve, after he had announced in +Congress, during the first year of his administration, that Kansas +was as much a slave State as South Carolina. The first question +of moment growing out of the Rebellion was the presentation of +credentials by Messrs. Willey and Carlile, who claimed seats as +senators from Virginia, the right to which was certified by the +seal of the State with the signature of Francis H. Pierpont as +governor. The credentials indicated that Mr. Willey was to take +the seat vacated by Mr. Mason, and Mr. Carlile that vacated by Mr. +Hunter. The loyal men of Virginia, especially from the western +counties, finding that the regularly organized government of the +State had joined the Rebellion, extemporized a government composed +of the Union men of the Legislature which had been in session the +preceding winter in Richmond. This body had met in Wheeling, and +elected two men as senators who had stood firmly for the Union in +the convention which had forced Virginia into secession. Their +admission to the Senate was resisted by Mr. James A. Bayard, then +senator from Delaware, and by the few other Democratic senators +who still held seats. But after discussion, Mr. Willey and Mr. +Carlile were sworn in, and thus the first step was taken which led +soon after to the partition of the Old Dominion and the creation +of the new State of West Virginia. The free States had a unanimous +representation of Republican senators, with the exception of John +R. Thompson from New Jersey, Jesse D. Bright from Indiana, James +W. Nesmith from Oregon, and the two senators from California, Milton +S. Latham and James A. McDougall, the latter of whom was sworn in +as the successor of William M. Gwin. + +The Senate, though deprived by secession of many able men from the +South, presented an imposing array of talent, statesmanship, and +character. William Pitt Fessenden had already served one term with +distinction, and was now in the third year of his second term. He +possessed a combination of qualities which gave him just eminence +in his public career. He was brilliant from his youth upward; had +led the Maine Legislature when but a few years beyond his majority; +and, at a time when members of the legal profession are struggling +for a first foot-hold, he had stepped to the front rank in the bar +of Maine. He was elected a representative in Congress in 1840 at +thirty-four years of age. He never enjoyed popularity in the sense +in which that word is ordinarily used, but he had the absolute +confidence and admiration of his constituents. He possessed that +peculiar strength with the people--the most valuable and most +enduring a public man can have--which comes from a sense of pride +in the ability and character of the representative. Somewhat +reserved and distant in manner to the world at large, he was genial +and delightful to the intimate circle whom he called friends. + +As a debater Mr. Fessenden was exceptionally able. He spoke without +apparent effort, in a quiet, impressive manner, with a complete +master of pure English. He preserved the _lucidus ordo_ in his +argument, was never confused, never hurried, never involved in +style. A friend once said to him that the only criticism to be +made of his speeches in the Senate was that he illustrated his +point too copiously, throwing light upon it after it was made plain +to the comprehension of all his hearers. "That fault," said he, +"I acquired in addressing juries, where I always tried to adapt my +argument to the understanding of the dullest man of the twelve." +It was a fault which Mr. Fessenden overcame, and in his later years +his speeches may be taken as models for clearness of statement, +accuracy of reasoning, felicity of expression, moderation of tone. +There have been members of the Senate who achieved greater distinction +than Mr. Fessenden, but it may well be doubted whether in the +qualities named he ever had a superior in that body. His personal +character was beyond reproach. He maintained the highest standard +of purity and honor. His patriotism was ardent and devoted. The +general character of his mind was conservative, and he had the +heartiest contempt of every thing that savored of the demagogue in +the conduct of public affairs. He was never swayed from his +conclusion by the passion of the hour, and he met the gravest +responsibilities with even mind. He had a lofty disregard of +personal danger, possessing both moral and physical courage in a +high degree. He was constant in his devotion to duty, and no doubt +shortened his life by his public labors.* + + UNITED-STATES SENATORS. + +Mr. Sumner, though five years the junior, was senior in senatorial +service to Mr. Fessenden, and had attained wider celebrity. Mr. +Sumner's labor was given almost exclusively to questions involving +our foreign relations, and to issues growing out of the slavery +agitation. To the latter he devoted himself, not merely with +unswerving fidelity but with all the power and ardor of his nature. +Upon general questions of business in the Senate he was not an +authority, and rarely participated in the debates which settled +them; but he did more than any other man to promote the anti-slavery +cause, and to uprear its standard in the Republican party. He had +earned, in an unexampled degree, the hatred of the South, and this +fact had increased the zeal for him among anti-slavery men throughout +the North. The assault, made upon him by Preston S. Brooks, a +South-Carolina representative, for his famous speech on Kansas, +had strengthened his hold upon his constituency, which was not +merely the State of Massachusetts but the radical and progressive +Republicans of the entire country. + +Mr. Sumner was studious, learned, and ambitious. He prepared his +discussions of public questions with care, but was not ready as a +debater. He presented his arguments with power, but they were +laborious essays. He had no faculty for extempore speech. Like +Addison, he could draw his draft for a thousand pounds, but might +not have a shilling of change. This did not hinder his progress +or lessen his prestige in the Senate. His written arguments were +the anti-slavery classics of the day, and they were read more +eagerly than speeches which produced greater effect on the hearer. +Colonel Benton said that the eminent William Pinkney of Maryland +was always thinking of the few hundred who came to hear him in the +Senate Chamber, apparently forgetting the million who might read +him outside. Mr. Sumner never made that mistake. His arguments +went to the million. They produced a wide-spread and prodigious +effect on public opinion and left an indelible impression on the +history of the country. + +Jacob Collamer of Vermont was a senator of eminent worth and ability. +He had earned honorable fame as a member of the House of Representatives, +and as a member of the Cabinet in the administration of General +Taylor. He had entered the Senate at a ripe age, and with every +qualification for distinguished service. To describe him in a +single word, he was a wise man. Conservative in his nature, he +was sure to advise against rashness. Sturdy in his principles, he +always counseled firmness. In the periods of excitement through +which the party was about to pass, his judgment was sure to prove +of highest value--influenced, as it always was, by patriotism, and +guided by conscience. Without power as an orator, he was listened +to in the Senate with profound attention, as one who never offered +counsel that was not needed. He carried into the Senate the gravity, +the dignity, the weight of character, which enabled him to control +more ardent natures; and he brought to a later generation the wisdom +and experience acquired in a long life devoted to the service of +his State and of his country. + + UNITED-STATES SENATORS. + +Zachariah Chandler had been the recognized leader of the Republican +party in Michigan from its formation. He had superseded General +Cass with a people in whose affections the latter had been strongly +intrenched before Chandler was born. He had been four years in +the Senate when the war broke out, and he was well established in +reputation and influence. He was educated in the common schools +of his native State of New Hampshire, but had not enjoyed the +advantage of collegiate training. He was not eloquent according +to the canons of oratory; but he was widely intelligent, had given +careful attention to public questions, and spoke with force and +clearness. He was a natural leader. He had abounding confidence +in himself, possessed moral courage of a high order, and did not +know the sensation of physical fear. He was zealous in the +performance of public duty, radical in all his convictions, patriotic +in every thought, an unrelenting foe to all forms of corruption. +He distinguished between a friend and an enemy. He was always +ready to help the one, and, though not lacking in magnanimity, he +seldom neglected an opportunity to cripple the other. + +Lyman Trumbull had entered the Senate six years before, when Illinois +revolted against the course of Douglas in destroying the Missouri +Compromise. Mr. Lincoln had earnestly desired the place, but waived +his claims. The election of Trumbull was considered desirable for +the consolidation of the new party, and the Republicans of Whig +antecedents were taught a lesson of self-sacrifice by the promptness +with which Mr. Lincoln abandoned the contest. Judge Trumbull had +acquired a good reputation at the bar of his State, and at once +took high rank in the Senate. His mind was trained to logical +discussion, and as a debater he was able and incisive. His political +affiliations prior to 1854 were with the Democracy, and aside from +the issue in regard to the extension of slavery, he did not fully +sympathize with the principles and tendencies of the Republican +party. He differed from Mr. Lincoln just as Preston King, senator +from New York, differed from Mr. Seward. Lincoln and Seward believed +in Henry Clay and all the issues which he represented, while Trumbull +and King were devoted to the policies and measures which characterized +the administration of Jackson. The two classes of men composing +the Republican party were equally zealous in support of the principles +that led to the political revolution of 1860, but it was not easy +to see what would be the result of other issues which time and +necessity might develop. + +Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio had been ten years in the Senate when the +war broke out. He entered in March, 1851--the immediate successor +of Thomas Ewing who had been transferred to the Senate from the +Cabinet of Taylor, to take the place of Thomas Corwin who left the +Senate to enter the Cabinet of Fillmore. Mr. Wade was elected as +a Whig--the last senator chosen by that party in Ohio. His triumph +was a rebuke to Mr. Corwin for his abandonment of the advanced +position which he had taken against the aggressions of the slave +power. It was rendered all the more significant by the defeat of +Mr. Ewing, who with his strong hold upon the confidence and regard +of the people of Ohio, was too conservative to embody the popular +resentment against the odious features of the Compromise of 1850. +Mr. Wade entered the Senate with Mr. Sumner. Their joint coming +imparted confidence and strength to the contest for free soil, and +was a powerful re-enforcement to Mr. Seward, Mr. Chase, and Mr. +Hale, who represented the distinctively anti-slavery sentiment in +the Senate. The fidelity, the courage, the ability of Mr. Wade +gave him prominence in the North, and were a constant surprise to +the South. He brought to the Senate the radicalism which Mr. +Giddings had so long upheld in the House, and was protected in his +audacious freedom of speech by his steadiness of nerve and his +known readiness to fight. + +Henry B. Anthony entered the Senate on the 4th of March, 1859, at +forty-four years of age. He had been Governor of Rhode Island ten +years before. He received a liberal education at Brown University, +and was for a long period editor of the _Providence Journal_, a +position in which he established an enviable fame as a writer and +secured an enduring hold upon the esteem and confidence of his +State. In the Senate he soon acquired the rank to which his thorough +training and intelligence, his graceful speech, his ardent patriotism, +his stainless life entitled him. No man has ever enjoyed, among +his associates of all parties, a more profound confidence, a more +cordial respect, a warmer degree of affection. + + UNITED-STATES SENATORS. + +John P. Hale of New Hampshire was still pursuing the career which +he had begun as an early advocate of the anti-slavery cause, and +in which he had twice overthrown the power of the Democratic party +in New Hampshire.--Henry Wilson was the colleague of Mr. Sumner, +and was a man of strong parts, self-made, earnest, ardent, and +true.--Lot M. Morrill was the worthy associate of Mr. Fessenden, +prominent in his profession, and strong in the regard and confidence +of the people of his States.--The author of the Wilmot Proviso came +from Pennsylvania as the successor of Simon Cameron, and as the +colleague of Edgar Cowan, whose ability was far greater than his +ambition or his industry.--James W. Grimes, a native of New Hampshire, +who had gone to Iowa at the time of its organization as a Territory +and had been conspicuously influential in the affairs of the State, +entered the Senate in March, 1859. He possessed an iron will and +sound judgment. He was specially distinguished for independence +of party restraint in his modes of thought and action. He and +Judge Collamer of Vermont were the most intimate associates of Mr. +Fessenden, and the three were not often separated on public questions. +--The colleague of Mr. Grimes was James Harlan, one of Mr. Lincoln's +most valued and most confidential friends, and subsequently a member +of his Cabinet.--James R. Doolittle came from Wisconsin, a far more +radical Republican than his colleague, Timothy O. Howe, and both +were men of marked influence in the councils of their party.--John +Sherman filled the vacancy occasioned by the appointment of Mr. +Chase to the Treasury. Mr. Chase had been chosen as the successor +of George E. Pugh, and remained in the Senate but a single day. +Mr. Sherman had been six years in the House, and had risen rapidly +in public esteem. He had been the candidate of his party for +Speaker, and had served as chairman of Ways and Means in the Congress +preceding the war.--From the far-off Pacific came Edward Dickinson +Baker, a senator from Oregon, a man of extraordinary gifts of +eloquence; lawyer, soldier, frontiersman, leader of popular +assemblies, tribune of the people. In personal appearance he was +commanding, in manner most attractive, in speech irresistibly +charming. Perhaps in the history of the Senate no man ever left +so brilliant a reputation from so short a service. He was born in +England, and the earliest recollection of his life was the splendid +pageant attending the funeral of Lord Nelson.** He came with his +family to the United States when a child, lived for a time in +Philadelphia, and removed to Illinois, where he grew to manhood +and early attained distinction. He served his State with great +brilliancy in Congress, and commanded with conspicuous success one +of her regiments in the war with Mexico. The Whigs of the North- +West presented Colonel Baker for a seat in the Cabinet of President +Taylor. His failure to receive the appointment was a sore +mortification to him. He thought his political career in Illinois +was broken; and in 1852, after the close of his service in Congress, +he joined the throng who were seeking fortune and fame on the +Pacific slope. When leaving Washington he said to a friend that +he should never look on the Capitol again unless he could come +bearing his credentials as a senator of the United States. He +returned in eight years. + +Among the opposition senators, some fourteen in number, the most +prominent was John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, who had stepped +from the Vice-President's chair to the floor of the Senate as the +successor of Mr. Crittenden. Mr. Breckinridge at that time was +forty years of age, attractive in personal appearance, graceful, +and cordial in manner, by inheritance and by cultivation a gentleman. +He came from a section where family rank gave power and influence. +He united in his person the best blood of the South and the North, +--preserving and combining the most winning traits of each. His +lineage in Kentucky naturally brought to him the sympathy and +support of the State. He was born to success and authority among +his people. Originally he had anti-slavery convictions, as had +all the members of his eminent family. So strongly was this tendency +developed in his mind that, when he came to the bar, he removed to +the Territory of Iowa, intending to identify himself with the growth +of the free North-West. Circumstances overcame the determination, +and carried him back to Kentucky, where he was welcomed at the +hearth-stones and in the hearts of her people. + + MR. CLAY AND MR. BRECKINRIDGE. + +At twenty-five years of age Mr. Breckinridge was appointed major +in one of the Kentucky regiments, which served in the Mexican war. +After his return he entered upon the practice of his profession in +Lexington, and against all the traditions of his family identified +himself with the Democratic party. An apparently slight incident +had an important bearing upon his earlier political career. He +was selected to deliver the address of welcome to Mr. Clay on his +return to Kentucky in the autumn of 1850, from the field of his +senatorial triumph in securing the adoption of the celebrated +compromise of that year. Mr. Breckinridge's speech was graceful +and effective. He eulogized Mr. Clay's work with discrimination, +and paid the highest tribute to the illustrious statesman. Mr. +Clay was visibly touched by the whole scene. His old opponents +were present by the thousand to do him honor. The enmities and +antagonisms of earlier years were buried. He had none but friends +and supporters in Kentucky. He responded with earnestness, and +even with emotion: "My welcome," he said, "has been made all the +more grateful from being pronounced by my eloquent young friend, +the son of an eloquent father, the grandson of a still more eloquent +grandfather, both of whom were in days long gone my cherished +companions, my earnest supporters." Mr. Clay's words were so warm, +his manner was so cordial, that it seemed as if he intended to +confer upon Breckinridge the leadership in Kentucky, which, after +a half century's domination, he was about to surrender. Undoubtedly +the events of that day aided Breckinridge the next year in carrying +the Ashland District for Congress, and drew to him thereafter the +support of many influential Whigs. He entered Congress when the +slavery discussion was absorbing public attention, and by the +irresistible drift of events he was carried into an association +with extreme Southern men. It was by their friendly influence that +he was promoted to the Vice-Presidency as soon as he became eligible +under the Constitution. During the four stormy years of Buchanan's +administration, when the sectional contest approached its crisis, +Mr. Breckinridge became more and more the representative of Southern +opinion, and, though unequal to Douglas in the arena of debate, he +became the leader of those who opposed the "popular sovereignty" +dogma of the Illinois senator. He was thence drawn by influences +which he could not have controlled if he had desired, into the +prolonged and exciting controversy which disrupted the Democratic +party. Intellectually Mr. Breckinridge was not the equal of many +Southern men who deferred to him as a leader. His precedence was +due to his personal character, to his strong connections, to his +well-tempered judgment, and especially to a certain attractiveness +of manner which was felt by all who came in contact with him. + +The prominence of New England in the Senate was exceptional. So +many positions of influence were assigned to her that it created +no small degree of jealously and ill-feeling in other sections. +The places were allotted according to the somewhat rigid rules of +precedence which obtain in that body, but this fact did not induce +senators from the Middle and Western States to acquiesce with grace. +The chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Relations was given +to Mr. Sumner; Mr. Fessenden was placed at the head of the Finance +Committee, which then included Appropriations; Mr. Wilson was made +chairman of Military Affairs; Mr. John P. Hale, chairman of Naval +Affairs; Mr. Collamer, chairman of Post-office and Post-roads; Mr. +Foster of Connecticut, chairman of Pensions; Mr. Clark of New +Hampshire, chairman of Claims; Mr. Simmons of Rhode Island, chairman +of Patents; Mr. Foot of Vermont, chairman of Public Buildings and +Grounds; Mr. Anthony, chairman of Printing; Mr. Dixon of Connecticut, +chairman of Contingent Expenses. Mr. Lot M. Morrill, who had just +entered the public service from Maine, was the only New-England +senator left without a chairmanship. There were in all twenty-two +committees in the Senate. Eleven were given to New England. But +even this ratio does not exhibit the case in its full strength. +The Committees on Foreign Relations, Finance, Military Affairs, +and Naval Affairs shaped almost the entire legislation in time of +war, and thus New England occupied a most commanding position. +The retirement of Mr. Seward, Mr. Chase, and Mr. Cameron from the +Senate to enter the Cabinet undoubtedly increased the number of +important positions assigned to New England. Twenty-two States +were represented in the Senate, and it was impossible to make +sixteen of them, including the four leading States of the Union, +recognize the justice of placing the control of National legislation +in the hands of six States in the far North-East. It was not a +fortunate arrangement for New England, since it provoked prejudices +which proved injurious in many ways, and lasted for many years. + + + THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + +The House of Representatives was promptly organized by the election +of Galusha A. Grow of Pennsylvania as Speaker. Mr. Grow came from +the Wilmot district, on the northern border of the State, where +the anti-slavery sentiment had taken earliest and deepest root. +As Connecticut had in the Colonial period claimed a large part of +the area of North Pennsylvania, her emigration tended in that +direction, and this fact had given a distinct and more radical type +to the population. Mr. Grow was himself a native of Connecticut. +He was chosen Speaker because of his activity in the anti-slavery +struggles of the House, and because of his aptitude for the duties +of the chair. Francis P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri was a rival +candidate, and was supported by strong influences. It was not +considered expedient to hold a party caucus, and the Democratic +minority declined to present a candidate. On the roll call, Mr. +Grow received 71 votes, Mr. Blair 40, while 48 votes, principally +of Democratic representatives, were cast for different gentlemen +who were in no sense candidates. Accepting Mr. Grow's plurality +as the best form of nomination to the office, a large number of +the friends of Mr. Blair changed their votes before the result was +authoritatively declared, and Mr. Grow was announced as receiving +90 votes,--a majority of all the members. Two members appeared +from Virginia. The other Confederate States were without +representation. Emerson Etheridge of Tennessee was chosen Clerk, +in compliment to his fidelity and courage as a Union man. + +The House was filled with able men, many of whom had parliamentary +experience. The natural leader, who assumed his place by common +consent, was Thaddeus Stevens, a man of strong peculiarities of +character, able, trained, and fearless. Born in Vermont and educated +at Dartmouth, he had passed all his adult years in Pennsylvania, +and was thoroughly identified with the State which he had served +with distinction both in her own Legislature and in Congress. He +had the reputation of being somewhat unscrupulous as to political +methods, somewhat careless in personal conduct, somewhat lax in +personal morals; but to the one great object of his life, the +destruction of slavery and the elevation of the slave, he was +supremely devoted. From the pursuit of that object nothing could +deflect him. Upon no phase of it would he listen to compromise. +Any man who was truly anti-slavery was his friend. Whoever espoused +the cause and proved faithless in never so small a degree, became +his enemy, inevitably and irreconcilably. Towards his own race he +seemed often to be misanthropic. He was learned in the law, and +for a third of a century had held high rank at the bar of a State +distinguished for great lawyers. He was disposed to be taciturn. +A brilliant talker, he did not relish idle and aimless conversation. +He was much given to reading, study, and reflection, and to the +retirement which enabled him to gratify his tastes. As was said +of Mr. Emerson, Mr. Stevens loved solitude and understood its use. + +Upon all political questions Mr. Stevens was an authority. He +spoke with ease and readiness, using a style somewhat resembling +the crisp, clear sententiousness of Dean Swift. Seldom, even in +the most careless moment, did a sentence escape his lips, that +would not bear the test of grammatical and rhetorical criticism. +He possessed the keenest wit, and was unmerciful in its use toward +those whom he did not like. He illustrated in concrete form the +difference between wit and humor. He did not indulge in the latter. +He did not enjoy a laugh. When his sharp sallies would set the +entire House in an uproar, he was as impassive, his visage as +solemn, as if he were pronouncing a funeral oration. His memory +of facts, dates, and figures was exact, and in argument he knew +the book and chapter and page for reference. He was fond of young +men, invited their society, encouraged and generously aided them. +He was easily moved by the distress of others. He was kind, +charitable, lavish of his money in the relief of poverty. He had +characteristics which seemed contradictory, but which combined to +make one of the memorable figures in the Parliamentary history of +the United States,--a man who had the courage to meet any opponent, +and who was never overmatched in intellectual conflict. + +Mr. Stevens had efficient colleagues from Pennsylvania. The most +distinguished was John Hickman, who had been a Democrat until 1860, +and who in debate was skillful and acute. William D. Kelley entered +the House at this session for the first time, and was destined to +serve his State for a long series of years, with ability, fidelity, +and usefulness. James K. Moorhead, John Covode, Edward McPherson, +and John W. Killinger were active and influential members.*** + + THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + +New York sent Reuben E. Fenton, already prominent, popular, and +strong in the public service; Elbridge G. Spaulding, who became +useful and even eminent as an adviser in financial legislation; +William A. Wheeler, afterwards Vice-President of the United States; +Theodore Pomeroy, the neighbor and confidential friend of Mr. +Seward; Charles B. Sedgwick, of pronounced ability in the law; +Charles H. Van Wyck, who afterwards sought distinction in the West; +and Abraham Olin, subsequently well known in judicial life. The +ablest and most brilliant man of the delegation was Roscoe Conkling. +He had been elected to the preceding Congress when but twenty-nine +years of age, and had exhibited a readiness and eloquence in debate +that placed him at once in the first rank. His command of language +was remarkable. In affluent and exuberant diction Mr. Conkling +was never surpassed in either branch of Congress, unless, perhaps, +by Rufus Choate. + +The Ohio delegation was especially strong. John A. Bingham, the +oldest in service on the Republican side, was an effective debater, +well informed, ready, and versatile. A man of high principle, of +strong faith, of zeal, enthusiasm, and eloquence, he could always +command the attention of the House. His colleague, Samuel +Shellabarger, was distinguished for the logical and analytical +character of his mind. Without the gift of oratory, paying little +heed to the graces of speech, Mr. Shellabarger conquered by the +intrinsic strength of his argument, which generally amounted to +demonstration. His mind possessed many of the qualities which +distinguished Mr. Lincoln. In fairness, lucidness, fullness of +statement, the two had a striking resemblance. Valentine B. Horton +was a valuable member on all questions of finance and business; +and on the issues touching slavery James M. Ashley followed the +radical example of Mr. Giddings. Among the Democrats, George H. +Pendleton, Clement L. Vallandigham, and Samuel S. Cox were especially +conspicuous. Mr. Pendleton was regarded as the leader of the +Democratic side of the House by a large section of his party, and +his assignment to the Committee of Ways and Means by the Speaker +was intended as a recognition of that fact. Mr. Cox gave much +attention to foreign affairs, to which his mind had been drawn by +a brief but fruitful participation in the diplomatic service of +the country. Mr. Vallandigham possessed ability, and a certain +form of dogged courage, combined with a love of notoriety, which +allured him to the assumption of extreme positions and the advocacy +of unpopular measures. No other State was in the aggregate so ably +represented as Ohio. + + THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + +Indiana was influential in the House. Schuyler Colfax was at the +height of his successful career on the floor and destined to eminent +promotion in the public service. Among his Republican colleagues +were George W. Julian, long and creditably identified with the anti- +slavery cause, and especially esteemed for the conscientious +attention he had given to all questions relating to the public +lands; Albert G. Porter, in his second Congress, well trained for +debate, with ability and high character, rapidly winning public +favor, but cut off from his legislative career by a Democratic +majority in his district, although his strength with the people +has since been strikingly attested; William McKee Dunn, a man of +sound judgment, to be known and appreciated afterwards in other +fields of honorable duty. On the Democratic side, William S. Holman +already ranked as an old member. His efforts were steadily and +persistently directed to the enforcement of public economy; and +though he may have sometimes been unreasonable, and though he was +often accused of acting the part of a demagogue, the country owes +him a debt of gratitude for the integrity, intelligence, and +simplicity with which he has illustrated a most honorable career +as representative of the people. Daniel W. Voorhees, by nature a +fierce partisan, yet always filled with generous impulses, was in +his second Congress. His character was significantly illustrated +by his willingness to lend his attractive eloquence in the Virginia +courts in defense of one of John Brown's associates in the Harper's +Ferry tragedy,--a magnanimous act in view of the risk to his position +among the pro-slavery Democracy, with whom he was strongly identified +in party organization. + +Illinois sent Elihu B. Washburne, already eight years a representative +in Congress, a man of courage, energy, and principle, devoted to +the Republican party, constant in attendance upon the sessions of +the House, expert in its rules, its most watchful and most careful +member, an economist by nature, a foe to every form of corruption. +Owen Lovejoy, though a native of Maine, springing from Puritan +ancestry, and educated to the Christian ministry in the faith taught +by Calvin, had the fiery eloquence of a French Revolutionist. Not +even the exasperating wit of Thaddeus Stevens, or the studied taunts +of John Quincy Adams, ever threw the Southern men into such rage +as the speeches of Lovejoy. He was recklessly bold. His brother +had been killed by a mob for preaching the doctrine of the +Abolitionists, and he seemed almost to court the same fate. He +was daring enough to say to the Southern Democrats, at a time of +great excitement in the House, in a speech delivered long before +the war, that the negroes were destined to walk to emancipation, +as the children of Israel had journeyed to the promised land, +"through the _Red_ Sea." Among the Democrats the most conspicuous +was William A. Richardson, who had been a devoted adherent of +Douglas, and had co-operated with in the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise. A younger adherent of Douglas was John A. Logan, +serving in his second term. He remained however but a short time +in the Thirty-seventh Congress. His ardent patriotism and ambitious +temperament carried him into the war, where his brilliant career +is known and read of all men. + +The most distinguished accession to the House was John J. Crittenden +of Kentucky. He had never before served in that branch, but he +had been chosen to the Senate six times by the Legislature of his +State,--for five full terms and for the remainder of Mr. Clay's +term when he retired in 1842. Only one other man, William E. King +of Alabama, has ever been so many times elected to the Senate. +Mr. Crittenden, like Mr. Clay, entered the Senate at thirty years +of age. His service began the day that Madison left the Presidency, +and ended the day of Lincoln's inauguration. But in this long +period he had served only two full terms, and his total service in +the Senate was little more than twenty years. He resigned in 1819 +"to get bread for his family," as he expressed it; the compensation +of a senator for the session of Congress not averaging at that time +more than nine hundred dollars per annum. He resigned in 1841 to +become Attorney-General in the Cabinet of Harrison. He resigned +in 1848 to run for Governor of Kentucky in aid of General Taylor's +candidacy, and he left the governorship in 1850, after the death +of Taylor, to accept his old position in the Cabinet. He was +appointed to the Supreme Bench by John Quincy Adams in the last +year of his administration; but the Senate, already under the +influence of the Jackson men, refused to confirm him. Mr. Clay +wrote to Mr. Crittenden in anticipation of his failure, bidding +him "cultivate calmness of mind and prepare for the worst event." + +Mr. Crittenden's ability was of a high order. He stood at the head +of that class of statesmen who were next to the highest grade. +Like so many other eminent Whigs, he was excluded from the full +recognition of his power by the overshadowing prestige of Mr. Clay +and Mr. Webster. The appearance of Mr. Crittenden in the House in +his seventy-fourth year was his patriotic response to the roll-call +of duty. He loved his country and his whole country, and every +effort of his waning strength was put forth in behalf of the Union. +It was his influence, more than that of any other man, which saved +his State from the vortex of Rebellion. But for his strong hold +upon the sympathy and pride of Kentucky, the malign influence of +Breckinridge might have forced the State into the Confederacy. +Mr. Lincoln considered Mr. Crittenden's course entitled to the +admiration and gratitude of every man who was loyal to the Union. + + THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + +Another Kentuckian gave noble aid to the National cause. Charles +A. Wickliffe was a contemporary of Mr. Crittenden, and had for many +years belonged to the same party. In the Whig dissensions which +followed the accession of Mr. Tyler to the Presidency, Mr. Wickliffe +supported the Administration. As an effective blow to Mr. Clay, +the President called Mr. Wickliffe to his Cabinet. He served as +Postmaster-General through Mr. Tyler's term, and with his chief +went over to the Democratic party, supporting Mr. Polk in 1844. +There was much anger over his course, on the part of the Kentucky +Whigs, resulting in personal estrangements. He was a man of ability, +of commanding appearance, of high character. His return to Congress, +where he had originally entered nearly forty years before, brought +a valuable support to the cause of the Union. + +Associated with Crittenden and Wickliffe were three men of mark. +Robert Mallory, William H. Wadsworth, and James S. Jackson were +younger but not less devoted friends of the Union. Their example +was especially valuable in holding thousands of young Kentuckians +from following Breckinridge into the Confederate army. Jackson +gave his life to his country on one of the battle-fields of the war. + +--Missouri sent Francis P. Blair, Jr., and James S. Rollins, who +had already been in the smoke and fire of civil conflict, and whose +loyalty to the Union, under every form of peril, entitled them to +the respect and confidence of patriotic men. + +--Massachusetts sent Benjamin F. Thomas of rare eloquence; Alexander +H. Rice, afterwards the governor of his State; Thomas D. Elliott, +John B. Alley, the venerable William Appleton; and Henry L. Dawes, +whose long service attests his character, his ability, and the +confidence of his constituents. + +--From New Hampshire came Gilman Marston, who soon after gained +credit in the field; from Vermont, Justin S. Morrill, one of the +most useful, industrious, and honorable members of the House; from +Maine, its distinguished ex-governor, Anson P. Morrill; and Frederick +A. Pike, of strong mind, keen and incisive in debate, but lacking +the ambition necessary to give him his proper rank in the House. +Samuel C. Fessenden and Thomas A. D. Fessenden, brothers of the +distinguished senator, were members of this House,--the only instance +in which three brothers were ever in Congress at the same time from +the same State. Three Washburns had served in the preceding +Congress, but they represented three States. + +--The far North-West was well represented by young men. William +Windom came from Minnesota, and from Iowa James F. Wilson, a man +of positive strength, destined to take very prominent part in +legislative proceedings. Fernando C. Beaman came from Michigan, +and John F. Potter and A. Scott Sloan from Wisconsin. Martin F. +Conway came from the youngest State of the Union, fresh from the +contests which had made Kansas almost a field of war. + +The organization of the House was so promptly effected that the +President's message was received on the same day. Throughout the +country there was an eagerness to hear Mr. Lincoln's views on the +painful situation. The people had read with deep sympathy the +tender plea to the South contained in his Inaugural address. The +next occasion on which they had heard from him officially was his +proclamation for troops after the fall of Sumter. Public opinion +in the North would undoubtedly be much influenced by what the +President should now say. Mr. Lincoln was keenly alive to the +importance of his message, and he weighed every word he wrote. He +maintained, as he always did, calmness of tone, moderation in +expression. He appealed to reason, not to prejudice. He spoke as +one who knew that he would be judged by the public opinion of the +world. It was his fortune to put his name to many state papers of +extraordinary weight, but never to one of graver import than his +first message to Congress. + + PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FIRST MESSAGE. + +The President informed Congress that he would not call their +attention "to any ordinary subject of legislation." In fact there +were but two things for Congress to do in the national exigency-- +provide for the enlistment of an army, and for the raising of money +necessary to the conduct of a great war. The President vividly +narrated the progressive steps in the South which had brought about +the existing status of affairs. He depicted in strong colors the +condition in which he found the government when he assumed office; +how "the forts, arsenals, dock-yards, and custom-houses" of the +National Government had been seized; how "the accumulations of +national revenue" had been appropriated; how "a disproportionate +share of Federal muskets and rifles" had found their way into the +Southern States, and had been seized to be used against the +government; how the navy had been "scattered in distant seas, +leaving but a small part of it within immediate reach of the +government;" how seven States had seceded from the Union, and formed +"a separate government, which is already invoking recognition, aid, +and intervention from foreign powers." With this critical situation +he was compelled to deal at once, and the policy which he had chosen +when he entered upon his office looked to the exhaustion of all +peaceful measures before a resort to stronger ones. + +In pursuing the policy of peace, the President had "sought only to +hold the public places and property not already wrested from the +government, and to collect the revenue--relying for the rest on +time, discussion, and the ballot-box." He had even gone so far as +"to promise a continuance of the mails at government expense to +the very people who were resisting the government;" and he had +given "repeated pledges" that every thing should be "forborne +without which it was believed possible to keep the government on +foot;" that there should be no "disturbances to any of the people, +or to any of their rights." He had gone in the direction of +conciliation as far as it was possible to go, without consenting +to a disruption of the government. + +The President gave in detail the events which led to the assault +on Sumter. He declared that the reduction of the fort "was in no +sense a matter of self-defense on the part of the assailants." +They well knew "that the garrison in the fort could by no possibility +commit an aggression upon them;" they were expressly notified that +"the giving of bread to the few brave and hungry men of the garrison +was all which would be attempted, unless themselves, by resisting +so much, should provoke more." They knew that the National Government +desired to keep the garrison in the fort, "not to assail them, but +merely to maintain visible possession, and thus to preserve the +Union from actual and immediate dissolution." The Confederate +Government had "assailed and reduced the fort for precisely the +reverse object--to drive out the visible authority of the Federal +Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolution." + +"In this act," said Mr. Lincoln, "discarding all else, they have +forced upon the country the distinct issue--immediate dissolution +or blood; and this issue embraces more than the fate of these United +States. It presents to the whole family of man the question, +whether a Constitutional Republic, a government of the people by +the same people, can or cannot maintain its territorial integrity +against its own domestic foes." The President presented this point +with elaboration. The question really involved, was "whether +discontented individuals, too few in number to control the +administration according to the organic law, can always, upon the +pretenses made in this case, or any other pretenses, or arbitrarily +without pretenses, break up the government, and thus practically +put an end to free government upon the earth. It forces us to ask, +_Is there in all Republics this inherent and fatal weakness?_ Must +a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its +own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" + +The President was severe upon Virginia and Virginians. He had made +earnest effort to save the State from joining the Rebellion. He +had held conferences with her leading men, and had gone so far on +the 13th of April as to address a communication, for public use in +Virginia, to the State convention then in session at Richmond, in +answer to a resolution of the convention asking him to define the +policy he intended to pursue in regard to the Confederate States. +In this he re-asserted the position assumed in his Inaugural, and +added that "if, as now appears to be true, an unprovoked assault +has been made on Fort Sumter, I shall hold myself at liberty to +repossess it if I can, and the like places which had been seized +before the government was devolved upon me. I shall, to the best +of my ability, repel force by force." This letter was used to +inflame public sentiment in Virginia, and to hurl the State into +Secession through the agency of a Convention elected to maintain +the Union. Mr. Lincoln afterwards believed that the letter had +been obtained from him under disingenuous pretenses and for the +express purpose of using it, as it was used, against the Union and +in favor of the Confederacy. + + PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FIRST MESSAGE. + +The President's resentment towards those who had thus, as he thought, +broken faith with him is visible in his message. Referring to the +Virginia convention, he observed that, "the people had chosen a +large majority of professed Union men" as delegates. "After the +fall of Sumter, many members of that majority went over to the +original Disunion minority, and with them adopted an ordinance +withdrawing the State from the Union." In his own peculiar style, +Mr. Lincoln made the stinging comment, "Whether this change was +wrought by their great approval of the assault upon Sumter, or by +their great resentment at the government's resistance to that +assault, is not definitely known." Though the Virginia convention +had submitted the ordinance of Secession to a vote of the people, +to be taken on a day nearly a month in the future, the President +informed Congress that "they immediately commenced acting as if +the State was already out of the Union." They seized the arsenal +at Harper's Ferry, and the navy-yard at Norfolk, and "received, +perhaps invited, large bodies of troops from the so-called seceding +States." They "sent members to their Congress at Montgomery, and +finally permitted the insurrectionary government to be transferred +to their Capitol at Richmond." Mr. Lincoln concluded with an +ominous sentence which might well have inspired Virginians with a +sense of impending peril; "The people of Virginia have thus allowed +his giant insurrection to make its nest within her borders, and +this government has no choice left but to deal with it where it +finds it." In that moment of passion these words, with all their +terrible significance, were heard by Southern men only to be jeered +at. + +When the President came to specific recommendations he was brief +and pointed. He asked that Congress would place "at the control +of the government at least four hundred thousand men, and four +hundred millions of money." He said this number was about one- +tenth of those of proper age within the regions where all were +apparently willing to engage, and the sum was "less than a twenty- +third part of the money value owned by men who seem ready to devote +the whole." He argued that "a debt of six hundred millions of +dollars is now a less sum per head than the debt of the Revolution +when we came out of that struggle, and the money value in the +country bears even a greater proportion to what it was then than +does the population." "Surely," he added, "each man has as strong +a motive now to _preserve_ our liberties as each had then to +_establish_ them." + +After arguing at length as to the utter fallacy of the right of +Secession, and showing how the public "mind of the South had been +drugged and insidiously debauched with the doctrine for thirty +years," the President closed his message "with the deepest regret +that he found the duty of employing the war power of the government +forced upon him;" but he "must perform his duty, or surrender the +existence of the government." Compromise had been urged upon the +President from every quarter. He answered all such requests frankly: +"No compromise by public servants could in this case be a cure; +not that compromises are not often proper, but that no popular +government can long survive a marked precedent that those who carry +an election can only save the government from immediate destruction +by giving up the main point upon which the people gave the election. +The people themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse +their own deliberate decision." + +Mr. Lincoln thus saw his duty clearly and met it boldly. In his +own person was centred, as he profoundly realized, the fate of +Republican government. He had been elected President of the United +States in strict accordance with all the requirements of the +Constitution. He had been chosen without bribe, without violence, +without undue pressure, by a majority of the electoral votes. If +there had been outrage upon the freedom of the ballot it was not +among his supporters; if there had been a terror of public opinion, +overawing the right of private judgment, it was not in the States +which had voted for him, but in those Southern communities where, +by threats of violence, the opportunity to cast a ballot was denied +to electors favorable to his cause. If he should now yield, he +evil results would be immeasurable and irremediable. "As a private +citizen," he said, "the Executive could not have consented that +Republican institutions shall perish; much less could he in betrayal +of so vast and so sacred a trust as these free people have confided +to him." He avowed that, in full view of his great responsibility, +he had so far done what he had deemed his duty. His words were +almost to foreshadow the great tragedy of after years when declaring +that _he felt he had no moral right to shirk, or even to count the +chances of his own life in what might follow_. In conclusion he +said to Congress, "having thus chosen our own course without guile, +and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward +without fear, and with manly hearts." + +The effect of this message upon the public opinion of the North +was very great. If there had been hesitation by any party or any +class upon the subsidence of the first glow of patriotism which +had animated the country after the assault on Sumter, Mr. Lincoln's +words arrested it, and restored enthusiasm and ardor to all hearts. +Indeed, men of thought and discretion everywhere saw that the course +of the President was fixed, and even if they differed from his +conclusions, they were persuaded that safety could be secured only +by following his counsels, and upholding his measures. Mr. Lincoln +had been throughout his life much given to reading, to argument, +to induction, to speculation, to reflection. He was now before +the world as a man of whom decision and action were required, with +the lives and fortunes of unborn millions depending upon his wisdom, +with the fate of Republican liberty and Constitutional government +at stake upon his success. The history of the world shows no +example of a man upon whom extraordinary public duties and perilous +responsibilities were so suddenly thrust. No antecedent training +had apparently fitted him for his work; no experience in affairs +had given assurance that he could master a situation which demanded +an unprecedented expenditure of treasure, which involved the control +of armies larger than the fabled host of Xerxes, which developed +questions of state-craft more delicate and more difficult than +those which had baffled the best minds in Europe. + +Under the inspiration of the message, and in strict accordance with +its recommendations, Congress proceeded to its work. No legislation +was attempted, none was even seriously suggested, except measures +relating to the war. In no other session of Congress was so much +accomplished in so brief a time. Convening on the fourth day of +July, both Houses adjourned finally on the 6th of August. There +were in all but twenty-nine working-days, and every moment was +faithfully and energetically employed. Seventy-six public Acts +were passed. With the exception of four inconsiderable bills, the +entire number related to the war,--to the various modes of +strengthening the military and naval forces of the Union, to the +wisest methods of securing money for the public service, to the +effectual building up of the National credit. Many of these bills +were long and complex. The military establishment was re-organized, +the navy enlarged, the tariff revised, direct taxes were levied, +and loan-bills perfected. Two hundred and seven millions of dollars +were appropriated for the army, and fifty-six millions for the +navy. Some details of these measures are elsewhere presented under +appropriate heads. They are referred to here only to illustrate +the patriotic spirit which pervaded Congress, and the magnitude of +the work accomplished under the pressure of necessity. + + DEFEAT OF THE UNION ARMY AT BULL RUN. + +Seventeen days after the extra session began, and fifteen days +before it closed, the country was startled and profoundly moved by +a decisive defeat of the Union army at Bull Run in Virginia. The +National troops were commanded by General Irvin McDowell, and the +Confederates by General Beauregard. The battle is remarkable for +the large number of division and brigade commanders who afterwards +became widely known. Serving under General McDowell were General +William T. Sherman, General Hunter, General Burnside, General Miles, +General Heintzelman, General Fitz-John Porter, and General Howard. +Serving under General Beauregard were Stonewall Jackson, General +Longstreet, General Ewell, General J. E. B. Stuart. General Joseph +E. Johnston re-enforced Beauregard with another army during the +fight, and became the ranking-officer on the field. The defeat of +the Union army was complete; it was a _rout_, and on the retreat +became a panic. When the troops reached the protection of the +fortifications around Washington, a thorough demoralization pervaded +their ranks. The holiday illusion had been rudely dispelled, and +the young men who had enlisted for a summer excursion, suddenly +found that they were engaged in a bloody war in which comrades and +friends had been slain by their side, and in which they saw nothing +before them but privation, peril, loss of health, and possibly loss +of life. The North had been taught a lesson. The doubting were +at last convinced that the Confederates were equipped for a desperate +fight, and intended to make it. If the Union were to be saved, it +must be saved by the united loyalty and the unflinching resolution +of the people. + +The special and immediate danger was an outbreak in the Border +slave States. Their people were seriously divided; but the Union +men, aided by the entire moral influence and in no small degree by +the military force of the Nation, had thus far triumphed. The +repulse of the National arms, with the consequent loss of prestige, +necessarily emboldened the enemies of the Union, who, by playing +upon the prejudices and fears of the slave-holders, might succeed +in seducing them from their allegiance. To prevent the success of +such appeal Mr. Crittenden, whose wise counsels were devoted with +sleepless patriotism to the preservation of loyalty in the Border +States, offered in the House a resolution defining the objects of +the National struggle. The resolution set forth that "the deplorable +civil war has been forced upon the country by the Disunionists of +the Southern States now in arms against the Constitutional Government;" +that "in this National emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings +of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the +whole country;" that "the war is not waged in any spirit of +oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or the +overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions +of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the +Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, +equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired;" and that, +"as soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to cease." +The resolution was adopted by the House without debate, and with +only two negative votes. + + THE CRITTENDEN RESOLUTION. + +The same resolution was offered in the Senate by Andrew Johnson of +Tennessee two days after its adoption in the House. It led to a +somewhat acrimonious debate. Mr. Polk of Missouri desired an +amendment declaring that the war had been "forced upon the country +by the Disunionists of the Southern and Northern States." He was +asked by Mr. Collamer of Vermont, whether he had ever "heard of +any Northern Disunionists being in revolt against the government." +He replied by asserting his belief that there were Disunionists +North as well as South. He had "read Fourth of July speeches, in +which the country was congratulated that there was now to be a +dissolution of the Union." The amendment was rejected, receiving +only four votes. + +--Mr. Collamer spoke ably for the resolution. He was not however +afraid of the word "subjugation." Its literal, classical meaning +was, to pass under the yoke, but in the popular acceptation it +meant that "all the people of the United States should submit to +the Constitution and laws." + +--Mr. Harris of New York expressed his approval of the resolution +"precisely as it was offered. Every expression in it was apt and +appropriate." If slavery should be abolished as a result of the +war, he would not "shed a tear over that result; but yet it is not +the purpose of the government in prosecuting the war to overthrow +slavery." + +--Mr. Fessenden of Maine agreed with Mr. Collamer as to the word +"subjugation." It expressed the idea clearly, and he was "satisfied +with it. The talk about subjugation is mere clap-trap." + +--Mr. Doolittle of Wisconsin said the use of the word "subjugation" +in the resolution did not imply that it was not "the purpose of +the Government to compel the Disunionists to submit to the Constitution +and the laws." + +--Mr. Willey of Virginia said that there was a great sensitiveness +in his section; that there was a fear among many that the object +of the war was subjugation; that "its design was to reduce the Old +Dominion to a province, and to make the people (in the language of +the senator from Vermont) pass under the yoke." + +--Mr. Hale of New Hampshire favored the resolution. He said the +most radical abolitionists had "always disclaimed the idea or the +power of interfering with slavery in the States." + +--Mr. Clark, the colleague of Mr. Hale, would support the resolution, +and would oppose any amendment offered to it, not because he liked +its phraseology, but because "it was drawn by the senator from +Tennessee, and suited him and the region from which he came." + +--Mr. Breckinridge of Kentucky could not vote for the resolution, +because he did not "agree with the statement of facts contained in +it." He would not go into the antecedents of the unhappy difficulties. +He did not consider that "the rupture in the harbor of Charleston, +the firing on the _Star of the West_, and the collision at Fort +Sumter, justified those proceedings on the part of the President +which have made one blaze of war from the Atlantic to the western +borders of the Republic." He did not believe that "the President +had a right to take that step which produced the war, and to call +(under Presidential authority alone) the largest army into the +field ever assembled on the American continent, and the largest +fleet ever collected in American harbors." He believed that "the +responsibility for the war is to be charged, first, to the majority +in the two Houses last winter in rejecting amendments to the +Constitution; and, secondly, to the President, for calling out an +armed force." + +--Mr. Sherman of Ohio replied with great spirit to Mr. Breckinridge. +He said Ohio and Kentucky stood side by side, and had always been +friends; but if the senator who had just spoken, spoke the voice +of his State, then he feared that Kentucky and Ohio would soon be +enemies. He felt confident however that "the views expressed do +not represent the sentiments of Kentucky's patriotic citizens." +On the contrary, no person with the authority of President Lincoln +"ever forbore so patiently." The people of the loyal States had +"forborne with the Disunionists of the Southern States too much +and too long." There was not a line, not a syllable, not a promise, +in the Constitution which the people of the loyal States did not +religiously obey. "The South has no right to demand any other +compromise. The Constitution was the bond of union; and it was +the South that sought to change it by amendments, or to subvert it +by force. The Disunionists of the Southern States are traitors to +their country, and must be, and will be, subdued." + +--Mr. Breckinridge, replying to Mr. Sherman, believed that he truly +represented the sentiment of Kentucky, and would submit the matter +to the people of his State. "If they should decide that the +prosperity and peace of the country would be best promoted by an +unnatural and horrible fraternal war, and should throw their own +energies into the struggle," he would "acquiesce in sadness and +tears, but would no longer be the representative of Kentucky in +the American Senate." He characterized personal allusion which +had been made to himself as ungenerous and unjust, and declared +that he had "never uttered a word or cherished a thought that was +false to the Constitution and Union." + +--Mr. Browning of Illinois, the successor of Stephen A. Douglas in +the Senate, closed the debate. He spoke of "the indulgence shown +to Mr. Breckinridge," and of his having used it to "assail the +President vehemently, almost vindictively, while he had not a single +word of condemnation for the atrocious conduct of the rebellious +States." Was the senator from Kentucky here to vindicate them, +and the hurl unceasing denunciations at the President, "who was +never surpassed by any ruler in patriotism, honor, integrity, and +devotion to the great cause of human rights?" + +The resolution was adopted with only five dissenting votes,-- +Breckinridge and Powell of Kentucky, Johnson and Polk of Missouri, +and Trumbull of Illinois. Mr. Trumbull voted in the negative, +because he did not like the form of expression. + +The Crittenden Resolution, as it has always been termed, was thus +adopted respectively, not jointly, by the two Houses of Congress. +Its declarations, contained in the concluding clauses, though made +somewhat under the pressure of national adversity, were nevertheless +a fair reflection of the popular sentiment throughout the North. +The public mind had been absorbed with the one thought of restoring +the Union promptly and completely, and had not even contemplated +interference with slavery as an instrumentality to that end. Many +wise and far-seeing men were convinced from the first that the +Rebellion would result in the destruction of slavery, but for +various reasons deemed it inexpedient to make a premature declaration +of their belief. Indeed, the wisest of them saw that a premature +declaration would probably prove a hinderance and not a help to +the conclusion they most desired. In the Senate it was noted that +Mr. Sumner withheld his vote, as did Thaddeus Stevens and Owen +Lovejoy in the House. But almost the entire Republican vote, +including such men as Fessenden, Hale, Chandler, and Grimes, +sustained the resolution. It was the voice of the Republican party, +with no one openly opposing it in either branch of Congress. + + ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENT DEVELOPED. + +It was soon discovered, however, that if the National Government +did not interfere with slavery, slavery would seriously interfere +with the National Government. In other words, it was made apparent +that the slaves if undisturbed were to be a source of strength to +the Rebellion. Mr. Crittenden's resolution had hardly passed the +House when it was learned from the participants in the battle of +Bull Run that slaves by the thousand had been employed on the +Confederate side in the construction of earthworks, in driving +teams, in cooking, in the general work of the Quartermaster and +Commissary Departments, and in all forms of camp drudgery. To +permit this was simply adding four millions to the population from +which the Confederates could draw their quotas of men for military +service. It was no answer to say that they never intended to put +arms in the hands of negroes. Their use in the various forms of +work to which they were allotted, and for which they were admirably +qualified, released the same number of white men, who could at once +be mustered into the ranks. The slaves were therefore an effective +addition to the military strength of the Confederacy from the very +beginning of the war, and had seriously increased the available +force of fighting men at the first engagement between the two +armies. + +As soon as this fact became well established, Congress proceeded +to enact the first law since the organization of the Federal +Government by which a slave could acquire his freedom. The "Act +to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes" was on +the calendar of the Senate when the disaster at Bull Run occurred, +and had been under consideration the day preceding the battle. As +originally framed, it only confiscated "any property used or employed +in aiding, abetting, or promoting insurrection, or resistance to +the laws." The word "property" would not include slaves, who, in +the contemplation of the Federal law, were always "persons." A +new section was now added, declaring that "whenever hereafter during +the present insurrection against the Government of the United +States, any person held to labor or service under the law of any +State shall be required or permitted by the person to whom such +labor or service is due to take up arms against the United States, +or to work in or upon any fort, dock, navy-yard, armory, intrenchment, +or in any military or naval service whatever against the Government +of the United States, the person to whom such service or labor is +due shall forfeit his claim thereto." The law further provided in +effect that "whenever any person shall seek to enforce his claim +to a slave, it shall be a sufficient answer to such claim, that +the slave had been employed in the military or naval service against +the United States contrary to the provisions of this Act." + + ZEAL AND INDUSTRY OF CONGRESS. + +The virtue of this law consisted mainly in the fact that it exhibited +a willingness on the part of Congress to strike very hard blows +and to trample the institution of slavery under foot whenever or +wherever it should be deemed advantageous to the cause of the Union +to do so. From that time onward the disposition to assail slavery +was rapidly developed, and the grounds on which the assurance +contained in the Crittenden Resolution was given, had so changed +in consequence of the use of slaves by the Confederate Government +that every Republican member of both Senate and House felt himself +absolved from any implied pledge therein to the slave-holders of +the Border States. Humiliating as was the Bull Run disaster to +the National arms, it carried with it many compensating considerations, +and taught many useful lessons. The nation had learned that war +must be conducted according to strict principles of military science, +and cannot be successfully carried on with banners and toasts and +stump speeches, or by the mere ardor of patriotism, or by boundless +confidence in a just cause. The Government learned that it is +lawful to strike at whatever gives strength to the enemy, and that +an insurgent against the National authority must, by the law of +common sense, be treated as beyond the protection of the National +Constitution, both as to himself and his possessions. + +Though the Act thus conditionally confiscating slave property was +signed by Mr. Lincoln, it did not meet his entire approval. He +had no objection to the principle involved, but thought it ill- +timed and premature,--more likely to produce harm than good. He +believed that it would prove _brutum fulmen_ in the rebellious +States, and a source of injury to the Union cause in the Border +slave States. From the outbreak of hostilities, Mr. Lincoln regarded +the position of those States as the key to the situation, and every +thing which tended to weaken their loyalty as a blow struck directly +and with fearful power against the Union. He could not however +veto the bill, because that would be equivalent to declaring that +the Confederate army might have the full benefit of the slave +population as a military force. What he desired was that Congress +should wait on his recommendations in regard to the question of +Slavery. He felt assured that he could see the whole field more +clearly; that, above all, he knew the time and the method for that +form of intervention which would smite the States in rebellion and +not alienate the slave States which still adhered to the Union. + +The rapidity with which business was dispatched at this session +gave little opportunity for any form of debate except that which +was absolutely necessary in the explanation of measures. Active +interest in the House centred around the obstructive and disloyal +course of Mr. Vallandigham of Ohio and Mr. Burnett of Kentucky. +Still greater interest attached to the course of Mr. Breckinridge +in the Senate. He had returned to Washington under a cloud of +suspicion. He was thoroughly distrusted by the Union men of +Kentucky, who had in the popular election won a noble victory over +the foes of the National Government, of whom Mr. Breckinridge had +been reckoned chief. No overt act of treason could be charged +against him, but the prevalent belief was that his sympathies were +wholly with the government at Richmond. He opposed every act +designed to strengthen the Union, and continually found fault with +the attitude and with the intentions of the National Government. +He was considered by many to be in Washington only that he might +the more efficiently aid the cause of the Confederacy. During the +consideration of "a bill to suppress insurrection and sedition," +a debate arose between Mr. Breckinridge and Mr. Baker, the new +senator from Oregon, which fixed the attention of the country upon +the former, and subjected him to general condemnation in the Loyal +States. + + BRECKINRIDGE AND BAKER DISCUSSION. + +The Oregon senator, with his ardent nature, and his impulse to take +part in every conflict, had raised a regiment of volunteers +principally composed of men from the Pacific coast. It was known +as the California Regiment, and was encamped near Washington.**** On +the 1st of August, while performing the double and somewhat anomalous +duty of commanding his regiment and representing Oregon in the +Senate, Mr. Baker entered the chamber in the full uniform of a +Colonel in the United-States army. He laid his sword upon his desk +and sat for some time listening to the debate. He was evidently +impressed by the scene of which he was himself a conspicuous feature. +Breckinridge took the floor shortly after Baker appeared, and made +a speech, of which it is fair criticism to say that it reflected +in all respects the views held by the members of the Confederate +Congress then in session at Richmond. Colonel Baker evidently grew +restive under the words of Mr. Breckinridge. His face was aglow +with excitement, and he sprang to the floor when the senator from +Kentucky took his seat. His reply, abounding in denunciation and +invective, was not lacking in the more solid and convincing argument. +He rapidly reviewed the situation, depicted the character of the +Rebellion, described the position of Breckinridge, and passionately +asked, "What would have been thought, if, in another Capitol, in +a yet more martial age, a senator, with the Roman purple flowing +from his shoulders, had risen in his place, surrounded by all the +illustrations of Roman glory, and declared that advancing Hannibal +was just, and that Carthage should be dealt with on terms of peace? +What would have been thought, if, after the battle of Cannae, a +senator had denounced every levy of the Roman people, every +expenditure of its treasure, every appeal to the old recollections +and the old glories?" + +Mr. Fessenden, who sat near Baker, responded in an undertone "He +would have been hurled from the Tarpeian Rock." Baker, with his +aptness and readiness, turned the interruption to still further +indictment of Breckinridge: "Are not the speeches of the senator +from Kentucky," he asked, "intended for disorganization? are they +not intended to destroy our zeal? are they not intended to animate +our enemies? Sir, are they not words of brilliant, polished +_treason_, even in the very Capitol of the Republic?" + +It is impossible to realize the effect of the words so eloquently +pronounced by the Oregon senator. In the history of the Senate, +no more thrilling speech was ever delivered. The striking appearance +of the speaker in the uniform of a soldier, his superb voice, his +graceful manner, all united to give to the occasion an extraordinary +interest and attraction. + +The reply of Mr. Breckinridge was tame and ineffective. He did +not repel the fierce characterizations with which Colonel Baker +had overwhelmed him. He did not stop to resent them, though he +was a man of unquestioned courage. One incident of his speech was +grotesquely amusing. He was under the impression that the suggestion +in regard to the Tarpeian Rock had been made by Mr. Sumner, and he +proceeded to denounce the senator from Massachusetts with bitter +indignation. Mr. Sumner looked surprised, but having become +accustomed to abuse from the South, said nothing. When next day +it was shown by the _Globe_ that Mr. Fessenden was the offender, +Mr. Breckinridge neither apologized to Mr. Sumner, nor attacked +the senator from Maine. The first was manifestly his duty. From +the second he excused himself for obvious reasons. After his +experience with Baker, Breckinridge evidently did not court a +conflict with Fessenden. + +The course of Mr. Breckinridge was in direct hostility to the +prevailing opinion of his State. The Legislature of Kentucky passed +a resolution asking that he and his colleague, Lazarus W. Powell, +should resign their seats, and, in the event of refusal, that the +Senate would investigate their conduct, and, if it were found to +be disloyal, expel them. Mr. Breckinridge did not wait for such +an investigation. In the autumn of 1861 he joined the Rebellion, +and was welcomed by the leaders and the people of the Confederacy +with extravagant enthusiasm. His espousal of their cause was +considered by them to be as great an acquisition as if a fresh army +corps had been mustered into their service. His act called forth +the most bitter denunciation throughout the North, and among the +loyal people of Kentucky. He had not the excuse pleaded by so many +men of the South, that he must abide by the fortunes of his States, +and the worst interpretation was placed upon his presence at the +July session of Congress. + +Among the earliest acts at the next session was the expulsion of +Mr. Breckinridge from the Senate. It was done in a manner which +marked the full strength of the popular disapprobation of his +course. The senators from the rebellious States had all been +expelled at the July session, but without the application of an +opprobrious epithet. There had also been a debate as to whether +expulsion of the persona, or a mere declaration that the seats were +vacant, were the proper course to be pursued by the Senate. Andrew +Johnson maintained the latter, and all the Democratic senators, +except McDougall of California, voted with him. But in the case +of Mr. Breckinridge there was not a negative vote--his own colleague +Powell remaining silent in his seat while five Democratic senators +joined in the vote for his expulsion. The resolution, draughted +by Mr. Trumbull, was made as offensive as possible, curtly declaring +that "John C. Breckinridge, the traitor, be and is hereby expelled +from the Senate." + +The mutation of public opinion is striking. Mr. Breckinridge lived +to become a popular idol in Kentucky. Long before his death (which +occurred in 1875 in his fifty-fourth year) he could have had any +position in the gift of his State. If his political disabilities +could have been removed, he would undoubtedly have returned to the +Senate. His support did not come solely from those who had +sympathized with the South, but included thousands who had been +loyally devoted to the Union. He possessed a strange, fascinating +power over the people of Kentucky,--as great as that which had been +wielded by Mr. Clay, though he was far below Mr. Clay in intellectual +endowment. No man gave up more than he when he united his fortunes +with the seceding States. It was his sense of personal fidelity +to the Southern men who had been faithful to him, that blinded him +to the higher obligation of fidelity to country, and to the higher +appreciation of self-interest which is inseparably bound up with +duty. He wrecked a great career. He embittered and shortened a +life originally devoted to noble aims, and in its darkest shadows +filled with generous impulses. + +The original aim of Kentucky was to preserve a position of neutrality +in the impending contest was found to be impracticable. The +Confederates were the first to violate it, by occupying that section +of the State bordering upon the Mississippi River with a considerable +force under the command of General Polk, the Episcopal Bishop of +Louisiana. This was on the 4th of September. Two days later the +Colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers, who was in command +at Cairo, took possession of Paducah. It was the first important +step in a military career which fills the most brilliant pages in +the military annals of our country. The name of the Illinois +Colonel was Ulysses S. Grant. + + + EFFECT OF REBEL VICTORY AT BULL RUN. + +The Confederate victory at Bull Run produced great effect throughout +the South. The fall of Sumter had been a signal encouragement to +those who had joined the revolt against the Union, but as no blood +had been spilled, and as the garrison had been starved out rather +than shelled out, there was a limit to enthusiasm over the result. +But now a pitched battle had been fought within cannon sound of +the National Capital, and the forces of the Union had been put to +flight. Jefferson Davis had come from Richmond during the battle, +and telegraphed to the Confederate Congress that the night had +"closed upon a hard-fought field," but that the enemy were routed, +and had "precipitately fled, abandoning a large amount of arms, +knapsacks, and baggage;" that "too high praise cannot be bestowed +upon the skill of the Confederate officers or the gallantry of all +their troops;" that "the Confederate force was fifteen thousand, +and the Union army was thirty-five thousand." He evidently knew +the effect which these figures would have upon the pride of the +South, and he did not at the moment stop to verify his statements. +The actual force under McDowell was much less, that under Beauregard +much greater, than Mr. Davis stated. McDowell was certainly +outnumbered after General Johnston's army arrived on the field. +If General Patterson, who was in command in the Shenandoah Valley, +had been able to engage or detain Johnston, the fate of the day +might have been different. But Johnston outgeneraled Patterson, +and achieved what military genius always does,--he had his force +in the right place at the right time. + +The effect of the Rebel victory at Bull Run was at once visible in +the rigorous policy adopted by the Confederate Government. The +people of the Confederacy knew that their numbers were less than +those of the Union, but Jefferson Davis had in effect told them +that fifteen Southern men might be relied upon to put to flight +thirty-five Northern men, and on this ratio they felt equal to the +contest. The Congress at Richmond went to every extreme in their +legislation. A fortnight after the battle they passed "an Act +respecting alien enemies," "warning and requiring every male citizen +of the United States, fourteen years old and upwards, to depart +from the Confederate States within forty days from the date of the +President's Proclamation," which was issued on the 14th of August. +Those only could remain who intended to become citizens of the +Confederacy. With the obvious design of avoiding every thing which +could chill the sympathy with the Confederacy so largely prevailing +in the Border States, the Proclamation excepted from its operation +the States of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, the District +of Columbia, the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and the Indian +Territory. This was a manifest declaration of what they expected +to include in the Confederacy when the National Government should +finally surrender. Wherever a slave was held, the Confederate +leaders adjudged the people to be their friends and their future +allies. + + CONFEDERATE CONFISCATION BILL. + +This warning to alien enemies could not however be regarded as a +measure of special harshness, or one beyond the fair exercise of +the war power. But the next step was of a different nature. A +law was enacted sequestrating "the estates, property, and effects +of alien enemies." Mr. Judah P. Benjamin, who was at the time +Attorney-General of the Confederate Government, proceeded to enforce +the Act with utmost rigidity. The exception of the Border States +and Territories, already noted, was also made under this law, but +towards the citizens of States of unquestioned loyalty no mercy +was shown. A close search was instituted by Mr. Benjamin, in which +agents, former partners, attorneys, trustees, and all who might +have the slightest knowledge of a piece of property within the +limits of the Confederacy, belonging to a loyal citizen of the +United States, were compelled to give information under penalty of +a fine which might be as high as five thousand dollars, and +imprisonment which might last for six months. They were forced to +tell of any lands, chattels, rights, interests, an alien enemy +might have, and also of any debts which might be due to an alien +enemy. Mr. Benjamin's letter of instruction included among alien +enemies all "subjects of Great Britain, France, or other neutral +nations, who have a domicile or are carrying on business or traffic +within the States at war with the Confederacy." It was a scheme +of wholesale, cruel confiscation of the property of innocent persons, +and the most ingenious lawyer of the Confederacy was selected to +enforce it by inquisitorial processes which disregarded the confidence +of friendship, the ties of blood, and the loyalty of affection. + +The National legislation had given no precedent or warrant for +proceedings so harsh. At the extra session there had been no +attempt at the confiscation of any property except that directly +used in aid of the insurrection. Slaves were added to his class +only after it was learned that they were thus employed by the +Confederates. Not only therefore did the Confederacy introduce +slaves as a component element of the military force, but it resorted +to confiscation of a cruel and rigorous type as one of the sources +of financial strength. If the Confederate authorities had not thus +set the example, it would have been difficult, perhaps impracticable, +to induce Congress to entertain such a line of policy. Many were +in favor of it from the first, but so many were against it that +the precedent thus established by the Confederacy was not only an +irresistible temptation but a justifying cause for lines of National +policy which were afterwards complained of as unusual and +oppressive. + +[* NOTE.--The following is a complete list of the Senators who served +in the Thirty-seventh Congress. Republicans in Roman, Democrats +in Italic, American or Old-Line Whigs in small capitals. + +CALIFORNIA.--_Milton S. Latham; James A. McDougall._ +CONNECTICUT.--James Dixon; Lafayette S. Foster. +DELAWARE.--_James A. Bayard; Willard Saulsbury._ +ILLINOIS.--_Stephen A. Douglas_, died June 3, 1861; Lyman Trumbull; + Orville H. Browning, appointed in place of Douglas; _William A. + Richardson_, elected in place of Douglas. +INDIANA.--_Jesse D. Bright_, expelled Feb. 5, 1862; Henry S. Lane; + Joseph A. Wright, appointed in place of Bright; _David Turpie_, + elected in place of Bright. +IOWA.--James W. Grimes; James Harlan. +KANSAS.--James H. Lane; Samuel C. Pomeroy. +KENTUCKY.--_Lazarus W. Powell; James C. Breckinridge_, expelled + Dec. 4, 1861; GARRETT DAVIS, elected in place of Breckinridge. +MAINE.--Lot M. Morrill; William Pitt Fessenden. +MARYLAND.--ANTHONY KENNEDY; JAMES A. PEARCE, died Dec. 30, 1862; + Thomas H. Hicks, elected in place of Pearce. +MASSACHUSETTS.--Charles Sumner; Henry Wilson. +MICHIGAN.--Zachariah Chandler; Kinsley S. Bingham, died Oct. 5, + 1861; Jacob M. Howard, elected in place of Bingham. +MINNESOTA.--Morton S. Wilkinson; _Henry M. Rice_. +MISSOURI.--_Trusten Polk_, expelled Jan. 10, 1862; John B. Henderson, + appointed in place of Polk; _Waldo P. Johnson_, expelled Jan. 10, + 1862; _Robert Wilson_, appointed in place of Johnson. +NEW HAMPSHIRE.--John P. Hale; Daniel Clark. +NEW JERSEY.--_John R. Thomson_, died Sept. 12, 1862; John C. Ten + Eyck; Richard S. Field, appointed in place of Thomson; _James W. + Wall_, elected in place of Thomson. +NEW YORK.--Preston King; Ira Harris. +OHIO.--Benjamin F. Wade; Salmon P. Chase, resigned March 5, 1861, + to become Secretary of Treasury; John Sherman, elected in place of + Chase. +PENNSYLVANIA.--David Wilmot, elected in place of Cameron; Edgar + Cowan; Simon Cameron, resigned March 5, 1861. +RHODE ISLAND.--James F. Simmons, resigned December, 1862; Henry B. + Anthony; Samuel G. Arnold, elected in place of Simmons. +TENNESSEE.--Andrew Johnson, resigned March 4, 1862, to be military + governor of Tennessee. +VERMONT.--Solomon Foot; Jacob Collamer. +VIRGINIA.--Waitman T. Willey; John S. Carlile. +WISCONSIN.--James R. Doolittle; Timothy O. Howe.] + +[** An anachronism occurs in stating that Senator Baker of Oregon +had witnessed as a child the funeral pageant of Lord Nelson. He +was not born for five years after Lord Nelson fell. The error was +taken from a eulogy pronounced on Senator Baker after his death. +The occurrence referred to was doubtless some one of the many +military pageants in London at the close of the Napoleonic wars.] + +[*** NOTE.--The following is a list of Representatives in the Thirty- +seventh Congress. Republicans are given in Roman, Democrats in +Italic, American or Old-Line Whigs in small capitals. + +CALIFORNIA.--Aaron A. Sargent; Frederick F. Low; Timothy G. Phelps. +CONNECTICUT.--Dwight Loomis; _James E. English; George C. Woodruff_; + Alfred A. Burnham. +DELAWARE.--George P. Fisher. +ILLINOIS.--Eilhu B. Washburne; Isaac N. Arnold; Owen Lovejoy; + William Kellogg; _William A. Richardson_, elected Senator; _John + A. McClernand_, resigned 1861 to enter the army; _James C. Robinson; + Philip B. Fouke; John A. Logan_, resigned 1861 to enter the army; + _William J. Allen_, elected in place of Logan; _Anthony L. Knapp_, + elected in place of McClernand. +INDIANA.--_John Law; James A. Cravens; William S. Holman_; George + W. Julian; Albert G. Porter; _Daniel W. Voorhees_; Albert S. White; + Schuyler Colfax; William Mitchell; John P. C. Shanks; W. McKee Dunn. +IOWA.--Samuel R. Curtis, resigned Aug. 4, 1861, to enter the army; + William Vandever; James F. Wilson, elected in place of Curtis. +KANSAS.--Martin F. Conway. +KENTUCKY.--_Henry C. Burnett_, expelled Dec. 3, 1861; JAMES S. + JACKSON, died in 1862; HENRY GRIDER; _Aaron Harding; Charles A. + Wickliffe_; GEORGE W. DUNLAP; ROBERT MALLORY; _John W. Menzies_; + SAMUEL L. CASEY, elected in place of Burnett; WILLIAM H. WADSWORTH; + JOHN J. CRITTENDEN; GEORGE H. YEAMAN, elected in place of Jackson. +LOUISIANA.--BENJAMIN F. FLANDERS, seated in February, 1863; MICHAEL + HAHN, seated in February, 1863. +MAINE.--John N. Goodwin; Charles W. Walton, resigned May 26, 1862; + Samuel C. Fessenden; Anson P. Morrill; John H. Rice; Frederick A. + Pike; Thomas A. D. Fessenden, elected in place of Walton. +MARYLAND.--JOHN W. CRISFIELD; EDWIN H. WEBSTER; _Cornelius L. L. + Learly_; FRANCIS THOMAS; CHARLES B. CALVERT; _Henry May_. +MASSACHUSETTS.--Thomas D. Eliot; James Buffington; Benjamin F. + Thomas; Alexander H. Rice; William Appleton, resigned in 1861; John + B. Alley; Daniel W. Gooch; Charles R. Train; Goldsmith F. Bailey, + died May 8, 1862; Charles Delano; Henry L. Dawes; Samuel Hooper, + elected in place of Appleton; Amasa Walker, elected in place of + Bailey. +MICHIGAN.--Bradley F. Granger; Fernando C. Beaman; Francis W. + Kellogg; Rowland E. Trowbridge. +MINNESOTA.--Cyrus Aldrich; William Windom. +MISSOURI.--Francis P. Blair, Jr., resigned in 1862; JAMES S. ROLLINS; + _Elijah H. Norton; John W. Reid_, expelled Dec. 2, 1861; _John W. + Noell; John S. Phelps; William A. Hall; Thomas L. Price_, elected + in place of Reid. +NEW HAMPSHIRE.--Gilman Marston; Edward H. Rollins; Thomas M. + Edwards. +NEW JERSEY.--John T. Nixon; John L. N. Stratton; _William G. Steele; + George T. Cobb; Nehemiah Perry_. +NEW YORK.--E. Henry Smith; MOSES F. ODELL; _Benjamin Wood_; William + Wall; Frederick A. Conkling; _Elijah Ward; Edward Haight_; Charles + H. Van Wyck; _John B. Steele_; Stephen Baker; Abraham B. Olin; + James B. McKean; William A. Wheeler; Scorates N. Sherman; _Chauncey + Vibbard_; Richard Franchot; Roscoe Conkling; R. Holland Duell; + William E. Lansing; Ambrose W. Clark; Charles B. Sedgwick; Theodore + M. Pomeroy; John P. Chamberlain; Alexander S. Diven; Robert B. Van + Valkenburgh; Alfred Ely; Augustus Frank; Burt Van Horn; Elbridge + G. Spaulding; Reuben E. Fenton; _Erastus Corning; James E. Kerrigan_; + Isaac C. Delaplaine. +OHIO.--_George H. Pendleton_; John A. Gurley; _Clement L. Vallandigham; + William Allen_; James M. Ashley; _Chilton A. White_; Richard A. + Harrison; Samuel Shellabarger; _Warren P. Noble_; Carey A. Trimble; + Valentine B. Horton; _Samuel S. Cox_; Samuel T. Worcester; Harrison + G. Blake; William P. Cutler; _James R. Morris_; Sidney Edgerton; + Albert G. Riddle; John Hutchins; John A. Bingham; _R. H. Nugen_. +OREGON.--_George K. Shiel_. +PENNSYLVANIA.--_William E. Lehman_; John P. Verree; William D. + Kelley; William M. Davis; John Hickman; _Thomas B. Cooper_, died + April 4, 1862; _John D. Stiles_, elected in place of Cooper, + deceased; _Sydenham E. Ancona_; Thaddeus Stevens; John W. Killinger; + James H. Campbell; _Hendrick R. Wright_; Philip Johnson; Galusha + A. Grow, Speaker; James T. Hale; _Joseph Bailey_; Edward McPherson; + Samuel S. Blair; John Covode; _Jesse Lazear_; James K. Moorhead; + Robert McKnight; John W. Wallace; John Patton; Elijah Babbitt; + _Charles J. Biddle_. +RHODE ISLAND.--William P. Sheffield; George H. Browne. +TENNESSEE.--GEORGE W. BRIDGES; ANDREW J. CLEMENTS; HORACE MAYNARD. +VERMONT.--Portus Baxter; Justin S. Morrill; Ezekiel P. Walton. +VIRGINIA.--Jacob B. Blair, elected in place of Carlile; William G. + Brown, John S. Carlile, elected Senator July, 1861; Joseph E. Segar; + Charles H. Upton; Kililan V. Whaley. +WISCONSIN.--Luther Hanchett, died Nov. 24, 1862; Walter D. McIndoe, + elected in place of Hanchett; John F. Potter; A. Scott Sloan. + +_Territorial Delegates_.--Colorado, Hiram P. Bennett; Dakota, John + B. S. Todd; Nebraska, Samuel G. Daily; Nevada, John Cradlebaugh; + New-Mexico, John S. Watts; Utah, John M. Bernhisel; Washington, + William H. Wallace.] + +[**** It should be stated that the so-called "California" regiment +of Colonel Baker was recruited principally in Philadelphia from +the young men of that city.] + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Second Session of Thirty-seventh Congress.--The Military Situation. +--Disaster at Ball's Bluff.--Death of Colonel E. D. Baker.--The +President's Message.--Capital and Labor.--Their Relation discussed +by the President.--Agitation of the Slavery Question.--The House +refuses to re-affirm the Crittenden Resolution.--Secretary Cameron +resigns.--Sent on Russian Mission.--Succeeded by Edwin M. Stanton. +--His Vigorous War Measures.--Victories in the Field.--Battle of +Mill Spring.--General Order of the President for a Forward Movement. +--Capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson.--Prestige and Popularity +of General Grant.--Illinois Troops.--General Burnside's Victory in +North Carolina.--Effect of the Victories upon the Country.--Continued +Success for the Union in the South-West.--Proposed Celebration.-- +The Monitor and the Merrimac.--Ericsson.--Worden.--Capture of New +Orleans by Farragut.--The Navy.--Its Sudden and Great Popularity. +--Legislation in its Favor.--Battle of Shiloh.--Anxiety in the +North.--Death of Albert Sidney Johnston.--General Halleck takes +the Field.--Military Situation in the East.--The President and +General McClellan.--The Peninsular Campaign.--Stonewall Jackson's +Raid.--Its Disastrous Effect.--Fear for Safety of Washington.--Anti- +Slavery Legislation.--District of Columbia.--Compensated Emancipation. +--Colonization.--Confiscation.--Punishment of Treason. + +The first session of the Thirty-seventh Congress came to an end +amid the deep gloom caused by the disastrous defeat at Bull Run. +The second session opened in December, 1861, under the shadow of +a grave disaster at Ball's Bluff, in which the eloquent senator +from Oregon, Edward D. Baker, lost his life. Despite these reverses +the patriotic spirit of the country had constantly risen, and had +increased the Union forces until the army was six hundred thousand +strong. Winfield Scott had gone upon the retired list at the ripe +age of seventy-five, and George B. McClellan had succeeded him in +command of the army. The military achievements thus far had been +scarcely more then defensive. The National Capital had been +fortified; Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri had been +wrenched from rebel domination; while on our Southern coast two +landings had been effected by the Union troops,--the first at +Hatteras in North Carolina, the second at Port Royal in South +Carolina. There was serious danger of a division of popular +sentiment in the North growing out of the Slavery question; there +was grave apprehension of foreign intervention from the arrest of +Mason and Slidell. The war was in its eighth month; and, strong +and energetic as the Northern people felt, it cannot be denied that +a confidence in ultimate triumph had become dangerously developed +throughout the South. + + THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE, 1861. + +The message of Mr. Lincoln dealt with the situation in perfect +candor. He did not attempt to withhold any thing or to color any +thing. He frankly acknowledged that "our intercourse with foreign +nations had been attended with profound solicitude." He recognized +that "a nation which endured factious domestic division is exposed +to disrespect abroad; and one party, if not both, is sure, sooner +or later, to invoke foreign intervention." With his peculiar power +of condensing a severe expression, he said that "the disloyal +citizens of the United States have offered the ruin of our country +in return for the aid and comfort which they have invoked abroad." +This offer was made on the presumption that some commercial or +substantial gain would accrue to other nations from the destruction +of the Republic; but Mr. Lincoln believed with confidence that +"foreign governments would not in the end fail to perceive that +one strong nation promises more durable peace, and a more extensive, +valuable, and reliable commerce, than can the same nation broken +into hostile fragments," and for this reason he believed that the +rebel leaders had received from abroad "less patronage and +encouragement than they probably expected." + +The President dwelt with satisfaction upon the condition of the +Border States, concerning whose course he had constantly exhibited +the profoundest solicitude. He now informed Congress that "noble +little Delaware led off right, from the first," and that Maryland, +which had been "made to seem against the Union," had given "seven +regiments to the loyal cause, and none to the enemy, and her people, +at a regular election, have sustained the Union by a larger majority +and a larger aggregate vote than they ever before gave to any +candidate on any question." Kentucky, concerning which his anxiety +had been deepest, was now decidedly, and, as he thought, "unchangeably, +ranged on the side of the Union." Missouri he announced as +comparatively quiet, and he did not believe she could be again +overrun by the insurrectionists. These Border slave States, none +of which "would promise a single soldier at first, have now an +aggregate of not less than forty thousand in the field for the +Union; while of their citizens certainly not more than a third of +that number, and they of doubtful whereabouts and doubtful existence, +are in arms against it." Beyond these results the President had +some "general accounts of popular movements in behalf of the Union +in North Carolina and Tennessee," and he expressed his belief that +"the cause of the Union is advancing steadily and certainly +Southward." + +The one marked change in the popular opinion of the free States, +now reflected in Congress, was in respect to the mode of dealing +with Slavery. Mr. Lincoln was conservative, and always desired to +keep somewhat in the rear rather than too far in advance of the +public judgment. In his message he avoided all direct expression +upon the Slavery question, but with the peculiar shrewdness which +characterized his political discussion he announced a series of +general truths respecting labor and capital which, in effect, were +deadly hostile to the institution. He directed attention to the +fact the "the insurrection is largely if not exclusively a war upon +the first principle of popular government--the rights of the people." +Conclusive evidence of this appeared in "the maturely considered +public documents as well as in the general tone of the insurgents." +He discerned a disposition to abridge the right of suffrage and to +deny to the people the "right to participate in the selection of +public officers except those of the Legislature." He found indeed +that "monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge +from the power of the people." While he did not think it fitting +to make "a general argument in favor of popular institutions," he +felt that he should scarcely be justified were he "to omit raising +a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism." It +was, he said, "the effort to place capital on an equal footing +with, if not above, labor in the structure of government," and it +assumed "that labor is available only in connection with capital; +that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow +by the use of it induces him to labor." + + THE PRESIDENT'S ANTI-SLAVERY ARGUMENT. + +Mr. Lincoln found that the next step in this line of argument raised +the question, "whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, +and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them, +and drive them to it without their consent?" thus leading to the +conclusion that "all laborers are either hired laborers or what we +call slaves," and that "whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed +in that condition for life." From all these theories Mr. Lincoln +radically dissented, and maintained that "labor is the superior of +capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." "No men +living," said he, "are more worthy to be trusted than those who +toil up from poverty--none less inclined to take or touch aught +which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering +a political power which they already possess, and which, if +surrendered, will surely be used to close the door of advancement, +and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them till all of +liberty shall be lost." If Mr. Lincoln had directly attempted at +that early stage of the contest to persuade the laboring men of +the North that it was best for them to aid in abolishing Slavery, +he would have seriously abridged the popularity of his administration. +He pursued the wiser course of showing that the spirit of the +Southern insurrection was hostile to all free labor, and that in +its triumph not merely the independence of the laborer but his +right of self-defense, as conferred by suffrage, would be imperiled +if not destroyed. Until the discussion reached the higher plane +on which Mr. Lincoln placed it, the free laborer in the North was +disposed to regard a general emancipation of the slaves as tending +to reduce his own wages, and as subjecting him to the disadvantage +of an odious contest for precedence of race. The masses in the +North had united with the Republican party in excluding Slavery +from the Territories because the larger the area in which free +labor was demanded the better and more certain was the remuneration. +But against a general emancipation Mr. Lincoln was quick to see +that white laborers might be readily prejudiced by superficial +reasoning, and hence he adduced the broader argument which appealed +at once to their humanity, to their sense of manly independence, +and to their instinct of self-preservation against the mastery and +the oppression of capital. + +The agitation of the Slavery question, while unavoidable, was +nevertheless attended with serious embarrassments to the Union +cause. The great outburst of patriotism which followed the fall +of Sumter contemplated a rally of the entire North for the defense +of the Flag and the preservation of the Union. Neither political +party was to take advantage of the situation, but all alike were +to share in the responsibility and in the credit of maintaining +the government inviolate. Every month however had demonstrated +more and more that to preserve the government without interfering +with Slavery would be impossible; and as this fact became clearly +evident to the Republican vision, a large section of the Democratic +party obdurately refused to acknowledge it or to consent to the +measures which it suggested. It was apparent therefore within the +first six months of the struggle that a division would come in the +North, which would be of incalculable advantage to the insurrectionists, +and that if the division should go far enough it would insure +victory to the Confederate cause. If the Democratic party as a +whole had in the autumn of the year 1861 taken the ground which a +considerable section of it assumed, it would have been impossible +to conduct the war for the Union successfully. Great credit +therefore was due and was cordially given to the large element in +that party which was ready to brave all the opprobrium of their +fellow-partisans and to accept the full responsibility of co- +operating with the Republicans in war measures. + +Congress had hardly come together when the change of opinion and +action upon the Slavery question became apparent. Mr. Holman of +Indiana, reciting the Crittenden resolution which had been passed +the preceding session with only two adverse votes, offered a +resolution that its principles "be solemnly re-affirmed by this +House." Objection was made by several members. Mr. Thaddeus +Stevens moved to lay the resolution on the table, and the motion +prevailed on a yea and nay vote by 71 to 65. The majority were +all Republicans. The minority was principally made up of Democrats, +but Republicans as conspicuous as Mr. Dawes of Massachusetts and +Mr. Shellabarger of Ohio voted in the negative. The wide divergence +between this action on the part of the Republicans on the third +day of December, 1861, and that which they had taken on the preceding +22d of July, was recognized and appreciated by the country, and +thus began the open division on the Slavery question which continually +widened, which consolidated the Republican party in support of the +most radical measures, and which steadily tended to weaken the +Democratic party in the loyal States. + + + SECRETARY CAMERON RESIGNS. + +At the height of the excitement in Congress over the engagement at +Ball's Bluff there was a change in the head of the War Department. +The disasters in the field and the general impatience for more +decisive movements on the part of our armies led to the resignation +of Secretary Cameron. He was in his sixty-third year, and though +of unusual vigor for his age, was not adapted by education or habit +to the persistent and patient toil, to the wearisome detail of +organization, to the oppressive increase of responsibility, +necessarily incident to military operations of such vast proportions +as were entailed by the progress of the war. He was nominated as +Minister to Russia, and on the eleventh day of January, 1862, was +succeeded in the War Department by Edwin M. Stanton. + +Mr. Stanton signalized his entrance upon duty by extraordinary +vigor in war measures, and had the good fortune to gain credit for +many successes which were the result of arrangements in progress +and nearly perfected under his predecessor. A week after he was +sworn in, an important victory was won at Mill Springs, Kentucky, +by General George H. Thomas. The Confederate commander, General +Zollicoffer, was killed, and a very decisive check was put to a +new development of Secession sympathy which was foreshadowed in +Kentucky. A few days later, on the 27th of January, under the +inspiration of Mr. Stanton, the President issued a somewhat remarkable +order commanding "a general movement of the land and naval forces +of the United States against the insurgent forces on the 22d of +February." He especially directed that the army at and about +Fortress Monroe, the Army of the Potomac, the Army of Western +Virginia, the army near Munfordsville, Kentucky, the army and +flotilla at Cairo, and the naval force in the Gulf of Mexico be +ready for a movement on that day. The order did not mean what was +stated on its face. It was evidently intended to mislead somebody. + +The Illinois colonel who had taken possession of Paducah in the +preceding September was now known as Brigadier-General Grant. He +had been made prominent by a daring fight at Belmont, Missouri, on +the 7th of November (1861) against a largely superior force under +the command of the Confederate General Pillow. For the numbers +engaged it was one of the most sanguinary conflicts of the war. +The quarter-master of the expedition intimated to General Grant +that in case of a reverse he had but two small steamers for transportation +to the Illinois shore. The General's only reply was that in the +event of his defeat "the steamers would hold all that would be +left." He was now in command at Cairo, and co-operating with him +was a flotilla of hastily constructed gunboats under the command +of Flag-officer A. H. Foote of the navy. General Grant evidently +interpreted Mr. Lincoln's order to mean that he need not wait until +the 22d, and he began his movement of the first day of February. +By the 16th he had captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. The +flotilla had been more active than the troops, against Fort Henry, +which was speedily evacuated, but Fort Donelson did not surrender +until after a hard-fought land battle in which the characteristic +tenacity, skill, and bravery of General Grant were for the first +time fully shown to the country. "The victory achieved," he +announced in his congratulatory order to the troops, "is not only +great in the effect it will have in breaking down the rebellion, +but has secured the greatest number of prisoners of war ever taken +in a single battle on this continent." The number of prisoners +exceeded ten thousand; forty pieces of cannon and extensive magazines +of ordnance with military stores of all kinds were captured. The +Confederate commander was General S. B. Buckner, who had joined +the rebellion under circumstances which gained him much ill will +in the Loyal States. Under a flag of truce he asked General Grant +on the morning of the 16th for an armistice to "settle the terms +of capitulation." General Grant's answer was, "No terms except +unconditional surrender can be accepted. I propose to move +immediately on your works." General Buckner felt himself "compelled +to accept the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms" which General +Grant proposed. It is due to General Buckner to say that he had +been left in a humiliating position. The two generals who ranked +him, Gideon J. Pillow and John B. Floyd, seeing the inevitable, +had escaped from the fort the preceding night with five thousand +men, leaving to Buckner the mortification of surrender. In view +of this fact the use of the term "unchivalrous" by the Confederate +commander can be justly appreciated. + + VICTORY AT FORT DONELSON. + +The effect of the victory upon the country was electric. The public +joy was unbounded. General Grant had become in a day the hero of +the war. His fame was on every tongue. The initials of his name +were seized upon by the people for rallying-cries of patriotism, +and were woven into songs for the street and for the camp. He was +"Unconditional Surrender," he was "United States," he was "Uncle +Sam." Not himself only but his State was glorified. It was an +Illinois victory. No less than thirty regiments from that State +were in General Grant's command, and they had all won great credit. +This fact was especially pleasing to Mr. Lincoln. Indiana, Iowa, +Missouri, and Kentucky were all gallantly represented on the field, +but the prestige of the day belonged to Illinois. Many of her +public men, prominent in political life before and since the war, +were in command of regiments. The moral force of the victory was +increased by the fact that so large a proportion of these prominent +officers had been, like General Grant, connected with the Democratic +party,--thus adding demonstration to assurance that it was an +uprising of a people in defense of their government, and not merely +the work of a political party seeking to extirpate slavery. John +A. Logan, Richard J. Oglesby, William R. Morrison, and William Pitt +Kellogg were among the Illinois officers who shared in the renown +of the victory. General Lewis Wallace commanded a division made +up of Indiana and Kentucky troops, and was honorably prominent. +The total force under General Grant was nearly fifty regiments, +furnishing about twenty-eight thousand men for duty. They had +captured the strongest Confederate intrenchment in the West, manned +by nearly seventeen thousand men. The defeat was a great mortification +to Jefferson Davis. He communicated intelligence of the disaster +to the Confederate Congress in a curt message in which he described +the official reports of the battle as "incomplete and unsatisfactory," +and stated that he had relieved Generals Floyd and Pillow from +command. + +Two important results followed the victory. The strong fortifications +erected at Columbus, Kentucky, to control the passage of the +Mississippi, were abandoned by the Confederates; and Nashville, +the capital of Tennessee, was surrendered to the Union army without +resistance. The Confederate force at the latter point was under +command of General Albert Sidney Johnston, who, unable to offer +battle, sullenly retreated southward. If the Confederate troops +had been withdrawn from Fort Donelson in season to effect a junction +with Johnston at Nashville, that able general might have delivered +battle there on terms possibly advantageous to his side. It was +this feature of the case which rendered the loss of Donelson so +serious and so exasperating to the Confederate Government, as shown +in the message of Jefferson Davis. + +Another victory for the Union was gained on the coast of North +Carolina under the joint efforts of the army and the navy. General +Burnside was in command of the former and Commodore Gouldsborough +of the latter. The battle of Roanoke Island was fought the day +after the capture of Fort Henry, and the Union victory led to a +lodgment of the national forces on the soil of North Carolina, +which was held firmly to the end. Events beyond the Mississippi +were also favorable to the National Government. General Sterling +Price had been the cause of much trouble in Missouri, where he was +personally popular. He had led many young men into rebellion, and +his efforts to carry the State into the Confederacy were energetic +and unremitting. He had been dominating a large section of Missouri +and creating grave apprehensions for its safety. On the 18th of +February General Halleck, who had succeeded General Fremont in the +command of the Western Department, telegraphed the Secretary of +War: "General Curtis has driven Price from Missouri, and is several +miles across the Arkansas line, cutting up Price's army and hourly +capturing prisoners and stores. The Army of the South-West is +doing its duty nobly. The flag of the Union is floating in +Arkansas." + +These victories coming almost simultaneously produced a profound +impression throughout the Loyal States. Men rushed to the conclusion +that the war would be closed and the Union restored before the end +of the year. The most sedate communities become mercurial and +impressible in time of deep excitement. The rejoicing was universal. +Congress ordered the illumination of the Capitol and other public +buildings in Washington on the 22d of February "in honor of the +recent victories of our army and navy;" and "as a mark of respect +to the memory of those who had been killed and in sympathy with +those who have been wounded" the House of Representatives on the +19th of February, on the motion of Mr. Washburne of Illinois, +adjourned without transacting business. The flags taken in the +recent victories were to be publicly exhibited, and a day of general +congratulation was to be associated with the memory of Washington +and "the triumph of the government which his valor and wisdom had +done so much to establish." In the midst of the arrangements for +this celebration, the members of the Cabinet jointly communicated +to Congress on the 21st of February the intelligence that "the +President of the United States is plunged into affliction by the +death of a beloved child." Congress immediately ordered that the +illumination of the public buildings be omitted, and "entertaining +the deepest sentiments of sympathy and condolence with the President +and his family," adjourned. The reading of Washington's Farewell +Address on the 22d, before the two Houses, was the only part +accomplished of the brilliant celebration that had been designed. + + THE MONITOR AND THE MERRIMAC. + +A fortnight later, on the 8th of March (1862), came the remarkable +engagement in Hampton Roads between the _Monitor_ and the _Merrimac_. +The former vessel arrived at Fortress Monroe after the _Merrimac_ +had destroyed the United-States sloop-of-war _Cumberland_ and the +frigate _Congress_, and had driven the steam-frigate _Minnesota_ +aground just as darkness put an end to the fight. On Sunday morning, +March 9, the _Merrimac_ renewed her attack upon the _Minnesota_, +and was completely surprised by the appearance of a small vessel +which, in the expressive description of the day, resembled a cheese- +box on a raft. She had arrived from New York at the close of the +first day's fight. From her turret began a furious cannonade which +not only diverted the attack from the _Minnesota_ but after a +ferocious contest of many hours practically destroyed the _Merrimac_, +which was compelled to seek the shelter of Confederate batteries +at Sewell's Point, and never re-appeared in service. The relief +to the North by this victory was incalculable. Not only had the +_Merrimac_ been stopped in her expected bombardment of Northern +cities, but the success of the _Monitor_ assured to the government +a class of armor-plated vessels that could be of great value in +the coast service to which our naval operations were principally +confined. Against land batteries they would prove especially +formidable. Ericsson who constructed the _Monitor_ and Lieutenant +Worden who commanded her, divided the honors, and were everywhere +regarded as having rendered an invaluable service to the country. +The modesty and heroism of Worden secured him an unbounded share +of popular admiration and respect. + +In the ensuing month of April the navy performed another great +service by the capture of New Orleans. The fleet was in command +of Captain Farragut, and successfully passed the fortifications +which had been erected by the National Government to prevent a +foreign foe from entering the Mississippi. New Orleans made no +resistance to the approach of the fleet, and General B. F. Butler, +in command of the Department of the Gulf, established his headquarters +in the city. The importance of this conquest to the Union cause +could hardly be estimated. It enabled the government to embarrass +the trans-Mississippi States in their support of the rebel army, +and thus inflicted a heavy blow upon the fortunes of the Confederacy. +New Orleans in the control of the National Government was easy to +defend, and it afforded a base of offensive operations in so many +directions that no amount of vigilance could anticipate the attacks +that might be made by the Union forces. + +Viewed in connection with the effective work of Flag-officer Foote +in supporting General Grant in the Henry and Donelson campaign, +and of Gouldsborough in supporting Burnside on the coast of North +Carolina, these later and greater achievements of the navy served +to raise that branch of the service in popular esteem. Besides +the intrinsic merit which attached to the victories, they had all +the advantage of a genuine surprise to the public. Little had been +expected from the navy in a contest where the field of operation +seemed so restricted. But now the people saw that the most important +post thus far wrenched from the Confederacy had been taken by the +navy, and that it was effectively sustaining and strengthening the +army at all points. It was no longer regarded as a mere blockading +force, but was menacing the coast of the Confederate States, +penetrating their rivers, and neutralizing the strength of thousands +of Rebel soldiers who were withdrawn from armies in the field to +man the fortifications rendered necessary by this unexpected form +of attack. These facts made a deep impression of Congress. Since +the close of the second war with Great Britain the navy had enjoyed +no opportunity for distinction. The war with Mexico was wholly a +contest on land, and for a period of forty-five years the navy of +the United States had not measured its strength with any foe. +Meanwhile however it had made great advance in the education and +training of its officers and in the general tone of the service. +Under the secretaryship of George Bancroft, the eminent historian, +(in the cabinet of Mr. Polk,) an academy had been established at +Annapolis for the scientific training of naval officers. By this +enlightened policy, inaugurated if not originally conceived by Mr. +Bancroft, naval officers had for the first time been placed on an +equal footing with the officers of the army who had long enjoyed +the advantages of the well-organized and efficient school at West +Point. The academy had borne fruit, and at the outbreak of the +war, the navy was filled with young officers carefully trained in +the duties of their profession, intelligent in affairs, and with +an _esprit de corps_ not surpassed in the service of any other +country. Their efficiency was supplemented by that of volunteer +officers in large numbers who came from the American merchant +marine, and who in all the duties of seamanship, in courage, +capacity, and patriotism, were the peers of any men who ever trod +a deck. + +Congress now realized that a re-organization of the naval service +was necessary, that the stimulus of promotion should be more +liberally used, the pride of rank more generously indulged. An +Act was therefore passed on the 16th of July greatly enlarging the +scope of the naval organization and advancing the rank of its +officers. Farragut had won his magnificent triumph at New Orleans +while holding the rank of captain,--the highest then known to our +service,--and Worden had achieved his great fame at Hampton Roads +with the commission of a lieutenant. David D. Porter, with no +higher rank, had been exercising commands which in any European +government would have been assigned to an admiral. Perhaps no navy +in the world had at that time abler officers than ours, while the +rank and emolument, except for the lowest grades, was shamefully +inadequate. The old navy had only the ranks of passed-midshipman, +lieutenant, commander, and captain. The new law gave nine grades, +--midshipman, ensign, master, lieutenant, lieutenant-commander, +commander, captain, commodore, and rear-admiral. The effect of +the increased rank was undoubtedly stimulating to the service and +valuable to the government. Two higher grades of vice-admiral and +admiral were subsequently added, and were filled by Farragut and +Porter to whom in the judgment of the Department special and emphatic +honor was due. The navy had conquered its own place in the public +regard, and had performed an inestimable service in the contest +against the rebellion. + + THE DESPERATE BATTLE OF SHILOH. + +The brilliant success in the early spring, both of the army and +navy, was unfortunately not continued in the subsequent months. +General Grant, after the fall of Nashville, marched southward to +confront the army of General A. S. Johnston, and on the 6th and +7th of April a terrible battle was fought at Pittsburg Landing on +the Tennessee River. The battle was originally called by that name +in the annals of the Union, but the title of "Shiloh" given to it +by the Confederate authorities, is the one more generally recognized +in history. In the first day's engagement the Union army narrowly +escaped a crushing defeat; but before the renewal of the contest +on the following morning General Buell effected a junction with +the forces of General Grant, and the two, united, recovered all +the lost ground of the day before and gained a substantial victory +for the Union, though at great cost of life. The Union army lost +some eighteen hundred men killed and nearly eight thousand wounded. +The Confederate loss was not less. There is no doubt that General +Grant was largely outnumbered on the first day, but after the +junction of Buell he probably outnumbered the Confederates. Sixty +thousand was perhaps the maximum of the Union forces on the second +day, while the Confederate army, as nearly as can be ascertained, +numbered fifty thousand. One great event of the battle was the +death of Albert Sidney Johnston, a soldier of marked skill, a man +of the highest personal character. Jefferson Davis made his death +the occasion of a special message to the Confederate Congress, in +which he said that "without doing injustice to the living, our loss +is irreparable." The personal affliction of Mr. Davis was sore. +The two had been at West Point together, and had been close friends +through life. William Preston Johnston, son of the fallen General, +a young man of singular excellence of character and of most attractive +personal traits, was at the time private secretary to Mr. Davis. +He has since been widely known in the South in connection with its +educational progress. + +Deep anxiety had preceded the battle throughout the North, and the +relief which followed was grateful. It was made the occasion by +the President for a proclamation in which the people were asked +"to assemble in their places of public worship and especially +acknowledge and render thanks to our Heavenly Father for the successes +which have attended the Army of the Union." But after the first +flush of victory, the battle became the subject of controversy in +the newspapers. Criticism of officers was unsparing, the slaughter +of our soldiers was exaggerated, crimination and recrimination were +indulged in respecting the conduct of troops from certain States. +General Grant was accused of having been surprised and of having +thereby incurred a danger which narrowly escaped being a defeat. +The subject was brought into Congress and warmly debated. Senator +Sherman of Ohio introduced a resolution calling for all the reports +from the officers in command, and made a speech defending the +conduct of the Ohio troops, upon which some reflections had been +inconsiderately and most unjustly cast. Mr. Elihu Washburne made +an elaborate speech in the House on the 2d of May, in which he gave +a full account of the battle, and defended General Grant with much +warmth against all possible charges which, either through ignorance +or malice, had been preferred against him for his conduct of the +battle. This speech, which was of great value to General Grant, +both with the Administration and the country, laid the foundation +of that intimate friendship which so long subsisted between him +and Mr. Washburne. Mr. Richardson of Illinois followed his colleague, +and expressed his disgust with even the introduction of the subject +in Congress. He felt that our armies would gain more renown and +secure greater victories if the "Riot Act" could be read, and both +Houses of Congress dispersed to their homes at the very earliest +moment. + +General Halleck, who had command of the Western Department, became +anxious for reputation on the field, and was thought by many to be +jealous of the daily increasing fame of General Grant. After the +battle of Shiloh, he took command in person of the army which Grant +had already rendered illustrious, leaving Grant to command its +right wing. Uniting the Western forces into one large army General +Halleck marched southward in pursuit of the Confederate column now +under the command of Beauregard, and strongly intrenched at Corinth. +As the army approached, Corinth was evacuated, and the campaign of +General Halleck, leading to no important engagement, did not add +to his military fame. Meanwhile there had been increasing +dissatisfaction in Congress and among the people with the supersedure +of General Grant, and to relieve the situation General Halleck was +called to Washington in the early part of July to take command of +the army which had been relinquished by McClellan in March, when +he set forth upon the Peninsular campaign. In the intervening +months there had been no General-in-Chief of the army, the duties +being performed by the Secretary of War. + + + GENERAL GEORGE B. McCLELLAN. + +The Western victories, important as they were, did not remove the +pressure in the East. The popular interest was more largely +concentrated in the success of the Army of the Potomac, which would +secure the safety of the National Capital, and possibly the possession +of the capital of the Confederacy. High hopes had been staked upon +the issue. Elaborate preparations had been made and the utmost +care had been taken in the organization and discipline of the army. + +General George B. McClellan was intrusted with the command. He +was a native of Pennsylvania, a distinguished graduate of West +Point, a man of high personal character. His military skill was +vouched for by older officers whose opinions would have weight with +the President. But he had been six months in command of the Army +of the Potomac and had done nothing in the field. The autumn had +passed in inaction, the winter had worn away, and the spring had +come without finding him ready to move. Whatever might be the +justification for delay, it was his misfortune to become the subject +of controversy. There was a McClellan party and an anti-McClellan +party, in the press, among the people, in Congress, and in the +army. How far this may have impaired the efficiency of his command +cannot be known, but it no doubt seriously undermined him in the +confidence of the War Department. Before he had fired a gun in +the Peninsular campaign he was in a disputation with both the +President and Secretary Stanton. On the 9th of April (1862) Mr. +Lincoln wrote him, "Your dispatches complaining that you are not +properly sustained, while they do not offend me, do pain me very +much." General McClellan had complained that the President had +detained McDowell's corps, and thus weakened the strength of his +army, and the President was defending the policy as one necessary +to the safety of Washington. McClellan protested that he had but +eighty-five thousand men at Yorktown. The President insisted that +he had a hundred and eight thousand. "And once more," said the +President, "in conclusion, let me tell you it is indispensable to +you that you strike a blow. I am powerless to help this. You will +do me the justice to remember that I always insisted that going +down the bay in search of a field, instead of fighting at or near +Manassas, was only shifting and not surmounting the difficulty; +that we would find the same enemy and the same or equal intrenchments +at either place. The country will not fail to note (is now noting) +that the present hesitation to move upon the intrenched enemy is +but the story of Manassas repeated. I beg to assure you that I +have never written you or spoken to you in greater kindness of +feeling than now, nor with a fuller purpose of sustaining you so +far as in my most anxious judgment I consistently can." + +This condition of affairs with the indication of increasing discord +between the Commander-in-Chief and General McClellan boded no good +to the Union cause, and the entire Peninsular campaign was but a +succession of "hopes deferred" that made the heart sick; of +disappointment, of great sacrifice of life and treasure, and in +the end of positive disaster and humiliating retreat. + +As General McClellan neared Richmond and needed re-enforcements +for a decisive battle with General Lee's army, the Confederates +used the most admirable tactics for the purpose of alarming the +authorities at Washington and compelling them to withhold help from +the Army of the Potomac. Stonewall Jackson came thundering down +the Shenandoah Valley with a force which the exaggeration of the +day placed far beyond his real numbers. He brushed aside the army +of General Banks at Winchester by what might well be termed a +military cyclone, and created such consternation that our troops +in the Potomac Valley were at once thrown upon the defensive. +McDowell with his corps was at Fredericksburg, hurrying to Hanover +Court-House for the purpose of aiding McClellan. With our forces +thus remote from Washington, and the fortifications around the city +imperfectly manned, something akin to panic seized upon the +Government. General McDowell, by direct order of the President, +was turned from his march on Richmond, to follow or intercept +Jackson. On the 25th of May the Secretary of War telegraphed to +the governors of the Loyal States: "Intelligence from various +quarters leaves no doubt that the enemy in great force are marching +on Washington. You will please organize and forward immediately +all the militia and volunteer forces in your State." The governors +in turn issued alarming proclamations, some of which were eminently +calculated to spread the contagion of fear prevailing at Washington. +Governor Andrew, with evident apprehension of the worst, informed +the people of Massachusetts that "The wily and barbarous horde of +traitors to the people, to the Government, to our country, and to +liberty, menace again the National Capital: they have attacked and +routed Major-General Banks, are advancing on Harper's Ferry, and +are marching on Washington. The President calls on Massachusetts +to rise at once for its rescue and defense." Throughout the entire +North there was for several days a genuine belief that the National +Capital might soon be in possession of the Confederate army, and +the senators and representatives in Congress be seized as prisoners +of war. + + STONEWALL JACKSON'S STRATEGY. + +Meanwhile Stonewall Jackson having marched to the very banks of +the Potomac and shelled Harper's Ferry, and having succeeded beyond +his most sanguine expectation in the object which he had in view, +deliberately began his retreat. He was followed up the Shenandoah +Valley by the commands of four Major-Generals and one Brigadier- +General of the Union army. He drew these united forces after him +precisely as he desired, for the benefit of Lee's army at Richmond. +He did not fly from them as if dreading a battle, for that would +have been to dismiss the large Union force to the aid of General +McClellan. Occasionally detailing a fraction of his command to +engage in a skirmish with his pursuers, who far outnumbered his +whole force, he managed to keep his main body at a safe distance, +and to reserve it for a more important work ahead. After thus +drawing our troops so far up the valley that it was impossible for +them to retrace their steps in season for concentration on Richmond, +he rapidly transported the main body of his own troops by rail from +Staunton, and rejoined General Lee in time to take part in the +final and memorable series of engagements which, by the close of +June, had compelled General McClellan to take refuge on the banks +of the James, where he could have the co-operation of the gunboats +which lay at Harrison's Landing. + +General Halleck took command as General-in-Chief of the army directly +after the Army of the Potomac had closed its campaign against +Richmond. He visited Harrison's Landing on the 24th of July to +make personal inquiry into the situation, and the result was an +order for the transfer of the army to Acquia Creek. General +McClellan protested earnestly, and, in the judgment of many of the +most skilled in military science, wisely, against this movement. +The Army of the Potomac, he said, was "within twenty-five miles of +Richmond, and with the aid of the gunboats we can supply the army +by water during its advance to within twelve miles of Richmond. +At Acquia Creek we would be seventy miles from Richmond, with land +transportation all the way." He thought the government had ample +troops to protect Washington and guard the line of the Potomac, +and he could not see the wisdom of transporting the Army of the +Potomac two hundred miles at enormous cost, only to place it three +times as far from Richmond as it then was. General Halleck's +position was sustained by the President, and the Secretary of War, +and the argument of General McClellan, convincing and conclusive +as it seems, was overruled by the peremptory mandate of his military +superiors. + +The failure of the Peninsular campaign will always be a subject of +controversy. At the time it was one of prolonged and angry dispute. +Where military critics so widely differ, civilians gain the right +to a personal judgment. The weakness of that great military movement +was the lack of cordiality and confidence between the commander +and the Administration at Washington. The seeds of distrust had +been sown and a bountiful crop of disaster was the natural growth. +The withdrawal of McDowell's corps was a fatal blow to McClellan. +Before a military court which was inquiring into the transaction, +General McClellan stated under oath that he had "no doubt that the +Army of the Potomac would have taken Richmond had not the corps of +General McDowell been separated from it; and that, had the command +of General McDowell in the month of May joined the Army of the +Potomac by way of Hanover Court-House, we would have had Richmond +a week after the junction." He added, with evident reference to +Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton, "I do not hold General McDowell +responsible for a failure to join me on that occasion." + + STONEWALL JACKSON'S SUCCESSFUL RAID. + +When General McDowell was turned back from Fredericksburg to take +part in the fruitless chase after Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah +Valley, he was doing precisely what the President of the Confederate +States would have ordered, had he been able to issue the orders of +the President of the United States. McDowell saw the blunder, but +his directions were peremptory and nothing was left but to obey. +He telegraphed the Secretary of War, "The President's order is a +crushing blow to us." Mr. Lincoln personally and immediately +replied to General McDowell, "The change is as painful to me as it +can possibly be to you or to any one." McDowell then ventured to +argue the case with the President. He distinctly told Mr. Lincoln +that he could effect nothing in trying to cut off Stonewall Jackson +in the Shenandoah Valley. "I shall," he continued, "gain nothing +for you there, and I shall lose much for you here. It is therefore +not only on personal ground that I have a heavy heart in this +matter, but I feel that it throws us all back, and from Richmond +north we shall have all our large mass paralyzed, and shall have +to repeat what we have just accomplished." Mr. Lincoln's order +and the whole of this correspondence were by telegraph on the twenty- +fourth day of May. Conclusive as the reasoning of General McDowell +seems, it did not move Mr. Lincoln from his purpose; and the heavy +re-enforcement which was then within three days of the point where +it could most effectively aid McClellan, was diverted to a hopeless +and useless pursuit. Had McDowell been allowed to proceed as he +desired and as General McClellan confidently expected, he would +have re-enforced the Army of the Potomac for an attack on Lee, +while Stonewall Jackson's corps was in the Shenandoah Valley. By +the unfortunate diversion ordered by Mr. Lincoln, precisely the +reverse occurred. Stonewall Jackson's corps arrived before Richmond +in season to aid in defeating McClellan, while McDowell with his +splendid contingent was aimlessly loitering in a distant part of +Virginia. + +The President was led into this course by the urgent advice of the +Secretary of War. When McClellan went to the field, Mr. Stanton +undertook personally to perform the duties of General-in-Chief in +Washington. This was evidently an egregious blunder. Neither by +education, temper, temperament, nor by any other trait of his +character, was Mr. Stanton fitted for this duty. He was very +positively and in a high degree unfitted for it. With three Major- +Generals--McDowell, Banks, and Fremont--exercising independent +commands in the Potomac Valley, with their movements exerting a +direct and important influence upon the fortunes of the main army +under McClellan, there was especial need of a cool-headed, experienced, +able general at the Capital. Had one of the three great soldiers +who have been at the head of the army since the close of the war, +then been in chief command at Washington, there is little hazard +in saying that the brilliant and dashing tactics of Stonewall +Jackson would not have been successful, and that if General McClellan +had failed before Richmond, it would not have been for lack of +timely and adequate re-enforcement. + + +Before these military disasters occurred, Congress had made progress +in its legislation against the institution of Slavery. At the +beginning of the war there had been an ill-defined policy, or rather +an absence of all policy, in relation to the most important of +pending questions. The winter preceding the outbreak of the +rebellion had been so assiduously devoted by Congress to efforts +of compromise and conciliation, that it was difficult to turn the +public mind promptly to the other side, and to induce the people +to accept the logical consequences of the war. There was no uniform +policy among our generals. Each commander was treating the question +very much according to his own personal predilection, and that was +generally found to be in accordance with his previous political +relations. The most conspicuous exception to this rule was General +Benjamin F. Butler, who had been identified with the extreme pro- +slavery wing of the Democratic party. He was in command in May, +1861, at Fortress Monroe, and he found that when fugitive slaves +sought the protection of his camp they were pursued under flags of +truce, and their return was requested as a right under the Constitution +of the United States by men who were in arms against the Constitution. +The anomaly of this situation was seen by General Butler, and he +met it promptly by refusing to permit the slaves to be returned, +declaring them to be contraband of war. As they were useful to +the enemy in military operations, they were to be classed with arms +and ammunition. This opinion was at first received joyously by +the country, and the word "contraband" became the synonym of fugitive +slave. But General Butler's judgment is justified by the rules of +modern warfare, and its application solved a question of policy +which otherwise might have been fraught with serious difficulty. +In the presence of arms the Fugitive-slave Law became null and +void, and the Dred Scott decision was trampled under the iron hoof +of war. + + SLAVERY ABOLISHED IN THE DISTRICT. + +The first exercise of legislative power hostile to the institution +of slavery, already detailed, was promptly followed by one still +more decisive. Congress provided for the abolition of the institution +in the District of Columbia. A bill for this purpose was introduced +in the Senate on the 16th of December, 1861, and two months later +Mr. Morrill of Maine, from the Committee on the District, reported +it to the Senate with a favorable recommendation. Garrett Davis +of Kentucky spoke in support of an amendment requiring the +colonization, beyond the limits of the United States, of all persons +who might be liberated by the Act. He was firmly persuaded that +the liberation of slaves with their continued residence among the +whites would result in a war of races. Mr. Hale of New Hampshire +combated his opinion by arguments and facts drawn from the history +of emancipation in Jamaica. Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts gave an +interesting history of the circumstances which led to the selection +of the site for the National Capital upon slave territory. + +Mr. Sumner dealt with the subject at great length, enforcing his +views by numerous authorities drawn from history, from the decisions +of courts, and from the opinions of publicists and statesmen of +modern times. The opponents of the measure did not conceal their +apprehension that the abolition of slavery in the District of +Columbia portended its overthrow in the States. Mr. Sumner and +his associates hailed the movement as the inauguration of a policy +destined to produce that result. "The future," said the Massachusetts +senator, "cannot be doubtful. At the National Capital slavery will +give way to freedom. But the good work will not stop here: it must +proceed. What God and Nature decree, Rebellion cannot arrest." +Mr. Sherman of Ohio maintained that it was not a measure for the +preservation of the government, but a municipal regulation, and +that the time had come when it was evidently wise to exercise the +powers granted by the Constitution. Mr. Willey of Virginia deprecated +the existence of slavery in the capital of the country, but he +opposed the emancipation bill as the first of a series of measures +that would end in the abolition of slavery in all the States by +act of Congress. The bill passed the Senate the third day of April +by a vote of 29 to 14. + +When the measure reached the House and was read for information it +was at once challenged by Mr. Vallandigham of Ohio; and upon the +parliamentary question "Shall the bill be rejected?" the yeas were +45 and the nays were 93. The debate which immediately followed +was in good temper, with a notable absence of the exasperation +which it was feared the subject would call forth. Mr. Crittenden +of Kentucky stated the objections of the minority, and especially +of the Border slave States, fairly and temperately. The time seemed +to him unpropitious inasmuch as the moving cause of the secession +of the States was the apprehension on their part that Congress was +likely to take measures for the abolition of slavery. The passage +of the bill necessarily rendered futile every attempt at reconciliation. +Secondly, there was an implied agreement with Virginia and Maryland +at the time of the cession of the District that "the system of +slavery shall not be disturbed." And finally, the bill, although +it provided for compensation to lawful owners, was in effect a +measure of confiscation. It passed the House by a vote of 92 to +38. The President accompanied his approval with a special message +in which, while not doubting the constitutionality of the measure, +he intimated that there were "matters within and about the Act +which might have taken a course or shape more satisfactory to his +judgment." He especially commended the provision made for compensation +to the owners of slaves, and referred with satisfaction to the +appropriation made to aid any colored person of the District who +might desire to emigrate "to Liberia, Hayti, or any country beyond +the limits of the United States which the President may determine." +The sum of one hundred thousand dollars was appropriated for this +purpose by the Act--one hundred dollars being allowed to each +emigrant. The experiment came to nothing. The colored persons +who had resided in the United States as slaves were obviously +desirous of trying their fortunes as freemen among the people whom +they knew, and in the homes to which they were attached. + + THE PRESIDENT'S CONSERVATIVE COURSE. + +Mr. Lincoln had always been a firm believer in the scheme of African +colonization; and in his message of December, 1861, he recommended +a provision for colonizing the slaves set free by the influence of +war. From the slave States which had remained loyal to the Union +he was willing to accept slaves in lieu of the direct tax, according +to some mode of valuation that might be agreed upon, and he was +anxious that adequate provision should be made for their settlement +in some place or places with a climate congenial to them. But the +experiment with the manumitted negroes of the District, which was +made in compliance with this recommendation of the President and +in deference to his personal wishes, frequently and earnestly +expressed, demonstrated the impracticability of the plan. Colonization +could be effected only by the forcible removal of the colored +people, and this would have been a more cruel violation of their +natural rights than a continuance of the slavery in which they were +born. If free choice between the two conditions had been offered, +nine-tenths, perhaps even a larger proportion of the slaves, would +have preferred to remain in their old homes. In an economic point +of view the scheme was indefensible. We were at the time the only +country with undeveloped agricultural resources in warm latitudes, +that was not engaged in seeking labor from all quarters of the +world. The Colonization scheme deliberately proposed to strip the +United States of patient, faithful laborers, acclimated to the +cotton and sugar fields of the South, and capable of adding great +wealth to the nation. Colonization would deprive us of this much +needed labor, would entail vast expense in the deportation of the +negroes, and would devolve upon this country, by a moral responsibility +which it could not avoid, the protection and maintenance of the +feeble government which would be planted on the shores of Africa. +The Liberian experiment, honorable as it was to the colored race, +and successful as it had proved in establishing civilization in +Africa, had not attained such material prosperity as would justify +the United States in the removal of millions of its population to +a remote country where there was no demand for labor. + +Mr. Lincoln's course on the Slavery question at that period of his +Administration was steadily and studiously conservative. He had +checked the Secretary of War (Mr. Cameron) in the issuing of an +anti-slavery order which was considered premature and unwise; he +had countermanded and annulled the proclamations of General Hunter +and General Fremont declaring the slaves to be free within the +districts of their respective commands. He now recommended a +measure in the line of his conservative policy, to which he attached +great weight, and from which he anticipated important consequences. +On the 6th of March, 1862, the President sent a message to Congress +recommending the adoption of a joint resolution declaring that "the +United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt +gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to each State pecuniary aid +to be used in its discretion to compensate for the inconveniences, +public and private, produced by such change of system." Mr. Lincoln +believed that if the leaders of the existing Rebellion could conquer +their independence, the Border slave States would necessarily join +them from sympathy with their institutions. By the initiation of +emancipation all possible desire or tendency in that direction +would be removed, and thus a severe blow be given to the Rebellion. +He believed in compensation to the slave-holder, and expressed his +opinion that "gradual and not sudden emancipation is better for +all." He asked Congress to consider "how very soon the current +expenses of the war would purchase at a fair valuation all the +slaves in any named State." + +When the message reached the House it was referred to the Committee +of the Whole on the State of the Union. Four days later Mr. Roscoe +Conkling moved to suspend the rules in order to bring the resolution +before the House "in the exact form in which the President had +recommended it." The motion prevailed by 86 to 35. Francis P. +Blair of Missouri and the representatives from West Virginia were +the only Border State men who voted to suspend the rules. Mr. +Conkling thought an immediate vote might be taken because he presumed +"every member had made up his mind on the question involved." But +the Kentucky delegation desired time for consultation. They +concluded to oppose the resolution. Mr. Crittenden, speaking the +sentiments of all, asked, "Why do you exact of Kentucky more than +she has already done to show her loyalty? Has she not parted with +all her former allies, with all her natural kindred in other States? +Why should it be asked that she should now surrender up her domestic +institutions?" Against the protest of Kentucky the resolution was +passed, such radical abolitionists as Owen Lovejoy warmly supporting +the proposition to pay for slaves out of the Treasury of the United +States. Mr. Henderson of Missouri and Mr. Willey of West Virginia +were the only Border State senators who saw the vast advantage to +be secured to their own constituents by the passage of the measure. +They supported it ably and heartily. It was earnestly opposed by +the senators from Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware. Mr. Carlile +of West Virginia was the only senator in nominal sympathy with the +Administration who voted against it. The hostility to the President's +policy by senators from the Border slave States was so fixed as to +prevent even a free discussion of the measure, and it was therefore +remanded to a future day for consideration. + + CONFISCATION OF REBEL PROPERTY. + +A still more aggressive movement against slavery was made by Congress +before the close of this eventful session. On the day that Congress +convened, in the preceding December, Mr. Trumbull gave notice of +his intention to introduce a bill "for the confiscation of the +property of rebels, and giving freedom to the persons they hold in +slavery." Three days later he formally introduced the bill, and +made a lucid explanation of its provisions and its objects. He +"disdained to press it upon the ground of a mere military power +superior to the civil in time of war." "Necessity," said he, "is +the plea of tyrants; and if our Constitution ceases to operate, +the moment a person charged with its observance thinks there is a +necessity to violate it, is of little value." So far from admitting +that the superiority of the military over the civil power in time +of war, Mr. Trumbull held that "under the Constitution the military +is as much the subject of control by the civil power in war as in +peace." He was for suppressing the rebellion "according to law, +and in no other way;" and he warned his countrymen who stood "ready +to tolerate almost any act done in good faith for the suppression +of the rebellion, not to sanction usurpations of power which may +hereafter become precedents for the destruction of constitutional +liberty." Though the bill was introduced on the second day of +December, 1861, it did not become a law until the 17th of July in +the next year. + +In the months intervening, it was elaborately debated, almost every +senator taking part in the discussion. Garrett Davis of Kentucky, +who had succeeded Mr. Breckinridge in the Senate, made a long speech +against the bill, contending that Congress had no power to free +any slaves. He wanted a bill of great severity against the rebel +leaders: "to those that would repent" he would give "immunity, +peace, and protection; to the impenitent and incorrigible he would +give the gallows, or exile and the forfeiture of their whole estate." +Such a law as that, he said, his "own State of Kentucky desired. +As Hamilcar brought his infant son Hannibal to the family altar, +and made him swear eternal enmity to the Roman power, so I have +sworn and will ever maintain eternal enmity to the principle of +secession and all its adherents." It was seen throughout the debate +that the bill under consideration was in large part provoked by +the confiscation measures of the Confederate Congress, and Mr. +Davis declared that "the debts due to the North, estimated at +$200,000,000, seized, confiscated, and appropriated by the rebel +government, shall be remunerated fully." + +Mr. John B. Henderson of Missouri who, as a Union man of prominence +and ability, had succeeded Trusten Polk in the Senate, opposed the +bill because it would "cement the Southern mind against us and +drive new armies of excited and deluded men from the Border States +to espouse the cause of rebellion." He urged that "the Union +sentiment of the South should be cultivated, and radical measures +tending to destroy that sentiment should be dropped." Mr. Fessenden +was conservative on this as on other questions, and insisted upon +the reference of Mr. Trumbull's bill to a committee; which was the +occasion of some little passage between himself and Mr. Trumbull, +not without temper. Mr. Trumbull suggested that "the senator from +Maine would not be likely to get any light from the deliberations +of five men unless he were himself one of them." Retorting in the +same spirit, but, as he said, good-naturedly, Mr. Fessenden said +he should not "hope that _any_ deliberation of anybody would +enlighten the senator from Illinois." + +Sustaining the extreme power of confiscation, Mr. Sumner desired +"the Act to be especially leveled at the institution of Slavery." +He recalled the saying of Charles XII. of Sweden, that the cannoneers +were perfectly right in directing their shots at him, for the war +would be at an instant end if they could kill him; whereas they +would reap little from killing his principal officers. "There is," +said the senator, "no shot in this war so effective as one against +Slavery, which is king above all officers; nor is there better +augury of complete success than the willingness at last to fire +upon this wicked king." By this means, Mr. Sumner believed that +we should "take from the rebellion its mainspring of activity and +strength, stop its chief stores of provisions and supplies, remove +a motive and temptation to prolonged resistance, and destroy forever +the disturbing influence which, so long as it exists, will keep +this land a volcano, ever ready to break forth anew." Mr. Sumner, +Mr. Wade, and Mr. Chandler, the senators who were regarded as most +radical, desired more stringent provisions than they could secure. +The really able lawyers of the Senate, Mr. Fessenden and Judge +Collamer, repressed the extreme measures which but for their +interposition would have been enacted. As the bill was finally +perfected, Mr. Chandler and his colleague Mr. Howard voted against +it, as did also Mr. Browning of Illinois and the Border-State +Senators Davis of Kentucky, Henderson of Missouri, and Carlile of +Virginia. To the Michigan senators the bill was too weak; to the +others it was too strong. Mr. Willey of Virginia was the only +senator from a slave-holding State who voted on the radical side. +With the exceptions noted, Republican senators all voted for the +bill. + + CONFISCATION OF REBEL PROPERTY. + +A series of measures in the House relating to confiscation were +under discussion while the Senate was considering the same subject. +The House passed a more stringent bill than the Senate would accept, +and the subject was finally sent to a committee of conference, +which from the points of disagreement framed the measure that +ultimately became a law. As in the Senate, the Border-State men +opposed the measure, but were overborne by the popular opinion +which nearly consolidated the Republican vote of the North in favor +of it. It was however an undoubted weakness, morally and politically, +that such men as Crittenden and Mallory of Kentucky, James S. +Rollins of Missouri, and Francis Thomas and Edwin H. Webster of +Maryland were recorded against it. The bill was passed in the +House by a vote of 82 to 42. The conference report having somewhat +strengthened the original measure passed by the Senate, Messrs. +Howard and Chandler of Michigan gave it their support, but for the +same reason Mr. Cowan of Pennsylvania and Mr. Willey of Virginia +opposed it. The final vote was 27 in favor to 12 against it. + +The Act, as it finally passed, affixed to the crime of treason the +punishment of death, or, at the discretion of the court, imprisonment +for not less than five years and a fine of not less than ten thousand +dollars,--all the slaves, if any, to be declared free. "To insure +the speedy termination of the present rebellion" it was made the +duty of the President to cause the seizure of the estate and +property, money, stocks, credits, and effects of the following +classes of persons: First, all those hereafter acting as officers +of the army or the navy of the rebels in arms against the government +of the United States; second, of any person acting as President, +Vice-President, member of Congress, judge of any court, cabinet +officer, foreign minister, commissioner, or consul of the so-called +Confederate States; third, of any person acting as governor of a +State, member of a convention or Legislature, or judge of any court +of any of the so-called Confederate States of America; fourth, of +any person who having held an office of honor, trust, or profit in +the United States shall hereafter hold an office in the so-called +Confederate States; fifth, of any person hereafter holding any +office or agency under the so-called Confederate States or under +any of the several States of said Confederacy; sixth, of any person +who owning property in any loyal State or Territory of the United +States, or in the District of Columbia, shall hereafter assist and +give aid and comfort to the rebellion. "And all sales, transfers, +or conveyances of any such property shall be null and void; and it +shall be a sufficient bar to any suit brought by such persons for +the possession or use of such property, or any of it, to allege +and prove that he is one of the persons described in this section." + +In the provisions of the Act directly affecting slavery it was +declared that "All slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged +in rebellion against the Government of the United States or who +shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such +persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army, and all +slaves captured from such persons, or deserted by them and coming +under the control of the Government of the United States, and all +slaves of such persons found or being within any place occupied by +rebel forces and afterward occupied by the forces of the United +States, shall be deemed captives, shall be forever free of their +servitude, and not again held as slaves." This provision had a +very sweeping application. Even if the war had ended without a +formal and effective system of emancipation, it is believed that +this statute would have so operated as to render the slave system +practically valueless. When the war closed it is probable that +not less than one-half of all the slaves of the rebel States had +come within the scope of this statute, and had therefore been +declared legally free by the legislative power of the United States. + + CONFISCATION OF REBEL PROPERTY. + +Mr. Lincoln signed the Confiscation Act with reluctance. Indeed +he had prepared a veto, but a joint resolution had been passed in +order to remove the objections which in the President's view were +absolutely fatal to the original bill, either as regarded its +justice or its constitutionality. He had insisted to certain +senators that the Confiscation Law must in terms exclude the +possibility of its being applied to any act done by a rebel prior +to its passage, and that no punishment or proceeding under it should +be so construed as to work a forfeiture of the real estate of the +offender beyond his natural life. These, with some minor defects, +being corrected, the President affixed his signature and made public +proclamation of the intended enforcement of the Act as qualified +by the joint resolution approved on the same day. But there is +good reason for believing that Mr. Lincoln would have been glad to +confine its application to slave property, and he felt moreover +that he could deal with that subject without the co-operation of +Congress. The military situation was so discouraging that in the +President's view it would have been wiser for Congress to refrain +from enacting laws which, without success in the field, would be +null and void, and which, with success in the field, would be +rendered unnecessary. Congress adjourned on the same day that Mr. +Lincoln approved the bill, and on returning home the senators and +representatives found their constituents depressed, anxious, and +alarmed for the country. + +It cannot be said that the results flowing from this measure, either +in restraining the action of Southern men or in securing to the +National Treasury money derived from confiscated property, were at +all in proportion to the importance ascribed to it in the discussion +of both branches of Congress. Indeed the effect both morally and +materially was far short of expectation. It is highly probable +that if the stringent measure of the Confederate Congress and its +stringent enforcement under the vigorous administration of Attorney- +General Benjamin had not been attempted, the Congress of the United +States could not have been induced to enter upon a course of +legislation concerning which there existed much doubt and division +of opinion among the Republicans. It is at least certain that but +for the causes named, the scope of the Confiscation Act would have +been confined within those limits which would have directly influenced +the institution of Slavery, and would not have interfered with any +other species of property. Whatever distress therefore came to +Southern men, from the provisions in the Confiscation Act outside +of those relating to Slavery, may fairly and properly be traced to +the spirit of retaliation (always an effective weapon in time of +war) which naturally followed the causeless and cruel procedure of +the Confederate Government. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Ball's Bluff Disaster.--Mr. Conkling's Resolution of Inquiry.-- +Unsatisfactory Reply of Secretary Cameron.--Second Resolution.-- +Second Reply.--Incidental Debate on Slavery.--Arrest of General +Charles P. Stone.--His History.--His Response to Criticisms made +upon him.--Responsibility of Colonel Baker.--General Stone before +the Committee on the Conduct of the War.--His Examination.--Testimony +of Officers.--General Stone appears before the Committee a Second +Time.--His Arrest by Order of the War Department.--No Cause assigned. +--Imprisoned in Fort Lafayette.--Solitary Confinement.--Sees Nobody. +--His Wife denied Access to him.--Subject brought into Congress.-- +A Search for the Responsibility of the Arrest.--Groundless Assumption +of Mr. Sumner's Connection with it.--Mr. Lincoln's Message in Regard +to the Case.--General Stone's Final Release by an Act of Congress. +--Imprisoned for One Hundred and Eighty-nine Days.--Never told the +Cause.--Never allowed a Trial.--Appears a Third Time before the +Committee.--The True Responsibility for the Arrest.--His Restoration +to Service.--His Resignation.--Joins the Khedive's Service. + +On the day that Congress convened, (December 2, 1861,) Mr. Roscoe +Conkling offered a resolution which was unanimously agreed to by +the House, requesting "the Secretary of War, if not incompatible +with the public service, to report to the House whether any, and +if any, what, measures have been taken to ascertain who is responsible +for the disastrous movement of our troops at Ball's Bluff." A few +days later Mr. Chandler of Michigan offered a resolution in the +Senate, directing an inquiry by a committee of three "into the +disasters at Bull Run and Ball's Bluff." Mr. Grimes of Iowa offered +a substitute which, after various modifications, directed the +appointment of a "joint committee of three members of the Senate, +and four members of the House of Representatives, to inquire into +the conduct of the present war, with power to send for persons and +papers, and with leave to sit during the sessions of either branch +of Congress." The resolutions led to some debate. Mr. Chandler +maintained that "it is the duty of the Senate to ascertain who is +responsible for sending eighteen hundred men across the Potomac, +in two old scows, without any means of retreat." Mr. McDougall +thought a discussion of the question at that time was impolitic. +Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts, chairman of the Committee on Military +Affairs, while admitting that many mistakes had been made, asserted +the "the greatest error in the conduct of the war has been the +series of irresponsible proclamations issued by generals on the +field." The joint resolution was adopted by the Senate with only +three dissenting votes (Messrs. Latham, Carlile, and Rice) and by +the House unanimously. Mr. Wade of Ohio, Mr. Chandler of Michigan, +and Mr. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee on the part of the Senate, with +Mr. Gooch of Massachusetts, Mr. Covode of Pennsylvania, Mr. Julian +of Indiana, and Mr. Odell of New York on the part of the House, +constituted the committee. + + THE DISASTER AT BALL'S BLUFF. + +The Secretary of War, in answer to Mr. Conkling's resolution touching +the disaster at Ball's Bluff, stated that Major-General McClellan, +commanding the army, "is of opinion that an inquiry on the subject +of the resolution would at this time be injurious to the public +service." The answer did not satisfy Mr. Conkling. He immediately +moved another resolution declaring that the communication from the +Secretary of War was "not responsive nor satisfactory to the House, +and that the secretary be directed to return a further answer." +A spirited debate followed, taking a somewhat extended range. Mr. +Conkling said that his resolution related to "the most atrocious +military murder ever committed in our history as a people. It +relates to a lost field; to a disastrous and humiliating battle; +to a blunder so gross that all men can see it,--a blunder which +cost us confessedly nine hundred and thirty men, the very pride +and flower of the States from which they came." . . . "The Bluff +is a mile in length up and down the river, and the landing and +ascent were made in the middle of it. Behind this was a six-acre +lot skirted by woods on three sides. Into this burial-ground, one +by one, as the boat brought them over, went up the devoted seventeen +hundred. . . . Behind them rolled a deep river which could never +be repassed. Before them and surrounding them on every side was +a tree-sheltered and skulking foe, three or four times their +number. . . . In an hour, in less than an hour, the field was a +hell of fire raging from every side. The battle was lost before +it was begun. It was from the outset a mere sacrifice, a sheer +immolation, without a promise of success or a hope of escape." +. . . "On the same side of the river with Leesburg," said Mr. Conkling, +"within a day's march of that place, lay General McCall commanding +a division containing fifteen regiments which marched fully eleven +thousand men. If Leesburg were to be attacked, or if a reconnoissance +in force were to be made in that direction, one of the first wonders +in this case is, that the work should have been assigned to General +Stone's division, divided as it was from the scene of action by a +great river, when the division of General McCall was within a day's +march of the spot, with neither river, mountain, nor barrier to be +traversed." + +--Mr. Richardson of Illinois thought Mr. Conkling's resolution was +calculated "to raise an issue between the House of Representatives +and the army, and divide the country." He thought this would injure +the cause of the Union. In military matters he would "rather trust +the commanding general of the army than a committee of the House." + +--Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky protested against "the House interfering +in the conduct of the war and the management of the army by +investigating transactions which are in their nature purely military." +He maintained that "such a policy takes control out of the hands +of men supposed to be competent and puts it in the hands of men +supposed not to be competent." "If," continued Mr. Crittenden, +"we are to find fault with every movement, who not appoint a +committee of the House to attend the Commander-in-chief? Why not +send them with our army so that the power of Congress may be felt +in battle as well as in the halls of legislation?" + +--Mr. Lovejoy of Illinois gave a characteristic turn to the debate. +"I believe before God," said he,--"and if it be fanaticism now it +will not be when history traces the events of the day,--that the +reason why we have had Bull Run and Ball's Bluff and other defeats +and disasters is that God, in his providence, designs to arraign +us before this great question of human freedom, and make us take +the right position." Slavery, according to Mr. Lovejoy, was the +Jonah on board the National ship, and the ship would founder unless +Jonah were thrown overboard. "When Jonah was cast forth into the +sea, the sea ceased from raging." Our battles, in Mr. Lovejoy's +belief, "should be fought so as to hurt slavery," and enable the +President to decree its destruction. "To be President, to be king, +to be victor, has happened to many; to be embalmed in the hearts +of mankind through all generations as liberator and emancipator +has been vouchsafed to few." + + THE DISASTER AT BALL'S BLUFF. + +--Mr. Wickliffe of Kentucky believed we should "preserve the Union +and slavery under it." He wised to "throw the Abolitionists +overboard." + +--Mr. Mallory of Kentucky, while not believing slavery to be +incompatible with our liberty under the Constitution, declared that +so far as he understood the feeling of the people of Kentucky, "if +they ever come to regard slavery as standing in the way of the +Union, they will not hesitate to wipe out the institution." Loud +applause followed this remark. + +--Mr. McKee Dunn of Indiana, while believing that "if slavery stands +in the way of the Union it must be destroyed," was not yet "willing +to accept Mr. Lovejoy as prophet, priest, or king." He thought +"the gentleman from Illinois was not authorized to interpret God's +providence" in the affairs of men. + +--Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, in recalling the debate to the immediate +question before the House, took occasion to protest against the +doctrine of non-interference laid down by Mr. Crittenden. "Has it +come to this," said Mr. Stevens, "that Congress is a mere automaton, +to register the decrees of another power, and that we have nothing +to do but to find men and money? . . . This is the doctrine of +despotism, better becoming that empire which they are attempting +to establish in the South." + +The resolution offered by Mr. Conkling was adopted by a vote of 79 +to 54, on a call of the yeas and nays. The affirmative vote was +wholly Republican. A few Republicans voted with the Democrats in +the negative. The reply of Secretary Cameron was no more satisfactory +than to the first resolution. He informed the House that "measures +have been taken to ascertain who is responsible for the disastrous +movement of our troops at Ball's Bluff, but it is not deemed +compatible with the public interest to make known these measures +at the present time." The difference between this answer and the +first, was that the Administration assumed the responsibility of +withholding the information, and did not rest it upon the judgment +of the general in command of the army. + +Brigadier-General Charles P. Stone was a graduate of West Point +Military Academy, from Massachusetts. His family belongs to the +old Puritan stock of that commonwealth, and had been honorably +represented in every war in which the American people had engaged. +General Stone served as a lieutenant in the Mexican war with high +credit, and in 1855 resigned his commission and became a resident +of California. It happened that he was in Washington at the breaking +out of the civil war, and in response to the request of his old +commander, General Scott, took a prominent part in the defense of +the capital, considered to be in danger after the rising of the +Baltimore mob. His conduct was so admirable that when the President, +a few weeks later, directed the organization of eleven new regiments +in the Regular Army, he appointed General Stone to the Colonelcy +of the 14th United-States Infantry. After the battle of Bull Run, +when General McClellan was promoted to the command of the Army of +the Potomac, General Stone was selected to command a division which +was directed to occupy the valley of the Potomac above Washington, +as a corps of observation. The Union troops, engaged in the +disastrous battle of Ball's Bluff, belonged to his corps, but were +under the immediate command of Colonel E. D. Baker. The repulse +and slaughter on that melancholy field were followed by excitement +and indignation throughout the country quite as deep as that shown +in Congress. The details of the disaster were greatly exaggerated. +The official summary of losses, made up with care, showed that the +total number killed, including both officers and men, was 49; +wounded, 158; missing, 714, of whom a few were drowned, and the +great mass taken prisoners. The popular admiration for Colonel +Baker was unbounded, and the suspicion that his life had been +needlessly destroyed created such a feeling as demanded a victim. +General Stone was selected for the sacrifice, and popular wrath +was turned upon him with burning intensity. Rumors and exaggerations +filled the newspapers; and the public, in that state of credulity +which is an incident to the victim-hunting mania, accepted every +thing as true. It was widely believed that Colonel Baker said +mournfully, as he marched to the battle-field, "I will obey General +Stone's order, but it is my death-warrant." + + BALL'S BLUFF DISASTER INVESTIGATED. + +Goaded by these injurious and unfounded rumors, General Stone, in +a letter to the Adjutant-General of the army, written a fortnight +after the battle, deemed it his "duty to answer the persistent +attacks made through the press by the friends of the lamented +Colonel Baker." He called attention to the "distinct violations +by Colonel Baker of his orders and instructions," and declared that +he was left "to use his own discretion about crossing his force, +or retiring that already over." He found it "painful to censure +the acts of one who gallantly died on the field of battle," but +justice to himself required "that the full truth should be made to +appear." Colonel Baker did not receive the order "as a death- +warrant," for it was delivered to him "at his own request." That +"Colonel Baker was determined to fight a battle" was made evident +by the fact that "he never crossed to examine the field, never gave +an order to the troops in advance, and never sent forward to +ascertain their position, until he had ordered over his force, and +passed over a considerable portion of it." On the 5th of January, +1862, General Stone appeared before the Committee on the Conduct +of the War, and was examined under oath as to every detail of the +Ball's-Bluff disaster which could in any way, directly or remotely, +involve his responsibility as a commander. His answers were frank, +withholding nothing, and were evidently intended to communicate +every pertinent fact. So far as may be inferred from the questions +and comments, the evidence was entirely satisfactory to the +committee. + +After the examination of General Stone, many officers of his command +appeared before the committee. The captains and lieutenants, fresh +from private life, whose names he probably did not know, and with +whom he perhaps never exchanged a word, were summoned in large +number. They had remarkable stories to tell about General Stone's +disloyalty; about his holding secret correspondence with the enemy; +about his permitting letters and packages to be taken across the +line without examination; about his allowing rebels to go freely +back and forth; and finally about his passing within the rebel +lines to hold confidential interviews with the officers commanding +the force opposed to him. It is singular that men of the acuteness +and high character of those composing the committee did not carefully +sift the testimony and subject it to the test of a rigorous cross- +examination. The stories told by many of these swift witnesses +were on the surface absurd, and should have been exposed. Publicity +alone would have largely counteracted the evil effect of their +narratives, but the examination was secret, and the witnesses +evidently felt that the strongest bias against General Stone was +the proper turn to give their testimony. The atmosphere was, as +it often is in such cases, unfavorable to the suspected man; and +his reputation was mercilessly assailed where he could not reply, +and was not even allowed to hear. When officers of the higher +grades, who came near to General Stone, who shared his confidence +and assisted in his councils, were examined, the weight of the +testimony was markedly different. General F. W. Lander regarded +General Stone as "a very efficient, orderly, and excellent officer." +Colonel Isaac J. Wistar, who succeeded Colonel Baker in the command +of the California regiment, gave the highest testimony to General +Stone's loyalty, and to the "full confidence" reposed in him by +men of every rank in the brigade with which he was serving. Colonel +Charles Devens who, with his regiment, the Fifteenth Massachusetts +Infantry, had borne an honorable part on the bloody field, testified +that he and the officers of the Fifteenth "had confidence in General +Stone." Colonel James H. Van Allen, commanding a regiment of +cavalry in General Stone's division, gave the most cordial testimony +of his loyalty and high character. + +After the larger part of the evidence adverse to General Stone had +been heard, he received an intimation through General McClellan +that it might be well for him to appear again before the Committee +on the Conduct of the War. He obtained leave of absence from his +command, repaired to Washington, and presented himself before the +committee on the 31st of January, twenty-six days after his first +testimony had been given. For some reason which the committee did +not deem it necessary to explain, General Stone was not furnished +with the names of the witnesses who had testified against him in +the dark; their testimony was not submitted to him; it was not even +read in his hearing. He was simply informed by the chairman-- +Senator Wade of Ohio--that "in the course of our investigations +there has come out in evidence matters which may be said to impeach +you. I do not know that I can enumerate all the points, but I +think I can. In the first place is your conduct in the Ball's- +Bluff affair--your ordering your forces over without sufficient +means of transportation, and in that way endangering your army, in +case of a check, by not being able to re-enforce them. . . . Another +point is that the evidence tends to show that you have had undue +communication with the enemy by letters that have passed back and +forth, by intercourse with officers from the other side, and by +permitting packages to go over unexamined, to known Secessionists. +. . . The next and only other point that now occurs to me is that +you have suffered the enemy to erect formidable fortifications or +batteries on the opposite side of the river, within the reach of +your guns, and which you could easily have prevented." General +Stone's answer was as lucid, frank, and full as could be made to +charges of so sweeping a character. His explanations were unreserved, +and his justification apparently complete and unanswerable against +every form of accusation which the chairman submitted. To the +charge of disloyalty General Stone replied with much feeling, "That +is one humiliation I had hoped I should never be subjected to. I +thought there was one calumny that could not be brought against +me. Any other calumny I should expect after what I have received, +but that one I should have supposed that you personally, Mr. +Chairman, would have rejected at once. _You_ remember last spring +when the Government had so few friends here, when the enemy had +this city I might almost say in his power, I raised all the volunteer +troops that were here during the seven dark days. I disciplined +and posted those troops. I commanded them, and they were the first +to invade the soil of Virginia, and I led them." Mr. Wade here +interrupted, and said, "I was no so unjust as not to mention that +circumstance to the committee." General Stone resumed, "I could +have surrendered Washington. And now I will swear that this +government has not a more faithful soldier, of poor capacity it +may be, but not a more faithful soldier from the day I was called +into service to this minute." + + GENERAL CHARLES P. STONE ARRESTED. + +Subsequent developments proved that three days before this second +examination General McClellan had in his possession an order from +Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, directing him "to relieve +General Stone from his command of a division in the Army of the +Potomac, and that he be placed in arrest and kept in close custody +until further orders." It is evident therefore that so far as the +War Department was involved, the case had been prejudged, or judged +at least without giving the accused man an opportunity to be heard +in his own defense. It is difficult to understand why his testimony +did not have the effect to recall or suspend the order of arrest, +but despite the candor and evident honesty of his explanations, +the blow fell upon him. Early on Saturday the eighth day of February +General McClellan directed the provost marshal of the district, +General Andrew Porter, "to arrest Brigadier-General Charles P. +Stone at once, and to send him under close custody by first train +to Fort Lafayette, where he will be placed in charge of the commanding +officer, and have no communication with any one from the time of +his arrest." Brigadier-General Sykes, commanding the City Guard, +executed the order, taking General Stone from his bed at midnight +in the hotel where he was stopping, and making him a close prisoner. +Shortly after daylight the following morning General Stone addressed +a note to General Seth Williams, Adjutant-General on the staff of +General McClellan, informing him of his arrest, and adding, +"Conscious of having been at all times a faithful soldier of the +United States, I must respectfully request that I may be furnished +at an early a moment as practicable with a copy of whatever charges +may have been preferred against me, with the opportunity of promptly +meeting them." + +To this respectful communication no answer was made, and General +Stone was hurried off to Fort Lafayette, under strict guard, with +an order from General McClellan for his imprisonment. At the fort +the money which he had in his pockets was taken from him, and he +was placed in solitary confinement in a room ordinarily used for +quarters of enlisted men. No letter was allowed to leave him or +reach him without the most rigid inspection. Under this close +_surveillance_, with an armed sentinel pacing before the door of +his room, without opportunity for outdoor air or exercise, he was +kept for forty-nine days. He applied at different times to the +military authorities in Washington for a statement of the charges +against him, for a speedy trial, for access to the records of his +own office and his own headquarters, for a change of the place of +his confinement. To none of these applications was answer of any +kind returned. After he had been nearly two months in prison he +asked that his wife might be allowed to visit him. She was in the +deepest anguish, and her society in his imprisonment could have +subjected the government to no danger, because she would have been +under the same restraint and espionage as her husband. This natural +and reasonable request, made only after his confinement promised +to be indefinite, was peremptorily and curtly refused by the War +Department. + +On the fiftieth day the place of his imprisonment was changed from +Fort Lafayette to Fort Hamilton near by, and the opportunity for +open-air exercise within the fort was accorded him, though always +under the eye of a sentinel. Here he renewed his request for the +charges against him, without eliciting answer. He applied to the +officer in command of the fort to learn of what possible crime he +was accused, and the officer replied that he knew nothing of it; +he was absolutely ignorant of any ground for General Stone's +imprisonment. After striving for more than sixty days to ascertain +the nature of his offense, and secure an opportunity to vindicate +himself, the prisoner adopted another course. He applied for +suspension of arrest with liberty to join the army just setting +forth under General McClellan for the Peninsular campaign. No +reply was made to his request. A few weeks later, when the Union +forces under General Banks were defeated in the valley of the +Shenandoah, he again asked the privilege of active duty, and again +was treated with contemptuous silence. On the 4th of July he +telegraphed directly to President Lincoln, recalling the honorable +service in which he had been engaged just one year before. Reminding +the President of the pressing need which the country then had "of +the services of every willing soldier," he begged to be sent to +the field. With manly dignity he declared, "I am utterly unconscious +of any act, word, or design which should make me less eligible to +an honorable place among the soldiers of the Republic than upon +any day of my past life." + + GENERAL STONE'S CASE IN CONGRESS. + +Meanwhile the subject had forced itself upon the attention of +Congress. On the 24th of March, Senators Latham and McDougall of +California, the first a supporter of Breckinridge in 1860, the +other a supporter of Douglas, with Aaron A. Sargent, representative +from the same State and a most radical Republican, united in an +energetic memorial to Secretary Stanton, on behalf of General Stone +as a citizen of California. They stated that "the long arrest of +General Stone without military trial or inquiry has led to complaints +from many quarters. . . . Having known General Stone for years, +and never having had cause to doubt his loyalty, we feel it our +duty to inquire of the government through you for some explanation +of a proceeding which seems to us extraordinary." To this memorial +no reply was made, and after waiting nearly three weeks Mr. McDougall +introduced in the Senate a very searching resolution of inquiry, +requesting the Secretary of War to state upon whose authority the +arrest was made, and upon whose complaint; why General Stone had +been denied his rights under the articles of war; why no charges +and specifications of his offense had been made; whether General +Stone had not frequently asked to be informed of the charges against +him; and finally upon what pretense he was still kept in prison. +Mr. McDougall spoke in the Senate on the 15th of April in support +of his resolution, making some interesting personal statements. +General Stone was arrested on the night of Saturday, the 8th of +February. "On the Wednesday evening before that," said Mr. McDougall, +"I met General Stone, dressed as became a person of his rank, at +the house of the President, where no one went on that evening except +by special invitation. He was there mingling with his friends, +receiving as much attention and as much consideration from all +about him as any man there present. . . . Only two evenings after +that, if I remember right, he was the guest under similar circumstances +of the senior general in command of our army [McClellan], and there +again receiving the hospitalities of the men first in office and +first in the consideration of the country. On, I think, the very +day of his arrest he was in the War Department, and was received +by the head of that department as a man who had the entire confidence +of the government, and of himself as one of the government's +representatives. On that evening he was seized, taken from his +home and family at midnight, carried off to Fort Lafayette and +imprisoned, as are men convicted and adjudged guilty of the highest +offense known to the law. . . . I undertake to say upon good +authority that almost presently before his arrest he said to the +present Secretary of War [Stanton], 'Sir, I hear complaints about +my conduct as an officer at Ball's Bluff. I wish you to inquire +into it and have the matter determined.' He was assured that there +were no charges against him, and the secretary advised him in +substance in these words: 'There is no occasion for your inquiry; +go back to your command.' That was the day of the night on which +he was arrested." Mr. McDougall's statement, the accuracy of which +was not challenged by any one, disclosed the fact that while General +Stone was a guest at the White House and at the residence of General +McClellan, the latter had in his possession the order for arrest, +and had held it for several days. + +The resolution of Mr. McDougall was debated at some length in the +Senate, Mr. Wade making a fiery speech in defense of the course +pursued by the Committee on the Conduct of the War, and Mr. Browning +of Illinois defending the President, upon whom there had been no +imputation of any kind. Mr. Doolittle suggested that the resolution +be referred to a committee. Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts submitted +a substitute, simply requesting "the President of the United States +to communicate to the Senate any information touching the arrest +and imprisonment of General Stone, not deemed incompatible with +the public interest." Mr. Sumner had "no opinion to express in +the case, for he knew nothing about it;" but "it seemed clear" to +him "that General Stone ought to be confronted with his accusers +at an early day, unless there be some reason of an overbearing +military character which would render such a trial improper." Mr. +Sumner had "seen in various newspapers a most persistent attempt" +to connect him "with the credit or discredit of the arrest." He +declared that from the beginning he "had been an absolute stranger +to it." The arrest was made, he repeated, without his "suggestion +or hint, direct or indirect." He declared that he "was as free +from all connection with it" as "the intimate friends and family +relatives of the prisoner." At the close of the debate Mr. McDougall +accepted Mr. Wilson's resolution as a substitute for his, and on +the 21st of April the latter was adopted by general consent. + + SENATOR SUMNER AND GENERAL STONE. + +The unfounded assumption of Mr. Sumner's connection with the arrest +sprang perhaps from some censorious remarks in the Senate made by +him in December touching General Stone's alleged course in sending +back fugitive slaves. Subsequent intelligence indicated that Mr. +Sumner had been misinformed on this matter, and that the facts did +not inculpate General Stone. But instead of writing to Mr. Sumner +to correct the statements made in his speech, General Stone, most +unwisely and most reprehensibly, addressed to the senator on the +23d of December an ill-tempered and abusive letter. Mr. Henry +Melville Parker of Massachusetts investigated all the facts and +incidents of the case, and came to the conclusion that Mr. Sumner, +as an act of revenge for the insolent letter, had caused General +Stone's arrest. But the facts do not warrant Mr. Parker's conclusion. +Aside from Mr. Sumner's public denial on the floor of the Senate-- +which of itself closed the issue--he was never known to be guilty +of an act of revenge. That passion belongs to meaner natures. +The dates, moreover, remove the imputation of Mr. Parker. General +Stone's hasty and ill-considered letter was placed in Mr. Sumner's +hands on Christmas Day, 1861. The arrest was made on the 8th of +February, 1862--forty-six days later. The intervening circumstances +nowhere involve Mr. Sumner in the remotest degree. + +In answer to the call upon the President for information, Mr. +Lincoln sent a message to the Senate on the 1st of May, saying, +"General Stone was arrested and imprisoned under my general authority, +and upon evidence which, whether he be guilty or innocent, required, +as appears to me, such proceedings to be had against him for the +public safety." The President deemed it "incompatible with the +public interest, and perhaps unjust to General Stone, to make a +more particular statement of the evidence." After saying that +General Stone had not been tried because the officers to constitute +a court-martial could not be withdrawn from duty without serious +injury to the service, the President gave this public assurance: +"He will be allowed a trial without unnecessary delay: the charges +and specifications will be furnished him in due season, and every +facility for his defense will be afforded him by the War Department." +This message on its face bears evidence that it was prepared at +the War Department, and that Mr. Lincoln acted upon assurances +furnished by Mr. Stanton. The arrest was made upon his "general" +authority, and clearly not from any specific information he possessed. +But the effect of the message was to preclude any further attempt +at intervention by Congress. Indeed the assurance that General +Stone should be tried "without unnecessary delay" was all that +could be asked. But the promise made to the ear was broken to the +hope, and General Stone was left to languish without a word of +intelligence as to his alleged offense, and without the slightest +opportunity to meet the accusers who in the dark had convicted him +without trial, subjected him to cruel punishment, and exposed him +to the judgment of the world as a degraded criminal. + +Release from imprisonment came at last by the action of Congress, +coercing the Executive Department to the trial or discharge of +General Stone. In the Act of July 17, 1862, "defining the pay and +emolument of certain officers," a section was inserted declaring +that "whenever an officer shall be put under arrest, except at +remote military posts, it shall be the duty of the officer by whose +orders he is arrested to see that a copy of the charges shall be +served upon him within eight days thereafter, and that he shall be +brought to trial within ten days thereafter unless the necessities +of the service prevent such trial; and then he shall be brought to +trial within thirty days after the expiration of said ten days, or +the arrest shall cease." The Act reserved the right to try the +officer at any time within twelve months after his discharge from +arrest, and by a _proviso_ it was made to apply "to all persons +now under arrest and waiting trial." The bill had been pending +several months, having been originally reported by Senator Wilson +before General Stone's arrest. + +The provision of the Act applicable to the case of General Stone +was only a full enforcement by law of the seventy-ninth article of +war, which declared that "no officer or soldier who shall be put +in arrest shall continued in confinement more than eight days, or +until such time as a court-martial can be assembled." It was a +direct violation of the spirit of this article, and a cruel straining +of its letter, to consign General Stone to endless or indefinite +imprisonment. Any man of average intelligence in the law--and +Secretary Stanton was eminent in his profession--would at once say +that the time beyond the eight days allowed for assembling a court- +martial must be a reasonable period, and that an officer was entitled +to prompt trial, or release from arrest. The law now passed was +imperative. Withing eight days the arrested officer must be notified +of the charges against him, within ten days he must be tried, and +"if the necessities of the service prevent a trial" within thirty +days after the ten, the officer is entitled to an absolute discharge. +General Stone's case fell within the justice and the mercy of the +law. The eight days within which he should be notified of the +charges against him had been long passed; the ten days had certainly +expired; but by the construction of the War Department the victim +was still in the power that wronged him for thirty days more. From +the 17th of July, thirty days were slowly told off until the 16th +of August was at last reached, and General Stone was once more a +free man. He had been one hundred and eighty-nine days in prison, +and was at last discharged by the limitation of the statute without +a word of exculpation or explanation. The routine order simply +recited that "the necessities of the service not permitting the +trial, within the time required by law, of Brigadier-General Charles +P. Stone, now confined in Fort Lafayette, the Secretary of War +directs that he be released from arrest." + + GENERAL STONE FINALLY RELEASED. + +The order simply turned him adrift. He was a Colonel in the Regular +Army and a Brigadier-General in the volunteer service; and the +Secretary, according to the rule of the War Department, should have +given him some instruction,--either assigning him to duty or +directing him to report at some place and await orders. Thinking +it might be an omission, General Stone telegraphed the War Department +that he had the honor "to report for duty." He waited five days +in New York for an answer, and receiving none repaired to Washington. +Reporting promptly at the office of the Adjutant-General, he was +told they had no orders for him, and knew nothing about his arrest. +He then applied to General McClellan, on the eve of the Antietam +campaign, for permission to serve with the army. General McClellan +on the 7th of September wrote to Secretary Stanton that he would +be glad to avail himself of General Stone's services and that he +had "no doubt as to his loyalty and devotion." No answer was +returned by the War Department. On the 25th of September General +Stone, still eager to confront his accusers, applied to General-in- +Chief Halleck for a copy of any charges or allegations against him, +and the opportunity of promptly meeting them. He reminded the +general that two hundred and twenty-eight days had elapsed since +his arrest, and that if he were to be tried for any offense those +who had served under him must be the witnesses of his conduct, and +that from battle and disease these witnesses were falling by hundreds +and thousands; the casualties were so great indeed that his command +was already reduced one-half. General Halleck replied that he had +no official information of the cause of General Stone's arrest, +and that so far as he could ascertain no charges or specifications +were on file against him. + +Several weeks later, on the 1st of December, 1862, General Stone +applied to General McClellan, calling his attention to the Act of +July 17, under which any officer arrested had the right to "a copy +of the charges against him within eight days." He therefore +respectfully requested General McClellan, as the officer who ordered +the arrest, to furnish him a copy of the charges. General McClellan +replied on the 5th of December that the order for arrest had been +given him by the Secretary of War, who told him it was at the +solicitation of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, and based +on testimony taken by them. He further informed General Stone that +he had the order, in the handwriting of Secretary Stanton, several +days before it was carried into effect, and added the following +somewhat remarkable statement: "On the evening when you were +arrested I submitted to the Secretary of War the written result of +the examination of a refugee from Leesburg. This information to +a certain extent agreed with the evidence stated to have been taken +by the Committee, and upon its being imparted to the Secretary he +again instructed me to cause you to be arrested, which I at once +did." This discloses the fact that General McClellan was cognizant +of the character of the testimony submitted against General Stone, +and so rigidly withheld from the knowledge of the person most +interested. On receipt of General McClellan's note, General Stone +immediately asked him for the name of the Leesburg refugee and for +a copy of his statement. A member of General McClellan's staff +answered the inquiry, stating that the general "does not recollect +the name of the refugee, and the last time he recollects seeing +that statement was at the War Department immediately previous to +your arrest." General Stone, victim of the perversity which had +uniformly attended the case, was again baffled. He was never able +to see the statement of the "refugee" or even to get his name, +though, according to General McClellan, the testimony of the +refugee was the proximate and apparently decisive cause of General +Stone's arrest. + +General Stone applied directly to the President, asking "if he +could inform me why I was sent to Fort Lafayette." The President +replied that "if he told me all he knew about it he should not tell +me much." He stated that while it was done under his general +authority, he did not do it. The President referred General Stone +to General Halleck who stated that the arrest was made on the +recommendation of General McClellan. This was a surprise to General +Stone, for General McClellan had but recently written him that he +had full confidence in his devotion and loyalty. General Halleck +replied that he knew of that letter, and that "the Secretary of +War had expressed great surprise at it because he said that General +McClellan himself had recommended the arrest, and now seemed to be +pushing the whole thing on his [the secretary's] shoulders." The +search for the agency that would frankly admit responsibility was +rendered still more difficult by the denial of the Committee on +the Conduct of the War that the arrest had ever been recommended +by them, either collectively or individually. They had simply +forwarded to the Secretary of War such evidence as was submitted +to them. + + RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ARREST. + +General Stone appeared before the Committee on the Conduct of the +War on the 27th of February, 1863--nearly five months after his +release from imprisonment. He was allowed to see the testimony +which had hitherto been withheld from him, and answered all the +accusations in detail with convincing candor and clearness. As he +proceeded in his triumphant response to all the accusations against +him, the committee said "Why did you not give us these explanations +when you were here before?"--"Because," replied General Stone, "if +the chairman will remember, the committee did not state to me the +particular cases. . . . I gave general answers to general allegations." +General Stone stated further to the committee that he ought himself +to have asked for a Court of Inquiry after the reverse at Ball's +Bluff. "The reason why I did not," he continued, "was this: While +General McClellan was at Edward's Ferry, he showed me a telegram +which he had written to the President to the effect that he had +examined into the affair at Ball's Bluff and that General Stone +was entirely without blame." "After the expression of that opinion," +said General Stone, "it would not have been respectful to ask for +a Court of Inquiry. It was given by the highest authority and sent +to the highest authority, and as a soldier I had no right to ask +for justification except of my superiors." Subsequently, on the +occasion of Mr. Conkling's speech "severely criticising" General +Stone's conduct in connection with the affair at Ball's Bluff, the +General applied to the aide-de-camp of General McClellan, as likely +to be informed of the Commander's wishes, to know if he "should +ask for a Court of Inquiry," and the reply was "No." He then asked +if he should make a statement correcting the mistakes in Mr. +Conkling's speech. The reply was "Write nothing; say nothing; keep +quiet." The committee asked General Stone, as a military man, "Who +had the power to bring you to trial?" He answered "When I was +arrested, the General-in-Chief, General McClellan, had that power. +I know I should claim that power if any man under my command were +arrested." + + GENERAL STONE'S RESIGNATION. + +The responsibility for the arrest and imprisonment of General Stone +must, according to the official record of the case, rest on Secretary +Stanton, Major-General McClellan, and the Committee on the Conduct +of the War. It is very clear that Mr. Lincoln, pressed by a thousand +calls and placing implicit confidence in these three agencies, took +it for granted that ample proof existed to justify the extraordinary +treatment to which General Stone was subjected. General Stone is +not to be classed in that long list of private citizens temporarily +confined without the benefit of _habeas corpus_, on the charge of +sympathizing with the Rebellion. The situation of those persons +more nearly assimilates with that of prisoners of war. It differs +totally from the arrest of General Stone in that the cause of +detention was well known and very often proudly avowed by the person +detained. The key of their prison was generally in the hands of +those who were thus confined,--an honest avowal of loyalty and an +oath of allegiance to the National Government securing their release. +If they could not take the oath they were justifiably held, and +were no more injured in reputation than the millions with whose +daring rebellion they sympathized. But to General Stone the +government permitted the gravest crime to be imputed. A soldier +who will betray his command belongs by the code of all nations to +the most infamous class--his death but feebly atoning for the injury +he has inflicted upon his country. It was under the implied +accusation of this great guilt that General Stone was left in duress +for more than six weary months, deprived of all power of self- +defense, denied the inherited rights of the humblest citizen of +the Republic. In the end, not gracefully but tardily, and as it +seemed grudgingly, the government was compelled to confess its own +wrong and to do partial justice to the injured man by restoring +him to honorable service under the flag of the Nation. No reparation +was made to him for the protracted defamation of his character, no +order was published acknowledging that he was found guiltless, no +communication was ever made to him by National authority giving +even a hint of the grounds on which for half a year he was pilloried +before the nation as a malefactor. The wound which General Stone +received was deep. From some motive, the source of which will +probably remain a mystery, his persecution continued in many petty +and offensive ways, until he was finally driven, towards the close +of the war, when he saw that he could be no longer useful to his +country, to tender his resignation. It was promptly accepted. He +found abroad the respect and consideration which had been denied +him at home, and for many years he was Chief of the General Staff +to the Khedive of Egypt. + +It is not conceivable that the flagrant wrong suffered by General +Stone was ever designed by any one of the eminent persons who share +the responsibility for its infliction. They were influenced by +and largely partook of the popular mania which demanded a victim +to atone for a catastrophe. The instances in which this disposition +of the public mind works cruel injury are innumerable, and only +time, and not always time, seems able to render justice. Too often +the object of popular vengeance is hurried to his fate, and placed +beyond the pale of that reparation which returning reason is eager +to extend. Fortunately the chief penalty of General Stone was the +anguish of mind, the wounding of a proud spirit. His case will +stand as a warning against future violations of the liberty which +is the birthright of every American, and against the danger of +appeasing popular clamor by the sacrifice of an innocent man. +Throughout the ordeal, General Stone's bearing was soldierly. He +faced accusation with equanimity and endured suffering with fortitude. +He felt confident of ultimate justice, for he knew that it is not +the manner of his countrymen "to deliver any man to die before that +he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have license +to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him." + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +The National Finances.--Debt when the Civil War began.--Deadly Blow +to Public Credit.--Treasury Notes due in 1861.--$10,000,000 required. +--An Empty Treasury.--Recommendation by Secretary Dix.--Secretary +Thomas recommends a Pledge of the Public Lands.--Strange Suggestions. +--Heavy Burdens upon the Treasury.--Embarrassment of Legislators. +--First Receipts in the Treasury in 1861.--Chief Dependence had +always been on Customs.--Morrill Tariff goes into Effect.--It meets +Financial Exigencies.--Mr. Vallandigham puts our Revenue at +$50,000,000, our Expenditures at $500,000,000.--Annual Deficiency +under Mr. Buchanan.--Extra Session in July, 1861.--Secretary Chase +recommends $80,000,000 by Taxation, and $240,000,000 by Loans.-- +Loan Bill of July 17, 1861.--Its Provisions.--Demand Notes.--Seven- +thirties.--Secretary Chase's Report, December, 1861.--Situation +Serious.--Sales of Public Lands.--Suspension of Specie Payment.-- +The Loss of our Coin.--Its Steady Export to Europe. + +When the civil war began, the Government of the United States owed +a less sum than it owed under the administration of Washington +after the funding of the debt of the Revolution. The population +in 1861 was nine times as large, the wealth thirty times as great +as in 1791. The burden therefore was absolutely inconsiderable +when contrasted with our ability to pay. But there had been such +gross mismanagement of the Treasury, either from incompetency or +design, under the administration of Howell Cobb, that the credit +of the government was injured. There was embarrassment when there +should have been security; there was scarcity when the most ordinary +prudence would have insured plenty. So much depended at that moment +on the ability of the government to raise money by pledging its +faith, that Mr. Cobb perhaps thought he was dealing the deadliest +blow at the nation by depriving it of the good name it had so long +held in the money markets of the world. With unblemished credit +at the opening of the war, the government could have used its +military power with greater confidence, and consequently with +greater effectiveness. + + THE NATIONAL CREDIT INJURED. + +At the beginning of the year 1861 it was necessary for the government +to raise about $10,000,000 to meet Treasury notes outstanding and +the interest secured upon them. Congress had passed, on the 17th +of December, 1860, a law authorizing the issue of new Treasury +notes for this amount, bearing interest at the rate of six per +cent., and redeemable after one year; but the Secretary of the +Treasury was authorized to issue them, upon public notice, at the +best rates of interest offered by responsible bidders. Before the +close of the month negotiations were completed, after unusual +effort, and it was found that the notes were issued at various +rates, only $70,200 at six per cent., $5,000 at seven per cent., +$24,500 at eight per cent., $355,000 at rates between eight per +cent. and below ten per cent., $3,283,500 at ten per cent. and +fractions below eleven per cent., $1,432,700 at eleven per cent., +and by far the larger share, $4,840,000 at twelve per cent. The +average for the whole negotiation made the rate of interest ten +and five-eighths per cent. + +The Treasury was empty, for the nominal balance was only $2,233,220 +on the 1st of January. Obligations were accruing to such an extent +that General John A. Dix, as Secretary of the Treasury, informed +the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, +that the revenue exhibited, on the 1st of February, a deficit of +$21,677,524. The committee estimated that the sum needed to carry +on current operations was at least $5,000,000 in addition. A loan +of $25,000,000 was proposed, to meet these demands. Secretary Dix, +who felt the pulse of the financial centres, recommended in a letter +to the Ways and Means Committee that the several States be asked +to pledge the United-States "deposit funds" in their hands for the +security of the loan. His immediate predecessor, Philip F. Thomas, +had, in his annual report in the preceding December, urged that +the "public lands be unconditionally pledged for the ultimate +redemption of all the Treasury notes which it may become necessary +to issue." + +Such suggestions seem strange to the ears of those who were afterwards +accustomed to the unbounded credit of the Republic. But these +secretaries were called to hear from capitalists the declaration +that the national debt had increased from $28,460,958 on the 1st +of July, 1857, to $64,640,838 on the 1st of July, 1860, and that +the figures were still mounting upward. In the mean time the +revenues were falling off, the sales of public lands were checked, +and the estimates of customs for the current year were practically +overthrown by the secession of the Southern States and the denial +of the authority of the Union. + +The task of Congress might well strike some thoughtful legislators +as that of making bricks without straw. As the Rebellion took form +and organization, it became clear that the ability and willingness +of the people to raise large sums of money were vital factors in +the problem of the maintenance of the Union. It was well that no +one knew just how great were the burdens which the loyal people +must bear. It is no disparagement to the leading statesmen of that +era, that they did not at first propose measures adequate to the +emergency, because no standards existed by which the magnitude of +that emergency could be estimated. If Congress had understood on +the 1st of July, 1861, that the ordinary expenditures of the +government would be, within the fiscal years 1863 and 1864, more +than the entire expenditures of the National Government from the +foundation of the nation to that day, paralysis would have fallen +upon the courage of the bravest. If the necessity had been proclaimed +of raising by loans before the 1st of July, 1865, two thousand +millions of dollars more than the National Treasury had ever received +from loans and revenue combined, the audacity of the demand would +have forbidden serious consideration. If the Ways and Means +Committee had been notified that before the end of 1865, the annual +charge for interest on the national debt, for which provision must +be made, would reach $150,977,697, much more than twice the total +expenditure of the preceding year, skill and energy would have +undergone the crucial test. But the surprise of legislators would +have been equally great if they could then have unrolled the future +records of the Treasury, and have seen that in the year in which +the Rebellion would be suppressed, the receipts from customs would +attain the vast sum of $179,046,651, while from internal revenue, +a source not yet drawn upon, the enormous aggregate of $309,226,813 +would be contributed to maintain the public credit. + +We are so familiar with the vast sums which the war against the +Rebellion caused the National Government to disburse, that it is +difficult to appreciate the spirit with which the legislators of +1861 approached the impending burdens. They knew that their task +was great. They were in imminent peril, not only from open hostility, +but from doubt and fear. The resources of the Republic had not +been measured, the uprising of popular patriotism had not yet +astonished foreign foes and even the most sanguine of domestic +participants. With the information which was then before the world, +it may be questioned whether a complete scheme for providing the +money necessary for the struggle could have been passed through +Congress, or rendered effective with capitalists. The needs of +each crisis were supplied as each arose. Congress did not try to +look far into the future. It exerted itself to give daily bread +to the armies of the Union, to provide munitions of war, to build +and equip the navy. + + NATIONAL FINANCES IN 1861. + +The first receipts into the Treasury in 1861, other than from the +ordinary revenues under preceding statutes, came from the loan of +February 5, which authorized the issue of bonds bearing six per +cent. interest, payable within not less than ten, or more than +twenty years. The amount authorized was $25,000,000, and the +secretary was able to negotiate $18,415,000 at the average rate of +eighty-nine and three one-hundredths (89.03) per cent. + +The Congress which closed its session of the 4th of March, 1861, +among its final acts provided for a loan of $10,000,000 in bonds, +or the issue of a like sum in Treasury notes; and the President +was also empowered to issue Treasury notes for any part of loans +previously authorized. Under this statute, notes were issued to +the amount of $12,896,350, payable sixty days after date, and +$22,468,100 payable in two years. This measure indicated the +disposition to provide for pressing exigencies by devices which +covered only the present hour, and left heavier responsibilities +to the future. An incident of this period was the settlement of +the debt incurred in the war in Oregon against the Indians, by +giving to the claimants or their representatives six per cent. +bonds redeemable in twenty years. The bonds were taken to the +amount of $1,090,850, showing that such securities were welcome to +claimants even at par. + +The chief dependence of the United States for revenue had always +been upon customs. But no real test had ever been made of the sum +that might be collected from this source. The aim had been to see +with how small an amount the National Government could be supported, +not how large an amount might be collected. The time was now upon +us when this critical experiment was to be tried, and the initial +step in that direction was the Morrill Tariff which went into effect +on the first day of April. It radically changed the policy of our +customs duties from the legislation of 1846 and 1857, and put the +nation in the attitude of self-support in manufactures. Although +introduced before secession attained its threatening proportions, +it was well adapted to the condition in which the country was placed +at the time of its enactment. It was a measure carefully elaborated, +and based upon principles which were applied with studious accuracy +to all its parts. Under it the imposts which had averaged about +nineteen per cent. on dutiable articles, and fifteen per cent. on +the total importations, mounted to thirty-six per cent. on dutiable +articles, and to twenty-eight per cent. on the total importations. +Thus, although the goods brought into the country fell off unavoidably +by reason of the war, and especially of the difficulties encountered +by our vessels from the rebel privateers, the customs duties rather +increased than diminished, and something was thus secured in the +way of a basis of credit for the immense loans which became necessary. +The measure, Mr. Sherman of Ohio stated, would in ordinary times +produce an income of $65,000,000 a year to the Treasury. + +The Morrill Tariff was found to meet the exigencies of the situation +to such a degree that when Congress came together in response to +the call of President Lincoln, Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, as head of +the committee charged with the subject, informed the House that it +had been determined not to enter upon a general revision. He +reported a measure to extend the schedule of dutiable articles with +the view of adding immediately to the revenue about $22,250,000 +annually. After disagreement with the Senate his bill with slight +alteration was enacted and became the tariff on Aug. 5, 1861. In +Dec. 24, 1861, the duties on tea, coffee, and sugar were increased +directly as a war measure. During the consideration of this bill, +Mr. Morrill presented estimates showing that the revenue would be +increased by about $7,000,000, and Mr. Vallandigham of Ohio took +occasion to dwell on the falling off of importations, asking, "How +are you to have revenue from imports when nothing is imported? +Your expenditures are $500,000,000, your income but $50,000,000." +He was much nearer the actual figures than political rhetoric is +apt to be. Mr. Morrill's response was only to hope that the +gentleman from Ohio had some proposition to offer more acceptable +than the pending bill. That bill was indeed a reasonable, and, so +far as it went, an effective measure, and Mr. Vallandigham had no +substitute to offer. + + NATIONAL FINANCES IN 1861. + +In his annual report as Secretary of the Treasury, Howell Cobb had, +on the 4th of December, 1860, estimated that the receipts of the +Treasury for the fiscal year ending with June, 1862, would amount +to $64,495,891, while he reckoned that the expenditures would be +$68,363,726. With the prospect of peace and national unity he +predicted a deficiency of $3,867,834 for that year. His figures +were so preposterously incorrect as to justify the suspicion of +intentional misstatement. The deficiency for the four years of +Mr. Buchanan's administration had been, according to a statement +by Mr. Sherman of Ohio in the House of Representatives, almost +exactly $20,000,000 a year. This deficiency had been met by +continual borrowing. On the 11th of February Secretary Dix reported +to the Committee of Ways and Means that provision must be made +before the 4th of March for a final deficiency of $9,901,118. This +necessity was provided for by a clause in the Morrill Tariff Act; +and the authority to issue Treasury notes to the full amount of +loans previously permitted, gave to the administration of President +Lincoln the means to start upon its difficult career. + +With a revenue which no one estimated beyond $5,000,000 a month, +with a credit at the low ebb which the sales of its bonds had +already exhibited, the nation was to prepare for a war of untold +magnitude. Mr. Chase, as Secretary of the Treasury, began to try +the fruitfulness of the loan laws under which he must proceed. +April 2, 1861, he offered $8,000,000, but the prices were not +satisfactory to him, and he sold only $3,099,000 at the rate of +94.01. Nine days later he received bids for $1,000,000 of Treasury +notes bearing six per cent. interest, and with considerable exertion +he secured the increase of this sum to $5,000,000 at par. A +committee of the New-York Chamber of Commerce led in a movement, +representing the banks of some of the chief cities, to assist the +Treasury in borrowing the means required for its pressing exigencies. +By this co-operation Mr. Chase raised in May $7,310,000 on bonds +at rates from eighty-five to ninety-three per cent. and $1,684,000 +by Treasury notes at par. + +When Congress met in special session under the call of Mr. Lincoln +July 4, Secretary Chase found it necessary to declare that while +the laws still permitted loans amounting to $21,393,450, the +authority was unavailable because of the limitation that the +securities, whether bonds or Treasury notes, should be issued only +at par, on the basis of six per cent. interest. Practically +therefore no power existed to borrow money. While, on the first +of the month then current, there was a nominal balance in the +Treasury of $2,355,635, charges by reason of appropriations for +the account of the preceding fiscal year were outstanding to the +extent of $20,121,880. The short loans already made, constituted +also an immediate claim, and these amounted to $12,639,861. All +these burdens were to be borne in addition to the demands of the +year, which, as already demonstrated, would be one of extended +military operations and of costly preparations and movements at +sea. The total for which the secretary asked that Congress might +provide resources, reached according to his estimates the sum of +$318,519,581 for the fiscal year. Far-seeing men believed that +even this enormous aggregate would fall short of the actual demand. + +Mr. Chase proposed that $80,000,000 be raised by taxation, and +$240,000,000 by loans. The suggestion was already urged that even +a larger proportion of the money needed, should be raised by +taxation. But unwillingness to create friction and opposition +doubtless entered into the considerations which determined the +recommendations of the secretary. He proposed to rely upon the +tariff for a large share of the basis of credit, and, while adding +to its provisions, to impose a direct tax, and to levy duties upon +stills and distilled liquors, on ale and beer, on tobacco, spring- +carriages, bank-notes, silver ware, jewellery, and legacies. + +Congress made haste to consider and substantially to carry out the +recommendations of Secretary Chase. The legislators were not +inclined to go farther than the head of the Treasury suggested. +No practical proposition was made for a broader scheme of taxation. +The tariff, as has been indicated, was enlarged. A bill was passed, +levying a direct tax of $20,000,000, to be apportioned among all +the States, of which the sum of $12,000,000 was apportioned among +the States which had not seceded from the Union. Instead of the +scheme of internal taxes which Mr. Chase had proposed, an income +tax was substituted, to be collected on the results of the year +ending April 1, 1862, and assessed at three per cent. on all incomes +in excess of $800; but before any collections were made under it, +the broader internal-revenue system went into effect. Direct taxes +had been tried in 1800 and again in 1814, but the receipts had +always been disappointing. The results under Secretary Chase's +proposition were altogether unsatisfactory; and on the 1st of July, +1862, an Act was passed limiting the tax to one levy previous to +April 1, 1865, when the law should have full force. The estimates +of collections were set at $12,000,000 annually, or very near that +sum. For four years, 1862-1865 inclusive, the receipts were only +$4,956,657: in 1867 they became $4,200,233, and then dribbled away. + + THE NATIONAL LOAN ACT OF JULY, 1861. + +Inadequate as is now seen to be the legislation of 1861 with +reference to actual revenue, the receipts fell far below the +calculations of experts. For the fiscal year 1862 the customs +amounted to only $49,056,397, and the direct tax to $1,795,331; +and the total receipts, excluding loans, were only $51,919,261 +instead of $80,000,000, as expected under the estimates of the +Treasury. The plea may perhaps be pressed in defense of Congress, +that financial legislation, laggard as it was, ran before popular +readiness to raise money by taxes. There was a wide-spread opposition +among the strongest advocates of the war, to all measures which +would, at an early stage, render the contest pecuniarily oppressive, +and hence make it unpopular. + +President Lincoln in his message at the opening of the special +session had called upon Congress for $400,000,000 in money, and +400,000 men. Mr. Chase's figures were $320,000,000. He doubtless +deemed it wise to ask for no more than Congress would promptly +grant. As the struggle proceeded, it was demonstrated that those +calculated most justly who relied most completely on the popular +purpose to make every sacrifice to maintain the national integrity. +This was however the period of depression after the first battle +of Bull Run, of hesitation before casting every thing into the +scale for patriotism. + +The eloquent fact about the Loan Bill is that Congress made haste +to enact it. It was introduced into the House of Representatives +on the 9th of July. On the next day Mr. Stevens, chairman of the +Ways and Means Committee, called up the bill, and, upon going into +committee of the whole, induced the House to limit general debate +to one hour. In the committee the entire time was occupied by Mr. +Vallandigham of Ohio, in criticism on the President's message and +on the general questions involved in the prosecution of the war. +Mr. Holman of Indiana addressed to the gentleman from Ohio two +inquiries bearing on the purpose of the latter to aid in maintaining +the Union. No response was made to the speech of Mr. Vallandigham. +The committee rose, and the bill was passed by a vote of 105 to 5. +In the Senate no discussion took place, certain amendments looking +to the perfection of the measure were adopted, and the bill was +passed without division. The House at once concurred in the Senate +amendments, and the act was consummated by which the first of the +great war loans was authorized. + +This Act became law on the 17th of July. Its provisions created +a system by which the Secretary of the Treasury might offer bonds +not exceeding $250,000,000 in the aggregate at seven per cent. +interest, redeemable after twenty years; or he might issue Treasury +notes payable three years after date, and bearing seven and three- +tenths per cent. interest,--the notes not to be of less denomination +than fifty dollars. A separate section permitted the secretary to +offer not more than $100,000,000 abroad, payable in the United +States or in Europe. The same Act authorized for a part of the +sum not exceeding $50,000,000, the exchange for coin or the use in +payment of salaries or other dues, of notes of less denomination +than fifty dollars but not less than ten dollars, and bearing +interest at the rate of three and sixty-five one-hundredths per +cent. payable in one year; or these might be payable on demand and +without interest. This loan might therefore be in bonds for sale +in this country or in a different form for sale abroad; or, second, +it might be in Treasury notes of not less than fifty dollars each, +bearing seven and three-tenths per cent. interest; or, third, a +part of the loan not exceeding $50,000,000 might be in notes of +even as low denomination as ten dollars at three and sixty-five +one-hundredths per cent.; and, finally, this latter part might be +in notes without interest payable on demand. The bonds were to +run at least twenty years; the seven-thirties three years; and the +three-sixty-fives were payable in one year, and exchangeable into +seven-thirties at the pleasure of the holder. A supplementary Act +was passed Aug. 5, 1861, which permitted the secretary to issue +six per cent. bonds, payable at the pleasure of the United States +after twenty years, and the holders of seven-thirty notes were +allowed to exchange their notes for such bonds. The minimum of +the denominations of Treasury notes was reduced to five dollars, +and all the demand notes of less denomination then fifty dollars +were receivable for payment of public dues. By Act of Feb. 12, +1862, the limit of demand notes was raised to $60,000,000. In this +modified form the statute directed the movements of the Treasury +during the autumn of the first year of the Rebellion. + + SECRETARY CHASE'S REPORT, 1861. + +In his report, dated December 9, 1861, the Secretary of the Treasury +related the steps which he had taken to raise money under these +laws. Mr. Chase informed Congress that "his reflections led him +to the conclusion that the safest, surest, and most beneficial plan +would be to engage the banking institutions of the three chief +commercial cities of the seaboard to advance the amounts needed +for disbursement in the form of loans for three years' seven-thirty +bonds, to be reimbursed, as far as practicable, from the proceeds +of similar bonds, subscribed for by the people through the agencies +of the national loan; using, meanwhile, himself, to a limited +extent, in aid of these advances, the power to issue notes of +smaller denominations than fifty dollars, payable on demand." +Representatives of the banks of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia +united to give moneyed support to the government. The secretary +opened books of subscription throughout the country. The banks +subscribed promptly for $50,000,000, paying $5,000,000 at once in +coin, and agreeing the pay the balance, also in coin, as needed by +the government. For this loan the banks received seven-thirty +notes, and the proceeds of the popular loan were transferred to +them. The sales to the public amounted to little more than half +that sum; but the banks, when called upon, made a second advance +of $50,000,000. By these and other agencies, Mr. Chase was able +to present an encouraging summary of the Treasury operations. + +He stated that "there were paid to creditors, or exchanged for coin +at par, at different dates, in July and August, six per cent. two +years' notes, to the amount of $14,019,034.66; there was borrowed +at par. in the same months, upon sixty days' six per cent. notes, +the sum of $12,877,750; there were borrowed at par, on the 19th of +August, under three years' seven-thirty bonds, issued for the most +part to subscribers to the national loan, $50,000,000; there were +borrowed at par for seven per cent., on the 10th of November, upon +twenty years' six per cent. bonds, reduced to the equivalent of +sevens, including interest, $45,795,478.48; there have been issued, +and were in circulation and on deposit with the treasurer on the +30th of November, of United-States notes payable on demand, +$24,550,325,--making an aggregate realized from loans in various +forms of $197,242,588.14." The loan operations had therefore been +fairly successful, for they were still in progress; and President +Lincoln was justified in stating in his message that "the expenditures +made necessary by the Rebellion are not beyond the resources of +the loyal people, and the same patriotism which has thus far +sustained the government will continue to sustain it, till peace +and union shall yet bless the land." + +But the shadows were growing thick, and the situation was very +serious. Mr. Chase was compelled to report that his estimates of +revenue must be reduced below the figures which he gave in July by +$25,447,334: at the same time the expenditures must be reckoned at +an increase of $213,904,427. Predictions as to the speedy close +of the war had ceased. Provision must be made, not only for the +deficiencies presented, but for the ensuing year, during which the +secretary estimated that the expenditures would be $475,331,245. +He proposed to amend the direct tax law, so as to collect under it +$20,000,000; to establish a system of internal revenue as he had +suggested in July, and to increase some of the customs duties. +From these sources, united with the receipts from the public lands, +the revenue would be $95,800,000. With this basis, reliance must +be placed on loans for the enormous sum of $654,980,920, and under +existing laws he could borrow only $75,449,675. + +The sale of public lands had furnished some part of the resources +of the nation from an early day. The annual product had not been +large as a rule. In 1834 and 1835 the sales had been abnormal, +amounting in the latter year to $24,877,179, and only about +$10,000,000 less in the preceding year. They were $11,497,049 in +1855, but they had fallen until they were less than $2,000,000 in +1859. It was natural to consider whether any help could be derived +from this quarter in the hour of national necessity. A forced sale +of lands was impossible to any such extent as to affect the receipts +of the Treasury in the ratio of its demands. The pledge of the +domain as security for loans was suggested only to be rejected. +As was natural, purchases of the public domain ceased almost entirely +while the young men of the country were summoned to the national +defense, and the better strength went into the field of battle. +From the public lands therefore the Treasury could hope for little, +and very little was in fact received from them during the Rebellion. +Secretary Chase had estimated in July that $3,000,000 might be +annually derived from this source; but the receipts from the sales +of lands never reached even $1,000,000 a year until two years after +the Rebellion had been suppressed. Practically the public lands +passed out of consideration as a source of revenue. Unfortunately +also the attempt to levy a direct tax was received by the people +with grave manifestations of disapproval. Its enforcement was +likely to prove mischievous. The close of the year 1861 was +therefore heavy with discouragement to the government. The military +reverses at Bull Run and Ball's Bluff had outweighed in the popular +mind the advantages we had gained elsewhere; the surrender of +Slidell and Mason, though on every consideration expedient, had +wounded the national pride; and now the report of the Secretary of +the Treasury tended to damp the ardor of those who had with sanguine +temperament looked forward to an easy victory over the Rebellion. + + SUSPENSION OF SPECIE PAYMENT. + +It was felt by all that the National credit, which had been partially +restored under Mr. Chase's administration of the Treasury, could +not be maintained except from the pockets of the people, and that +every man must expect to contribute of his substance to the support +of the government in the great task it had assumed. Happily all +considerate and reflecting men saw that, desperate as the struggle +might be, it must be accepted with all its cost and all its woe. +They could at least measure it and therefore could face it. On +the side of defeat they could not look. That was a calamity so +great as to be immeasurable, and it left to the loyal millions no +choice. If the struggle then in progress had been with a foreign +power, popular opinion would have overthrown any administration +that would not at once make peace. But peace on the basis of a +dissevered Union, a disintegrated people, a dishonored nationality, +could not be accepted and would not be endured. + +The discouragement in financial circles produced by the Treasury +report of Mr. Chase, hastened if it did not cause the suspension +of specie payment by the banks of New-York City. Many country +banks had ceased to pay specie some time before; indeed, many had +been only on a nominal basis of coin since the financial crisis of +1857. So long however as the specie standard was upheld by the +New-York banks, the business of the country was securely maintained +on the basis of coin. It was therefore a matter of serious moment +and still more serious portent that the financial pressure became +so strong in the last days of the year 1861 as to force the banks +of the metropolis to confess that they could no longer maintain a +specie standard. It had been many years since the government had +paid any thing but coin over its counters, but Treasury notes had +just been issued payable on demand, and many millions were already +in circulation. They would now be presented for redemption, and +if promptly met, the Treasury would be rapidly drained of its +specie. There were twenty-five millions less of gold coin in the +government vaults than Secretary Chase had expected. This fact of +itself enforced a larger issue of demand notes than would otherwise +have been called for, and had thus doubly complicated the financial +situation. The Treasury had disbursed a large amount of demand +notes and received a smaller amount of gold coin than the well +considered estimates of the secretary had anticipated. + +The presumption was in favor of our being much stronger in coin +than we were found to be. The discovery of gold in California had +resulted in an enormous product,--surpassing any thing known in +the history of mining. But we had been encouraging the importation +of goods from Europe which were confessedly somewhat cheaper than +our own fabrics, and in amount largely in excess of our export of +cotton and cereals. We were therefore constantly paying the +difference in coin. The political economists who had been in +control of our finances insisted upon treating our gold as an +ordinary product, to be exported in the same manner that we exported +wheat and pork. The consequence was that during the decade preceding +the war our exports of specie and bullion exceeded our imports of +the same by the enormous aggregate of four hundred and fifty millions +of dollars. For that whole period there had been a steady shipment +of our precious metals to Europe at a rate which averaged nearly +four millions of dollars per month. + +Advocates of protection had found the drain of our specie the +proximate cause of the financial panic of 1857. They now believed +that the same cause had produced a suspension of coin payment at +a much earlier date than the war pressure alone would have brought +it about. They did not lose the opportunity of demonstrating that +a system of protection which would have manufactured more and +imported less, and which would thus have retained many millions of +our specie at home, would have enabled us to meet the trials of +the war with greater strength and confidence. If the Morrill Tariff +had been enacted four years before, it would have been impossible +for Secretary Cobb to stab the national credit. He would have been +dealing constantly with a surplus instead of a deficit, and could +not have put the nation to shame by forcing it to hawk its paper +in the money markets at the usurious rate of one per cent. a month. +One of the wisest financiers in the United States has expressed +the belief that two hundred millions of coin, which might easily +have been saved to the country by a protective tariff between 1850 +and 1860, would have kept the National debt a thousand millions +below the point which it reached. Of all the arguments with which +protectionists have arraigned free-traders, perhaps the most +difficult to answer is that which holds them responsible for the +weak financial condition of 1860-61 in that they had deliberately +driven our specie from the country for the ten preceding years. + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +The Legal-tender Bill.--National Finances at the Opening of the +Year 1862.--A Threefold Contest.--The Country thrown upon its own +Resources.--A Good Currency demanded.--Government takes Control of +the Question.--Authorizes the Issue of $150,000,000 of Legal-tender +Notes.--Mr. Spaulding the Author of the Measure.--His Speech.-- +Opposed by Mr. Pendleton.--Position of Secretary Chase.--Urges the +Measure upon Congress.--Speeches by Thaddeus Stevens, Mr. Vallandigham, +Mr. V. B. Horton, Mr. Lovejoy, Mr. Conkling, Mr. Hooper, Mr. Morrill, +Mr. Bingham, Mr. Shellabarger, Mr. Pike and Others.--Spirited and +Able Debate.--Bill passes the House.--Its Consideration by the +Senate.--Speeches by Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Sumner, Mr. +Bayard, Mr. Collamer and Others.--Bill passes the Senate.--Its +Weighty Provisions.--Secretary Chase on State Banks.--Policy of +the Legal-tender Bill.--Its Effect upon the Business and Prosperity +of the Country.--Internal Revenue Act.--Necessity of Large Sums +from Taxation.--Public Credit dependent on it.--Constitutional +Provisions.--Financial Policy of Alexander Hamilton.--Excises +Unpopular.--Whiskey Insurrection.--Resistance by Law.--Supreme +Court Decision.--Case of Hylton.--Provisions of New Act.--Searching +Character.--Great Revenue desired.--Credit due to Secretary Chase. + +At the opening of the year 1862, from causes narrated in the +preceding chapter, the government finances were in an embarrassed +and critical situation. In Europe the general opinion--founded in +many influential quarters on the wish--was that the Union would be +dissolved; that with the success of the South, there would be still +further division between the East and the West; and that the only +compact power would be the Confederacy founded on slavery, with +the world's great staples as the basis of its wealth and its assured +development. We had but recently and narrowly escaped war with +England on account of the Trent affair, and in the crafty and +adventurous Emperor of France we had a secret enemy who saw in our +downfall the possible extension of his power and the strengthening +of his throne. Confederate bonds were more popular in England that +the bonds of the United States. The world's treasures were closed +against us. The bankers of Europe, with the Rothschilds in the +lead, would not touch our securities. Their united clientage +included the investors of Great Britain and the Continent, and a +popular loan could not be effected without their aid and co-operation. +We were engaged therefore in a threefold contest,--a military one +with the Confederacy, and diplomatic and moral one with the +governments of England and France, a financial one with the money +power of Europe. + +These causes threw us upon our own resources. The problem to be +solved was the utilization of our wealth without the aid which +comes from the power to borrow foreign money. Congress had obviously +failed at the extra session of July to use the taxing power to the +extent which financial wisdom demanded, and though it was now +willing to correct the error, there was not enough time to wait +the slow process of enactment, assessment, and collection. Our +need was instant and pressing. The banks of the country, many of +them in reckless, speculative hands, were freed by the suspension +of specie payment from their just responsibility, and might flood +the country with worthless paper which would entail great distress +upon the people. The Treasury notes not being paid in coin on +demand, as promised on their face, became discredited to such a +degree that the banks of the leading commercial cities would receive +them only as a special deposit, and not as money of account. So +entirely were these notes distrusted in the opening month of 1862 +that in more than one instance State banks exchanged their own +bills for them as an act of patriotism, in order that the bounty +due to soldiers just recruited might be paid before they left their +State rendezvous to join the armies in the field. Troops already +in the service had seen more than one pay-day go by without sight +of the paymaster, and tens of millions were overdue to them. +Discontent in all the camps was the natural result. + +With no power to exchange our bonds for coin except at such rates +as would destroy national credit, with only a hundred millions of +coin in all our banks when the war began, and a hundred and fifty +millions hoarded among the people, with the lavish products of our +mines transferred to Europe to pay for articles which it would have +been wiser to manufacture at home, our situation was not merely +one of anxiety but of peril. Never in the history of national +progress through trials and crises, were wise statesmanship and +financial sagacity more imperatively demanded. The Rebels might +fight without money, for they had no national credit to protect; +but to the Union, bankruptcy meant final and hopeless ruin. + + LEGAL-TENDER CURRENCY PROPOSED. + +The first thing to be secured was a currency. That was demanded +to pay the debt of honor due to the soldiers; to remove stagnation +in business; to put the people in heart and hope. It had been +demonstrated that Treasury notes, without punctual and regular +redemption, would not circulate. When A paid them to B in satisfaction +of a debt, B had no assurance that he might in turn cancel an +obligation by paying them to C. It would perhaps occur to C, that +for a lawful debt he had the right to demand gold or silver; for +the law told him in explicit terms that nothing else constituted +a legal-tender. It was obviously impossible to conduct the business +of the country and to carry on the war, in coin payments, with the +small amount of coin at command. Few would insist upon coin, but +as the power to insist upon it was a legal right, it was a continuing +menace to the confidence of trade. + +In the opinion of the majority, the one imperative duty was that +the government should take control of the currency, issue its own +paper as a circulating medium, and make it equal and alike to all, +by declaring it to be a legal-tender in the payment of debts. It +was the most momentous financial step ever taken by Congress,--as +it is the one concerning which the most pronounced and even +exasperating difference of opinion was manifested at the time, has +since continued, and will probably never entirely subside so long +as the government keeps one legal-tender note in circulation. It +was admitted to be a doubtful if not dangerous exercise of power; +but the law of necessity overrides all other laws, and asserts its +right to govern. All doubts were decided in favor of the nation, +in the belief that dangers which were remote and contingent could +be more easily dealt with than those which were certain and +imminent. + +Relief came promptly. On the 22d of January, 1862, Mr. E. G. +Spaulding of New York reported the legal-tender bill to the House. +It had been maturely considered by the Committee of Ways and Means, +--a committee made up of very able men. Mr. Spaulding is entitled +to rank as the author of the measure. It is difficult to assign +absolute originality in any case where so many minds are at work +in the same field of investigation, and where, with an approximate +identity of date, there is a general similarity of conclusion. +But the formal proposition and the public advocacy belong to Mr. +Spaulding. He had been all his life engaged in financial affairs, +was a banker of recognized ability in the city of Buffalo, and +enjoyed a high reputation throughout the State of New York for +intelligence and probity. He had not waited for advice or even +for consultation, but on the thirtieth day of December, 1861,--the +day on which the banks of New York suspended specie payment,--he +introduced the original legal-tender bill in the House of +Representatives. + +The first provision of the bill now reported, was for the issue of +$150,000,000 of Treasury notes, differing from those previously +authorized by being declared a legal-tender for all obligations, +public and private, except duties on imports and interest on the +public debt. The notes were also to be exchangeable into six per +cent. bonds, redeemable at the pleasure of the United States after +five years. In reporting the bill, Mr. Spaulding called it "a war +measure, a measure of necessity not of choice, to meet the most +pressing demands upon the Treasury, to sustain the army and navy +until they can make a vigorous advance upon the traitors and crush +out the Rebellion." He argued, "These notes will find their way +into all the channels of trade among the people; and as they +accumulate in the hands of capitalists, they will exchange them +for the six per cent. twenty years' bonds:" the notes will "be +equally as good, and in many cases better, than the present +irredeemable circulation issued by the banks." Mr. Spaulding argued +that the Constitution justified such legislation in the emergency, +and he declared that by this plan "the government will be able to +get along with its immediate and pressing necessities without being +obliged to force its bonds on the market at ruinous rates of +discount: the people under heavy taxation will be shielded against +high rates of interest, and capitalists will be afforded fair +compensation for the use of their money during the pending struggle +for national existence." + +Mr. Spaulding admitted that "a suspension of specie payment is +greatly to be deplored," but he contended that "it is not a fatal +step in an exigency like the present. The British Government and +the Bank of England remained under suspension from 1797 to 1821- +22, a period of twenty-five years. During this time England +successfully resisted the power of the Emperor Napoleon, and +preserved her own imperiled existence. As a measure of necessity, +she made the Bank of England notes virtually a legal-tender by +suspending the specie restriction. Throughout this period the +people of Great Britain advanced in wealth, population, and +resources." Mr. Spaulding maintained that "gold is not as valuable +as the production of the farmer and the mechanic, for it is not as +indispensable as are food and raiment. Our army and navy must have +what is far more valuable to them than gold or silver. They must +have food, clothing, and the material of war. Treasury notes, +issued by the government on the faith of the whole people, will +purchase these indispensable articles." + + MR. CHASE FAVORS LEGAL-TENDER. + +When the bill was taken up for consideration on the 29th of January, +the objections which had been raised in the public press were elaborated +in the Committee of the Whole. Mr. Pendleton of Ohio was the first +in opposition. In beginning a long argument, he insisted that "the +feature of this bill which first strikes every thinking man, even +in these days of novelties, is the proposition that these notes +shall be made a legal-tender in discharge of all pecuniary obligations, +as well those which have accrued in virtue of contracts already +made as those which are yet to accrue in pursuance of contracts +which shall hereafter be made. Do gentlemen appreciate the full +import and meaning of that clause? Do they realize the full extent +to which it will carry them? Every contract for the purchase of +money is in legal contemplation a contract for the payment of gold +and silver coin. Every promissory note, every bill of exchange, +every lease reserving rent, every loan of money reserving interest, +every bond issued by this government, is a contract to which the +faith of the obligor is pledged, that the amount, whether rent, +interest, or principal, shall be paid in the gold and silver coin +of the country." Mr. Pendleton deemed it a very serious matter +that "the provisions of this bill contemplate impairing the obligation +of every contract of that kind, and disturbing the basis upon which +every judgment and decree and verdict have been entered." He +concluded by referring to the depreciated paper of the French +Revolution, to the long suspension of specie currency in England, +and the throes attending return to it in 1822. Quoting Daniel +Webster's words that "gold and silver currency is the law of the +land at home, the law of the world abroad: there can, in the present +condition of the world, be no other currency," Mr. Pendleton made +an earnest appeal to the House "to heed this lesson of wisdom." + +Repeated declarations were made during the debate that the Secretary +of the Treasury had not given his approval of the pending measure. +This impression was seriously impeding the progress of the bill, +and, if it had been confirmed, would probably have defeated it. +A belief was prevalent that Mr. Chase would be glad to have the +advantage of the measure in the management of the Treasury without +assuming the responsibility of its recommendation. But it was soon +evident that he could not remain in a passive and receptive position +without defeating the bill. Its real opponents took advantage of +the rumors; and its supporters, annoyed if not angered, by the +suggestion of hostility on the part of the Treasury, were determined +that Secretary Chase should take open ground. The embarrassment +was relieved by a letter from the Secretary to the Committee of +Ways and Means, dated Jan. 29, and read in the House on the 4th of +February by Mr. Spaulding. The letter had great influence on +Congress. Without it, the measure would probably have been +defeated. + +Mr. Chase, assuming that "the provision making United-States notes +a legal-tender has doubtless been well considered by the committee," +deemed it his duty to say that "in respect to the provision his +reflections had conducted him to the same conclusions the committee +had reached." He did not wish to conceal that he felt "a great +aversion to making any thing but coin a legal-tender in payment of +debts." He had been anxious "to avoid the necessity of such +legislation." He found it however "impossible, in consequence of +the large expenditures entailed by the war and the suspension of +the banks, to procure sufficient coin for disbursements." He +declared therefore that it "had become indispensably necessary that +we should resort to the issue of United-States notes. Making them +a legal-tender might however still be avoided, if the willingness +manifested by the people generally, by railroad companies, and by +many of the banking institutions, to receive and pay them as money +in all transactions were absolutely or practically universal; but +unfortunately there are some persons and some institutions that +refuse to receive and pay them, and their action tends, not merely +to the unnecessary depreciation of the notes, but to establish +discriminations in business against those, who, in this matter, +give a cordial support to the government, and in favor of those +who do not. Such discrimination should if possible be prevented; +and the provision making the notes a legal-tender, in a great +measure at least, prevents it by putting all citizens in this +respect on the same level, both of rights and duties." In addition +to this official communication, Mr. Spaulding felt justified in +reading a personal note from Mr. Chase, in which he said that he +"came with reluctance to the conclusion that the legal-tender clause +is a necessity," but that he "came to it decidedly and supported +it earnestly." + + THADDEUS STEVENS IN THE DEBATE. + +Thaddeus Stevens threw the whole weight of his influence in favor +of the measure. To alternative propositions which had been submitted, +he made strenuous objection. Certain bankers of New York had +suggested that the immediate wants of the government might be +supplied by pledging seven and three-tenths per cent. bonds with +a liberal margin, payable in one year, to the banks, which would +advance a portion in gold and the rest in currency. Mr. Stevens +argued that "the effect of this would be that the government would +pay out to its creditors the depreciated notes of non-specie-paying +banks. And as there is no possibility that the pledges would be +redeemed when due, they would be thrown into the market and sold +for whatever the banks might choose to pay for them. The folly of +this scheme needs no illustration." Another proposition, pressed +very earnestly, was to strike out the legal-tender clause, and make +the notes receivable for all taxes and public dues, but not to make +any provision for redeeming them in coin on demand. Mr. Stevens +did not "believe that such notes would circulate anywhere except +at a ruinous discount. Notes not redeemable on demand, and not +made a legal-tender, have never been kept at par." Even those who +could use them for taxes and duties would, in Mr. Stevens's opinion, +"discredit them that they might get them low." He was convinced +that "if soldiers, mechanics, contractors, and farmers were compelled +to take them from the government, they must submit to a heavy shave +before they could use them. The knowledge that they were provided +for by taxation, and would surely be paid twenty years hence, would +not sustain them." + +To two prominent amendments which had been submitted, Mr. Stevens +manifested earnest opposition. He said "the one moved by the +gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Vallandigham) proposes the same issue of +notes, but objects to legal-tender, and does not provide for their +redemption in coin. He fears our notes would depreciate. Let him +who is sharp enough, instruct the House how notes that every man +must take can be less valuable than the same notes that no man need +take and few would, since they are irredeemable on demand." As to +the constitutionality of the bill, he thought that whoever "admits +our power to emit bills of credit, nowhere expressly authorized by +the Constitution, is an unreasonable doubter when he denies the +power to make them a legal-tender." "The proposition of the +gentleman from New York" (Mr. Roscoe Conkling), continued Mr. +Stevens, "authorizes the issuing of seven per cent. bonds, payable +in thirty-one years, to be sold ($250,000,000 of it) or exchanged +for the currency of the banks of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. +This suggestion seems to lack every element of wise legislation. +Make a loan payable in irredeemable currency, and pay that in its +depreciated condition to our contractors, soldiers, and creditors +generally! The banks would issue unlimited amounts of what would +become trash, and buy good hard-money bonds of the nation. Was +there ever such a temptation to swindle? The gentleman from New +York further proposes to issue $200,000,000 United-States notes, +redeemable in coin in one year. Does he not know that such notes +must be dishonored, and the plighted faith of the government be +broken? If we are to use suspended notes to pay our expenses, why +not use our own?" + +The minority of the Ways and Means Committee, through Mr. V. B. +Horton of Ohio, had submitted a plan, as Mr. Stevens characterized +it, "to issue United-States notes, not a legal-tender, bearing an +interest of three and sixty-five hundredths per cent., and fundable +in seven and three-tenths per cent. bonds, not payable on demand, +but at the pleasure of the United States. This gives one and three- +tenths per cent. higher interest than our loan, and, not being +redeemable on demand, would share the fate of all non specie-paying +notes not a legal-tender." Mr. Stevens believed that the government +was reduced to a narrow choice. It must either throw bonds at six +or seven per cent. on the market within a few months in amount +sufficient to raise at least $600,000,000 in money,--$557,000,000 +being already appropriated,--or it must issue United-States notes, +not redeemable in coin, but fundable in specie-paying bonds at +twenty years; such notes either to be made a legal-tender, or to +take their chance of circulation by the voluntary act of the people. +The sturdy chairman of Ways and Means maintained that "the highest +rate at which we could sell our bonds would be seventy-five per +cent., payable in currency, itself at a discount, entailing a loss +which no nation or individual doing a large business could stand +for a single year." He contended that "such issue, without being +made legal-tender, must immediately depreciate, and would go on +from bad to worse. If made a legal-tender, and not issued in excess +of the legitimate demand, the notes will remain at par, and pass +in all transactions, great and small, at the full value of their +face; we shall have one currency for all sections of the country, +and for every class of people, the poor as well as the rich." + + MR. LOVEJOY AND MR. CONKLING. + +Mr. Owen Lovejoy of Illinois on the other hand marked out a very +different plan. He advocated as the first step, "adequate taxation, +if need be to the extent of $200,000,000." In the next place, he +would so legislate as to "compel all banking institutions to do +business on a specie basis. Every piece of paper that claimed to +be money but was not, he would chase back to the man or corporation +that forged it, and visit upon the criminal the penalties of the +law. He would not allow a bank note to circulate that was not +constantly, conveniently, and certainly convertible into specie." +In the third place, he would issue interest-paying bonds of the +United States, and "go into the market and borrow money and pay +the obligations of the government. This would be honest, business- +like, and in the end economical. This could be done. Other channels +of investment are blocked up, and capital would seek the bonds as +an investment." As contrasted with the measure proposed by the +Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Lovejoy intimated that his represented +"the health and vigor of the athlete;" the other, "the bloated +flesh of the beer-guzzler." + +Mr. Roscoe Conkling of New York expressed hearty agreement with +Mr. Lovejoy. He agreed "with some other gentleman who said that +his bill was a legislative declaration of national bankruptcy." +He agreed "with still another gentleman who said that we were +following at an humble and disgraceful distance the Confederate +Government, as it is called, which has set up the example of making +paper a legal-tender, and punishing with death those who deny the +propriety of the proposition." Mr. Conkling declared that "insolvency +is ruin and dissolution;" and he believed that "in passing this +bill, as was said by the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Thomas], +we are to realize the French proposition about virtue,--that it is +the first step that costs. Another and another and another +$100,000,000 of this issue will follow. We are plunging into an +abyss from which there are to be no resuscitation and no resurrection." +Mr. Conkling thought "it right to learn of an enemy," and already +"the _London Times_ hails this $150,000,000 legal-tender bill as +the dawn of American bankruptcy, the downfall of American credit." +The public debt by the first of the ensuing July, within less than +a year from the first battle of the war, was already estimated at +$806,000,000. "Who can credit these figures," said Mr. Conkling, +"when he remembers that the world's greatest tragedian closed his +bloody drama at St. Helena leaving the public debt of France less +than seventy million of pounds?" He believed that "all the money +needed can be provided by means of unquestionable legality and +safety." He believed the substitute he had offered would effect +that result. + +Mr. Hooper of Massachusetts, a man of large experience in financial +and commercial affairs, spoke ably in support of the legal-tender +clause. "No one," said he, "supposes for one moment that government +notes will be sold for coined money, or that coined money will be +borrowed on them. It is fair to suppose that the opponents of the +administration well understand that this would be the effect of +accepting the amendment to strike out the legal-tender clause from +the bill; and that their object, while they talk about coined money +to deceive some of our friends, is to oblige the government to give +up the sub-treasury, and to use for its payment the depreciated +bills of the suspended banks; thereby flooding the whole country +with these irredeemable notes, and producing, in time, a state of +financial confusion and distress that would ruin any administration. +The proposed issue of government notes guards against this effect +of inflating the currency by the provision to convert them into +government bonds, the principal and interest of which, as before +stated, are payable in specie." + +Mr. Morrill of Vermont supported the bill proposed by the minority +of the Ways and Means Committee. He described the legal-tender +features as "not blessed by one sound precedent, but damned by +all." As a war measure he thought "it was not waged against the +enemy, but might well make him grin with delight." He would as +soon provide "Chinese wooden guns for the army as paper money alone +for the Treasury." Mr. Morrill declared that there never was a +greater fallacy than to pretend that as "the whole United States +are holden for the redemption of these notes, they will, if made +a legal-tender, pass at par." He contended that, as currency, "no +more of them can be used than enough to fill the demands of commerce." +He directed attention to the fact that of the Treasury notes already +issued, payable in specie on demand, "the government succeeded in +circulating but $27,000,000 of the $50,000,000 authorized, and of +these the banks had held $7,000,000." The sanguine feeling in +regard to the length of the war was disclosed by Mr. Morrill. +Speaking on the 4th of February, 1862, he ridiculed the suggestion +that "the war would be prolonged until July 1, 1863." He declared +that "we could close the war by the thirtieth day of July next, as +well as in thirty years.' This opinion was the one commonly accepted +at the time in Congressional circles, though discountenanced by +the wisest among those holding important commands in the army. + +Mr. Bingham of Ohio spoke earnestly in favor of the bill. He could +not "keep silent" when he saw "efforts made to lay the power of +the American people to control their currency, a power essential +to their interest, at the feet of brokers and of city bankers who +have not a tittle of authority save by the assent of forbearance +of the people to deal in their paper issues as money." Mr. Bingham +argued that as there "is not a line or word or syllable in the +Constitution which makes any thing a legal-tender,--gold or silver +or any thing else,--it follows that Congress, having 'the power to +regulate commerce,' may determine what shall be a lawful tender in +the discharge of obligations payable in money only." The "limitation +of the power to impair the obligation of contracts," as Mr. Bingham +pointed out, was "a limitation upon the States only, and did not +restrain the action of Congress." + +Mr. Sheffield of Rhode Island argued earnestly against the bill, +and predicted the same fate for it, if enacted, that overcame a +similar attempt in his State during the Revolutionary war "to make +paper a legal-tender." The people would not submit to it, and "the +courts set it aside as an unlawful exercise of legislative power." + + ABLE SPEECH BY MR. PIKE. + +Mr. Frederick A. Pike of Maine made one of the clearest and ablest +speeches delivered in the House in favor of the bill. He regarded +it as an experiment forced upon the country by necessity. "We +issue $150,000,000," said Mr. Pike, "on a venture." We measure it +"with population and wealth and existing currency. We compare it +with the action of the past." The issue of Continental notes had +reached $20,000,000 by the month of April, 1777, besides a large +amount of currency by the States. "And yet," said Mr. Pike, "no +marked signs of depreciation had appeared." The whole property of +the country did not at that time in his judgment "exceed five +hundred millions." From these facts he deduced our ability to +stand the proposed issue of paper. Mr. Pike had little faith in +the infallibility of any one's judgment as to the ultimate result +of financial experiments. He recalled the circumstance that Sir +Robert Peel's famous bank bill was introduced in Parliament in 1844 +with the confident declaration by Her Majesty's Government that +"inquiry had been exhausted." But in the "first mercantile pinch" +the measure which was "the embodiment of financial wisdom" did not +work favorably, and "the government was compelled to interpose on +behalf of the bank and of the business community." "Tax, fight, +and emancipate," Mr. Pike declared to be "the Trinity of our +situation." + +Mr. Valentine B. Horton of Ohio was opposed to giving the legal- +tender quality to government paper. He said "the country was never +so wealthy as to-day; never was so little due to foreign countries; +never were the people so free from embarrassment. The one drawback +is that the Treasury wants money to an immense amount." He believed +that an appeal to the capitalists would call forth "gold in the +utmost abundance." To pass the legal-tender bill would, in his +judgment, be "a legislative declaration that the administration is +not equal to the occasion for which it was elected." He thought +"the time for oracular utterances about a great movement," by which +bankers had been inspired with undue hope, had passed by, and that +something practical and actual would soon be accomplished. + +Mr. John B. Alley supported the bill by arguments which came from +his own wide experience in business. The choice, he said, was +between notes of the government and "an irredeemable bank currency, +a great deal of which will be found, as it was after the war of +1812, utterly worthless." + +Mr. Charles W. Walton of Maine spoke briefly but ably on the +constitutional power of Congress to pass the bill. He contended +that the authority to declare a legal-tender "was an implied and +not a direct power;" that, admitting it to belong to the Government, +it exists "without limitation." The question before the House, +therefore, is "one of expediency only," and on that ground he +earnestly supported the measure. + +Mr. Shellabarger of Ohio answered the "charges of bad faith and +injustice" which had been brought against the bill by its opponents. +The cry of ruin to the country he compared with similar fears for +England on the part of her economists, and showed how, in every +case, they had been disproved by the rising power and growing wealth +of that kingdom. He said the legal-tender notes would be "borne +up by all the faith and all the property of the people, and they +will have all the value which that faith untarnished and that +property inestimable can given them." + +Mr. John Hickman of Pennsylvania, having no doubt as to the power +of Congress to pass the bill, supported it as a governmental +necessity. + + MR. FESSENDEN OPPOSES LEGAL-TENDER. + +The debate in the House was able and spirited throughout. Judging +by the tone and number of the Republicans who spoke against the +bill, a serious party division seemed to be impending. The measure +came to a vote on the 6th of February, the interest in the discussion +continuing to the last. Mr. Owen Lovejoy sought occasion to give +the measure a parting malediction, declared that "there is no +precipice, no chasm, no yawning bottomless gulf before this nation, +so terrible, so appalling, so ruinous, as the bill before the +House," and Mr. Roscoe Conkling sought the floor to say that he +concurred "in every word" Mr. Lovejoy had spoken. Mr. Conkling +said the debate had been allowed to close "without pretext of solid +argument by any member in favor of the constitutionality of the +one feature of the bill." + +The essential difference between the plan of the minority and that +of the committee had reference to the legal-tender clause. In fact +the other details of the Loan Bill could have been agreed upon in +a single day's discussion, and the delay was occasioned solely by +the one feature of legal-tender. On substituting the measure of +the minority the vote was 55 yeas to 95 nays. The bill was then +passed by a vote of 93 to 59. The yeas were all Republican. Among +the nays--principally Democrats--were found some of the ablest and +most influential members of the Republican party. Valentine B. +Horton of Ohio, Justin S. Morrill of Vermont, Roscoe Conkling, F. +A. Conkling, and Theodore M. Pomeroy of New York, Albert G. Porter +of Indiana, Owen Lovejoy of Illinois, William H. Wadsworth of +Kentucky, Benjamin F. Thomas of Massachusetts, and Edward H. Rollins +of New Hampshire, were conspicuous for their hostility to the legal- +tender clause. + +The Senate received the bill on the next day, and on the 10th it +was reported from the Finance Committee for immediate action. Mr. +Fessenden explained the amendments which the committee had embodied +in the House Bill. In the first section they provided that the +interest on the national debt should be paid in coin. Upon this +point Mr. Fessenden considered that the public credit, in large +degree, depended. As to the legal-tender feature of the notes, he +could not make up his mind to support it. "Will your legal-tender +clause," he inquired, "make your notes any better? Do you imagine +that because you force people to take these notes they are to be +worth the money, and that no injury is to follow? What is the +consequence? Does not property rise? You say you are injuring +the soldier if you compel him to take a note without its being a +legal-tender; but will not the sutler put as much more on his goods? +And if the soldier sends the notes to his wife to be passed at a +country store for necessaries for his family, what will be the +result? The goods that are sold are purchased in New York; the +price is put on in New York; a profit is added in the country; and +thus the soldier loses just as much. You are not saving any thing +for any body." + +Mr. Fessenden then inquired, "What do we offer without the legal- +tender clause? We are offering notes, with the interest secured +beyond a question if the amendments proposed by the Committee on +Finance of the Senate are adopted, based on the national faith, +and with the power to deposit and receive five per cent. interest +in any sub-treasury, and the power of the government to sell the +stock at any price, to meet whatever it may be necessary to meet. +Will notes of this kind stand better when going out, if you put +the confession upon their face, that they are discarded by you, +and that you know they ought not to be received, and would not be, +unless their reception is compelled by legal enactment?" + +The argument against this view, according to Mr. Fessenden, "is +simply that the banks will not take the notes unless they are made +a legal-tender, and therefore they will be discredited. It was +thus reduced to a contest between the government and the banks; +and the question is whether the banks have the will and the power +to discredit the notes of the United-States Treasury." With all +his objections to the legal-tender feature,--and they were very +grave,--Mr. Fessenden intimated his willingness to vote for it if +it were demonstrated to be a necessity. On the constitutional +question involved he did not touch. He preferred, he said, "to +have his own mind uninstructed" upon that aspect of the case. + +In illustration of the doubt and diversity of opinion prevailing, +Mr. Fessenden stated that on a certain day he was advised very +strongly by a leading financial man that he must at all events +oppose the legal-tender clause, which he described as utterly +destructive. On the same day he received a note from another +friend, assuring him that the legal-tender bill was an absolute +necessity to the government and the people. The next day the first +gentleman telegraphed that he had changed his mind, and now thought +the legal-tender bill peremptorily demanded by public exigency. +On the ensuing day the second gentleman wrote that he had changed +his mind, and now saw clearly that the legal-tender bill would ruin +the country. There can be no harm in stating that the authors of +these grotesque contradictions were Mr. James Gallatin and Mr. Morris +Ketchum of New York. + + MR. COLLAMER AND MR. SHERMAN. + +Mr. Collamer of Vermont followed Mr. Fessenden in an exhaustive +argument against the bill as a violation of the Constitution. He +believed "in the power of the government to sustain itself in the +strife physically and pecuniarily." He was not willing to say to +a man," Here is my note: if I do not pay it, you must steal the +amount from the first man you come to, and give him this note in +payment." He would not be governed in this matter, as Mr. Fessenden +intimated he might be, "by necessity." He had taken an oath to +support the Constitution, and he believed this bill violated it. +He "would not overthrow the Constitution in the Senate Chamber +while the rebels are endeavoring to overthrow it by war." + +Senator Wilson looked upon the contest as one "between the men who +speculate in stocks, and the productive, toiling men of the country." +He believed "the sentiment of the nation approaches unanimity in +favor of this legal-tender clause." He had received letters from +large commercial houses in Massachusetts, representing millions of +capital, and "they declare that they do not know a merchant in the +city of Boston engaged in active business who is not for the legal- +tender bill." + +Senator Sherman of Ohio urged the adoption of the measure, because +"all the organs of financial opinion in this country agree that +there is a majority" for it; and he cited the New-York Chamber of +Commerce, the Committee on Public Safety in New York, and the +Chambers of Commerce of Boston and Philadelphia, as taking that +ground. He proceeded "to show the necessity of it from reason." +He stated that the government must "raise and pay out of the Treasury +of the United States before the first day of July next, according +to the estimate of the Committee of Ways and Means, the sum of +$343,235,000. Of this sum $100,000,000 is now due and payable to +soldiers, contractors, to the men who have furnished provisions +and clothing for the army; to officers, judges, and civil magistrates." +Mr. Sherman argued that "a question of hard necessity presses upon +the government. This money cannot be obtained from the banks. +With a patriotic feeling not usually attributed to money corporations, +the banks have already exhausted their means. The aggregate capital +of the banks of the three principal cities of the United States is +but $105,000,000, and they have taken more than their capital in +bonds of the United States." It was, therefore, idle to look to +the banks for relief. "They have," continued the senator, "already +tied up their whole capital in the public securities. They ask +this currency to enable them to assist further in carrying on the +government. Among others, the cashier of the Bank of Commerce, +the largest bank corporation in the United States and one that has +done much to sustain the government, appeared before the Committee +on Finance, and stated explicitly that his bank, as well as other +banks of New York, could not further aid the government, unless +its currency was stamped by, and invested with, the legal form and +authority of lawful money, which they could pay to others as well +as receive themselves." + +Senator James A. Bayard of Delaware argued that the proposed measure +violated the Constitution. "No one," said he, "can deny the fact +that in the contracts between man and man, and in government +contracts to pay money, the obligation is to pay intrinsic value. +If you violate that by this bill, which you certainly do, how can +you expect that the faith of the community will be given to the +law which you now pass, in which you say that you will pay hereafter +the interest on your debt in coin? Why should they give credit to +that declaration? If you can violate the Constitution of the United +States, in the face of your oaths, in the face of its palpable +provision, what security do you offer to the lender of money?" + +Senator Sumner did not join his colleague in enthusiastic support +of the bill. He was indeed much troubled by its provisions. "Is +it necessary," he inquired, "to incur all the unquestionable evils +of inconvertible paper, forced into circulation by Act of Congress, +to suffer the stain upon our national faith, to bear the stigma of +a seeming repudiation, to lose for the present that credit which +in itself is a treasury, and to teach debtors everywhere that +contracts may be varied at the will of the stronger? Surely there +is much in these inquiries which may make us pause. If our country +were poor or feeble, without population and without resources; if +it were already drained by a long war; if the enemy had succeeded +in depriving us of the means of livelihood,--then we should not +even pause. But our country is rich and powerful, with a numerous +population, busy, honest, and determined, and with unparalleled +resources of all kinds, agricultural, mineral, industrial, and +commercial. It is yet undrained by the war in which we are engaged, +nor has the enemy succeeded in depriving us of any of the means of +livelihood." But he concluded, "whatever may be the national +resources, they are not now within reach except by summary process." +He consented "reluctantly, painfully, that the process should +issue." He could not however "give such a vote without warning +the government against the danger of such an experiment. The +medicine of the Constitution must not become its daily bread." + + SENATE VOTES ON LEGAL-TENDER. + +The bill came to a vote in the Senate on the 13th of February. +The government exigency was so pressing that the Senate discussion +was limited to four days. On the motion of Mr. Collamer to strike +out the legal-tender clause, the vote stood 17 yeas to 23 nays. +Anthony of Rhode Island, Collamer and Foot of Vermont, Fessenden +of Maine, King of New York, Cowan of Pennsylvania, Foster of +Connecticut, and Willey of Virginia, among the Republicans, voted +to strike out. The vote to retain the legal-tender feature was +Republican, with the exception of Garrett Davis of Kentucky, +McDougall of California, Rice of Minnesota, and Wilson of Missouri. +This question being settled, the bill, with the legal-tender clause +embodied, passed by a vote fo 30 to 7. Mr. Anthony of Rhode Island +stated that, having voted against the legal-tender provision, he +"could not take the responsibility of voting against the only +measure which is proposed by the government, and which has already +passed the House of Representatives." Three Republicans, Collamer, +Cowan, and King, and four Democrats, Kennedy, Pearce, Powell, and +Saulsbury, were the senators who voted against the bill on its +final passage. + +The bill was returned to the House of Representatives the next day. +The Senate amendments were taken up on the 19th. Mr. Spaulding +objected to them generally, and especially to the provisions for +selling the bonds at the market price and for paying the interest +in coin. Mr. Pomeroy of New York advocated concurrence in the +amendments of the Senate, as did Mr. Morrill of Vermont. Upon the +amendment to pay interest in coin, the House divided, with 88 ayes +to 56 noes. Upon the clause allowing the secretary to sell bonds +at the market value, there were 72 ayes to 66 noes. A conference +on the points of difference between the two Houses was managed by +Senators Fessenden, Sherman, and Carlile, and Representatives +Stevens, Horton, and Sedgwick. The report of the Conferees was +agreed to in both Houses, and the Act was approved and became a +law on the 25th of February. Its leading provisions were for the +issue of legal-tender notes, on which the debate chiefly turned, +and of coupon or registered bonds not to exceed $500,000,000 in +the aggregate, bearing six per cent. interest, redeemable at the +pleasure of the United States after five years, and payable twenty +years after date. The bonds were to be sold at their market value +for coin or Treasury notes, and the notes to be exchangeable into +them in sums of fifty dollars, or any multiple of fifty. These +securities became widely known and popular as the five-twenties of +1862. The fourth section allowed deposits of United-States notes +with designated depositories to draw interest at five per cent., +and to be paid after ten days' notice, but the total of such deposits +was not to exceed $25,000,000 at any time. By the fifth section, +duties on imported goods were required to be paid in coin, and the +proceeds were pledged, first, to the payment in coin of the interest +on the bonds of the United States; and second, to a sinking-fund +of one per cent. of the entire debt for its ultimate payment. + +Certificates of indebtedness were authorized by Act of Congress +passed without debate and approved on the first day of March. +These could be granted to any creditor whose claim had been audited, +and they drew six per cent. interest, payable at first in coin, +but by Act of March 3, 1863, lawful money was substituted for +interest. By Act of March 17, 1862, these certificates could be +given in discharge of checks drawn by disbursing officers, if the +holders of the latter chose to accept them. The secretary was +clothed with power by the Act of March 17, 1862, to buy coin with +any bonds or notes on such terms as he might deem advantageous. +The same Act gave legal-tender value to the demand notes previously +authorized. The limitation upon temporary deposits was also raised +to $50,000,000. + +Mr. Chase, by a communication of June 7 (1862), asked for a further +issue of legal-tender notes to the amount of $150,000,000, and he +urged that the limit of five dollars be removed, and denominations +as low as a single dollar be permitted. He declared that it was +impossible to obtain coin necessary to pay the soldiers, and that +the plan proposed would remove from disbursing officers the temptation +to exchange coin for small bank notes. A reserve of one-third of +the temporary deposits would take $34,000,000, and the replacement +of the demand notes $56,500,000 more, so that for immediate use +the Treasury would get only $59,500,000 of the sum asked for. Mr. +Spaulding of New York on the 17th of June presented the measure as +reported from the Ways and Means Committee. He argued that this +form of loan was "so popular with the people and so advantageous +to the government, that it should be extended so far as it could +be done safely." Objections such as were offered to the original +policy were presented to the additional notes. It was already +suggested to authorize notes for fractions of a dollar, but the +majority decided against it. The bill passed the House of +Representatives on the 24th of June. In the Senate, Mr. Sherman +of Ohio attempted to add a clause for the taxation of the circulation +of banks, but it was not received with favor. With certain amendments +the bill passed the Senate on the 2d of July. On a disagreement +which ensued, the conferees were Senators Fessenden, Sherman, and +Wright, and Representatives Stevens, Spaulding, and Phelps of +Missouri. By their action the volume of notes of denominations +less than five dollars was restricted to $35,000,000, and the +reserve for meeting deposits was fixed at $75,000,000. While +exchangeable into six per cent. bonds, the notes might also be paid +in coin under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury. The +report was accepted by the Senate on the 7th of July, and by the +House on the 8th. It became a law by the President's approval on +the 11th of July. + + SECRETARY CHASE ON THE BANKS. + +On the 14th of July, Secretary Chase called the attention of Congress +to the great evils arising from the issue by non specie-paying +banks and unauthorized persons of depreciated currency, and the +consequent disappearance of small coin. As a remedy an Act was +passed, and approved July 17, for the use of postage and other +stamps in payment of fractional parts of a dollar. These stamps +were made exchangeable by assistant treasurers for United-States +notes in sums not less than five dollars. Banks and persons were +forbidden, from the first day of the ensuing August, to make or +issue any note or token for a less sum than one dollar, intended +to be used as money, under the penalty of a fine not exceeding +$500, or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both. "Shinplasters" +had become almost like the frogs of Egypt for multitude. They were +in every man's hand and were of all degrees of value. They were +sometimes issued for purposes of fraud. Silver had become lost to +view, and business houses resorted to the use of their own notes +as a convenience. The government stamps were not well adapted to +circulate as currency, and they soon gave way to notes of handsome +design which came into universal use as the "small change" of the +country. + +The proper order of the leading measures of finance has always been +a subject of contention. Grave differences of opinion exist, even +to this day, concerning the necessity and expediency of the legal- +tender provision. The judgment of many whose financial sagacity +is entitled to respect is, that if the internal tax had been first +levied, and the policy adopted of drawing directly upon the banks +from the Treasury for the amounts of any loans in their hands, the +resort by the government to irredeemable paper might at least have +been postponed and possibly prevented. The premium on gold became +the measure of the depreciation of the government credit, and +practically such premiums were the charge made for every loan +negotiated. In his report of December, 1862, Secretary Chase +justified the legal-tender policy. He explained that by the +suspension of specie payments the banks had rendered their currency +undesirable for government operations, and consequently no course +other than that adopted was open. Mr. Chase declared that the +measures of general legislation had worked well. "For the fiscal +year ending with June," he said, "every audited and settled claim +on the government and every quartermaster's check for supplies +furnished, which had reached the Treasury, had been met." For the +subsequent months, the secretary "was enabled to provide, if not +fully, yet almost fully, for the constantly increasing disbursements." + +The political effects of the legal-tender bill were of large +consequence to the Administration and to the successful conduct of +the war. If it had been practicable to adhere rigidly to the specie +standard, the national expenditure might have been materially +reduced; but the exactions of the war would have been all the time +grating on the nerves of the people and oppressing them with +remorseless taxation. Added to the discouragement caused by our +military reverses, a heavy financial burden might have proved +disastrous. The Administration narrowly escaped a damaging defeat +in 1862, and but for the relief to business which came from the +circulation of legal-tender notes, the political struggle might +have been hopeless. But as trade revived under the stimulus of an +expanding circulation, as the market for every species of product +was constantly enlarging and prices were steadily rising, the +support of the war policy became a far more cheerful duty to the +mass of our people. + +This condition of affairs doubtless carried with it many elements +of demoralization, but the engagement of the people in schemes of +money-making proved a great support to the war policy of the +government. We saw the reproduction among us of the same causes +and the same effects which prevailed in England during her prolonged +contest with Napoleon. Money was superabundant, speculation was +rife, the government was a lavish buyer, a prodigal consumer. +Every man who could work was employed at high wages; every man who +had commodities to sell was sure of high prices. The whole community +came to regard the prevalent prosperity as the outgrowth of the +war. The ranks of the army could be filled by paying extravagant +bounty after the ardor of volunteering was past, and the hardship +of the struggle was thus in large measure concealed if not abated. +Considerate men knew that a day of reckoning would come, but they +believed it would be postponed until after the war was ended and +the Union victorious. + +The policy of the legal-tender measure cannot therefore be properly +determined if we exclude from view that which may well be termed +its political and moral influence upon the mass of our people. It +was this which subsequently gave to that form of currency a strong +hold upon the minds of many who fancied that its stimulating effect +upon business and trade could be reproduced under utterly different +circumstances. Argument and experience have demonstrated the +fallacy of this conception, and averted the evils which might have +flowed from it. But in the judgment of a large and intelligent +majority of those who were contemporary with the war and gave +careful study to its progress, the legal-tender bill was a most +effective and powerful auxiliary in its successful prosecution. + + + THE INTERNAL-REVENUE SYSTEM. + +Grateful as was the relief to the people from legal-tender notes, +it was apparent to Congress that a government cannot, any more than +an individual, maintain a state of solvency by the continuous +issuing of irredeemable paper. Money must not merely be promised, +it must be paid. The Government therefore required a strong, +efficient system of taxation--one that would promptly return large +sums to the Treasury. From customs, an increasing revenue was +already enriching the Government vaults, but the amount derivable +from that source was limited by the ability of the people to consume +foreign goods, and wise economists did not desire an enlarged +revenue the collection of which was at war with so many domestic +interests. The country therefore turned by common instinct to a +system of internal duties,--to incomes, to excise, to stamps. In +the extra session of the preceding year, Congress had, by the Act +of August 5, 1861, laid the foundation for a system of internal +revenue by providing for a direct tax of twenty millions of dollars +on the real estate of the country, and for an income tax of three +per cent. on all incomes in excess of eight hundred dollars per +annum. But the appointment of assessors and collectors under the +bill had been postponed "until after the second Tuesday of February, +1862," which was practically remanding the whole subject to the +further consideration of Congress before any man should be asked +to pay a dollar of tax under the law. The intervening months had +not decreased but had on the contrary largely developed the +necessities of the National Treasury, and enhanced the necessity +of a stable revenue system. The exigency had become so great that +Congress was compelled for the first time in our history, to resort +to the issue of government notes as a legal-tender currency. +Promptness and decision were essential to the preservation of the +National credit. The sources, the extent, the limitations of the +taxing power were closely examined by Secretary Chase in his report +and the subject was remanded to Congress for determination. + +The Constitution gives to Congress to power to levy imposts, and +prohibits it to the States. It gives also to Congress the power +to levy internal taxes and excises, leaving to the States the right +to do the same. It is one of the traditions of the Convention +which met in Philadelphia in 1787 to frame the Federal Constitution, +that Mr. Hamilton remarked in a conference of its leading members +that if the power to levy impost and excise should be given to the +new government, it would prove strong and successful. If the power +were not to be given he did not desire to waste his time in repeating +the failure of the old Confederation, and should return at once to +New York. It was undoubtedly his influence which secured the wide +and absolute field of taxation to the General Government. He well +knew that direct taxes are onerous, and as the majority insisted +on levying them in proportion to population, as in the old +Confederation, their use as a resource to the General Government +was practically nullified. Such a system involved the absurdity +that men taken _per capita_ average the same in respect to wealth, +and that one hundred thousand people in New York should pay no more +tax than the same number in Arkansas. Statesmen and financiers +saw from the first that the direct tax clause in the Constitution +would be valuable only in forcing the use of the excise. But for +the dread of this, the States would not have yielded all the sources +of indirect taxation to the National Government. + +When appointed Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Hamilton insisted +upon the prompt levy of excises. He induced the first Congress to +lay a tax on all distilled spirits. If made from molasses or sugar +or other foreign substance, the tax should be from eleven to thirty +cents per gallon according to the percentage above or below proof. +If made from domestic products, the tax should be from nine to +twenty-five cents per gallon. The first was practically a tax on +rum, the second on whiskey. This excise was followed in subsequent +years by duties on carriages, on snuff, on property sold at auction, +on refined sugar, and by the sale of stamps. Other articles were +in after years added to the list, and to aid the Treasury during +the period of the second war with Great Britain, a heavy imposition +of internal duties was resorted to as the most prompt and efficient +mode of replenishing the hard pressed Treasury. + + THE INTERNAL-REVENUE SYSTEM. + +The excise was from the first unpopular. The men who insisted that +"black quart-bottles" should be admitted free of duty when the +first tariff bill was passed, did not relish the levying of a heavy +tax on the whiskey that was to fill them. The exciseman was to +their view precisely what Dr. Johnson had defined him in his +dictionary: "an odious wretch, employed to collect an unjust tax." +Revolutionary proceedings had been inaugurated by resistance to a +tax on tea. But tea at that day was looked upon as a luxury in +which only a few could indulge, while whiskey was regarded as a +necessity, of universal consumption. Resistance went so far as to +organize an insurrection in Western Pennsylvania against the official +authority which attempted to collect the tax. The outbreak was +promptly suppressed by the power of the General Government but the +result of the agitation was a deep-seated prejudice against the +Federal party. Pennsylvania sympathized with the more liberal +views of Jefferson, and in the Presidential election of 1796 gave +him fourteen of her fifteen electoral votes. John Adams received +the other vote, and as he was chosen by a majority of one, his +Pennsylvania support, small as it was, proved timely and valuable. + +Resistance to internal duties was tried by legal methods. A heavy +duty had been laid on carriages--two dollars per year for those of +simplest form and fifteen dollars for the most costly. The tax +applied to all carriages for the conveyance of persons, whether +kept for private use or for public hire. One Daniel Lawrence Hylton +of Virginia resisted the payment of the tax and the case was +ultimately heard before the Supreme Court in the February term of +1796. Mr. Hamilton who had resigned from the Treasury Department +the preceding year, argued the case for the Government in conjunction +with the Attorney-General, Charles Lee. Mr. Campbell, Attorney +for the Virginia District and Mr. Ingersoll, the Attorney-General +of Pennsylvania, appeared for the plaintiff. The case turned wholly +upon the point whether the tax, on carriages kept for private use, +was a direct tax. If not a direct tax, it was admitted to be +properly levied according to that clause in the Constitution which +declares that "all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform +throughout the United States." If a direct tax it was wrongfully +levied because the Constitution declares that "no capitation or +other direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to the census +or enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States." + +The well-known decision of the court, delivered by Judge Samuel +Chase, pronounced the tax to be constitutional. Justice James +Wilson who concurred in the decision had taken a very prominent +part as a delegate from Pennsylvania in the convention which framed +the Constitution, and ranked at that time as one of the ablest +lawyers in the Union. The opinion of the judges seemed to be, +though no formal decision was rendered to that effect, that a tax +on land, and a capitation or poll tax, are the only levies which +within the terms of the Constitution are to be considered _direct_ +taxes. The decision was one of extraordinary interest to the +Government, as, had it been the other way, one great resource for +the raising of money, indeed the greatest resource, would have been +taken from the Federal Government. The appearance of Mr. Hamilton +was an indication of the dignity and importance which were attached +to the case by Washington's Administration. + +A singular feature of the proceedings was the allegation by Mr. +Hylton that he "owned, possessed, and kept one hundred and twenty- +five chariots for the conveyance of persons--exclusively for his +own separate use and not to let out to hire, or for the conveyance +of persons for hire." What particular necessity a Virginia gentleman +of the last century had for that number of chariots "for his own +separate use" is nowhere explained. It may have been the mere +filling of the blanks in a legal declaration in which the declarant +was permitted a free use of figures, but as it stands in the reports +of Supreme Court decisions, it seems to be one of the odd incidents +that make up the humor of the Law. + +The system of internal duties and excises continued in various +forms for thirty years, practically disappearing at last in 1821. +But for the financial demands precipitated by the war of 1812 and +the period of depression which ensued, the system would have been +abolished at an earlier date. During the period of their existence, +from 1790 to 1820, the internal taxes had yielded to the Government +the gross sum of $22,000,000, an average of a little more than +$700,000 per annum. It thus proved a very valuable resource to +the Republic in the period of its early financial troubles. + + COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM OF TAXES. + +Congress now determined under the recommendation of Secretary Chase +to use this great source of revenue to the fullest practicable +extent. Immediately after the passage of the Legal-tender Act the +subject of internal revenue was taken up, elaborately investigated +by committees, exhaustively discussed in both Senate and House. +The final result was the enactment of a bill "to provide internal +revenue to support the Government and to pay interest on the public +debt," which received the President's approval on the first day of +July (1862). It was one of the most searching, thorough, comprehensive +systems of taxation ever devised by any Government. Spiritous and +malt liquors and tobacco were relied upon for a very large share +of revenue; a considerable sum was expected from stamps; and three +per cent. was exacted from all annual incomes over six hundred +dollars and less than ten thousand, and five per cent.--afterwards +increased to ten per cent.--on all incomes exceeding ten thousand +dollars. Manufactures of cotton, wool, flax, hemp, iron, steel, +wood, stone, earth, and every other material were taxed three per +cent. Banks, insurance and railroad companies, telegraph companies, +and all other corporations were made to pay tribute. The butcher +paid thirty cents for every beef slaughtered, ten cents for every +hog, five cents for every sheep. Carriages, billiard-tables, +yachts, gold and silver place, and all other articles of luxury +were levied on heavily. Every profession and every calling, except +the ministry of religion, was included within the far-reaching +provisions of the law and subjected to tax for license. Bankers +and pawnbrokers, lawyers and horse-dealers, physicians and +confectioners, commercial brokers and peddlers, proprietors of +theatres and jugglers on the street, were indiscriminately summoned +to aid the National Treasury. The law was so extended and so minute +that it required thirty printed pages of royal octavo and more than +twenty thousand words to express its provisions. + +Sydney Smith's striking summary of English taxation was originally +included in a warning to the United States after the war of 1812 +against indulging a marital spirit or being inflamed with a desire +for naval renown. "Taxes," said the witty essayist in the _Edinburgh +Review_, "are the inevitable consequences of being too fond of +glory." He bade us beware of Essex, Porter, and Stephen Decatur. +Even in the second year of the civil war in which we were struggling +for life rather than for glory, we had come to realize every exaction +ascribed to the British system. We were levying "taxes upon every +article which enters into the mouth or covers the back or is placed +under the foot; taxes on every thing which it is pleasant to see, +hear, feel, smell, or taste; taxes upon warmth, light, and locomotion; +taxes on every thing on earth and the waters under the earth; taxes +on every thing that comes from abroad or is grown at home; on the +sauce which pampers man's appetite and on the drug that restores +him to health; on the ermine which decorates the judge and the rope +which hangs the criminal; on the poor man's salt and the rich man's +spice; on the brass nails of the coffin and the ribbons of the +bride." + +The system of internal revenue of which the foregoing is no +exaggeration proved in all respects effective. Congress rendered +the taxes more palatable and less oppressive to the producers by +largely increasing the duties on imports by the Tariff Act of July +14, 1862, thus shutting out still more conclusively all competition +from foreign fabrics. The increased cost was charged to the +consumer, and taxes of fabulous amount were paid promptly and with +apparent cheerfulness by the people. The internal revenue was +bounteous from the first, and in a short period increased to a +million of dollars per day for every secular day of the year. The +amount paid on incomes for a single year reached seventy-three +millions of dollars, the leading merchant of New York paying in +one check a tax of four hundred thousand dollars on an income of +four millions. Mr. Webster said that "Hamilton smote the rock of +the National resources and abundant streams of revenue gushed +forth." But Hamilton's Funding Bill was not more powerful in +establishing the credit of the young Republic after the Revolution +than was the Internal-revenue Act in imparting strength to the +finances of the matured Nation in the throes and agonies of civil +war. It was the crowning glory of Secretary Chase's policy, and +its scope and boldness entitle him to rank with the great financiers +of the world. + + +CHAPTER XX. + +Elections of 1862.--Mr. Lincoln advances to Aggressive Position on +Slavery.--Second Session of Thirty-seventh Congress adjourns.-- +Democratic Hostility to Administration.--Democratic State Conventions. +--Platforms in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.--Nomination +of Horatio Seymour for Governor of New York.--The President prepares +for a Serious Political Contest.--The Issue shall be the Union or +Slavery.--Conversation with Mr. Boutwell.--Proclamation of +Emancipation.--Meeting of Governors at Altoona.--Compensated +Emancipation proposed for Border States.--Declined by their Senators +and Representatives.--Anti-slavery Policy apparently Disastrous +for a Time.--October Elections Discouraging.--General James S. +Wadsworth nominated against Mr. Seymour.--Illinois votes against +the President.--Five Leading States against the President.-- +Administration saved in Part by Border States.--Last Session of +Thirty-seventh Congress.--President urges Compensated Emancipation +again.--Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863.--Long Controversy +over Question of Compensation for Slaves.--Test Case of Missouri. +--Fourteen Million Dollars offered her.--General Pope's Campaign. +--Army of the Potomac.--Battle of Antietam.--McClellan removed.-- +Burnside succeeds him.--Defeat at Fredericksburg.--Hooker succeeds +Burnside.--General Situation.--Arming of Slaves.--Habeas Corpus.-- +Conscription Law.--Depressed and Depressing Period. + +Popular interest in the summer of 1862 was divided between events +in the field and the election of Representatives to the Thirty- +eighth Congress. A year before, the line of partisan division had +been practically obliterated in the Loyal States--the whole people +uniting in support of the war. The progress of events had to a +large extent changed this auspicious unanimity, and the Administration +was now subjected to a fight for its life while it was fighting +for the life of the Nation. + +The conservatism which Mr. Lincoln had maintained on the Slavery +question had undoubtedly been the means of bringing to the support +of the war policy of his Administration many whom a more radical +course at the outset would have driven into hostility. As he +advanced however towards a more aggressive position, political +divisions became at each step more pronounced. The vote on the +question of abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia had been +strictly on the line of party, and the same is true of the proposition +for compensated emancipation in the Border States, and of the Act +confiscating the property of Rebels. Not a single Democrat in the +Senate or House sustained one of these measures. They were all +passed by Republican votes alone, the Democratic minority protesting +each time with increasing earnestness and warmth. + +The second session of the Thirty-seventh Congress adjourned on the +17th of July, 1862, but long before that date the excitement +prevailing in Congress had extended to the people, and political +divisions were every day growing more earnest, partisan leaders +every day more active, their followers every day more excited. +The Slavery question was the source of the agitation, and by a +common instinct throughout the free States, the Democrats joined +in the cry against an Abolition war. They were as ready, they +declared, as on the day after the firing on Sumter, to uphold all +measures necessary for the defense of the Government and the +maintenance of the Union, and they demanded that the Republicans +should restrict the war to its legitimate ends--as defined by the +supporters of the Administration in July, 1861, by the unanimous +adoption of the Crittenden Resolution. They would not listen to +any change of action based on change of circumstances, and they +prepared to enforce at the ballot-box their opinions touching the +new departure of Congress and the President. + +The Democratic State Conventions in Pennsylvania and Ohio, both +held on the 4th of July, reflected the feeling which so largely +pervaded the ranks of the party throughout the North. In Pennsylvania +the Convention unanimously declared that "the party of fanaticism +or crime, whichever it may be called, that seeks to turn loose the +slaves of the Southern States to overrun the North and to enter +into competition with the white laboring masses, thus degrading +their manhood by placing them on an equality with negroes, is +insulting to our race and merits our most emphatic and unqualified +condemnation." They further declared that "this is a government +of white men and was established exclusively for the white race"; +that "the negroes are not entitled to and ought not to be admitted +to political and social equality with the white race." + + DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS IN 1862. + +The Democratic Convention of Ohio made an equally open appeal to +race prejudice. They avowed their belief that the Emancipation +policy of the Republican party if successful "would throw upon the +Border free States an immense number of negroes to compete with +and under-work the white laborers and to constitute in various ways +an unbearable nuisance"; and that "it would be unjust to our gallant +soldiers to compel them to free the negroes of the South, and +thereby fill Ohio with a degraded population to compete with these +same soldiers upon their return to the peaceful avocations of life." +It was not by mere chance that the Democratic party of these two +great States held their conventions on the National Anniversary. +It had been carefully pre-arranged with the view of creating a +serious impression against the Administration. + +The Democrats of Indiana went beyond their brethren of Ohio and +Pennsylvania in the vigor with which they denounced the anti-slavery +policy of the President. Their convention was held a month later, +and unanimously demanded that "the public authorities of Indiana +should see that the constitution and laws of the State are enforced +against the entrance of free negroes and mulattoes," declaring that +"when the people of Indiana adopted the negro exclusion clause in +their constitution by a majority of ninety-four thousand votes they +meant that the honest laboring white man should have no competitor +in the black race; that the soil of Indiana should belong to the +white man, and that he alone was suited to the form of her +institutions." In Illinois the Democratic party adopted substantially +the same platform as that proclaimed in Indiana. They made the +distinct and unmistakable issue that a war for the abolition of +slavery could not have their support; that the Government of the +United States was made for white men, and that negroes could not +be admitted to terms of equality in civil rights. + +The most important election of the year was that to be held in New +York, not merely because of the prestige and power of the State, +but on account of the peculiar elements that entered into the +contest. The Democratic party proceeded in the selection of +candidates and in the definition of issues with great circumspection. +They avoided the rancorous expressions used in Pennsylvania and +Ohio, declared that they would continue to render the government +their sincere and united support in the use of all legitimate means +to suppress the rebellion, and cited the Crittenden Resolution, +unanimously passed by Congress in July, 1861, as embodying the +principles upon which they appealed for popular support. They +expressed their "willingness to withhold their views upon all +questions not rendered imperative by the imperiled condition of +the country." The had not one word to say on the subject of slavery, +and they avowed their readiness to act in the coming election with +any class of loyal citizens who agreed with them in the principles +embodied in their platform. This last clause related to a third +party, the remnant of those who had supported Mr. Bell in 1860 and +who had just held a convention at Troy. They had comprised their +entire platform in "the Constitution, the Union and the enforcement +of the laws," and had nominated Horatio Seymour for governor. + +It was not difficult to see that politically the case was well +managed, and that the most partisan of partisans in the person of +Mr. Seymour, was enabled to appear before the voters of New York +in the attitude of one who could graciously correct the errors of +the Administration, and direct the course of the war in channels +of patriotism that would harmonize the entire people. The nomination +of Mr. Seymour was made with great enthusiasm by the Democracy, +and the policy of the National Administration was thus challenged +in the leading State of the Union. Mr. Lincoln looked upon the +situation as one of exceeding gravity. The loss to the Administration, +of the House of Representatives in the Thirty-eighth Congress, +would place the control of the war in the hands of its opponents, +and, as the President believed, would imperil the fate of the +National struggle. The power of the purse controls the power of +the sword. The armies in the field required a vast and constant +expenditure, and to secure the money a rigorous system of taxation +must be enforced. A House of Representatives controlling the power +to tax and the power to appropriate could, if hostile to the war, +neutralize and destroy all the efforts of the Executive. + +The President measured the extent of the danger and prepared to +meet it. He clearly read the signs of the times. He saw that the +anti-slavery policy of Congress had gone far enough to arouse the +bitter hostility of all Democrats who were not thoroughly committed +to the war, and yet not far enough to deal an effective blow against +the institution. He saw that as the Administration was committed +to the partial policy which involved all the danger of a re-action +and a retreat, it would be wise to commit it to the bold, far- +reaching, radical and aggressive policy from which it would be +impossible to turn without deliberately resolving to sacrifice our +nationality. He determined therefore to lay before the people a +choice between the Union and Slavery. He would persuade them that +both could not be saved and that they must choose the one which +they regarded as the more worthy of preservation. Slavery was not +only the inciting cause of the rebellion but was its chief strength +and support in the South and at the same time a weakening element +to the Union cause in the Loyal States. No man had looked at the +question in all its bearings so closely as Mr. Lincoln. He had +studied the consequences of every step and had proceeded with the +utmost caution. + + THE PRESIDENT'S MONITORY PROCLAMATION. + +The President kept his own counsels so closely, and relied so +confidently upon his own conclusions, that it is not possible to +say when he first seriously entertained the thought of general +emancipation as a war measure. Mr. George S. Boutwell of Massachusetts +who enjoyed Mr. Lincoln's confidence and who at this period of the +contest was appointed Commissioner of Internal Revenue, is authority +for some interesting statements. About the time that the anti- +slavery legislation now under discussion was in progress Mr. Lincoln +received a letter written by a loyal citizen of Louisiana, containing +a strong argument against emancipation. He depicted in vivid colors +the bad results to flow from it and appealed earnestly to the +President not to take so dangerous a step. Without combating in +detail the arguments of his correspondent who personally enjoyed +his confidence, Mr. Lincoln said, "You must not expect me to give +up this government without playing my last card." + +During an interview with Mr. Lincoln after the adjournment of +Congress in July, and when military disasters were falling thick +and fast upon us, Mr. Boutwell suggested to the President that we +could not hope to succeed until the slaves were emancipated. To +which Mr. Lincoln answered, "You would not have it done now, would +you? Had we not better wait for something like a victory?" The +statement, widely made in the autumn of 1862, that Mr. Lincoln had +been frightened or driven into the issuing of the proclamation by +the meeting of the governors of the Loyal States at Altoona, had +no foundation in fact. When the President's attention was called +to it, he said, "The truth is, I never thought of the meeting of +the governors at all. When Lee came over the Potomac I made a +resolve that if McClellan drove him back I would send the proclamation +after him. The battle of Antietam was fought Wednesday, but I +could not find out until Saturday whether we had won a victory or +lost a battle. It was then too late to issue it that day, and on +Sunday I fixed it up a little, and on Monday I let them have it." +This colloquial style was characteristic of Mr. Lincoln, and the +frankness with which it was spoken disposes utterly of the claims +made in behalf of Mr. Chase and Mr. Sumner that they contributed +to the text of the Monitory Proclamation of 1862. + +Two months before issuing the Proclamation Mr. Lincoln had urgently +requested the senators and representatives of the Border States to +give their effective co-operation in aid of compensated emancipation. +In his letter of July 12 he said "Before leaving the Capitol, +consider and discuss this subject among yourselves. You are patriots +and statesmen, and as such I pray you to consider this proposition +and at least commend it to the consideration of your States and +people. As you would perpetuate popular government, I beseech you +that you do in no wise omit this. Our common country is in great +peril, demanding the loftiest views and boldest action to bring a +speedy relief. Once relieved, its form of government is saved to +the world, its beloved history and cherished memories are vindicated, +its happy future assured and rendered inconceivably grand. To you +more than to any others the privilege is given to assure that +happiness, to swell that grandeur, to link your own names therewith +forever." + +The majority of the senators and representatives from the Border +States did not concur with Mr. Lincoln's views and did not respond +favorably to his earnest appeal. The Maryland delegation in +Congress, the Kentucky delegation with one exception, and the +Missouri delegation with one exception, entered into a long argument +dissenting from the conclusions of the President. The West Virginia +men (with the exception of Mr. Carlile), Mr. Casey of Kentucky, +Mr. John W. Noell of Missouri, Mr. George P. Fisher of Delaware, +together with Mr. Horace Maynard and Mr. A. J. Clements from +Tennessee (not a Border State), expressed their readiness to co- +operate with Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Maynard wrote a separate letter +distinguished by breadth of view and strength of expression. It +is impossible to comprehend the determination of the Border State +men at that crisis. Having resisted in vain the aggressive +legislation of Congress already accomplished, they could hardly +fail to see that the institution of slavery was threatened with +utter destruction. It seems absolutely incredible that, standing +on the edge of the crater, they made no effort to escape from the +upheaval of the volcano, already visible to those who stood afar +off. + + THE PRESIDENT'S ANTI-SLAVERY POLICY. + +The Monitory Proclamation of Emancipation was issued on the 22d of +September. It gave public notice that on the first day of January, +1863--just one hundred days distant--"all persons held as slaves +within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof +shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then +thenceforward and forever free." It was a final tribute to those +engaged in rebellion that every agency, every instrumentality would +be employed by the government in its struggle for self-preservation. +It brought--as Mr. Lincoln intended it should bring--the seriousness +of the contest to the hearts and consciences of the people in the +Loyal States. He plainly warned them that every thing was at stake +and that if they were unwilling to meet the trial with the courage +and the sacrifice demanded, they were foredoomed to disaster, to +defeat, to dishonor. He knew that the policy would at first +encounter the disapproval of many who had supported him for the +Presidency, and that it would be violently opposed by the great +mass of the Democratic party. But his faith was strong. He believed +that the destruction of slavery was essential to the safety of the +Union, and he trusted with composure to the discerning judgment +and ultimate decision of the people. If the Administration was to +be defeated, he was determined that defeat should come upon an +issue which involved the whole controversy. If the purse of the +Nation was to be handed over to the control of those who were not +ready to use the last dollar in the war for the preservation of +the Union, the President was resolved that every voter in the Loyal +States should be made to comprehend the deadly significance of such +a decision. + +The effect of the policy was for a time apparently disastrous to +the Administration. The most sagacious among political leaders +trembled for the result. Only the radical anti-slavery men of the +type of Sumner and Stevens and Lovejoy were strong and unyielding +in faith. They could not doubt, they would not doubt the result. +For many weeks the elections in the North promised nothing but +adversity. Maine voted a few days before the Proclamation was +issued. Ever since the repeal of the Missouri Compromise the +majorities against the Democrats in that State had varied from ten +to nineteen thousand. Under the pressure of military reverses and +the cry of an abolition war, the majority for Abner Coburn, the +Republican candidate for governor, was a little over four thousand; +and for the first time in ten years one of the districts returned +a Democratic representative to Congress in the person of L. D. M. +Sweat. Vermont, contrary to the tide of opinion elsewhere, increased +her majority for the Administration--an event due in large part to +the loyal position taken by Paul Dillingham who had been the leader +of the Democratic party in the State. + +The October elections were utterly discouraging. In Ohio the +Democrats prevailed in fourteen of the Congressional districts, +leaving the Republicans but five,--registering at the same time a +popular majority of some seven thousand against the Administration. +The extent of this reverse may be measured by the fact that in the +preceding Congressional election Republican representatives had +been chosen in thirteen districts. In Indiana the result was +overwhelming against the President. The Republicans had held their +convention early in the summer and had re-affirmed the Crittenden +Resolution as embodying their platform of principles. They were +not in position therefore to withstand the furious onslaught made +by the Democrats on the Slavery question. Of the eleven Congressional +districts the Republicans secured but three, and the Democrats had +a large majority on the popular vote.--In Pennsylvania whose election +was usually accepted as the index to the average public opinion of +the country, the Democrats secured a majority of four thousand, +and elected one-half the delegation to Congress. In November, +1860, Mr. Lincoln had received a majority of sixty thousand in +Pennsylvania, and this change marked the ebb of popular favor +created by the anti-slavery policy of the Administration. + +Against the candidacy of Mr. Seymour for the governorship of New +York, the Republicans nominated James S. Wadsworth, formerly a +partisan of Mr. Van Buren and Silas Wright. He was a gentleman of +the highest character, of large landed estate which he had inherited, +and of wide personal popularity. He had volunteered for the war and +was then in the service, with the rank of Brigadier-General. The +convention which nominated him assembled after Mr. Lincoln's decisive +action. They hailed "with the profoundest satisfaction the recent +proclamation of the President declaring his intention to emancipate +the slaves of all rebels who did not return to their allegiance by +the 1st of January, 1863," and they urged upon the National Government +"to use all the means that the God of battles had placed in its +power against a revolt so malignant and so pernicious." Lyman +Tremaine, a distinguished citizen who had been theretofore connected +with the Democratic party, was nominated for Lieutenant-Governor. + +The contest was extremely animated, enlisting the interest of the +entire country. The result was a victory for Mr. Seymour. His +majority over General Wadsworth was nearly ten thousand. His vote +almost equaled the total of all the Democratic factions in the +Presidential election of 1860, while Mr. Wadsworth fell nearly +seventy thousand behind the vote given to Mr. Lincoln. The +discrepancy could be well accounted for by the greater number of +Republicans who had gone to the war, and for whose voting outside +the State no provision had been made. No result could have been +more distasteful to the Administration than the triumph of Mr. +Seymour, and the experience of after years did not diminish the +regret with which they had seen him elevated to a position of power +at a time when the utmost harmony was needed between the National +and State Governments. + + REPUBLICAN DEFEAT IN ILLINOIS. + +To the President the most mortifying event of the year was the +overwhelming defeat in Illinois. Great efforts were made by the +Republican party to save the State. Personal pride entered into +the contest almost as much as political principle, but against all +that could be done the Democrats secured a popular majority of +seventeen thousand, and out of the fourteen representatives in +Congress they left but three to the Republicans. They chose a +Democratic Legislature, which returned William A. Richardson to +the Senate for the unexpired term of Mr. Douglas,--filled since +his death by O. H. Browning who had been appointed by the Governor. +The crushing defeat of Mr. Lincoln in his own State had a depressing +effect upon the party elsewhere, and but for the assurance in which +the Administration found comfort and cheer, that the Democrats were +at home to vote while the Republicans were in the field to fight, +the result would have proved seriously discouraging to the country +and utterly destructive of the policy of emancipation as proclaimed +by the President. + +In the five leading free States, the Administration had thus met +with a decisive defeat. The Democratic representatives chosen to +Congress numbered in the aggregate fifty-nine, while those favorable +to the Administration were only forty. In some other States the +results were nearly as depressing. New Jersey, which had given +half its electoral vote to Mr. Lincoln two years before, now elected +a Democratic governor by nearly fifteen thousand majority, and of +her five representatives in Congress only one was friendly to the +policy of the Administration. Michigan, which had been Republican +by twenty thousand in 1860, now gave the Administration but six +thousand majority, though Senator Chandler made almost superhuman +efforts to bring out the full vote of the party. Wisconsin, which +had given Mr. Lincoln a large popular majority, now gave a majority +of two thousand for the Democrats, dividing the Congressional +delegation equally between the two parties. + +If this ratio had been maintained in all the States, the defeat of +the war party and of the anti-slavery policy would have been +complete. But relief came and the Administration was saved. The +New-England States which voted in November stood firmly by their +principles, though with diminished majorities. The contest in +Massachusetts resulted in the decisive victory of Governor Andrew +over General Charles Devens, who ran as a Coalition candidate of +the Democrats and Independents against the emancipation policy of +the Administration. New Hampshire which voted the ensuing spring +had the benefit of a Loyal re-action and sustained the Administration. +In the West, Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota cheered the Administration +with unanimous Republican delegations to Congress, and on the +Pacific coast California and Oregon stood firmly by the President. + +The result in the Border slave States amply vindicated the sagacity +and wisdom of the President in so constantly and carefully nurturing +their loyalty and defending them against the inroads of the +Confederates. They responded nobly, and in great part repaired +the injury inflicted by States which were presumptively more loyal +to the Administration, and which had a far larger stake in the +struggle for the Union. Delaware's one representative was Republican, +Missouri elected a decisive majority of friends to the Administration, +and in the ensuing year Kentucky, West Virginia, and Maryland +materially increased the strength of the government. The Administration +was finally assured that it would be able to command a majority of +about twenty in the House. But for the aid of the Border slave +States the anti-slavery position of Mr. Lincoln might have been +overthrown by a hostile House of Representatives. It is true +therefore in a very striking sense that the five slave States which +Mr. Lincoln's policy had held to their loyalty, were most effectively +used by him in overpowering the eleven slave States which had +revolted against the Union. + + COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION URGED. + +The third and last session of the Thirty-seventh Congress assembled +four weeks after the close of the exciting contest for the control +of the next House of Representatives. The message of Mr. Lincoln +made no reference whatever to the political contest in the country, +and unlike his previous communications to Congress gave no special +summary of the achievements by our forces either upon the land or +the sea. He contended himself with stating that he transmitted +the reports of the Secretaries of War and of the Navy, and referred +Congress to them for full information. He dwelt a length upon the +total inadequacy of Disunion as a remedy for the differences between +the people of the two sections, and quoted with evident satisfaction +the declarations he had made in his Inaugural address upon that +point. In his judgment "there is no line, straight or crooked, +suitable for a National boundary upon which to divide. Trace it +through from east to west upon the line between the free and the +slave country, and we shall find a little more than one-third of +its length are rivers easy to be crossed; and populated, or soon +to be populated, thickly on both sides, while nearly all its +remaining length are merely surveyor's lines over which people may +walk back and forth without any consciousness of their presence. +No part of this line can be made any more difficult to pass by +writing it down on paper or parchment as a National boundary." In +the President's view "a nation may be said to consist of its +territory, its people, and its laws. The territory is the only +part which is of certain durability. That portion of the earth's +surface which is inhabited by the people of the United States is +well adapted for the home of one National family, but it is not +well adapted for two or more." + +Mr. Lincoln was still anxious that the Loyal slave States should +secure the advantage of compensated emancipation which he had +already urged, and he recommended an amendment to the Constitution +whereby a certain amount should be paid by the United States to +each State that would abolish slavery before the first day of +January, A. D. 1900. The amount was to be paid in bonds of the +United States on which interest was to begin from the time of actual +delivery to the States. The amendment was further to declare, that +"all slaves who enjoyed actual freedom by the chances of war at +any time before the end of the rebellion shall be forever free," +but the individual owners, if loyal, shall be compensated at the +same rate that may be paid to those in States abolishing slavery. +The amendment also proposed to give to "Congress the right to +appropriate money for the colonization of the emancipated slaves, +with their own consent, at any place outside of the United States." + +Congress had scarcely time to consider this grave proposition when +the President issued on the first day of the new year (1863) his +formal Proclamation abolishing slavery in all the States in rebellion +against the Government, with the exception of Tennessee, and of +certain parishes in Louisiana and certain counties in Virginia +whose population was considered loyal to the Government. Tennessee +was excepted from the operation of the Proclamation at the urgent +request of Andrew Johnson who, after the fall of Nashville in the +preceding spring, had resigned from the Senate to accept the +appointment of military governor of his State. His service in the +Senate, with his State in flagrant rebellion, was felt to be somewhat +anomalous and he was glad to accept a position in which he could +be more directly helpful to the loyal cause. He possessed the +unbounded confidence of Mr. Lincoln who yielded to his views +respecting the best mode of restoring Tennessee to the Union, and +her inhabitants to their duty to the National Government. There +is good reason for believing that both Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Johnson +afterwards regarded the omission of Tennessee from the Proclamation +of Emancipation as a mistake, honestly made in the first place by +Governor Johnson and too readily acceded to by the President. + +The recommendation of Mr. Lincoln for a system of compensated +emancipation was taken up promptly and cordially by the Republican +members of both branches of Congress. The House appointed a special +committee on the subject. With but little delay a bill was passed +appropriating to Missouri, the first State considered, ten millions +of dollars with the restriction that the money should be paid only +to the loyal slave-holders. The Senate increased the amount to +fifteen millions of dollars and returned it to the House for +concurrence in the amendment. The measure had been thus passed in +both branches but with stubborn opposition on the part of some +prominent Democratic leaders from Missouri. John B. Henderson in +the Senate and John W. Noell in the House labored earnestly to +secure the compensation for their State, but the bill was finally +defeated in the House. By factious resistance, by dilatory motions +and hostile points of order, the Democratic members from Missouri +were able to force the bill from its position of parliamentary +advantage, and to prevent its consideration within the period in +which a majority of the House could control its fate. The just +responsibility for depriving Missouri of the fifteen millions of +dollars must be charged in an especial degree to Thomas L. Price, +Elijah H. Norton, and William A. Hall, representatives from that +State, who on the 25th of February, 1863, by the use of objectionable +tactics deprived the House of the opportunity even to consider a +bill of such value and consequence to their constituents. A large +majority stood ready to pass it, but the determined hostility of +the Democratic members from Missouri defeated the kindly and generous +intentions of Congress towards their own State. At a later period +in the session the attempt was made to pass the bill by a suspension +of the Rules, but this motion though it received the support of a +majority was defeated for the lack of two-thirds of the votes as +required. The Democratic members of Missouri were again active in +resisting the boon which was offered to their State and so earnestly +pressed by the Republicans of the House. + + MISTAKE OF BORDER STATE MEN. + +The course of the Missouri representatives was sustained by the +solid vote of the Democratic members from the free States, and +received the co-operation of a majority of representatives from +the Border slave States. If the bill for Missouri had passed, a +similar relief would have been offered to Kentucky, West Virginia, +Maryland and Delaware. Mr. Crittenden whose influence with the +representatives from these States was deservedly great could not +be persuaded to adopt the President's policy. The consideration +which influenced him and other Border State men to the course which +subsequent events proved to be unwise, was their distrust of the +success of the Union arms. The prospect had grown steadily +discouraging ever since the adjournment of Congress in the preceding +July, and with the exception of General McClellan's success at +Antietam there had been nothing to lighten the gloom which deeply +beclouded the military situation. The daily expenditures of the +nation were enormous, and the Secretary of the Treasury had at the +opening of the season estimated that the National debt at the close +of the current fiscal year would exceed seventeen hundred millions +of dollars. The Border State men chose therefore to maintain +possession of their four hundred thousand slaves, even with the +title somewhat shaken by war, rather than to part with them for +the bonds of a Government whose ability to pay they considered +extremely doubtful. + +They could readily have secured, indeed they were urged to accept, +fifty millions of dollars, the equivalent of gold coin, in securities +which became in a few years the favorite investment of the wisest +capitalists in the world. Such opportunities are never repeated. +The magnanimous policy of the President and the wise liberality of +the Republican party were precisely adapted, if the Border State +men could have seen it, to the critical situation of the hour. +Subsequent events prevented the repetition of the offer, and the +slave-holders were left to thank themselves and their representatives +for the loss of the munificent compensation proffered by the +Government. They could not believe Mr. Lincoln when at the pressing +moment he pleaded with them so earnestly to accept the terms, and +flavored his appeal with the humorous remark to Mr. Crittenden: +"You Southern men will soon reach the point where bonds will be a +more valuable possession than bondsmen. Nothing is more uncertain +now than two-legged property." + + +After the unfortunate issue of the Peninsular campaign and in the +fear that Lee might turn directly upon Washington, a new army was +organized on the 27th of June, 1862, and placed under the command +of Major-General John Pope. It included the forces which had been +serving under Fremont, Banks and McDowell, and was divided into +three corps with these officers respectively in command. General +Fremont considering the designation below his rank asked to be +relieved from the service, and his corps was assigned to General +Rufus King, and soon after to General Sigel. General Pope took +the field on the 14th of July with a formidable force. General +McClellan was still within twenty-five miles of Richmond, and with +Pope in front of Washington, the Confederate authorities were at +a standstill and could not tell which way to advance with hope of +success or even with safety. + +If the army of Lee should move towards Washington he might be +compelled to fight General Pope protected by the extensive +fortifications on the south side of the Potomac, leaving Richmond +at the same time uncovered, with the possibility that McClellan, +re-enforced by Burnside's corps which lay at Fortress Monroe, would +renew his attack with an army of ninety thousand men. But as soon +as the Confederates ascertained that McClellan was ordered back to +the Potomac, they saw their opportunity and made haste to attack +Pope. Fault was found with the slowness of McClellan's movements. +His judgment as a military man was decidedly against the transfer +of his army from the point it occupied near Richmond, and it cannot +be said that he obeyed the distasteful order with the alacrity with +which he would have responded to one that agreed with his own +judgment. + + AGGRESSIVE COURSE OF THE CONFEDERATES. + +No reason can be assigned why if the Army of the Potomac was to be +brought back in front of Washington it should not have been +transferred in season to re-enforce General Pope and give a crushing +blow to Lee. General McClellan was directed on the third day of +August to withdraw his whole army to Acquia Creek, and as General +Halleck declares, "in order to make the movement as rapidly as +possible General McClellan was authorized to assume control of all +the vessels in the James River and Chesapeake Bay, of which there +was then a vast fleet." General McClellan did not begin the +evacuation of Harrison's Landing until the 14th of August--eleven +days after it was ordered. General Burnside's corps was ordered +on the 1st of August to move from Newport News to Acquia Creek, +and an estimate of the transportation facilities at command of +General McClellan, may be formed from the fact that Burnside's +whole corps reached their destination in forty-eight hours. General +Lee knew at once by this movement that it was not the design to +attack Richmond, and he made haste to throw his army on Pope before +the slow moving army from Harrison's Landing could re-enforce him. +General McClellan did not himself reach Acquia Creek until the 24th +of August. The disasters sustained by General Pope in the month +of August could not have occurred if the forces of the Union, +readily at command, had been brought seasonably to his aid. It +was at this crisis that the unfortunate movements were made, the +full responsibility for which, perhaps the exact character of which, +may never be determined, but the sorrowful result of which was that +the Union forces, much larger in the aggregate than Lee's, were +divided and continually outnumbered on the field of battle. + +Flushed with success the Confederate authorities pushed their +fortunes with great boldness. General Bragg invaded Kentucky with +a large army and General Lee prepared to invade Pennsylvania. The +cruel defeat of General Pope disabled him for the time as a commander, +and the Administration, fearing for the safety of Washington, and +yielding somewhat to the obvious wishes of the soldiers, ordered +General McClellan on September 2 to assume command of all troops +for the defense of the Capital. General Lee avoiding the fortifications +of Washington, passed over to Maryland, and prepared to invade +Pennsylvania with a force formidable in numbers and with the added +strength of a supreme confidence in its invincibility. General +McClellan moved promptly westward to cut off Lee's progress northward. +After preliminary engagements the main battle of Antietam was fought +on the 17th of September, resulting in a Union victory. Lee was +severely repulsed and retreated across the Potomac. + +General McClellan fought the battle of Antietam under extraordinary +embarrassment caused by the surrender of Harper's Ferry to the +Confederates on the 13th, with a loss to the Union army of more +than twelve thousand men. Could he have had the advantage of this +force on the battle-field, under a competent commander, at the +critical moment, his victory over Lee might have been still more +decisive. His success however was of overwhelming importance to +the National Government and put a stop to an invasion of Pennsylvania +which might have been disastrous in the extreme. He was blamed +severely, perhaps unjustly, for not following Lee on his retreat +and reaping the fruits of his victory. He had the misfortune to +fall into a controversy once more with the authorities at Washington. +After a correspondence with the War Department he was peremptorily +ordered by the General-in-Chief Halleck on the 6th of October in +these words: "The President directs that you cross the Potomac +and give battle to the enemy or drive him south. Your army must +move now while the roads are good. . . . I am directed to add that +the Secretary of War and the General-in-Chief fully concur with +the President in these instructions." The order was not promptly +obeyed. The Army of the Potomac--as those who spoke for General +McClellan maintained--had been for six months engaged in a laborious +campaign in which they had fought many battles and experienced much +hardship. They needed rest, recruitment, clothes, shoes, and a +general supply of war material before setting out on what would +prove a winter march. The authorities at Washington asserted, and +apparently proved on the testimony of Quartermaster-General Meigs, +a most accomplished, able, and honorable officer, that the Army of +the Potomac, when it received its first orders to move in October, +was thoroughly and completely equipped. General McClellan thought +however that if intrusted with the command of the army he should +be allowed to direct its movements. He crossed the Potomac near +Harper's Ferry in the last week of October, and began an advance +through Virginia which effectually covered Washington. He had +reached Warrenton, and, before the plan of his campaign was developed, +received at midnight, on the 7th of November, a direct order from +President Lincoln to "surrender the command of the army to General +Burnside, and to report himself immediately at Trenton, the capital +of New Jersey." + + GENERAL McCLELLAN'S MILITARY CAREER. + +The reasons for this sudden and peremptory order were not given, +and if expressed would probably have been only an assertion of the +utter impossibility that the War Department and General McClellan +should harmoniously co-operate in the great military movements +which devolved upon the Army of the Potomac. But the time of +removal was not opportunely selected by the Administration. After +General McClellan's failure on the Peninsula, a large proportion +of the Northern people clamored for his deposition from command, +and it would have been quietly acquiesced in by all. At the end +of those disastrous days when he was falling back on the line of +the James River, General McClellan had telegraphed the Secretary +of War "If I save this army now, I tell you plainly that I owe no +thanks to you or to any persons in Washington. You have done your +best to sacrifice this army." Perhaps no such dispatch was ever +before sent by a military officer to the Commander-in-Chief of the +army--to the ruler of the nation. In any other country it would +have been followed with instant cashiering. Mr. Lincoln, with his +great magnanimity, had however condoned the offense, and after the +defeat of Pope the Administration had enlarged the command of +McClellan and trusted the fortunes of the country to his generalship. +The trust had not been in vain. He had rolled back the tide of +invasion by a great battle in which for the first time the army of +Lee had been beaten. He was now marching forward with his army +strengthened for another conflict, and without explanation to the +country or to himself was deprived of his command. A large part +of the people and of the public press and an overwhelming majority +in the army were dissatisfied with the act, and believed that it +would entail evil consequences. + +This ended the military career of General McClellan which throughout +its whole period had been a subject of constant discussion--a +discussion which has not yet closed. The opinion of a majority of +intelligent observers, both civil and military, is that he was a +man of high professional training, admirably skilled in the science +of war, capable of commanding a large army with success, but at +the same time not original in plan, not fertile in resource, and +lacking the energy, the alertness, the daring, the readiness to +take great risks for great ends, which distinguish the military +leaders of the world. For a commander of armies, in an offensive +campaign, his caution was too largely developed. He possessed in +too great a degree what the French term the _defensive instinct of +the engineer_, and was apparently incapable of doing from his own +volition what he did so well on the bloody field of Antietam, when +under the pressure of an overwhelming necessity. + +General Burnside assumed the command with diffidence. After a +consultation with General Halleck he moved down the Rappahannock +opposite Fredericksburg where he confronted General Lee's army on +the 13th of December, and made an attack upon it under great +disadvantages and with the legitimate result of a great defeat. +The total loss of killed and wounded of the Union army exceeded +ten thousand men. The public mind was deeply affected throughout +the North by this untoward event. All the prestige which Lee had +lost at Antietam had been regained, all the advantage we had secured +on that field was sacrificed by the disaster on the still bloodier +field of Fredericksburg. It added immeasurably to the gloom of a +gloomy winter, and in the rank and file of the army it caused a +dissatisfaction somewhat akin to mutiny. So pronounced did this +feeling become and so plainly was it manifested that the subject +attracted the attention of Congress and led to some results which, +despite the seriousness of the situation, were irresistibly amusing. + +On the 23d of January Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts offered a somewhat +extraordinary resolution,--instructing the Committee on the Conduct +of the War to "inquire whether Major-General Burnside has since +the battle of Fredericksburg formed any plans for the movement of +the Army of the Potomac or any portion of the same, and if so +whether any subordinate generals of said army have written to or +visited Washington, to oppose or interfere with the execution of +such movements, and whether such proposed movements have been +arrested or interfered with, and if so by what authority." The +consideration of the resolution was postponed under the rule, and +three days later it was called up by Mr. Anthony of Rhode Island +and its adoption urged "with the view of finding out whether officers +were coming up here from the Army of the Potomac to interfere with +the plans of General Burnside." There was indeed no doubt that +some of the general officers connected with the army had been in +Washington, and confidentially informed the President of the +dispirited and depressed condition of the whole force. + + GENERAL BURNSIDE AND GENERAL HOOKER. + +General Burnside's character was one of great frankness, truth, +and fidelity. He was full of courage and of manliness, and he +conceived from circumstances within his knowledge, that certain +officers in his command were gradually undermining and destroying +him in the confidence of the army and of the public. He had not +desired the position to which the President called him as the +successor of General McClellan. He did not feel himself indeed +quite competent to the task of commanding an army of one hundred +thousand men. But there as in every other position in life he +would try to do his best. He failed and failed decisively. It +would probably have been wise for him to resign his command +immediately after the defeat at Fredericksburg. On January 23, +the Friday before the Senate resolution was adopted, General +Burnside, highly incensed by the injury which he thought had been +done him, wrote an order peremptorily "dismissing, subject to the +approval of the President, Major-General Joseph E. Hooker from the +Army of the United States, for having been guilty of unjust and +unnecessary criticism of his superior officers, and for having by +the general tone of his conversation endeavored to create distrust +in the minds of officers who have associated with him, and for +having habitually spoken in disparaging terms of other officers." +The order declared that General Hooker was dismissed "as a man +unfit to hold an important commission during a crisis like the +present when so much patience, charity, confidence, consideration, +and patriotism is due from every person in the field." The same +order dismissed Brigadier-General John Newton and Brigadier-General +John Cochrane for going to the President with criticisms on the +plans of the commanding officer, and relieved Major-General William +B. Franklin, Major-General W. F. Smith, Brigadier-General Sturgis +and several others from further service in the Army of the Potomac. + +The outcome of this extraordinary proceeding was very singular. +General Burnside took the order, before its publication, to the +President who instead of approving it, very good-naturedly found +a command for the General in the West, and on the very day that +the Senate passed the resolution of inquiry, two orders were read +at the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac,--one from General +Burnside announcing that Major-General Joseph E. Hooker was assigned +to the command of the Army of the Potomac and asking the army to +"give to the brave and skillful General, who is now to command you, +your full and cordial support and co-operation;" the other from +General Hooker assuming command of the Army of the Potomac by +direction of the President and conveying to the late commander, +General Burnside, "the most cordial good wishes of the whole army." + +In the South-West where General Grant, General Sherman, and General +Rosecrans were stubbornly contesting the ground, no decisive results +were attained. The army went into winter quarters, with a general +feeling of discouragement pervading the country. A substantial +advantage was gained by General Buell's army in driving Bragg out +of Kentucky, and a very signal and helpful encouragement came to +the Government from the fact that the public manifestations in +Kentucky were decisively adverse to the Confederates, and that +Lee's army in Maryland met no welcome from any portion of the +population. General McClellan's army was cheered everywhere in +Maryland as it marched to the field of Antietam; and as Bragg +retreated through the mountain sections of Kentucky his stragglers +were fired upon by the people, and the women along the route +upbraided the officers with bitter maledictions. Perhaps the +feature of the two invasions most discouraging to the Confederates +was the condition of the popular mind which they found in the Border +States. They had expected to arouse fresh revolt, but they met a +people tired of conflict and longing for repose under the flag of +the Nation. + +Congress felt that the situation was one of uncertainty if not of +positive adversity. They did not however abate one jot or tittle +of earnest effort in providing for a renewal of the contest in the +ensuing spring. They appropriated some seven hundred and forty +millions of dollars for the army and some seventy-five millions +for the navy, and they took the very decisive step of authorizing +"the President to enroll, arm, equip, and receive into the land +and naval service of the United States such number of volunteers +of African descent as he may deem useful to suppress the present +Rebellion for such term of service as he may prescribe, not exceeding +five years." The enactment of this bill was angrily resisted by +the Democratic party and by the Union men of the Border States. +But the Republicans were able to consolidate their ranks in support +of it. In the popular opinion it was a radical measure, and therein +lay its chief merit. Aside from the substantial strength which +the accession of these colored men to the ranks would give to the +Union army, was the moral effect which would be produced on the +minds of Southern men by the open demonstration that the President +did not regard the Proclamation of Emancipation as _brutum fulmen_, +but intended to enforce it by turning the strong arm of the slave +against the person of the master. It was a policy that required +great moral courage, and it was abundantly rewarded by successful +results. It signalized to the whole world the depth of the +earnestness with which the Administration was defending the Union, +and the desperate extent to which the contest would be carried +before American nationality should be surrendered. The measure +had long been demanded by the aggressive sentiment of the North, +and its enactment was hailed by the mass of people in the Loyal +States as a great step forward. + + SUSPENSION OF HABEAS CORPUS. + +A subject of striking interest at this session of Congress was the +passage of the "Act relating to _habeas corpus_, and regulating +judicial proceedings in certain cases." The President had ordered +for the public safety, and as an act necessary to the successful +prosecution of the war, the arrest and confinement of certain +persons charged with disloyal practices. No punishment was attempted +or designed except that of confinement in a military fortress of +the United States. It became a matter of argument not only in +Congress but throughout the country, whether the President was +authorized by the Constitution to suspend the writ of _habeas +corpus_. In order to set the question at rest it was now proposed +to pass an Act of indemnity for past acts to all officers engaged +in making arrests, and also to confirm to the President by law the +right which he had of his own power been exercising. The bill +declared that "during the present Rebellion the President of the +United States, whenever in his judgment the public safety may +require it, is authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of +_habeas corpus_ in any case throughout the United States or any +part thereof; and wherever the said writ shall be suspended no +military or other officer shall be compelled, in answer to any writ +of _habeas corpus_, to return the body of any person or persons +detained by him by authority of the President." + +The bill was stubbornly resisted by the Democratic party, and after +its passage by the House thirty-six Democratic representatives +asked leave to enter upon the Journal a solemn protest against its +enactment. They recited at length their grounds of objection, the +principal of which was "the giving to the President the right to +suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_ throughout the limits of the +United States, whereas by the Constitution the power to suspend +the privilege of that writ is confided to the discretion of Congress +alone and is limited to the place threatened by the dangers of +invasion or insurrection," and also because "the bill purports to +confirm and make valid by act of Congress arrests and imprisonments +which were not only not warranted by the Constitution of the United +States but were in palpable violation of its express prohibitions." +Mr. Thaddeus Stevens peremptorily moved to lay the request on the +table, and on a call of the ayes and noes the motion prevailed by +a vote of 75 to 41. The division in the House by this time amounted +to a strict line, on one side of which was the war party and on +the other side the anti-war party. + +The crowning achievement of the session in aid of the Union was +the passage of an "Act for enrolling and calling out the National +forces and for other purposes." By its terms all able-bodied +citizens of the United States between the ages of twenty and forty- +five years, with a few exemptions which were explicitly stated, +were declared to "constitute the National forces and shall be +employed to perform military duty in the service of the United +States when called on by the President for that purpose." Volunteering +was not to be relied upon as the sole means of recruiting the army, +but the entire population within the arms-bearing age was now to +be devoted to the contest. Taken in connection with other legislation +already adverted to--the enormous appropriations for the forthcoming +campaign, the organization of African regiments, the suspension of +the writ of _habeas corpus_ at the President's discretion--this +last measure was the conclusive proof of the serious determination +with which Congress and the people would continue the contest. +The spirit with which the President and Congress proceeded in that +depressing and depressed period proved invaluable to the country. +The situation had so many elements of a discouraging character that +the slightest hesitation or faltering among those controlling the +administration of the Government would have been followed by distrust +and dismay among the people. + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +The President's Border-State Policy.--Loyal Government erected in +Virginia.--Recognized by Congress and Senators admitted.--Desire +for a New State.--The Long Dissatisfaction of the People of Western +Virginia.--The Character of the People and of their Section.--Their +Opportunity had come.--Organization of the Pierpont Government.-- +State Convention and Constitution.--Application to Congress for +Admission.--Anti-slavery Amendment.--Senate Debate: Sumner, Wade, +Powell, Willey, and Others.--House Debate: Stevens, Conway, Bingham, +Segar.--Passage of Bill in Both Branches.--Heavy Blow to the Old +State.--Her Claims deserve Consideration.--Should be treated as +generously at least as Mexico. + +The great importance attached by Mr. Lincoln to the preservation +of Loyalty in the line of slave States which bordered upon the free +States was everywhere recognized. As Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, +and Missouri had been promptly placed under the control of governments +friendly to the Union, there remained of the States in rebellion +only Virginia with territory adjacent to the Loyal States. Virginia +bordered on the Ohio River for two hundred and fifty miles; she +was adjacent to Pennsylvania for a distance of one hundred and +twenty miles, half on the southern, half on the western line of +that State. Her extreme point stretched to the northward of +Pittsburg, and was within twenty-five miles of the parallel of +latitude that marks the southern boundary of New England. The +continued exercise of even a nominal jurisdiction so far North, by +the State which contained the capital of the Rebel Confederacy, +would be a serious impeachment of the power of the National +Government, and would detract from its respect at home and its +prestige abroad. But the National Government was of itself capable +only of enforcing military occupation and proclaiming the jurisdiction +of the sword. What the President desired was the establishment of +civil government by a loyal people, with the reign of law and order +everywhere recognized. Happily the disposition of the inhabitants +was in harmony with the wishes of the Administration and the +necessities of the Union. + +After the adoption of the Secession Ordinance by the Virginia +Convention on the 17th of April, the loyal people of the Western +section of the State were prompt to act. As early as the 13th of +May--a fortnight before the day appointed for the popular vote on +the Secession Ordinance in Virginia--five hundred staunch Union +men came together in a Convention at Wheeling, denounced the +Ordinance of Secession and pledged their loyalty to the National +Government and their obedience to its laws. If the Ordinance should +be approved by the popular vote of Virginia, this preliminary +conference requested the people in all the counties represented, +to appoint delegates on the fourth day of June to a General Convention +to assemble in Wheeling on the 11th of the same month. These Union- +loving men were energetic and zealous. They realized that with +the secession of Virginia, completed and proclaimed, they must do +one of two things--either proceed at once to organize a State +government which would be faithful to the National Constitution, +or drift helplessly into anarchy and thus contribute to the success +of the rebellion. Their prompt and intelligent action is a remarkable +illustration of the trained and disciplined ability of Americans +for the duties of self-government. + +The members of the Convention which was organized on the 11th of +June were even more determined than those who had assembled the +preceding month. Without delay they declared the State offices of +Virginia vacant because of the treason and disloyalty of those who +had been elected to hold them, and they proceeded to fill them and +form a regular State organization of which Francis H. Pierpont was +appointed the executive head. They did not assume to represent a +mere section of the State, but in the belief that the loyal people +were entitled to speak for the whole State they declared that their +government was the Government of Virginia. This Western movement +was subsequently strengthened by the accession of delegates from +Alexandria and Fairfax Counties in Middle Virginia and from Accomac +and Northampton Counties on the Eastern Shore. Thus organized, +the Government of the State was acknowledged by Congress as the +Government of Virginia and her senators and representatives were +admitted to seats. + +Notwithstanding the compliance with all the outward forms and +requirements, notwithstanding the recognition by Congress of the +new government, it was seen to be essentially and really the +Government of West Virginia. It was only nominally and by construction +the Government of the State of Virginia. It did not represent the +political power or the majority of the people of the entire State. +That power was wielded in aid of the rebellion. The senators and +representatives of Virginia were in the Confederate Congress. The +strength of her people was in the Confederate Army, of which a +distinguished Virginian was the commander. The situation was +anomalous, though the friends of the Union justified the irregularity +of recognizing the framework of government in the hands of loyal +men as the actual civil administration of the State of Virginia. + + CHARACTER OF WEST VIRGINIA. + +The people of the Western section of Virginia realized that the +position was unnatural,--one which they could not sustain by popular +power within the limits of the State they assumed to govern, except +for the protection afforded by the military power of the National +Government. Between the two sections of the State there had long +been serious antagonisms. Indeed from the very origin of the +settlement of West Virginia, which had made but little progress +when the Federal Constitution was adopted, its citizens were in +large degree alienated from the Eastern and older section of the +State. The men of the West were hardy frontiersmen, a majority of +them soldiers of the Revolution and their immediate descendants, +without estates, with little but the honorable record of patriotic +service and their own strong arms, for their fortunes. They had +few slaves. They had their land patents, which were certificates +of patriotic service in the Revolutionary war, and they depended +upon their own labor for a new home in the wilderness. A population +thus originating, a community thus founded, were naturally uncongenial +to the aristocratic element of the Old Dominion. They had no trade +relations, no social intercourse, with the tide-water section of +the State. Formidable mountain ranges separated the two sections, +and the inhabitants saw little of each other. The business interests +of the Western region led the people to the Valley of the Ohio and +not to the shores of the Chesapeake. The waters of the Monongahela +connected them with Pennsylvania and carried them to Pittsburg. +All the rivers of the western slope flowed into the Ohio and gave +to the people the markets of Cincinnati and Louisville. Their +commercial intercourse depended on the navigation of Western waters, +and a far larger number had visited St. Louis and New Orleans than +had ever seen Richmond or Norfolk. The West-Virginians were aware +of the splendid resources of their section and were constantly +irritated by the neglect of the parent State to aid in their +development. They enjoyed a climate as genial as that of the +Italians who dwell on the slopes of the Apennines; they had forests +more valuable than those that skirt the upper Rhine; they had +mineral wealth as great as that which has given England her precedence +in the manufacturing progress of the world. They were anxious for +self-government. Their trustworthy senator, Waitman T. Willey, +declared that the people west of the Alleghany range had for sixty +years "desired separation." The two sections, he said, had been +time and again on the eve of an outbreak and the Western people +could with difficulty be held back from insurrection. Criminations +and recriminations had been exchanged at every session of the +Legislature for forty years and threats of violence had been hurled +by one section at the other. + +The opportunity for a new State had now come. Its organization +and admission to the Union would complete the chain of loyal +Commonwealths on the south side of Mason and Dixon's line, and +would drive back the jurisdiction of rebellious Virginia beyond +the chain of mountains and interpose that barrier to the progress +of the insurrectionary forces Westward and Northward. The provision +in the Federal Constitution that no new State shall be formed within +the jurisdiction of any other State without the consent of the +Legislature of the State as well as of Congress, had always been +the stumbling-block in the way of West Virginia's independence. +Despite the hostilities and antagonisms of the two populations, +Virginia would insist on retaining this valuable section of country +within her own jurisdiction. But now, by the chances of war, the +same men who desired to create the new State were wielding the +entire political power of Virginia, and they would naturally grant +permission to themselves to erect a State that would be entirely +free from the objectionable jurisdiction which for the time they +represented. They were not slow to avail themselves of their +opportunity. + + ADMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA TO THE UNION. + +The Pierpont Government, as it was now popularly termed, adopted +an Ordinance on the 20th of August, 1861, providing "for the +formation of a new State out of a portion of the territory of this +State." The Ordinance was approved by a vote of the people on the +fourth Thursday of October, and on the 26th of November the Convention +assembled in Wheeling to frame a constitution for the new government. +The work was satisfactorily performed, and on the first Thursday +of April, 1862, the people approved the constitution by a vote fo +18,862 in favor of it with only 514 against it. The work of the +representatives of the projected new State being thus ratified, +the Governor called the Legislature of Virginia together on the +sixth day of May, and on the 13th of the same moth that body gave +its consent, with due regularity, to "the formation of a new State +within the jurisdiction of the said State of Virginia." A fortnight +later, on the 28th of May, Senator Willey introduced the subject +in Congress by presenting a memorial from the Legislature of Virginia +together with a certified copy of the proceedings of the Constitutional +Convention and the vote of the people. + +The constitution was referred to the Committee on Territories and +a bill favorable to admission was promptly reported by Senator Wade +of Ohio. The measure was discussed at different periods, largely +with reference to the effect it would have upon the institution of +slavery, and Congress insisted upon inserting a provision that "the +children of slaves, born in the State after the fourth day of July, +1863, shall be free; all slaves within the said State who shall at +that time be under the age of ten years shall be free when they +arrive at the age of twenty-one years; all slaves over ten and +under twenty-one shall be free at the age of twenty-five years; +and no slave shall be permitted to come into the State for permanent +residence therein." This condition was to be ratified by the +Convention which framed the constitution, and by the people at an +election held for the purpose, and, upon due certification of the +approval of the condition to the President of the United States, +he was authorized to issue his proclamation declaring West Virginia +to be a State of the Union. + +Mr. Sumner was not satisfied with a condition which left West +Virginia with any form of slavery whatever. He said there were +"twelve thousand human beings now held in bondage in that State, +and all who are over a certain age are to be kept so for their +natural lives." He desired to strike out the provision which +permitted this and to insert on in lieu thereof, declaring that +"within the limits of the said State there shall be neither slavery +nor involuntary servitude otherwise than in the punishment of crime +whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." Mr. Sumner's +amendment was opposed by some of the most radical anti-slavery men +in the Senate, notably by Collamer and Foot of Vermont, by Wade of +Ohio, and by Howe of Wisconsin. They believed that the convictions +of the people of West Virginia had developed to the point embodied +in the bill, and that to attempt the immediate extirpation of +slavery might lead to re-action and possibly to the rejection of +the constitution. Mr. Sumner's amendment was therefore defeated +by 24 votes against 11. Of the 24 votes 17 were given by Republican +senators. + +Mr. Powell of Kentucky vigorously opposed the bill in all its parts. +He contended that "if the cities of New York and Brooklyn, with +the counties in which they are located, were to get up a little +bogus Legislature and say they were the State of New York, and ask +to be admitted and cut off from the rest of the State, I would just +as soon vote for their admission as to vote for the pending bill." +No senator, he said, could pretend to claim that "even a third part +of the people of Virginia have ever had any thing to do with +rendering their assent to the making of this new State within the +territorial limits of that ancient Commonwealth." He declared this +to be "a dangerous precedent which overthrows the Constitution and +may be fraught with direful consequences." "Out of the one hundred +and sixty counties that compose the State of Virginia," he continued, +"less than one-fourth have assumed to act for the entire State; +and even within the boundaries of the new State more than half the +voters have declined to take part in the elections." + +Mr. Willey argued that the Legislature represented the almost +unanimous will of all the loyal people of West Virginia. He said +that "besides the 19,000 votes cast, there were 10,100 men absent +in the Union army, and that, the conclusion being foregone, the +people had not been careful to come out to vote, knowing that the +constitution would be overwhelmingly adopted." On the 14th of +July, three days before Congress adjourned, the bill passed the +Senate by a vote of 23 to 17. Mr. Rice of Minnesota was the only +Democrat who favored the admission of the new State. The other +Democratic senators voted against it. Mr. Chandler and Mr. Howard +of Michigan voted in the negative because the State had voluntarily +done nothing towards providing for the emancipation of slaves; Mr. +Sumner and Mr. Wilson, because the State had rejected the anti- +slavery amendment; Mr. Trumbull and Mr. Cowan, because of the +irregularity of the whole proceeding. + + ADMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA TO THE UNION. + +The bill was not considered in the House until the next session. +It was taken up on the 9th of December and was vigorously attacked +by Mr. Conway of Kansas. He questioned the validity of the Pierpont +Government and asked whether the law which gave him his warrant of +authority had come from "a mob or from a mass-meeting." He said +he had "serious reason to believe that it is the intention of the +President to encourage the formation of State organizations in all +the seceded States, and that a few individuals are to assume State +powers wherever a military encampment can be effected in any of +the rebellious districts." Mr. Conway denounced this scheme as +"utterly and flagrantly unconstitutional, as radically revolutionary +in character and deserving the reprobation of every loyal citizen." +It aimed, he said, at "an utter subversion of our constitutional +system and will consolidate all power in the hands of the Executive." +He was answered with spirit by Mr. Colfax of Indiana, who reviewed +the successive steps by which the legality of the Virginia government +had been recognized by the President and by all the departments of +the executive government. He argued that West Virginia had taken +every step regularly and complied with every requirement of the +Constitution. + +Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky said the Wheeling government could be +regarded as the government of the whole State of Virginia "only by +a mere fiction. We _know_ the fact to be otherwise." He said it +was the party applying for admission that consented to the admission, +and that was the whole of it. When the war should cease and the +National authority should be re-established he wanted the Union as +it was. This would be "a new-made Union--the old majestic body +cut and slashed by passion, by war, coming to form another government, +another Union. The Constitution gives us no power to do what we +are asked to do." Mr. Maynard said there were "two governors and +two Legislatures assuming authority over Virginia simultaneously. +The question here is which shall the Government of the United States +recognize as the true and lawful Legislature of Virginia?" He +contended that it had already been settled, by the admission of +members of both branches of Congress under the Pierpont Government. +Mr. Dawes affirmed that "nobody has given his consent to the division +of the State of Virginia and the erection of a new State who does +not reside within the new State itself." He contended therefore +that "this bill does not comply with the spirit of the Constitution. +If the remaining portions of Virginia are under duress while this +consent is given, it is a mere mockery of the Constitution." Mr. +Brown of Virginia, from that part which was to be included in the +new State, corrected Mr. Dawes, but the latter maintained that +while a member of the Legislature "was picked up in Fairfax and +two or three gentlemen in other parts of the State, they protested +themselves that they did not pretend to represent the counties from +which they hailed." + +Mr. Thaddeus Stevens said he did not desire to be understood as +"sharing the delusion that we are admitting West Virginia in +pursuance of any provision of the Constitution." He could "find +no provision justifying it, and the argument in favor of it originates +with those who either honestly entertain an erroneous opinion, or +who desire to justify by a forced construction an act which they +have predetermined to do." He maintained that it was "but mockery +to say that the Legislature of Virginia has ever consented to the +division. Only two hundred thousand out of a million and a quarter +of people have participated in the proceedings." He contended that +"the State of Virginia has a regular organization, and by a large +majority of the people it has changed its relations to the Federal +Government." He knew that this was treason in the individuals who +participated in it; but so far as the State was concerned, it was +a valid act. Our government, he argued, "does not act upon a State. +The State, as a separate distinct body, is the State of a majority +of the people of Virginia, whether rebel or loyal, whether convict +or free men. The majority of the people of Virginia is the State +of Virginia, although individuals have committed treason." "Governor +Pierpont," continued Mr. Stevens, "is an excellent man, and I wish +he were the Governor elected by the people of Virginia. But +according to my principles operating at the present time I can vote +for the admission of West Virginia without any compunctions of +conscience--only with some doubt about the policy of it. None of +the States now in rebellion are entitled to the protection of the +Constitution. These proceedings are in virtue of the laws of war. +We may admit West Virginia as a new State, not by virtue of any +provision of the Constitution but under our absolute power which +the laws of war give us in the circumstances in which we are placed. +I shall vote for this bill upon that theory, and upon that alone. +I will not stultify myself by supposing that we have any warrant +in the Constitution for this proceeding." + + ADMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA TO THE UNION. + +Mr. Bingham of Ohio made an able argument principally devoted to +rebutting the somewhat mischievous ground assumed by Mr. Stevens. +He affirmed that "the minority of the people of the State cannot +be deprived of their rights because the majority have committed +treason." He argued that, the majority of the people of Virginia +having become rebels, the State was in the hands of the loyal +minority, who in that event had a right to administer the laws, +maintain the authority of the State government, and elect a State +Legislature and a Governor, through whom they might call upon the +Federal Government for protection against domestic violence, +according to the express guaranty of the Constitution. "To deny +this proposition," continued Mr. Bingham, "is to say that when the +majority in any State revolt against the laws, the State government +can never be re-organized nor the rights of the minority protected +so long as the majority are in revolt." He contended that the +doctrine he advocated was not a new one, that it was as old as the +Constitution, and he called attention to the remarkable letter of +"The Federalist," addressed by Mr. Madison to the American people +in which "he who is called the author of the Constitution" asked: +"Why may not illicit combinations for purposes of violence be formed +as well by a majority of a State as by a majority of a county or +district of the same State? And if the authority of the State +ought in the latter case to protect the local magistrate, ought +not the Federal authority in the former case to support the State +authority?" + +Mr. Segar, who represented the district including Fortress Monroe, +pleaded very earnestly against the dismemberment of his State and +he argued, as Mr. Powell had argued in the Senate, that there was +no evidence that a majority of the people within the counties which +were to compose the new State had ever given their assent to its +formation. The ordinary vote of those counties he said was 48,000 +while on the new State question the entire vote cast was only +19,000. He named ten counties included in the new State organization +in which not a single vote had been cast on either side of the +question at the special election. Though loyal to the Union and +grieving over the rebellious course of Virginia he begged that this +humiliation might be spared her. "Let there not be two Virginias; +let us remain one and united. Do not break up the rich cluster of +glorious memories and associations which gather over the name and +the history of this ancient and once glorious Commonwealth." + +On the passage of the bill the ayes were 96 and the noes were 55. +The ayes were wholly from the Republican party, though several +prominent Republicans opposed the measure. Almost the entire +Massachusetts delegation voted in the negative, as did also Mr. +Roscoe Conkling, Mr. Conway of Kansas and Mr. Francis Thomas of +Maryland. The wide difference of opinion concerning this act was +not unnatural. But the cause of the Union was aided by the addition +of another loyal commonwealth, and substantial justice was done to +the brave people of the new State who by their loyalty had earned +the right to be freed from the domination which had fretted them +and from the association which was uncongenial to them. + + +To the old State of Virginia the blow was a heavy one. In the +years following the war it added seriously to her financial +embarrassment, and it has in many ways obstructed her prosperity. +As a punitive measure, for the chastening of Virginia, it cannot +be defended. Assuredly there was no ground for distressing Virginia +by penal enactments that did not apply equally to every other State +of the Confederacy. Common justice revolts at the selection of +one man for punishment from eleven who have all been guilty of the +same offense. If punishment had been designed there was equal +reason for stripping Texas of her vast domain and for withdrawing +the numerous land grants which had been generously made by the +National Government to many of the States in rebellion. But Texas +was allowed to emerge from the contest without the forfeiture of +an acre, and Congress, so far from withdrawing the land grants by +which other Southern States were to be enriched, took pains to +renew them in the years succeeding the war. The autonomy of Virginia +alone was disturbed. Upon Virginia alone fell the penalty, which +if due to any was due to all. + + THE PUBLIC DEBT OF VIRGINIA. + +Another consideration is of great weight. An innocent third party +was involved. Virginia owed a large debt, held in great part by +loyal citizens of the North and by subjects of foreign countries. +The burden was already as heavy as she could bear in her entirety, +and dismemberment so crippled her that she could not meet her +obligations. The United States might well have relieved Virginia +and have done justice to her creditors by making some allowance +for the division of her territory. Regarding her only as entitled +to the rights of a public enemy so long as she warred upon the +Union, we may confidently maintain that she is entitled at least +to as just and magnanimous treatment as the National Government +extends to a foreign foe. In our war with Mexico it became our +interest to acquire a large part of the territory owned by that +republic. We had conquered her armies and were in possession of +her capital. She was helpless in our hands. But the high sense +of justice which has always distinguished the United States in her +public policies would not permit the despoilment of Mexico. We +negotiated therefore for the territory needed, and paid for it a +larger price than would have been given by any other nation in the +world. The American Government went still farther. Many of our +citizens held large claims against Mexico, and the failure to pay +them had been one of the causes that precipitated hostilities. +Our government in addition to the money consideration of fifteen +millions of dollars which we paid for territory, agreed to exonerate +Mexico from all demands of our citizens, and to pay them from our +own Treasury. This supplementary agreement cost the National +Treasury nearly four million dollars. + +If the United State were willing to place Virginia on the basis on +which they magnanimously placed Mexico after the conquest of that +Republic, a sufficient allowance would be made to her to compensate +at least for that part of her public debt which might presumptively +be represented by the territory taken from her. If it be said in +answer to such a suggestion that it would be fairer for West Virginia +to assume the proportional obligation thus indicated, the prompt +rejoinder is that in equity her people are not held to such +obligation. The public improvements for which the debt was in +large part incurred had not been so far completed as to benefit +West Virginia when the civil war began,--their advantages being +mainly confined to the Tide-water and Piedmont sections of the +State. There is indeed neither moral nor legal responsibility +resting upon West Virginia for any part of the debt of the old +State. + +In determining the relative obligations of the National Government +and of the government of West Virginia, concerning the debt, it is +of the first importance to remember that the new State was not +primarily organized and admitted to the Union for the benefit of +her own people, but in far larger degree for the benefit of the +people of the whole Union. The organic law would not have been +strained, legal fictions would not have been invented, contradictory +theories would not have been indulged, if a great national interest +had not demanded the creation of West Virginia. If it had not been +apparent that the organization of West Virginia was an advantage +to the loyal cause; if the border-State policy of Mr. Lincoln, so +rigidly adhered to throughout the contest, had not required this +link for the completion of its chain,--the wishes of the people +most directly involved would never have had the slightest attention +from the Congress of the United States. Strong and equitable as +was the case of West Virginia, irritating and undesirable as her +relations to the older State might be, advantageous to the people +as the new government might prove, these considerations would not +of themselves have offered sufficient inducement to engage the +attention of Congress for an hour at that critical period. They +would have been brushed aside and disregarded with that cool +indifference by which all great legislative bodies prove how easy +it is to endure the misery of other people. West Virginia indeed +got only what was equitably due, and what she was entitled to claim +by the natural right of self-government. The war brought good +fortune to her as conspicuously as it brought ill fortune to the +older State from which she was wrenched. West Virginia is to be +congratulated, and her creditable career and untiring enterprise +since she assumed the responsibilities of self-government show how +well she deserved the boon. But the wounds inflicted on the mother +State by her separation will never be healed until Virginia is +relieved from the odium of having been specially selected from the +eleven seceding States for the punishment that struck at once +against her prosperity and against her pride of empire. + +Nor should it be forgotten that the State of Virginia before the +war might well be regarded as the creditor and not the debtor of +the National Government. One of her earliest acts of patriotism as +an independent State was the cession to the General Government of +her superb domain on the north side of the Ohio River, from the +sale of which more than one hundred millions of dollars have been +paid into the National Treasury. A suggestive contrast is presented +to-day between the condition of Virginia and the condition of Texas +and Florida. It was the aggressive disunionism of the two latter +States which aided powerfully in dragging Virginia into rebellion. +But for the urgency of the seven original Confederate States, in +which Texas and Florida were numbered, Virginia Loyalists would +have been able to hold their State firm in her National allegiance. +Since the war Texas has traveled the highway to wealth and power, +founded on the ownership of her public lands, of which the National +Government could have deprived her with as little difficulty as was +found in dividing Virginia. Florida has likewise enjoyed general +prosperity, and secured rapid development from the resources of +land which the National Government had generously given her before +the war and of which she was not deprived for her acts of rebellion. +True-hearted Americans rejoice in the prosperity of these States +which adorn the southern border of the Republic; but they cannot +help seeing, and seeing with regret, how differently the ancient +Commonwealth of Virginia has fared at the hands of the National +Government. + + EQUITABLE CONSIDERATIONS INVOLVED. + +If the hurt to Virginia were of a general character, which could +not be specified or defined, her case might be passed over with +the plea of _damnum absque injurid_. But, unfortunately,--or it +may be fortunately,--the detriment to her public credit can be +stated with substantial precision, and can be traced directly to +her despoilment. That took from her the power to pay her debt. +If the harm resulting therefrom were confined to the State and to +the holders of her securities, the National Government might the +more easily disregard the equities of the case. But Virginia's +embarrassment is of wide-spread concern, and injuriously affects +the public credit of other States. Nor can it be said that the +precedent of aiding Virginia could be quoted for aid to every State +that might get into financial trouble. It could be quoted only +for the case--which will perhaps never again occur--where the +National Government shall strip the State of a large and valuable +part of her territory, and thus take from her the ability to meet +her obligations. The precedent might then be quoted, and should +be unhesitatingly followed. + +In the formal and necessarily austere administration of public +affairs there is little room for the interposition of sentiment. +Yet sentiment has its place. We stimulate the ardor of patriotism +by the mere display of a flag which has no material force, but +which is emblematic of all material force, and typifies the glory +of the Nation. We stir the ambition of the living by rearing costly +monuments to the heroic dead. It may surely be pardoned if Americans +shall feel a deep personal interest in the good name and good +fortune of a State so closely identified with the early renown of +the Republic,--a State with whose soil is mingled the dust of those +to whom all States and all generations are debtors,--the Father of +his Country, the author of the Declaration of Independence, the +chief projector of the National Constitution. + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +National Currency and State Bank Currency.--In Competition.--Legal- +tender Bill tended to expand State Bank Circulation.--Secretary +Chase's Recommendation.--Favorably received.--State Bank Circulation, +$150,000,000.--Preliminary Bill to establish National Banks.-- +Fessenden.--Sherman.--Hooper.--National Bank System in 1862.-- +Discussed among the People.--Recommended by the President.--Mr. +Chase urges it.--Bill introduced and discussed in Senate.--Discussion +in the House.--Bill passed.--Hugh McCulloch of Indiana appointed +Comptroller of the Currency.--Amended Bank Act.--To remedy Defects, +Circulation limited to $500,000,000.--National Power.--State Rights. +--Taxation.--Renewed Debate in Senate and House.--Bill passed.-- +Merits of the System.--Former Systems.--First Bank of the United +States.--Charters of United-States banks, 1791-1816.--National +Banks compared with United-States Banks.--One Defective Element.-- +Founded on National Debt. + +The Secretary of the Treasury had not failed to see that a constant +conflict and damaging competition must ensue between the currency +of the Nation and the currency of the State banks. It was the +course of the banks more than any other agency that had discredited +the "demand notes" and demonstrated to the Treasury Department and +to Congress the absolute necessity of imparting the legal-tender +quality to the paper issued by the government. As this paper took +the place of gold and silver in the payment of every obligation, +both corporate and individual,--except duties on imports and interest +on the National debt,--it was made easy for the State banks to +extend their circulation. It was quite practicable for them to +keep a sufficient amount of legal-tender paper in their vaults to +meet all the probable requirements of redemption, and they were +thus tempted to expand their loans and issue their own bills to a +dangerous extent. It was indeed hardly necessary to provide legal- +tender notes to redeem their own bills. One kind of paper money, +to a large proportion of the public, was practically as good as +another. Coin redemption being abandoned, the banks in a certain +sense lost all moral and legal restraint. The enactment of the +Legal-tender Bill had not therefore given the control of the currency +to the government. It had only increased the dangers of inflation +by the stimulus it imparted and the protection it afforded to the +circulation of State bank notes. + + SECRETARY CHASE'S RECOMMENDATION. + +Secretary Chase had grasped the situation earlier than the experienced +financiers who assumed to be his special advisers, and while he +was, in the opinion of unjust critics, completely in the hands of +the State banks, he surprised the country by recommending in his +report of December, 1861, the establishment of a National system +that should give the General Government complete control of the +currency. The State bank circulation in the loyal States he +estimated at $150,000,000. "The whole of it," he regarded as "a +loan without interest from the people to the banks." The secretary +thought "it deserves consideration whether sound policy does not +require that the advantages of this loan be transferred from the +banks, representing the interest of stockholders, to the government +representing the aggregate interest of the whole people." Attention +was called to the fact that "the existing circulation depends on +the laws of thirty-four States and the character of some sixteen +hundred private corporations." It was somewhat startling to learn +that "the circulation is usually furnished in greatest proportion +by institutions of least actual capital and is commonly in the +inverse ratio of solvency." + +The bold and comprehensive recommendation of Mr. Chase was favorably +received by many of the leading men in Congress and by many of the +ablest financiers of the country. The committees of both Senate +and House were well disposed, but preferred time for consultation +and deliberation. The Secretary of the Treasury, with the aid of +Mr. E. G. Spaulding, Mr. Sherman, and Mr. Samuel Hooper, engaged +in the preparation of a bank bill which in due time was submitted +to the Committee of Ways and Means. The committee was at that +moment engaged on the Internal-revenue Bill, the important character +of which absorbed the attention of Congress. The adjustment of +the tariff duties to the excise taxes was also a serious labor +which left no adequate time to mature a bank bill in season for +its consideration at that session. Indeed the committee was not +able to report the bill to the House until the 12th of July, 1862, +when five thousand extra copies were printed for distribution among +the financial institutions of the country. It was deemed wise to +give the people time to consider so important a measure, and with +that end in view all further action was postponed to the next +session. + +Meanwhile the bill was published in the leading papers of the loyal +States and elicited the most diverse opinion. It was however +received with favor by the public. Those interested in the State +banks were at first exceedingly hostile to it. The proposition to +tax their circulation two per cent. in addition to the three per +cent. imposed upon incomes by the new law was considered harsh and +unjust. The object was to compel the retirement of the State bank +circulation. In no other way could a national system be at once +generally instituted. The courts had repeatedly held the authority +of the States to charter banks with power to issue and circulate +notes as money, to be constitutional. Congress could not abridge +this right in any way by direct legislation. Its power to tax was +however undoubted. The friends of the State bank system claimed +that the indirect method of destroying the institution by taxing +its notes out of existence was an arbitrary exercise of questionable +power. + +The advocates of a uniform and stable system of banking to cure +the manifold evils then prevailing, admitted that the prerogative +of the States could not be questioned, but urged that the exercise +of it had invariably increased and often produced the financial +troubles which had afflicted the country in the past. If the States +would not surrender their prerogative, the National Government +would be compelled to exercise its larger prerogative embodied in +the power to tax. The right of the nation to do this had been +asserted by the head of the Treasury under a Democratic administration +some years before. Recognizing as he did the necessity of a reform +in the system of banking, Secretary Guthrie in his report to Congress +in 1855 declared that "if the States shall continue the charter +and multiplication of banks with authority to issue and circulate +notes as money, and fail to apply any adequate remedy to the +increasing evil, and also fail to invest Congress with the necessary +power to prohibit the same, Congress may be justified in the exercise +of the power to levy an excise upon them, and thus render the +authority to issue and circulate them valueless." + + THE SYSTEM OF NATIONAL BANKS. + +During the autumn of 1862 the bank question was subjected to a +thorough discussion among the people. The legal-tender notes had +already become popular, and were evidently preferred by the public +to the notes of local banks. The depression naturally incident to +continued reverses in the field led to the defeat of the Administration +in many of the State elections, but despite the operation of all +adverse causes the general trade of the country was good. The +crops had been abundant and prices were remunerative. All that +had been claimed for the legal-tender bill by its most sanguine +advocates had been realized in the business of the country. The +one disappointment was their failure to keep at par with gold; but +even this, in the general prosperity among the people, did not +create discouragement. The Internal-revenue system had but just +gone into operation, and the only feature embarrassing to the people +was the requirement that the taxes should be paid in the legal- +tender paper of the government. No provision of law could have +operated so powerfully for a system of National banks. The people +were subjected to annoyance and often to expense in exchanging the +notes of their local banks for the government medium. The internal +fiscal machinery of the government evidently required places of +deposit. The tax-collectors could not intrust the funds in their +hands to State banks except at their own risk. The money of the +government was thus liable to loss from the absence of responsible +agencies under the control of National power. The fact that the +bills of State banks were not receivable for taxes tended constantly +to bring them into disrepute. The refusal of the government to +trust its funds in the keeping of the State banks was nothing less +than the requirement of the Sub-treasury Act, but to the popular +apprehension it was a manifestation of distrust which did the banks +great harm. The total revenue of the National Government had before +the war been collected at a few custom-houses on the coast, and +the public had not been generally familiar with the mode of its +safe-keeping. The system of internal taxes now reached the interior, +and the people were made daily witnesses of the fact that the +government would not trust a dollar of its money in the vaults of +a State bank. + +Under the influences thus at work, the friends of the State banks +plainly saw that the National system was growing in favor, and they +began to admit that its creation might facilitate the financial +operations of the country. Many of them were willing to give it +a fair trial. The advocates of the National system constantly +pressed their cause among the people. The five-twenty six per +cent. bonds, into which the legal tenders were convertible, offered, +as they explained, an excellent basis for banking. Their absorption +for that purpose would create not only a market for that class of +securities but inevitably cause them to appreciate in value. The +government would thus be largely benefitted, and its cause would +be strengthened by the silent influence of self-interest which +would certainly be developed by the general distribution of its +bonds as the basis of a national currency. It was also urged that +the existing banks could with great facility and without sacrifice +re-organize under the proposed national law. + +The popular mind having been thus favorably turned towards the +system of national banks, the President specifically approved it +in his message to Congress in December, 1862. Expressing his doubts +"whether a circulation of United-States notes, payable in coin, +and sufficiently large for the wants of the people, can be permanently, +usefully, and safely maintained," Mr. Lincoln asked if there was +"any other mode by which necessary provision for the public wants +can be made, and the great advantage of a safe and uniform currency +secured?" He declared that he knew of none "which promises so +certain results, and is at the same time so unobjectionable, as +the organization of banking associations under a general law of +Congress well guarded in its provisions." Mr. Chase elaborated +his recommendation of the preceding year to the same effect. He +asked that "a tax might be imposed on the notes of existing banks +such as would practically exclude them from circulation." In their +stead the legal-tender notes would be used, but he preferred "a +circulation furnished by the government but issued by banking +associations organized under a general Act of Congress." + +Mr. Chase said "the central idea of the proposed measure is the +establishment of one uniform circulation, of equal value throughout +the country, upon the foundation of national credit combined with +private capital." He suggested that "these associations be entirely +voluntary. Any persons desirous of employing real capital in +sufficient amounts, can, if the plan be adopted, unite together +under proper articles, and having contributed the requisite capital +can invest such part of it, not less than a fixed minimum, in United- +States bonds, and having deposited these bonds with the proper +officer of the United States can receive United-States notes in +such denominations as may be desired, and employ them as money in +discounts and exchanges." As a further inducement, the secretary +said "the stockholders of any existing banks can in like manner +organize under the Act, and transfer, by such degrees as may be +found convenient, the capital of the old to the use of the new +associations. The notes thus put into circulation will be payable +until resumption in United-States notes, and after resumption in +specie, by the association which issues them, on demand, and if +not so paid will be redeemable at the Treasury of the United States +from the proceeds of the bonds pledged in security." The secretary +thought it would be "difficult to conceive of a note circulation +which will combine higher local and general credit than this. +After a few years no other circulation would be used, nor could +the issues of the national circulation be easily increased beyond +the legitimate demands of business. Every dollar of circulation +would represent real capital actually invested in national stocks, +and the total amount issued could at all times be easily and quickly +ascertained from the books of the Treasury." + + SENATE DISCUSSES THE BANKING SYSTEM. + +The bill to carry out these suggestions was introduced in the Senate +on the 26th of January, 1863, by Mr. Sherman, and was reported from +the Finance Committee on the 2d of February. On the 9th the Senate +took it up for consideration. Mr. Sherman advocated the proposed +system in an elaborate argument on several distinct grounds: "The +banks would furnish a market for United-States bonds; they would +absorb the circulation of the State banks gradually and without +harsh measures; they would create a community of interest between +the stockholders of the banks, the people, and the government, +where now there existed a great contrariety of opinion and a great +diversity of interests; adequate safeguards would be established +against counterfeiting; the currency proposed would be uniform and +would take the place of the notes of sixteen hundred banks, differing +in style, and so easily imitated and altered that while notes of +one-sixth of the existing banks had been counterfeited, 1,861 kinds +of imitations were afloat, and 3,039 alterations, in addition to +1,685 spurious notes, in which hardly any care had been taken to +show any resemblance to the genuine." The national banks would be +depositories of public moneys and their notes would be receivable +for taxes. He concluded by declaring that "we cannot maintain our +nationality unless we establish a sound and stable financial system, +and as the basis of it we must have a uniform national currency." +Accordingly he deemed the passage of the pending bill "more important +than any other measure now pending either in Senate or House." + +--Mr. Henderson of Missouri sought to limit the system to banks +with a capital not less then $300,000, and thought "it would be +infinitely better that all the banks should be established in New +York, Philadelphia, Boston, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and such cities +as those." He said "they had had some experience in the West with +banking laws which permitted the organization of banks in out-of- +the-way places, obscure villages, and unknown cross-roads." + +--Mr. Powell of Kentucky, who was most persistent in his advocacy +of a currency based on gold and silver coin, moved to "strike from +the bill the words which prevented the acceptance of the National +bank notes for duties on imports." These duties were payable in +coin in order to secure gold with which to pay the interest on the +public debt. In supporting his amendment, Senator Powell said that +if the bill became a law the fact that they could not be received +for customs would tend to depreciate the notes, and he wanted the +credit of the paper money kept up if the country was to have no +other. His motion was defeated. + +--Mr. Ira Harris of New York secured the adoption of three sections, +to be added at the end of the bill, which would enable State banks +to accept its provisions and become National institutions more +readily and more easily. He said that he was not opposed to a fair +trial of the new system, but he doubted very much whether the banks +of New York could be induced to abandon their State charters. "The +banking system of New York was the best in the world. The banks +enjoyed privileges which they could not be induced to surrender +and the people would be reluctant to trust any others." + +--Mr. John Carlile of West Virginia voted against all amendment +because he wanted the bill to kill itself, which would happen if +it were not improved. He voted against Senator Henderson's amendment +to limit charters to banks with $300,000 capital. If the bill +passed as it came from the Finance Committee there "will be banks +established at every cross-road in the country. The State banks +will be destroyed, and widows and orphans whose all is invested in +the stock of these institutions will be impoverished." + +--Mr. Clark of New Hampshire thought the proposed system might be +improved by providing "that there shall be a visitation on the part +of the States." He thought it would give confidence to the banks +if the States "had the right to know how they stood." + +--Mr. Pomeroy of Kansas thought the right to organize with a capital +as low as $50,000 was a good provision and would "tend to popularize +and extend the National banks throughout the country." + + SENATE DISCUSSES THE BANKING SYSTEM. + +--Mr. Howard of Michigan opposed the bill because he thought its +effect would be to "wage a very unnecessary and dangerous war upon +the State institutions," and also because he deplored "the contest +which will probably arise out of it in our local politics." + +--Mr. Garrett Davis, avowing himself an advocate of the old United- +States Bank which President Jackson destroyed, was opposed to the +pending bill because "it does not provide for the convertibility +of its paper into coin." The "system is based on government bonds, +and they sold in New York yesterday at a discount of fifty-three +percent." + +--Mr. Chandler of Michigan corrected Mr. Davis. "Gold sold at +fifty-three per cent. premium, but that did not mean a discount of +fifty-three per cent. on the bonds." + +--Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts pertinently asked Mr. Davis "if the +credit of the government is not good enough, where is there left +in the country any thing good enough to bank on? If the government +goes down, there is not a considerable bank in America that does +not go down with it." + +--Mr. Doolittle of Wisconsin regarded it as "a necessity that the +government should take control of the paper currency of the country. +In some way we must restrain the issues of State banks. If we +permit these banks to flood the channels of circulation, we destroy +ourselves." + +--Mr. Collamer of Vermont denied the right to tax the State banks +out of existence, and to establish corporations in the State and +Territories. Independently of the power of visitation by those +States and Territories, he objected to making the government +responsible for the ultimate redemption of the bills by the securities +deposited. He inquired in what respect the promises of the National +banks would be better than the notes of the government, and why +should they be substituted for them? + +--Mr. Chandler of Michigan claimed that when the whole system was +in operation the government would borrow $300,000,000 at four per +cent. per annum, because, while the bonds deposited with the banks +would draw six per cent., the tax would bring back two per cent. +He did not know how far the bill would go, but "all that is in it +is good." + +The bill came to a vote in the Senate on the 12th of February, and +narrowly escaped defeat. The yeas were twenty-three, the nays +twenty-one. The senators from Oregon, Nesmith and Harding, were +the only Democrats who voted in the affirmative. Nine Republican +senators voted against it. + +The House of Representatives received the bill on the 19th. Mr. +Spaulding of New York advocated it very earnestly. He stated that +its principle was based on the free banking law of New York, which +had been in successful operation since 1838. He dwelt upon the +national character of the proposed notes, on their use in payment +of taxes, and on the advantage to accrue from the exemption of the +banking associations from State and United-States taxation. + +--Mr. Fenton of New York expressed the belief that the measure +would aid in extricating the government from the financial difficulties +in which it was involved, and pronounced it "one of the most potent +means by which the representatives could strengthen the government +and the people in the struggle to put down the enemies of the +country, and give hope and courage to the hearts of those brave +men who have gone forth to battle." Considerable opposition was +offered, chiefly on details and by amendments. But the House +sustained the measure as it came from the Senate, and passed it on +the 20th of February, by the close vote of 78 to 64, on the call +of the ayes and noes. It was approved by the President on the 25th. + +The Currency Bureau of the Treasury Department provided for in the +National Banking Act was organized by the appointment of Hugh +McCulloch, who was then at the head of one of the largest State +banking institutions in Indiana. He was recognized as possessing +executive capacity and large experience in financial affairs. He +had originally been opposed, as were many others interested in +State banks, to the National Banking Act, but, as he says, the more +he examined "the system" the more it "grew into favor with him day +by day." This appears to have been the result with all who gave +the question a fair and candid consideration, even when biased by +personal interests or political prejudice. The law was defective +in many particulars and some of its provisions made it difficult +for existing State banks to accept charters under it. The first +annual report of the comptroller of the currency shows that by Nov. +28, 1863, 134 banks had been organized under the Act. Fourteen of +these were in the New-England States, sixteen in New York, twenty +in Pennsylvania, twenty in Indiana, thirty-eight in Ohio; New +Jersey, the District of Columbia, and Kentucky each had one; Illinois +seven, Iowa six, Michigan and Wisconsin four each, and Missouri +two. Their total capital was $7,184,715. The bonds deposited with +the Treasurer of the United States were $3,925,275, their deposits +$7,467,059, and their loans and discounts $5,413,963. + + THE AMENDED BANK BILL OF 1864. + +In his report Mr. McCulloch pointed out defects of the law which +had become apparent by the test of experience, and made many +suggestions for its improvement. The whole subject was taken into +consideration by the Ways and Means Committee of the House at the +first session of the Thirty-eighth Congress. An amended bill, +which repealed the Act of February 25, 1863, and supplied its place, +was reported from the committee March 14, 1864. It was carefully +considered in the committee of the whole, section by section, and +against the protest of its advocates an amendment was ingrafted +upon it giving to the States the right to impose taxes on the bank +shares for State and municipal purposes to the same degree that +taxes were imposed upon the property of other moneyed corporations. +This bill was reported to the House from the committee of the whole +on the 16th of April, when Mr. Stevens moved a substitute in which +the tax amendment was left out. The substitute was defeated, and +thereupon the immediate friends of the bill united with the opposition +and laid the whole subject on the table. Mr. Stevens was totally +opposed to the exercise of any power whatever by the States over +banks established by National authority. + +In the height of the war excitement, when men's minds were inflamed +by a just resentment toward the Southern theory of States' rights, +there was a tendency to go to extremes in the other direction. +Some of the Republican leaders, notably Mr. Stevens, were very +radical in their views in this respect, and would scarcely have +hesitated at the abolition of all the checks upon Federal power +which the Constitution wisely gives to the States. But apart from +considerations of this character it was believed by many of the +friends of the national banking system that the imposition of State +taxes, in addition to those to be imposed by the General Government, +would defeat the object of the bill. Others in their anxiety to +strengthen the National Government were anxious to reserve to it +exclusively the largest possible scope of taxation. It soon became +apparent however that some concession must be made to those of both +political parties who believed that the States could not constitutionally +be deprived of the right to levy uniform taxes on property within +their jurisdiction. To meet the views of these gentlemen the Ways +and Means Committee reported a bill with a provision intended to +reconcile all differences of opinion. This gave to the State the +power to tax the capital stock, circulation, dividends, or business +of national banks at no higher rate than was imposed upon the same +amount of moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of +the State, provided no tax was imposed upon that part of the capital +invested in United-States bonds. This was adopted by a vote of 70 +to 60 on the 18th of April, 1864. + +The opposition to the bill in all other respects save this question +of taxation was confined mainly to the Democratic members of the +House. The measure was by this time regarded favorably by all +Republicans. It was considered to be a part of the Administration +policy, and one that would contribute largely to strengthen the +government in its struggle. Its success thus far had demonstrated +that under a perfected law it would soon become the general and +popular banking system of the country. It was daily growing in +favor with business men, and there was no longer doubt that a large +proportion of the surplus capital of the nation would be invested +in United-States bonds and in the stock of National banks. In the +debate in the House which was prolonged, two speeches of particular +interest were elicited. Mr. James Brooks of New York, as the leader +of the Democratic minority on the question, ably summarized the +objections of his party. He was a man of education and great +intelligence. He had traveled extensively and was a close observer. +He had been a writer for the metropolitan press for many years, +and was familiar with the political and financial history of the +country from an early period. He was an effective speaker. On +the occasion he was in large part supplied with facts by Mr. James +Gallatin, who as president of one of the principal banks of New- +York City had unsuccessfully attempted to dictate the financial +policy of the government in 1861. Mr. Gallatin had conceived an +intense hostility to Mr. Chase, and inspired Mr. Brooks to make in +the course of the debate on the bank bill some unfounded charges +against the Secretary. The speech of Mr. Brooks was a general +attack upon the financial policy of the administration directed +principally against the Legal-tender Act, and at the same time a +qualified defense of the State bank system. He asserted that the +government could have successfully carried on the war upon a specie +basis, but his authority for this claim was Mr. Gallatin. Mr. +Samuel Hooper at the close of the debate defended the financial +policy of the Administration and disposed of the argument of Mr. +Brooks. He asserted that Mr. Gallatin had induced the banks of +New-York City on December 30, 1861, to suspend specie payments, +and briefly related his presumptuous attempt to dictate to the +Secretary of the Treasury the financial policy of the Nation. He +declared that the issue of legal-tender notes was the only resource +left to the government, and "was wise as well as necessary." In +his review of the financial history of the country he dealt +unsparingly with the old State-bank system, and exposed in a masterly +manner its inherent defects even in those States where the greatest +care had been exercised by the Legislative power to hedge it about +with limitations. + + THE AMENDED BANK BILL OF 1864. + +In the Senate the debate on the House bill was chiefly confined to +amendments proposed by the Finance Committee. The provision +incorporated by the House in regard to taxation was amplified so +as to make it more specific and definite. Considerable opposition +was shown to this action, but Mr. Fessenden, chairman of Finance, +defended the recommendation of his committee and successfully +replied to the arguments against it. An efforts was made by Senators +Doolittle, Henderson, and Trumbull on the Republican side to prevent +the establishment of any more banks under this law than were in +existence in May, 1864, unless they redeemed their notes in coin. +The banks then organized, possessed an aggregate capital of about +$36,000,000, with bonds deposited to secure circulation to the +extent of a little more than $33,000,000. The argument was that +this addition to the legal-tender notes already in circulation +supplied an ample currency for the business of the country. The +issue of the whole $300,000,000 of National bank notes authorized +by the bill, these senators claimed, would be such an expansion of +the currency as would sink its value to almost nothing. They +proposed also to compel the State banks to retire their circulation, +but permitted them to organize on the specie basis as National +banks. Mr. John P. Hale of New Hampshire thought that "it would +be much simpler to incorporate in the bill a provision abolishing +all such instruments as had previously been known as State +constitutions." Senator Collamer proposed to require the banks to +retain in their vaults one-fourth of all the gold they received as +interest on their bonds deposited to secure circulation until the +resumption of specie payments. + +These amendments were voted down, and the bill finally passed the +Senate on the 10th of May by a vote of 30 to 9, ten senators being +absent or not voting. A conference committee of the two Houses +agreed upon the points of difference. The report was adopted and +the bill was approved by the President on the 3d of June, 1864. +By the end of November 584 National banks had been organized, with +an aggregate capital of $108,964,597.28, holding $81,961,450 of +the bonds of the United States to secure a circulation of $65,864,650. +These banks at once became agencies for the sale of the government's +securities, and their officers being usually the men of most +experience in financial affairs in their respective communities, +gave encouragement and confidence to their neighbors who had money +to invest. The sale of government bonds was in this way largely +increased. The National banks thus became at once an effective +aid to the government. By the close of the fiscal year 1864 +$367,602,529 of bonds were disposed of by the banks. During the +fiscal year 1865 bonds to the amount of $335,266,617 were sold over +their counters. On the 1st of October, 1865, there were in existence +1,513 National banks, with an aggregate capital of $395,729,597.83, +with $276,219,950 of bonds deposited with the Treasurer of the +United States to secure circulation. + +Experience has justified the authors and promoters of the national +banking system. Originally the circulation was limited to a total +volume of $300,000,000, apportioned, one-half according to +representative population, and the remainder by the Secretary of +the Treasury among associations with "due regard to the existing +banking capital, resources, and business of the respective States, +Districts, and Territories." Complaint arose that by such limitation +and apportionment injustice was done and monopolies created. After +the war this restriction was removed and banking under the national +system became entirely free. The advantages of uniform circulation +on a basis of undoubted strength and availability have won almost +universal favor among business men and prudent thinkers. The +restoration of the multiform State system, with notes of varying +value and banks of doubtful solvency, would receive no support +among the people. + +The National bank system with all its merits has not escaped serious +opposition. The Bank of the United States, as twice established, +incurred the hostility of the Democratic party,--their two greatest +leaders, Jefferson and Jackson, regarding the creation of such an +institution as not warranted by the Constitution. A persistent +attempt has been made by certain partisans to persuade the people +that the national banks of to-day are as objectionable as those +which encountered serious hostility at earlier periods in our +history. An examination into the constitution of the banks formerly +organized by direct authority of the General Government will show +how wide is the difference between them and the present system of +national banks. It will show that the feature of the earlier banks +which evoked such serious opposition and ultimately destroyed them +is not to be found in the present system and could not be incorporated +in it. It was from the first inapplicable and practically +impossible. + + THE BANK OF NORTH AMERICA. + +The most important financial institution established in the United +States before the adoption of the Constitution was the Bank of +North America, still doing business in Philadelphia, with unbroken +career through all the mutations of the eventful century which has +passed since it was called into existence. It had its origin in +1780, when certain patriotic citizens of Philadelphia resolved to +"open a security subscription of three hundred thousand pounds _in +real money_," the object being to procure supplies for the army, +"then on the point of mutiny for lack of the common necessaries of +life." The enterprising men who had the matter in hand addressed +themselves to the task of providing three million rations and three +hundred hogsheads of rum for the famished troops. The Continental +Congress recognized their patriotic conduct and pledged "the faith +of the government for the effectual reimbursement of the amount +advanced." It fell to Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finance +for the government, to organize the bank which owed its origin to +these circumstances. While engaged in this arduous task he received +two letters of advice from an anonymous source, ably written, and +displaying considerable knowledge of the science of banking, then +almost unknown in America. Indeed the methods of banking--it might +be proper to say its secrets--were jealously guarded by the +capitalists who monopolized it in the financial centres of Europe. +Mr. Morris was struck by the ability and originality of his unknown +correspondent, and was amazed to find that Alexander Hamilton, then +but twenty-three years of age, was the author of the letters. It +was the first exhibition of that mastery of finance which gave Mr. +Hamilton his enduring fame. + +When Mr. Hamilton assumed control of the Treasury Department under +the Presidency of Washington he found that the Bank of North America +had accepted a State charter from Pennsylvania and was not therefore +in a position to fulfil the functions of a National bank which he +desired to establish as an aid to the financial operations of the +government. After his funding of the Revolutionary debt he applied +to Congress for the charter of a National bank, with a capital of +$10,000,000, twenty-five per cent. of which must be paid in coin +and the remainder in the bonds of the United States. The government +was to own $2,000,000 of the stock of the bank and was obviously +to become its largest borrower. The measure encountered the +determined opposition of the Secretary of State, Jefferson, and +the Attorney-General, Edmund Randolph, and it finally became an +almost distinctly sectional issue--the Northern members of Congress +with few exceptions sustaining it; the Southern members under the +lead of Mr. Madison almost wholly opposing it. It became a law on +the 25th of February, 1791. + +When the charter of the bank--which was granted for twenty years-- +expired in 1811 the administration of Mr. Madison favored its +renewal. The eminent financier, Albert Gallatin, then Secretary +of the Treasury, informed Congress that the bank had been "wisely +and skillfully managed." The hostility to it originated in political +considerations. It was regarded as an aristocratic institution, +was violently opposed by the State banks which by this time had +become numerous, and notwithstanding the change of Mr. Madison in +its favor, the bill to re-charter was defeated. The contest however +was severe. In the House the opponents of the bill had but one +majority, and there being a tie in the Senate the re-charter was +defeated by the casting vote of George Clinton the Vice-President. +By this course Congress gave to the State banks a monopoly of the +circulating medium. The war of 1812 followed, and in the sweep of +its disastrous influence a large majority of these banks were +destroyed, their notes never redeemed, and great distress consequently +inflicted upon the people. + +It was this result which disposed Congress, as soon as the war was +over, to establish for the second time a Bank of the United States. +The charter was drawn by Alexander J. Dallas who had succeeded Mr. +Gallatin at the Treasury. In the main it followed the provisions +of the first bank, but owing to the growth of the country the +capital stock was enlarged to twenty-five millions, of which the +government subscribed for one-fifth, payable wholly in its own +bonds. Individual subscribers were required to pay one-fourth in +coin and three-fourths in government bonds. The charter was again +limited to twenty years. It was this bank which encountered the +bitter opposition of President Jackson, and which was seriously +injured by his order to the Secretary of the Treasury, Roger B. +Taney, in 1834, to withhold the deposit of government funds from +its vaults. The act of President Jackson is usually referred to +as "a removal of the deposits." This is incorrect. The government +deposits were not removed from the United-States Bank, except in +the ordinary course of business for the needs of the Treasury. +But the order of the President prevented further deposits of +government money being made, and thus destroyed one of the principal +resources upon which the bank had been organized. A short time +before the charter of the United-States Bank expired, a State +charter was obtained from the Legislature of Pennsylvania, under +which the bank continued business until 1841, when its affairs were +wound up with heavy loss to the stockholders. + + THE UNITED-STATES BANKS,--1791-1816. + +These brief outlines of the charters of the United-States banks of +1791 and 1816 show how entirely dissimilar they were in many +essentials from the system of national banks established under the +Acts of 1863 and 1864. In the first the government was a large +stockholder and the officers of the Treasury practically directed +all the operations and all the details of the bank. In the system +now prevailing the government cannot be a stockholder, and takes +no part in the management of banks except to see that the laws are +complied with and that the safeguards for the public are rigidly +maintained. An especially odious feature in the United-States Bank +was the favoritism shown in its loans, by which it constantly tended +to debauch the public service. Political friends of the institution +were too often accommodated on easy terms, and legitimate banking +was thus rendered impossible. No such abuse is practicable under +the present system. Indeed there is such an entire absence of it +that the opponents of the National banks have not even brought the +accusation. + +There was special care taken to place the Currency Bureau entirely +beyond partisan influence. The misfortunes which had come upon +the United-States Bank from its connection with party interests +were fully appreciated by the wise legislators who drafted the +National Bank Act. They determined to guard against the recurrence +of the calamities which destroyed the former system. The original +Act of 1863, organizing the National system, provided that the +Comptroller of the Currency should be appointed by the President +upon the nomination of the Secretary of the Treasury, and, unlike +any other Federal officer at that time, his term was fixed at five +years. This period of service was established in order that it +should not come to an end with the Presidential term. It was also +specifically provided, long in advance of the tenure-of-office Act, +that the President could not remove the Comptroller unless with +the advice and consent of the Senate. The Comptroller was thus +excepted by statute from that long list of officers who were for +many years subjected to change upon the incoming of each Administration. +From the organization of the National Banking system to this time +(1884) there have been four Comptrollers,--three of whom voluntarily +resigned. The present incumbent of the office, Mr. John Jay Knox, +has discharged his important duties with great satisfaction for +twelve years, and with his predecessors has conclusively established +in practice the non-partisan character which is indispensable to +the successful administration of the Bureau. + +The division and distribution of bank capital under the National +system do not merely carry its advantages to every community, but +they afford the most complete guaranty against every abuse which +may spring from a large aggregation of capital. The Bank of the +United States in 1816 had a capital of thirty-five millions of +dollars. If a similar institution were established to-day, bearing +a like proportion to the wealth of the country, it would require +a capital of at least six hundred millions of dollars--many fold +larger than the combined wealth of the Bank of England and the Bank +of France. It is hardly conceivable that such a power as this +could ever be intrusted to the management of a Secretary of the +Treasury or to a single board of directors, with the temptations +which would beset them. It is the contemplation of such an enormous +power placed in the hands of any body of men that gives a more +correct appreciation of the conduct and motives of General Jackson +in his determined contest with the United-States Bank. His instincts +were correct. He saw that such an institution increasing with the +growth of the country would surely lead to corruption, and by its +unlimited power would interfere with the independence of Congress +and with the just liberty of the people. + + MERITS OF NATIONAL BANK SYSTEM. + +The single feature of resemblance between the Bank of the United +States and the system of National banks is found in the fact that +Government bonds constitute the foundation of each. But the use +to which the bonds are devoted in the new system in entirely +different from that of the old. The United-States Bank retained +its bonds in its own vaults, liable to all the defalcation and +mismanagement which might affect the other assets. In the present +system the National Bank deposits its bonds with the Treasury +Department, where they are held as special security for the redemption +of the bills which the bank puts in circulation. The United-States +Bank circulated its bills according to its own discretion, and +there was no assurance to the holder against an over-issue and no +certainty of ultimate redemption. The National Bank can issue no +bills except those furnished by the Treasury Department in exchange +for the bonds deposited to secure prompt redemption. In the former +case there was no protection to the people who trusted the bank by +taking its bills. In the case of the National Bank, the government +holds the security in its own hands and protects the public from +the possibility of loss. + +The one defective element in the National bank system is that it +requires the permanence of National debt as the basis of its +existence. In a Republican government the people naturally oppose +a perpetual debt, and could with difficulty be persuaded to consent +to it for any incidental purpose however desirable. But so long +as a National debt exists no use has been found for it more conducive +to the general prosperity than making it the basis of a banking +system in which flexibility and safety are combined to a degree +never before enjoyed in this country and never excelled in any +other. In no other system of banking have the bills had such wide +circulation and such absolute credit. They are not limited to the +United States. They are current in almost every part of the American +continent, and are readily exchangeable for coin in all the marts +of Europe. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +Depression among the People in 1863.--Military Situation.--Hostility +to the Administration.--Determination to break it down.--Vallandigham's +Disloyal Speech.--Two Rebellions threatened.--General Burnside +takes Command of the Department of the Ohio.--Arrests Vallandigham. +--Tries him by Military Commission.--His Sentence commuted by Mr. +Lincoln.--Habeas Corpus refused.--Democratic Party protests.-- +Meeting in Albany.--Letter of Governor Seymour.--Ohio Democrats +send a Committee to Washington.--Mr. Lincoln's Replies to Albany +Meeting and to the Ohio Committee.--Effect of his Words upon the +Country.--Army of the Potomac.--General Hooker's Defeat at +Chancellorsville.--Gloom in the Country.--The President's Letters +to General Hooker.--General Meade succeeds Hooker in Command of +the Army.--Battle of Gettysburg.--Important Victory for the Union. +--Relief to the Country.--General Grant's Victory at Vicksburg.-- +Fourth of July.--Notable Coincidence.--State Elections favorable +to the Administration.--Meeting of Thirty-eighth Congress.--Schuyler +Colfax elected Speaker.--Prominent New Members in Each Branch.--E. +D. Morgan, Alexander Ramsey, John Conness, Reverdy Johnson, Thomas +A. Hendricks, Henry Winter Davis, Robert C. Schenck, James A. +Garfield, William B. Allison.--President's Message.--Thirteenth +Amendment to the Constitution.--First proposed by James M. Ashley. +--John B. Henderson proposes Amendment which passes the Senate.-- +Debate in Both Branches.--Aid to the Pacific Railroads.--Lieutenant- +General Grant. + +At no time during the war was the depression among the people of +the North so great as in the spring of 1863. When the Thirty- +seventh Congress came to its close on the 3d of March, partisan +feeling was so bitter that a contest of most dangerous character +was foreshadowed in the Loyal States. The anti-slavery policy of +the President was to be attacked as tending to a fatal division +among the people; the conduct of the war was to be arraigned as +impotent, and leading only to disaster. Circumstances favored an +assault upon the Administration. The project of freeing the slaves +had encountered many bitter prejudices among the masses in the +Loyal States, and reverses in the field had created a dread of +impending conscriptions which would send additional thousands to +be wasted in fruitless assaults upon impregnable fortifications. +General Hooker had succeeded to the command of the Army of the +Potomac, still sore under the cruel sacrifice of its brave men in +the previous December. General Grant was besieging Vicksburg, +which had been fortified with all the strength that military science +could impart, and was defended by a very strong force under the +command of J. C. Pemberton, a graduate of West Point, and a lieutenant- +general in the Confederate army. + + CRUSADE AGAINST THE PRESIDENT. + +The opponents of the Administration intended to press the attack, +to destroy the prestige of Mr. Lincoln, to bring hostilities in +the field to an end, to force a compromise which should give +humiliating guaranties for the protection of Slavery, to bring the +South back in triumph, and to re-instate the Democratic party in +the Presidential election of the ensuing year for a long and peaceful +rule over a Union in which radicalism had been stamped out and +Abolitionists placed under the ban. Such was the flattering prospect +which opened to the view of the party that had so determinedly +resisted and so completely defeated the Administration in the great +States of the Union the preceding year. The new crusade against +the President was begun by Mr. Vallandigham, who if not the ablest +was the frankest and boldest member of his party. He took the +stump soon after the adjournment of the Thirty-seventh Congress. +It was an unusual time of the year to begin a political contest; +but the ends sought were extraordinary, and the means adopted might +well be of the same character. On the first day of May Mr. +Vallandigham made a peculiarly offensive, mischievous, disloyal +speech at Mount Vernon, Ohio, which was published throughout the +State and widely copied elsewhere. It was perfectly apparent that +the bold agitator was to have many followers and imitators, and +that in the rapidly developing sentiment which he represented, the +Administration would have as bitter an enemy in the rear as it was +encountering at the front. The case was therefore critical. Mr. +Lincoln saw plainly that the Administration was not equal to the +task of subduing two rebellions. While confronting the power of +a solid South he must continue to wield the power of a solid North. + +After General Burnside had been relieved from the command of the +Army of the Potomac he was sent to command the Department of Ohio. +He established his headquarters at Cincinnati in April (1863). He +undoubtedly had confidential instructions in regard to the mode of +dealing with the rising tide of disloyalty which, beginning in +Ohio, was sweeping over the West. The Mount-Vernon speech of Mr. +Vallandigham would inevitably lead to similar demonstrations +elsewhere, and General Burnside determined to deal with its author. +On Monday evening the 4th of May he sent a detachment of soldiers +to Mr. Vallandigham's residence in Dayton, arrested him, carried +him to Cincinnati, and tried him by a military commission of which +a distinguished officer, General Robert B. Potter, was president. +Mr. Vallandigham resisted the whole proceeding as a violation of +his rights as a citizen of the United States, and entered a protest +declaring that he was arrested without due process of law and +without warrant from any judicial officer, that he was not in either +the land or naval forces of the United States nor in the militia +in actual service, and therefore was not triable by a court-martial +or military commission, but was subject only, by the express terms +of the Constitution, to be tried on an indictment or presentment +of a grand jury. Of the offense charged against him there was no +doubt, and scarcely a denial; and the commission, brushing aside +his pleas, convicted him, and sentenced him to be placed in close +confinement, during the continuance of the war, in some fortress +of the United States--the fortress to be designated by the commanding +officer of the department. General Burnside approved the proceeding, +and designated Fort Warren in the harbor of Boston as the place of +Mr. Vallandigham's detention. + + THE ARREST OF VALLANDIGHAM. + +The President, with that sagacity which was intuitive and unfailing +in all matters of moment, disapproved the sentence, and commuted +it to one sending Mr. Vallandigham beyond our military lines to +his friends of the Southern Confederacy. The estimable and venerable +Judge Leavett of the United-States District Court was applied to +for a writ of _habeas corpus_, but he refused to issue it. The +judge declared that the power of the President undoubtedly implies +the right to arrest persons who by their mischievous acts of +disloyalty impede or hinder the military operations of the government. +The Democratic party throughout the Union took up the case with +intemperate and ill-tempered zeal. Meetings were held in various +places to denounce it, and to demand the right of Vallandigham to +return from the rebel lines within which he had been sent. Governor +Seymour of New York in a public letter denounced the arrest as "an +act which had brought dishonor upon our country, and is full of +danger to our persons and our homes. If this proceeding is approved +by the government and sanctioned by the people it is not merely a +step towards revolution, it is revolution; it will not only lead +to military despotism, it establishes military despotism. In this +respect it must be accepted, or in this respect it must be rejected. +If it is upheld our liberties are overthrown." Waxing still bolder +Governor Seymour said "the people of this country now wait with +the deepest anxiety the decision of the Administration upon these +acts. Having given it a generous support in the conduct of the +war, we now pause to see what kind of government it is for which +we are asked to pour out our blood and our treasure. The action +of the Administration will determine, in the minds of more than +one-half of the people of the Loyal States, whether this war is +waged to put down rebellion in the South or to destroy free +institutions at the North." + +The evil effect upon the public opinion of the North of such language +from a man of Governor Seymour's high personal character and +commanding influence with his party can hardly be exaggerated. It +came at a time when the Administration was sorely pressed and when +it could not stand an exasperating division in the North. The +governor's letter was publicly read at a large meeting of the +Democratic party in Albany, presided over by Erastus Corning, and +called to consider the act of the Administration. A long series +of resolutions denouncing Vallandigham's arrest were adopted and +forwarded to the President. But Mr. Lincoln rose to the occasion +as if inspired, and his letter of June 12 to the Albany Committee +turned the popular tide powerfully in favor of the Administration. +One of the points presented made a deep impression upon the +understanding and profoundly stirred the hearts of the people. +"Mr. Vallandigham was not arrested," said the President, "because +he was damaging the political prospects of the Administration or +the personal interests of the commanding general, but because he +was damaging the army, upon the existence and vigor of which the +life of this Nation depends. . . . If Mr. Vallandigham was not +damaging the military power of the country, then his arrest was +made on mistake of facts, which I would be glad to correct on +reasonable, satisfactory evidence. I understand the meeting whose +resolutions I am considering, to be in favor of suppressing the +Rebellion by military force--by armies. Long experience has shown +that armies cannot be maintained unless desertion shall be punished +by the severe penalty of death. The case requires, and the law +and the Constitution sanction, this punishment. Must I shoot a +simple-minded soldier-boy who deserts, while I must not touch a +hair of the wily agitator who induces him to desert? This is none +the less injurious when effected by getting father or brother or +friend into a public meeting, and there working upon his feelings +until he is persuaded to write the soldier-boy that he is fighting +in a bad cause, for a wicked Administration of a contemptible +government, too weak to arrest and punish him if he shall desert. +I think that in such a case to silence the agitator and to save +the boy is not only constitutional, but is withal a great mercy." +No other man in our history has so fully possessed the power of +presenting an argument in concrete form, overthrowing all the logic +of assailants, and touching the chords of public feeling with a +tenderness which becomes an irresistible force. + +The Democrats of Ohio took up the arrest of Vallandigham with +especial earnestness, and were guilty of the unspeakable folly of +nominating him as their candidate for governor. They appointed an +imposing committee--one from each Congressional district of the +State--to communicate with the President in regard to the sentence +of banishment. They arrived in Washington about the last of June, +and addressed a long communication to Mr. Lincoln, demanding the +release and return of Mr. Vallandigham. They argued the case with +ability. No less than eleven of the committee were or had been +members of Congress, with George H. Pendleton at their head. Mr. +Lincoln's reply under date of June 29 to their communication was +as felicitous, as conclusive, as his reply to the Albany Committee. +He expressed his willingness in answer to their request, to release +Mr. Vallandigham without asking pledge, promise, or retraction from +him, and with only one simple condition. That condition was that +"the gentlemen of the committee themselves, representing as they +do the character and power of the Ohio Democracy, will subscribe +to three propositions: _First_, That there is now a rebellion in +the United States, the object and tendency of which are to destroy +the National Union, and that in your opinion an army and navy are +constitutional means for suppressing that rebellion. _Second_, +That no one of you will do any thing which in his own judgment will +tend to hinder the increase or favor the decrease or lessen the +efficiency of the army and navy while engaged in the effort to +suppress that rebellion. And _Third_, That each of you will in +his sphere do all he can to have the officers, soldiers, and seamen +of the army and navy, while engaged in the effort to suppress the +Rebellion, paid, fed, clad, and otherwise well provided for and +supported." + +Mr. Lincoln sent duplicates of these three conditions to the +committee, one of which was to be returned to him indorsed with +their names as evidence of their agreement thereto, the publication +of which indorsement should be of itself a revocation of the order +in relation to Mr. Vallandigham. If the Ohio gentlemen subscribed +to these conditions as essential and obligatory, they thereby +justified the arrest of Vallandigham for resisting each and every +one of them. If they would not subscribe to them they placed +themselves before the people of Ohio in an attitude of hostility +to the vigorous and successful conduct of the war, on which the +fate of the Union depended. The committee made a very lame rejoinder +to the President. He had in truth placed them in a dilemma, from +which they could not extricate themselves, and they naturally fell +under popular condemnation. Mr. Lincoln's hit had indeed been so +palpable that its victims were laughed at by the public, and their +party was foredoomed by their course to political annihilation in +the coming election. + + + THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE. + +While these interesting events were in progress the military exigency +was engaging the attention of the people with an interest almost +painfully intense. There was an urgent demand for an early movement +by the Army of the Potomac. Mr. Lincoln realized that prompt +success was imperatively required. The repetition of the disasters +of 1862 might fatally affect our financial credit, and end with +the humiliation of an intervention by European Powers. General +Hooker was impressed by Mr. Lincoln with the absolute necessity of +an early and energetic movement of the Army of the Potomac. On +the 2d and 3d of May he fought the battle of Chancellorsville. He +had as large a force as the Union army mustered on a single battle- +field during the war,--not less perhaps than one hundred and twenty +thousand men. He made a lamentable failure. Without bringing more +than one-third of his troops into action he allowed himself to be +driven across the Rappahannock by Lee, who, on the 7th of May, +issued a highly congratulatory and boastful order detailing his +victory. + +In the issuing of orders General Hooker was one day in advance of +Lee. He tendered to the soldiers his "congratulations on the +achievements of the past seven days," and assured them that "if +all has not been accomplished that was expected, the reasons are +well known to the army." He further declared that "in withdrawing +from the south bank of the Rappahannock before delivering a general +battle to our adversaries, the army has given renewed evidence of +its confidence in itself and its fidelity to the principles it +represents. Profoundly loyal and conscious of its strength," the +General continued, "the Army of the Potomac will give or decline +battle whenever its interest or its honor may demand." The General +thought "the events of the past week may swell with pride the heart +of every officer and soldier in the army. By your celerity and +secrecy of movement our advance was undisputed; and on our withdrawal, +not a rebel ventured to follow." The questionable character of +these compliments exposed General Hooker to ridicule, and increased +the public sense of his unfitness for high command, though he was +a gallant and brave soldier and admirably fitted for a division or +a corps. The Union loss was serious. The killed and wounded +exceeded eleven thousand. The year thus opened very inauspiciously. +The gloom of 1862 was not dispelled. The shadows had not lifted. +The weightiest anxiety oppressed both the government and the people. +The Confederacy had sustained a heavy loss in the death of Stonewall +Jackson. He had a genius for war, and in a purely military point +of view it would perhaps have been better for the Confederates to +lose the battle than to lose the most aggressive officer in their +Army. + +The spirit of the Confederates rose high. They believed they would +be able to hold the line of the Mississippi against the army of +Grant, and in the defeat and demoralization of the army of the +Potomac they saw their way clear to an invasion of Pennsylvania, +for which General Lee began his preparations with leisure and +completed them with thoroughness. After General Hooker's failure +at Chancellorsville, and his remarkable order which followed it, +he evidently lost the confidence of the President. Some of the +hasty notes and telegrams sent to General Hooker after his defeat +are in Mr. Lincoln's most characteristic vein. June 5 the President +wrote, "If you find Lee coming to the north of the Rappahannock, +I would by no means cross to the south of it. . . . In one word, +I would not take any risk of being entangled up on the _river like +an ox jumped half over a fence, liable to be torn by dogs, front +and rear, without a fair chance to gore one way or kick the other_." +Later, on June 10, the President wrote, "Lee's Army and not Richmond +is your true objective point. If he comes towards the upper Potomac, +follow on his flank on the inside track, shortening your lines +while he lengthens his. Fight him when opportunity offers. If he +stays where he is _fret him and fret him_."* Lee was, by the date +of this note, well on his way towards the North, and the military +situation grew every hour more critical. + + THE THREE DAYS' BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. + +The indispensable requisite to Union success was a commander for +the Army of the Potomac in whose competency the Administration, +the people, and most of all the soldiers would have confidence. +In the judgment of military men it was idle to intrust another +battle to the generalship of Hooker; and as the army moved across +Maryland to meet Lee on the soil of Pennsylvania, General Hooker +was relieved and the command of the army assigned to General George +G. Meade. This change of commanders was made by order of the +President on the 28th of June, only two days before the opening +engagement of the great battle of Gettysburg. By the middle of +June the advance guard of Lee's army had reached the upper Potomac, +and on its way had literally destroyed the division of the Union +army commanded by General Milroy and stationed at Winchester. The +agitation throughout the country was profound. On the 15th of June +as the magnitude of Lee's movement became more apparent, the +President issued a proclamation stating that "Maryland, West +Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio were threatened with invasion and +required an immediate addition to the military forces." He called +therefore for one hundred thousand militia from these four States +to serve for six months; ten thousand each from Maryland and West +Virginia, thirty thousand from Ohio, and fifty thousand from +Pennsylvania. All the surrounding States were aroused. Governor +Seymour sent fifteen thousand extra men from New York. Governor +Parker sent a valuable contingent from New Jersey. Western Maryland +was occupied at various points as early as the 20th of June, and +during the last week of that month rebel detachments were in the +southern counties of Pennsylvania committing depredations and +exacting tribute,--in York, Cumberland, Franklin, Fulton and Adams. + +The two armies finally converged at Gettysburg, and on the 1st, +2d, and 3d of July the battle was fought which in many of its +aspects was the most critical and important of the war. The +Confederates began with the self-assurance of victory; and with +victory they confidently counted upon the occupation of Philadelphia +by Lee's army, upon the surrender of Baltimore, upon the flight of +the President and his Cabinet from Washington. It was within the +extravagant and poetic dreams of the expectant conquerors to proclaim +the success of the Confederacy from the steps of Independence Hall, +and to make a treaty with the fugitive Government of the United +States for half the territory of the Republic. But it was not so +fated. The army under Meade proved unconquerable. In conflicts +on Virginia soil the army of Lee had been victorious. Its invasion +of the North the preceding year had been checked by McClellan before +it reached the border of the free States. It was now fighting on +ground where the spirit which had nerved it in Virginia was +transferred to the soldiers of the Union. With men of the North +the struggle was now for home first, for conquest afterwards, and +the tenacity and courage with which they held their ground for +those three bloody days attest the magnificent impulse which the +defense of the fireside imparts to the heart and to the arm of the +soldier. + +General Meade had not been widely known before the battle, but he +was at once elevated to the highest rank in the esteem and love of +the people. The tide of invasion had been rolled back after the +bloodiest and most stubbornly contested field of the war. The +numbers on each side differed but little from the numbers engaged +at Waterloo, and the tenacity with which the soldiers of the British +Isles stood that day against the hosts of Napoleon, was rivaled on +the field of Gettysburg by men of the same blood, fighting in the +ranks of both armies. + +The relief which the victory brought to the North is indescribable. +On the morning of the Fourth of July a brief Executive order was +telegraphed from the Executive mansion to all the free States, +announcing the triumph, for which "the President especially desires +that on this day, He whose will, not ours, should ever be done, be +everywhere remembered and reverenced with the profoundest gratitude." +By one of those coincidences that have more than once happened in +our history, the Fourth of July of this year was made especially +memorable. Rejoicings over the result at Gettysburg had scarcely +begun when word came from General Grant that the Confederate forces +at Vicksburg had surrendered, and that at ten o'clock of the Fourth, +the very hour when Mr. Lincoln issued the bulletin proclaiming the +victory of Gettysburg, General Pemberton's forces marched out and +stacked arms in front of their works, prisoners of war to General +Grant. The city of Vicksburg was immediately occupied by the Union +troops, the first division of which was commanded by General John +A. Logan. Jackson, the Capital of Mississippi, defended by General +Joseph E. Johnston, capitulated a few days later to General Sherman, +and the Confederate forces at Port Hudson surrendered to the army +of General Banks. This was the last obstruction to the navigation +of the Mississippi, and the great river flowed unvexed to the sea. + +The entire situation was changed by these important victories. +Heart and spirit were given to the people, hope grew into confidence, +the strength of the Government was vastly increased, the prestige +of the Administration was greatly heightened. Could the election +for the Thirty-eighth Congress have taken place in the autumn of +1863, and not in the autumn of 1862, instead of being a close +struggle it would have been an overwhelming triumph for the war +policy which had wrought out such splendid results. The popular +re-action was attested in every State where an election gave +opportunity. Governor Curtin was re-chosen by a large majority in +Pennsylvania over Judge George W. Woodward, who had pronounced a +judicial decision against the constitutionality of the proscription +law; the course of Governor Seymour was rebuked in New York by the +thirty thousand majority given to the Republican State ticket, +which was headed by the brilliant Chauncey M. Depew, then but twenty- +nine years of age; while in Ohio the Democratic party was overwhelmed +by an avalanche of popular indignation which responded to the +nomination of Vallandigham with a majority of a hundred and one +thousand for the Administration. + + + MEETING OF THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. + +The Thirty-eighth Congress met on the first Monday of December, +1863. The House was promptly organized by the election of Schuyler +Colfax to the Speakership. He received 101 votes; all other +candidates 81. Mr. Samuel S. Cox received 42 votes, the highest +given to any candidate of the opposition. The vote for Mr. Colfax +was the distinctive Republican strength in the House. On issues +directly relating to the war the Administration was stronger than +these figures indicate, being always able to command the support +of Mr. Stebbins, Mr. Odell, and Mr. Griswold of New York, and of +several members from the Border States. + +Schuyler Colfax was especially fitted for the duties of the Chair. +He had been a member of the House for eight years, having been +chosen directly after the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. He +came from good Revolutionary stock in New Jersey, but had been +reared in the West; had learned the trade of a printer, and had +edited a successful journal at South Bend. He was a paragon of +industry, with keen, quick, bright intellect. He mingled freely +and creditably in the debates. With a wisdom in which many able +members seem deficient, he had given studious attention to the +Rules of the House, and was master of their complexities. Kindly +and cordial by nature it was easy for him to cultivate the art of +popularity, which he did with tact and constancy. He came to the +Chair with absolute good will from both sides of the House, and as +a presiding officer proved himself able, prompt, fair-minded, and +just in all his rulings. + +The political re-action of 1862 had seriously affected the membership +of the House. Many of those most conspicuous and influential in +the preceding Congress had either been defeated or had prudently +declined a renomination. E. G. Spaulding, Charles B. Sedgwick, +Roscoe Conkling, and A. B. Olin did not return from New York; John +A. Bingham and Samuel Shellabarger were defeated in Ohio; Galusha +A. Grow was not re-elected in Pennsylvania, and lost in consequence +a second term as Speaker; Albert G. Porter and McKee Dunn gave way +to Democratic successors in Indiana. In the delegations of all +the large States radical changes were visible, and the narrow escape +of the Administration from total defeat in the preceding year was +demonstrated afresh by the roll-call of the House. + + MEMBERS OF THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. + +But the loss of prominent members was counterbalanced by the +character and ability of some of the new accessions. Henry Winter +Davis took his seat as representative from one of the districts of +the city of Baltimore. He had been originally elected to the House +as a member of the American party in 1854, and had been re-elected +in 1856 and 1858. He had not co-operated with the Republican party +before the war, and had supported Mr. Bell for the Presidency in +1860. He was always opposed to the Democratic party, and was under +all circumstances a devoted friend of the Union, an arch-enemy of +the Secessionists. Born a Southern man, he spoke for the South,-- +for its duty to the Federal Government, for its best and highest +destiny. To him before and above all other men is due the maintenance +of loyalty in Maryland. His course was censured by the Democratic +Legislature of his State in the winter preceding the Rebellion. +He replied through an address "to the voters of Maryland," which +for eloquence of expression, force, and conclusiveness of reasoning +is entitled to rank in the political classics of America as the +Address to the Electors of Bristol ranks in the political classics +of England. As a debater in the House Mr. Davis may well be cited +as an exemplar. He had no boastful reliance upon intuition or +inspiration or the spur of the moment, though no man excelled him +in extempore speech. He made elaborate preparation by the study +of all public questions, and spoke from a full mind with complete +command of premise and conclusion. In all that pertained to the +graces of oratory he was unrivaled. He died at forty-eight. Had +he been blessed with length of days, the friends who best knew his +ability and his ambition believed that he would have left the most +brilliant name in the Parliamentary annals of America. + +Robert C. Schenck was an invaluable addition to the House. He had +been serving in the field since the outbreak of the war, but had +been induced to contest the return of Vallandigham to Congress. +His canvass was so able and spirited that though in other parts of +the State the Democrats captured eight Republican districts, he +defeated Vallandigham in a Democratic district. Mr. Schenck had +originally entered Congress in 1843 at thirty-four years of age, +and after a distinguished service of eight years was sent by +President Fillmore as Minister-Plenipotentiary to Brazil. After +his return he had taken no part in political affairs until now. +His re-appearance in Congress was therefore significant. He was +at once placed at the head of the Committee on Military Affairs, +then of superlative importance, and subsequently was made chairman +of Ways and Means, succeeding Mr. Stevens in the undoubted leadership +of the House. He was admirably fitted for the arduous and difficult +duty. His perceptions were keen, his analysis was extraordinarily +rapid, his power of expression remarkable. On his feet, as the +phrase went, he had no equal in the House. In the five-minute +discussion in Committee of the Whole he was an intellectual marvel. +The compactness and clearness of his statement, the facts and +arguments which he could marshal in that brief time, were a constant +surprise and delight to his hearers. No man in Congress during +the present generation has rivaled his singular power in this +respect. He was able in every form of discussion, but his peculiar +gift was in leading and controlling the Committee of the Whole.** + + MEMBERS OF THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. + +Several new members entered the Thirty-eighth Congress who were +destined to long service and varying degrees of prominence. James +A. Garfield came from Ohio with a valuable reputation acquired in +the Legislature of his State and with a good military record, +established in the war and recognized by the conferment of a Major- +General's commission which he had won on the field. William B. +Allison, John A. Kasson and Hiram Price of Iowa, John A. J. Creswell +of Maryland, Glenni W. Scofield of Pennsylvania, all earned honorable +distinction in after years. George S. Boutwell entered from +Massachusetts at forty-five years of age. Twelve years before, as +a radical Democrat and Free-Soiler, he had been chosen governor of +his State. James G. Blaine entered from Maine at thirty-three +years of age. Among the new members on the Democratic side of the +House were Samuel J. Randall, with the reputation of conspicuous +service in the Pennsylvania Legislature, and William R. Morrison, +fresh from his duty in the field as colonel of an Illinois regiment, +and, though still young, old enough to have served with credit in +the Mexican war. Fernando Wood, who had been elected a member of +the House in 1840, and had served one term, now entered again. +Francis Kernan appeared in public life for the first time, having +defeated Roscoe Conkling in the Utica district. Charles A. Eldridge +of Wisconsin became one of the ablest parliamentarians of the House. + +In the Senate some important changes were made. Governor Morgan +entered from New York as the successor of Preston King; Governor +Sprague came from Rhode Island, and Governor Ramsey from Minnesota. +These elections were all made in direct recognition of the valuable +service which these Republican War-Governors had rendered the +country. John Conness, a follower of Douglas, who had done much +for the cause of the Union on the Pacific coast, now bore the +credentials of California. B. Gratz Brown came from Missouri as +pledge of the radical regeneration of that State. + +To the Democratic side of the chamber three able men were added. +Reverdy Johnson of Maryland succeeded to the seat made vacant the +preceding autumn by the death of James Alfred Pearce. Mr. Johnson +had long been eminent at the Bar of the Supreme Court. He was a +warm supporter of Mr. Clay, and was chosen to the Senate as a Whig +in 1845. He was attorney-general in the Cabinet of President +Taylor, and after the defeat of the Whigs in 1852 had co-operated +with the Democrats. He had stood firmly by the Union, and his re- +appearance in the Senate added largely to the ability and learning +of that body. Thomas A. Hendricks entered from Indiana as the +successor of Jesse D. Bright, who had been expelled upon a charge +of disloyalty. Mr. Hendricks had served in the House of Representatives +from 1851 to 1855. He was but thirty-one years of age when first +chosen and his record in the House had not prepared the public to +expect the strength and ability which he displayed as senator. He +was in the full maturity of his powers when he took his seat, and +he proved able, watchful, and acute in the discharge of his public +duties. He was always at his post, was well prepared on all +questions, debated with ability, and rapidly gained respect and +consideration in the Senate. Charles R. Buckalew of Pennsylvania +succeeded David Wilmot. Both he and Mr. Hendricks were fruits of +the violent re-action against the Administration the preceding +year. Mr. Buckalew came with high reputation, but did not gain so +prominent a position in the Senate as his friends had anticipated. +He did not seem ambitious, was not in firm health, and though his +ability was recognized, his service did not strengthen his party +either in the Senate or in his State. A Democrat from Pennsylvania +is somewhat out of harmony with the members of his party elsewhere, +on account of the advocacy of the Protective system to which he is +forced by the prevailing opinion among his constituents. + + THE MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +Congress assembled in December, 1863, in very different spirit from +that which prevailed either at the opening or at the adjournment +of the preceding session. The President in his annual message +recognized the great change for which "our renewed and profoundest +gratitude to God is due." Referring to the depressing period of +the year before, he said "The tone of public feeling at home and +abroad was not satisfactory. With other signs the popular elections +then just passed indicated uneasiness among ourselves, while amid +much that was cold and menacing, the kindest words coming from +Europe were uttered in accents of pity, that we were too blind to +surrender a hopeless cause. Our commerce was suffering greatly by +a few armed vessels built upon and furnished from foreign shores, +and we were threatened with such additions from the same quarter +as would sweep our trade from the sea and raise the blockade. We +had failed to elicit from European governments any thing hopeful +on this subject. . . . + +"We are now permitted to take another view. The rebel borders are +pressed still further back, and by the complete opening of the +Mississippi the country, dominated by the Rebellion, is divided +into distinct parts with no practical communication between them. +Tennessee and Arkansas have been substantially cleared of insurgent +control, and influential citizens in each,--owners of slaves and +advocates of slavery at the beginning of the Rebellion,--now declare +openly for emancipation in their respective States. Of those States +not included in the Emancipation Proclamation, Maryland and Missouri, +neither of which three years ago would tolerate any restraint upon +the extension of slavery into new territories, only now dispute as +to the best mode of removing it within their own limits." The +President dwelt with much satisfaction upon the good behavior of +the slave population. "Full one hundred thousand of them are now +in the United-States military service, about one-half of which +number actually bear arms in the ranks, thus giving a double +advantage,--of taking so much labor from the insurgents' cause, +and supplying the places which otherwise might be filled with so +many white men. So far as tested it is difficult to say that they +are not as good soldiers as any. No servile insurrection or tendency +to cruelty has marked the measures of emancipation and the arming +of the blacks. . . . Thus we have a new reckoning. The crisis +which threatened to divide the friends of the Union is past." + + +The Thirty-seventh Congress was distinguished for its effective +legislation on all subjects relating to the finances and to the +recruitment of a great army. It was reserved to the Thirty-eighth +Congress to take steps for the final abolition of slavery by the +submission to the States of a Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. +The course of events had prepared the public mind for the most +radical measures. In the short space of three years, by the +operation of war, under the dread of national destruction, a great +change had been wrought in the opinions of the people of the Loyal +States. When the war began not one-tenth of the citizens of those +States were in favor of immediate and unconditional emancipation. +It is very doubtful whether in September, 1862, the proclamation +of the President would have been sustained by the majority of the +Northern people. In every instance the measures of Congress were +in advance of public opinion, but not so far in advance as to invite +a calamity through re-action. The President was throughout more +conservative than Congress. He had surprised every one with the +Emancipation Proclamation, but he was so anxious for some arrangement +to be made for compensating the Border States for their loss of +slaves, that he did not at once recommend the utter destruction of +the institution by an amendment to the Fundamental Law of the +Republic. He left Congress to take the lead. + +Mr. James M. Ashley of Ohio is entitled to the credit of having +made the first proposition to Congress to amend the Constitution +so as to prohibit slavery throughout the United States. During +the entire contest Mr. Ashley devoted himself with unswerving +fidelity and untiring zeal to the accomplishment of this object. +He submitted his proposition on the fourteenth day of December. +Mr. Holman of Indiana objected to the second reading of the bill, +but the speaker overruled the objection and the bill was referred +to the Committee on the Judiciary. Mr. Wilson of Iowa, chairman +of the Judiciary Committee, and Mr. Arnold of Illinois subsequently +introduced joint resolutions proposing a like amendment to the +Constitution. Mr. Holman moved to lay the resolution of Mr. Arnold +on the table. The motion failed by a vote of 79 nays to 58 ayes. +The vote thus disclosed was so far from the two-thirds necessary +to carry the constitutional amendment as to be discouraging to the +supporters of the measure. + + AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION. + +On the thirteenth day of January, 1864, Mr. Henderson of Missouri +introduced in the Senate a joint resolution proposing a complete +abolition of slavery by an amendment to the Constitution, and on +the tenth day of February Mr. Trumbull, chairman of the Judiciary +Committee, reported the proposition to the Senate in these words: +"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as a punishment +for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall +exist in the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction." +Mr. Garrett Davis of Kentucky proposed to amend the resolution so +as to exclude the descendants of negroes on the maternal side from +all places of office and trust under the government of the United +States. Mr. Davis betrayed by this motion his apprehension that +freedom to the negro would be followed by the enjoyment of civil +rights and the exercise of political power. Mr. Davis proposed at +the same time to amend the Constitution so as to consolidate New +England into two States to be called East New England and West New +England, the evident attempt being to avenge the overthrow of the +slave system by the degradation of that section of the country in +which the anti-slavery sentiment had originated and received its +chief support. + +--It fell to Mr. Trumbull, as the senator who had reported the +resolution, to open the debate. He charged the war and all its +manifold horrors upon the system of slavery. He stated with +clearness the views of the opposition in regard to the legal effect +of the proclamation of emancipation, and with eloquent force of +logic he portrayed the necessity of universal freedom as the chief +means of ending not only the controversy on the battle-field, but +the controversy of opinion.--Mr. Willard Saulsbury of Delaware on +the 31st of March replied to Mr. Trumbull, and discussed the subject +of slavery historically, citing the authority of the old and the +new dispensations in its support.--Mr. Hendricks of Indiana objected +to a proposition to amend the Constitution while eleven States of +the Union were unable to take part in the proceedings. He wished +a constitution for Louisiana as well as for Indiana, for Florida +as well as for New Hampshire.--Mr. Clark of New Hampshire criticised +the Constitution, and traced the woes which the country was then +enduring to the recognition of slavery in that instrument. From +the twenty-eighth day of March until the eighth day of April, when +the final vote was taken, the attention of the Senate was given to +the debate, with only unimportant interruptions. Upon the passage +of the resolution, the yeas were 38, and the nays 6. The nays were +Messrs. Garrett Davis, Hendricks, McDougall, Powell, Riddle, and +Saulsbury. Upon the announcement of the vote, Mr. Saulsbury said, +"I bid farewell to all hope for the reconstruction of the American +Union." + +When the joint resolution, passed by the Senate, was read in the +House, Mr. Holman objected to the second reading, and on the +question, "Shall the joint resolution be rejected?" the yeas were +55 and the nays 76, an even more discouraging vote than the first. +With 55 members opposed to the amendment, it would require 110 to +carry it, or 34 more than the roll-call had disclosed. The debate +was opened by Mr. Morris of New York who treated the abolition of +slavery as a necessary preliminary to the reconstruction of the +Union. + +--Mr. Fernando Wood denounced the movement as "unjust in itself, +a breach of good faith utterly irreconcilable with expediency." + +--Mr. Ebon C. Ingersoll of Illinois made a strong and eloquent +appeal for the passage of the amendment and the liberation of the +slave. With the accomplishment of that grand end, said he, "our +voices will ascend to Heaven over a country re-united, over a people +disinthralled, and God will bless us." + +--Mr. Samuel J. Randall of Pennsylvania argued earnestly against +the amendment. He regarded it as the beginning of radical changes +in our Constitution, and the forerunner of usurpation. The policy +pursued was uniting the South and dividing the North. + +--Mr. Arnold of Illinois said, "in view of the long catalogue of +wrongs which it has inflicted upon the country, I demand to-day +the death of African slavery." + +--Mr. Mallory of Kentucky maintained that Mr. Lincoln had been +forced to issue the Proclamation of Emancipation by the governors +who met at Altoona. He was answered by Mr. Boutwell of Massachusetts, +who most effectively disproved the charge. + +--Mr. Pendleton of Ohio maintained that three-fourths of the States +possessed neither the power to establish nor to abolish slavery in +all the States. He contended that the power to amend did not carry +with it the power to revolutionize and subvert the form and spirit +of the government. + +The vote on the passage of the amendment was taken on the fifteenth +day of June. The yeas were 93, the nays were 65. The yeas were +27 short of the necessary two-thirds. Mr. Ashley of Ohio, who had +by common consent assumed parliamentary charge of the measure, +voted in the negative, and in the exercise of his right under the +rules, entered upon the journal a motion to reconsider the vote. +This ended the contest in the first session of the Thirty-eighth +Congress. Mr. Ashley gave notice that the question would go to +the country, and that upon the re-assembling of Congress in December +he should press the motion to reconsider, and he expected that the +amendment would be adopted. This result forced the question into +the Presidential canvass of 1864, and upon the decision of that +election depended the question of abolishing slavery. The issue +thus had the advantage of a direct submission to the votes of the +people before it should go to the State Legislatures for ultimate +decision. + + + PUBLIC AID TO THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. + +In the previous Congress an Act had been passed which was approved +by the President on the first day of July, 1862, to aid in the +construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri +River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the government the +use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes. The +company authorized to build it was to receive a grant of public +land amounting to five alternate sections per mile on each side of +the road. In addition to the lands the Government granted the +direct aid of $16,000 per mile in its own bonds, payable upon the +completion of each forty miles of the road. The bill was passed +by a vote which in the main but not absolutely was divided on the +line of party. The necessity of communication with our Pacific +possessions was so generally recognized that Congress was willing +to extend generous aid to any company which was ready to complete +the enterprise. The association of gentlemen who had organized +under the provisions of the Act, were unable, as they reported, to +construct the road upon the conditions prescribed and the aid +tendered. It was impossible to realize money from the lands under +the grant, as they were too remote for settlement, and $16,000 per +mile was declared insufficient to secure the means requisite for +the construction of the road across trackless plains, and through +rugged passes of the Rocky Mountains. + +The corporators had accordingly returned to Congress in 1864 for +further help, and such was the anxiety in the public mind to promote +the connection with the Pacific that enlarged and most generous +provision was made for the completion of the road. The land-grant +was doubled in amount; the Government for certain difficult portions +of the road allowed $32,000 per mile, and for certain mountainous +sections $48,000 per mile. The whole of this munificent grant was +then subordinated as a second mortgage upon the road and its +franchise, and the company was empowered to issue a first mortgage +for the same amount for each mile--for $16,000, $32,000 and $48,000, +according to the character of the country through which the road +was to pass. Mr. Washburne of Illinois and Mr. Holman of Indian +made an earnest fight against the provisions of the bill as needlessly +extravagant, and as especially censurable in time of war when our +resources were needed in the struggle for our national life. Mr. +Washburne had sustained the original bill granting the aid of lands +and of bonds. He alleged, and produced a tabular statement in +support of the assertion, that the Government was granting $95,000,000 +to the enterprise, besides half of the land in a strip twenty miles +wide from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. + + PUBLIC AID TO THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. + +So earnest however was the desire of the Government to secure the +construction of the road that the opponents of the bill were unable +to make any impression upon the House. On an amendment by Mr. +Holman declaring that "the roads constructed under the Act shall +be public highways and shall transport the property and the troops +of the United States, when transportation thereof shall be required, +free of toll or other charge," there could be secured but 39 votes +in the affirmative. On an amendment by Mr. Washburne to strike +out the section which subordinated the government mortgage to that +of the railroad company on the lands and the road, but 38 voted in +the affirmative and the bill passed without a call of the yeas and +nays. In the Senate there were only five votes against the bill. +Mr. Ten Eyck of New Jersey was the only Republican senator who +voted in the negative. Whatever may have subsequently occurred to +suggest that the grant was larger than was needed for the construction +of the highway to the Pacific, there can be no doubt that an +overwhelming sentiment, not only in Congress but among the people, +was in favor of the bountiful aid which was granted. The terrible +struggle to retain the Southern States in the Union had persuaded +the Administration and the Government that no pains should be spared +and no expenditure stinted to insure the connection which might +quicken the sympathy and more directly combine the interests of +the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States. A more +careful circumspection might perhaps have secured the same work +with less expenditure; but even with this munificent aid a full +year passed before construction began from the eastern end of the +road, and for a considerable period it was felt that the men who +embarked their money in the enterprise were taking a very hazardous +task on their hands. Many capitalists who afterwards indulged in +denunciations of Congress for the extravagance of the grants, were +urged at the time to take a share in the scheme, but declined +because of the great risk involved. + +Two organizations, composed of powerful men, were formed to prosecute +the work. The California Company, with Governor Leland Stanford +and the indomitable C. P. Huntington at the head, constructed the +thousand miles stretching from the Bay of San Francisco to Salt +Lake, and a company headed by Oakes Ames and Oliver Ames, two +Massachusetts men noted for strong business capacity, industry, +and integrity, constructed the thousand miles from the Missouri +River to the point of junction. In the history of great enterprises, +no parallel can be found to the ability and energy displayed in +the completion of this great work. With all the aids and adjuncts +of surrounding civilization, there had never been two thousand +miles of rail laid so rapidly as this was across trackless plains, +over five rugged ranges of mountains, through a country without +inhabitants, or inhabited only by wild Indians who offered obstruction +and not help. + + +On the first day of the session, December 7, 1863, Mr. Elihu B. +Washburne of Illinois introduced a bill to empower the President +to appoint a Lieutenant-General for all our forces. It was avowedly +intended for General Grant who had already been appointed a Major- +General in the Regular Army. Some opposition was shown to the +measure, when it was formally reported from the Military Committee +by Mr. Farnsworth of Illinois who ably supported it. Mr. Thaddeus +Stevens indicated his intention to oppose it and was followed by +Mr. Garfield who thought the action premature. Mr. Schenck also +intimated that it might be difficult at that moment to say who +would in the end command precedence among our generals. Eighteen +months before, McClellan would have been chosen; after Gettysburg +Meade would have been selected; at one time in the midst of his +successes in the South-West Rosecrans might have been appointed. +As a matter of course Grant would now be selected. Mr. Schenck +however announced his intention to support the measure. + +Mr. Washburne closed the debate with an impressive plea for the +bill. He avowed that it meant General Grant who had been "successful +in every fight from Belmont to Lookout Mountain. The people of +this country want a fighting general to lead their armies, and +General Grant is the man upon whom we must depend to fight out this +rebellion in the end." Mr. Washburne gave a unique description of +General Grant in the critical campaign below Vicksburg: "General +Grant did not take with him the trappings and paraphernalia so +common to many military men. As all depended on celerity of movement +it was important to be encumbered with as little baggage as possible. +General Grant took with him neither a horse nor an orderly nor a +servant nor a camp-chest nor an overcoat nor a blanket nor even a +clean shirt. His entire baggage for six days--I was with him at +the time--was a tooth-brush. He fared like the commonest soldier +in his command, partaking of his rations and sleeping upon the +ground with no covering except the canopy of heaven." The speech +of Mr. Washburne was very earnest and very effective, and, the vote +coming at its conclusion, the House passed the bill by 96 yeas to +41 nays. It was not strictly a party vote. Randall of Pennsylvania, +Morrison of Illinois, Eldridge of Wisconsin, Voorhees of Indiana +and several other Democratic partisans supported the measure, while +Thaddeus Stevens, Winter Davis, Garfield, Broomall of Pennsylvania +and others among the Republicans opposed it. + +The bill was desired by the President who approved it on the 29th +of February, 1864, and immediately nominated Ulysses S. Grant to +be Lieutenant-General. Mr. Lincoln saw the obvious advantage of +placing a man of General Grant's ability in command of all the +armies. The General was ordered to Washington at once, and arrived +at the capital on the eighth day of March. Mr. Lincoln had never +before seen him, though both were citizens of Illinois and General +Grant had been distinguished in the field for more than two years. +A new era opened in our military operations and abundant vigor was +anticipated and realized. General Sherman was left in command of +the great army in the West. He had up to this time been serving +with General Grant but was now to assume command of an enormous +force and to engage in one of the most arduous, heroic, and successful +campaigns in the military history of the country. The march from +Vicksburg to Chattanooga, thence to Atlanta, to Savannah, and +Northward to the Potomac, is one of the longest ever made by an +army. From Vicksburg to Chattanooga the army was under command of +General Grant, but the entire march of the same body of troops must +have exceeded two thousand miles through the very heart of the +insurrectionary country. But the great operations of both Grant +and Sherman were incomplete when Congress adjourned on the Fourth +of July. Its members returned home to engage in a canvass of +extraordinary interest and critical importance. + + + CHARACTER OF GENERAL SHERMAN. + +The character and ability of General Sherman were not fully +appreciated until the second year of the war. He had not aimed to +startle the country at the outset of his military career with any +of the brilliant performances attempted by many officers who were +heard of for a day and never afterwards. With the true instinct +and discipline of a soldier, he faithfully and skillfully did the +work assigned to him, and he gained steadily, rapidly, and enduringly +on the confidence and admiration of the people. He shared in the +successful campaigns of General Grant in the South-West, and earned +his way to the great command with which he was now intrusted,--a +command which in one sense involved the prompt success of all the +military operations of the Government. Disaster for his army did +not of course mean the triumph of the Rebellion, but it meant fresh +levies of troops, the prolongation of the struggle, and a serious +increase to the heavy task that General Grant had assumed in +Virginia. + +General Sherman was a graduate of West Point, and while still a +young man had served with marked credit for some twelve years in +the army. But he had more than a military education. Through a +checkered career in civil life, he had enlarged his knowledge of +the country, his acquaintance with men, his experience in affairs. +He had been a banker in California, a lawyer in Kansas, President +of a college in Louisiana, and, when the war began, he was about +to take charge of a railroad in Missouri. It would be difficult, +if not impossible to find a man who has so thorough, so minute a +knowledge of every State and Territory of the Union. He has made +a special study of the geography and products of the country. Some +one has said of him, that if we should suddenly lose all the maps +of the United States, we need not wait for fresh surveys to make +new ones, because General Sherman could reproduce a perfect map in +twenty-four hours. That this is a pardonable exaggeration would +be admitted by any one who had conversed with General Sherman in +regard to the topography and resources of the country from Maine +to Arizona. + +General Sherman's appearance is strongly indicative of his descent. +Born in the West, he is altogether of Puritan stock, his father +and mother having emigrated from Connecticut where his family +resided for nearly two centuries. All the characteristics of that +remarkable class of men re-appear in General Sherman. In grim, +determined visage, in commanding courage, in mental grasp, in +sternness of principle, he is an Ironside Officer of the Army of +Cromwell, modified by the impulsive mercurial temperament which +eight generations of American descent, with Western birth and +rearing, have impressed upon his character. + +[* The Italicized words were underscored in the original letters +of the President.] + +[** THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. +REPUBLICANS IN ROMAN; DEMOCRATS IN ITALIC. + +The Senate was composed of same members as in Thirty-seventh Congress +(given on pp. ----), with the following exceptions:-- +ILLINOIS.--_William A. Richardson_ succeeded O. H. Browning. +INDIANA.--_Thomas A. Hendricks_ succeeded _David Turpie_. +MAINE.--Nathan A. Farwell succeeded William Pitt Fessenden. +MARYLAND.--_Reverdy Johnson_ succeeded _James Alfred Pearce_. +MINNESOTA.--Alexander Ramsey succeeded _Henry M. Rice_. +MISSOURI.--B. Gratz Brown succeeded _Robert Wilson_. +NEW JERSEY.--_William Wright_ succeeded _James W. Wall_. +NEW YORK.--Edwin D. Morgan succeeded Preston King. +PENNSYLVANIA.--_Charles R. Buckalew_ succeeded David Wilmot. +RHODE ISLAND.--William Sprague succeeded Samuel G. Arnold. +"Waitman T. Willey and Peter G. Van Winkle were admitted as the + first senators from West Virginia. Lemuel J. Bowden took Mr. + Willey's place as senator from Virginia, and colleague of John + Carlile. The political power of West Virginia was thus actually + represented at one time by four senators. +"James W. Nye and William M. Stewart took their seats Feb. 1, 1865, + as senators from the new State of Nevada. +"Ten States were unrepresented. + +HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + +CALIFORNIA.--Cornelius Cole, William Higby, Thomas B. Shannon. +CONNECTICUT.--Augustus Brandegee, Henry C. Deming, _James E. + English_, John H. Hubbard. +DELAWARE.--Nathaniel B. Smithers. +ILLINOIS.--_James C. Allen; William J. Allen_; Isaac N. Arnold; + _John R. Eden_; John F. Farnsworth; _Charles M. Harris_; Ebon C. + Ingersoll, elected in place of Owen Lovejoy, deceased; _Anthony L. + Knapp_; Owen Lovejoy, died March 25, 1864; _William R. Morrison; + Jesse O. Norton; James C. Robinson; Lewis W. Ross; John T. Stuart_; + Elihu B. Washburne. +INDIANA.--Schuyler Colfax, _James A. Cravens_, Ebenezer Dumont, + _Joseph K. Edgerton, Henry W. Harrington, William S. Holman_, George + W. Julian, _John Law, James F. McDowell_, Godlove S. Orth, _Daniel + W. Voorhees_. +IOWA.--William B. Allison, Joseph B. Grinnell, Asahel W. Hubbard, + John A. Kasson, Hiram Price, James F. Wilson. +KANSAS.--A. Carter Wilder. +KENTUCKY.--Lucien Anderson, Brutus J. Clay, Henry Grider, Aaron + Harding, Robert Mallory, William H. Randall, Green Clay Smith, + _William H. Wadsworth_, George H. Yeaman. +MAINE.--James G. Blaine, Sidney Perham, Frederick A. Pike, John H. + Rice, _Lorenzo D. M. Sweat_. +MARYLAND.--John A. J. Creswell, Henry Winter Davis, _Benjamin G. + Harris_, Francis Thomas, Edwin H. Webster. +MASSACHUSETTS.--John R. Alley, Oakes Ames, John D. Baldwin, George + S. Boutwell, Henry L. Dawes, Thomas D. Eliot, Daniel W. Gooch, + Samuel Hooper, Alexander H. Rice, William B. Washburn. +MICHIGAN.--Augustus C. Baldwin, Fernando C. Beaman, John F. Driggs, + Fracis W. Kellogg, John W. Longyear, Charles Upson. +MINNESOTA.--Ignatius Donnelly, William Windom. +MISSOURI.--Francis P. Blair, Jr., seat successfully contested by + Samuel Knox; Henry T. Blow, Sempronius H. Boyd; _William A. Hall; + Austin A. King_; Samuel Knox, seated in place of Mr. Blair, June + 15, 1864; Benjamin Loan; Joseph W. McClurg; James S. Rollins, _John + G. Scott_. +NEVADA.--Henry G. Worthington, seated Dec. 21, 1864. +NEW HAMPSHIRE.--_Daniel Marcy_, James W. Patterson, Edward H. + Rollins. +NEW JERSEY.--_George Middleton, Nehemiah Perry, Andrew J. Rogers_, + John F. Starr, _William G. Steele_. +NEW YORK.--_James Brooks; John W. Chanler_; Ambrose W. Clark; + Freeman Clarke; Thomas T. Davis; Reuben E. Fenton, resigned Dec. + 10, 1864; Augustus Frank; _John Ganson_; John A. Griswold; _Anson + Herrick_; Giles W. Hotchkiss; Calvin T. Hulburd; _Martin Kalbfleisch_; + Orlando Kellogg; _Francis Kernan_; De Witt C. Littlejohn; James M. + Marvin; Samuel F. Miller; Daniel Morris; _Homer A. Nelson; Moses + F. Odell_; Theodore M. Pomeroy; _John V. L. Pruyn; William Radford; + Henry G. Stebbins_, resigned 1864; _John B. Steele; Dwight Townsend_, + elected in place of Mr. Stebbins; Robert B. Van Valkenburgh; _Elijah + Ward; Charles H. Winfield; Benjamin Wood; Fernando Wood_. +OHIO.--James M. Ashley, _George Bliss, Samuel S. Cox_, Ephraim B. + Eckley, _William E. Finck_, James A. Garfield, _Wells A. Hutchins, + William Johnson, Francis C. LeBlond, Alexander Long, John F. + McKinney, James R. Morris, Warren P. Noble, John O'Neill, George + H. Pendleton_, Robert C. Schenck, Rufus P. Spaulding, _Chilton A. + White, Joseph W. White_. +OREGON.--John R. McBride. +PENNSYLVANIA.--_Sydenham E. Ancona, Joseph Baily_, John M. Broomall, + _Alexander H. Coffroth, John L. Dawson, Charles Denison, James T. + Hale, Philip Johnson_, William D. Kelley, _Jesse Lazear, Archibald + McAllister, William H. Miller_, James K. Moorhead, Amos Myers, + Leonard Myers, Charles O'Neill, _Samuel J. Randall_, Glenni W. + Scofield, Thaddeus Stevens, _John D. Stiles, Myer Strouse_, M. + Russell Thayer, Henry W. Tracy, Thomas Williams. +RHODE ISLAND.--Nathan F. Dixon, Thomas A. Jenckes. +VERMONT.--Portus Baxter, Justin S. Morrill, Fred. E. Woodbridge. +WEST VIRGINIA.--Jacob B. Blair, William G. Brown, Killian V. Whaley. +WISCONSIN.--_James T. Brown_, Amasa Cobb, _Charles A. Eldridge_, + Walter D. McIndoe, Ithamar C. Sloan, _Ezra Wheeler_. + +TERRITORIAL DELEGATES. +ARIZONA.--Charles D. Poston. +COLORADO.--Hiram P. Bennett. +DAKOTA.--William Jayne, _John B. S. Todd_. +IDAHO.--William H. Wallace. +MONTANA.--_Samuel McLean_, seated June 6, 1865. +NEBRASKA.--Samuel G. Daily. +NEVADA.--Gordon N. Mott. +NEW MEXICO.--Francisco Perea. +UTAH.--John F. Kenney. +WASHINGTON.--_George E. Cole_.] + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Presidential Election of 1864.--Preliminary Movements.--General +Sentiment favors Mr. Lincoln.--Some Opposition to his Renomination. +--Secretary Chase a Candidate.--The "Pomeroy Circular."--Mr. Chase +withdraws.--Republican National Convention.--Baltimore, June 7.-- +Fremont and Cochrane nominated.--Speech of Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge. +--Mr. Lincoln renominated.--Candidates for Vice-President.--Andrew +Johnson of Tennessee nominated.--Democratic National Convention.-- +Chicago, August 29.--Military Situation discouraging.--Character +of the Convention.--Peace Party prevails.--Speeches of Belmont, +Bigler, Hunt, Long, Seymour.--Nomination of General McClellan for +President.--George H. Pendleton for Vice-President.--Platform.-- +Suits Vallandigham.--General McClellan accepts, but evades the +Platform.--General Fremont withdraws.--Success of the Union Army. +--Mr. Lincoln's Popularity.--General McClellan steadily loses +Ground.--Sheridan's Brilliant Victories.--General McClellan receives +the Votes of only Three States.--Governor Seymour defeated in New +York. + +The Presidential election of 1864 was approaching, with marked +political fluctuations and varying personal prospects. The tide +of public feeling ebbed or flowed with the disasters or the victories +of the war. The brilliant military triumphs of the summer of 1863 +had quelled political opposition, and brought overwhelming success +to the Republican party. This period of heroic achievement and +popular enthusiasm was followed in the winter of 1863-64 by a +dormant campaign, a constant waste, and an occasional reverse which +produced a corresponding measure of doubt and despondency. The +war had been prolonged beyond the expectation of the country; the +loss of blood and of treasure had been prodigious; the rebels still +flaunted their flag along the Tennessee and the Rappahannock; the +public debt was growing to enormous proportions; new levies of +troops were necessary; the end could not yet be seen; and all these +trials and sacrifices and uncertainties had their natural effect +upon the temper of the public and upon the fortunes of the war. + +The preliminary movements connected with the Presidential canvass +began in this period of doubt. The prevailing judgment of the +Union-Republican party, with full trust in the President's sagacity +and clear recognition of the injurious construction that would be +put upon a change, pointed unmistakably to the renomination of Mr. +Lincoln. But this predominant sentiment encountered some vigorous +opposition. A part of the hostility was due to a sincere though +mistaken impatience with Mr. Lincoln's slow and conservative methods, +and a part was due to political resentments and ambitions. The +more radical element of the party was not content with the President's +cautious and moderate policy, but insisted that he should proceed +to extreme measures or give way to some bolder leader who would +meet this demand. Other individuals had been aggrieved by personal +disappointments, and the spirit of faction could not be altogether +extinguished even amid the agonies of war. There were civil as +well as military offices to be filled, and the selection among +candidates put forward in various interests could not be made +without leaving a sense of discomfiture in many breasts. + +These various elements of discontent and opposition clustered about +Secretary Chase, and found in him their natural leader. He was +the head of the radical forces in the Cabinet, as Mr. Seward was +the exponent of the conservative policy. He had been one of the +earliest and most zealous chiefs of the Free-soil party, and ranked +among the brightest stars in that small galaxy of anti-slavery +senators who bore so memorable a part in the Congressional struggles +before the war. He was justly distinguished as a political leader +and an able and a versatile statesman. For the part he was now +desired and expected to play he had a decided inclination and not +a few advantages. Keenly ambitious, he was justified by his talents, +however mistaken his time and his methods, in aspiring to the +highest place. His sympathies were well understood. By his +unconcealed views and his direct expressions he had encouraged the +movement against Mr. Lincoln. A year in advance of the Presidential +election he had announced his conviction that no President should +be re-elected, and had added the opinion that a man of different +qualities from those of Mr. Lincoln would be needed for the next +four years. + + MR. CHASE A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE. + +Apart from the influence of his known attitude and of his recognized +leadership, the opponents of Mr. Lincoln were naturally attracted +to Mr. Chase by the fact that he was at the head of the department +which was most potential in the distribution of patronage. If the +purpose was not avowed, the inference was suggested that no man +could do more to help himself. There had been sharp contention +over the important Treasury offices in New York, in which Mr. Chase +appeared on the one side and the rival influences in the Administration +on the other, and this contest was interpreted as a part of the +political and Presidential struggle. Mr. Chase having consented +to the use of his name as a candidate, his friends began active +work on his behalf. Early in the winter of 1863-64 what was known +as the "Pomeroy circular" was sent out, ostensibly as a confidential +paper, but promptly finding its way into print. It derived its +name from the Kansas senator who was prominent in the advocacy of +Mr. Chase's nomination. The circular represented that Mr. Lincoln's +re-election was impossible; that his "manifest tendency toward +compromises and temporary expedients of policy" rendered it +undesirable; that Mr. Chase united more of the qualities needed in +a President for the next four years than were combined in any other +available candidate; and that steps should be taken at once to +effect a general organization to promote his nomination. + +But the effort met with small response. It aroused no popular +sympathy. Its chief effect indeed was to call forth the always +constant if sometimes latent attachment of the people to Mr. Lincoln, +and to develop an irresistible desire for his re-election. A few +days after the issue of the "Pomeroy circular" the Republican +members of the Ohio Legislature passed a resolution in favor of +Mr. Lincoln's renomination, and Mr. Chase availed himself of this +unmistakable action in his own State to withdraw his name as a +candidate. The signal failure of the movement however did not +entirely arrest the effort to prevent Mr. Lincoln's renomination. +Restless spirits still persisted in an opposition as destitute of +valid reason as it was abortive in result. With the view of promptly +settling the disturbing question of candidates and presenting an +undivided front to the common foe, the Republican National Convention +had been called to meet on the 7th of June. The selection of this +early date, though inspired by the most patriotic motives, was made +an additional pretext for factious warfare. An address was issued +inviting the "radical men of the nation" to meet at Cleveland on +the 31st of May, with the undisguised design of menacing and +constraining the Republican Convention. This call passionately +denounced Mr. Lincoln by implication as prostituting his position +to perpetuate his own power; it virulently assailed the Baltimore +Convention, though not yet held, as resting wholly on patronage; +it challenged the rightful title of that authoritative tribunal of +the party, and declared for the principle of one term. There had +been no election of delegates to this Cleveland assemblage, and it +possessed no representative character. It was simply a mass +convention, and numbered about a hundred and fifty persons claiming +to come from fifteen different States. + +The platform adopted by the Convention was brief, and in some +directions extreme. It demanded that the rebellion be suppressed +without compromise, and that the right of _habeas corpus_ and the +privilege of asylum be held inviolate; declared for the Monroe +doctrine and for constitutional amendments prohibiting the re- +establishment of Slavery and providing for the election of President +for one term only and by direct vote of the people; and finally +advocated the confiscation of the lands of rebels and their +distribution among the soldiers and actual settlers. General +Fremont was selected as the candidate for President, and General +John Cochrane of New York for Vice-President. General Fremont +hurried forward his letter of acceptance, which was dated only four +days after his nomination and three days before the Baltimore +Convention. It repudiated the proposed confiscation, but approved +the remainder of the platform. It was chiefly devoted to a vehement +attack upon Mr. Lincoln's Administration, which was charged with +incapacity and with infidelity to the principles it was pledged to +maintain. General Fremont further hinted that if the Baltimore +Convention would select some candidate other than Mr. Lincoln he +would retire from the contest, but plainly declared that if the +President were renominated there would be no alternative but to +organize every element of opposition against him. + +Three days before the Baltimore Convention, a mass meeting was held +in New York to give public voice to the gratitude of the country +to General Grant and his command, for their patriotic and successful +services. While this was the avowed object of the demonstration, +there was a suspicion that it had a political design and that its +real purpose was to present General Grant as a Presidential candidate. +If such were the intent, it was effectually frustrated both by the +emphatic refusal of General Grant to countenance the use of his +name, and by the admirable and impressive letter of Mr. Lincoln. +Paying a warm tribute to the heroic commander of the army, the +President said appealingly, "He and his brave soldiers are now in +the midst of their great trial, and I trust that at your meeting +you will so shape your good words that they may turn to men and +guns, moving to his and their support." This patriotic singleness +of thought for the country's safety defeated and scattered all more +political plans, and the hearts of the people turned more and more +to Mr. Lincoln. He had been steadily growing in the esteem of his +countrymen. The patience, wisdom, and fidelity with which he had +guided the government during its unprecedented trials and dangers +had won the profound respect and affection of the people. Besides +this deepening sentiment of personal devotion and confidence, there +was a wide conviction that, in his own expressive phrase, "it is +not wise to swap horses while crossing the stream." + + REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION. + +Under these circumstances the Union-Republican National Convention +met in Baltimore. The feeling with which it convened was one of +patriotic and exultant confidence. The doubts prevailing a few +months before had been dissipated. The accession of General Grant +to the command of all our armies, and the forward movement both in +the East and in the West, inspired faith in the speedy and complete +triumph of the Union cause. Many eminent men were included in the +roll of delegates to the Convention. Not less than five of the +leading War Governors were chosen to participate in its councils. +Vermont sent Solomon Foot who had stood faithful in the Senate +during the struggles before the war. Massachusetts had commissioned +her eloquent Governor John A. Andrew; the delegation from New York +embraced Henry J. Raymond; Daniel S. Dickinson, who was to be +prominently named for Vice-President; and Lyman Tremain who, like +Dickinson, was one of the able war Democrats that had joined the +Republican party. New Jersey and Ohio each sent two ex-governors +--Marcus L. Ward and William A. Newell from the former, and William +Dennison and David Tod from the latter. Simon Cameron, Thaddeus +Stevens, and Ex-Speaker Grow of Pennsylvania; Governor Blair and +Omer D. Conger of Michigan; Angus Cameron of Wisconsin and George +W. McCrary of Iowa were among the other delegates who have since +been identified with public affairs and have occupied positions of +responsibility. + +In calling the Convention to order Governor Morgan of New York made +a brief speech advocating a constitutional amendment abolishing +slavery. Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge of Kentucky was chosen temporary +chairman. The appearance on the platform of this venerable and +venerated divine was in itself an event of great interest. By +birth and association he was connected with the aristocratic class +which furnished the pillars of the Confederacy; he belonged to a +family conspicuously identified with the rebellion; yet among his +own order he was the strongest and sturdiest champion of the Union +cause south of the Ohio. His pointed eloquence was equaled by his +indomitable courage. The aggressive qualities of his staunch Scotch +ancestry shone in his own resolute and unyielding character, and +he was distinguished both in Church and in State as an able and +uncompromising controversialist. His years and his history inspired +a general feeling of reverence; and as he was conducted to the +chair of the Convention, his tall figure, strong face, and patriarchal +beard imparted to him something of personal majesty. His speech +well illustrated his rugged attributes of character. It was sharp, +sinewy, and defiant. At the beginning he hurled out the declaration +that "the nation shall not be destroyed;" and referring to the plea +which treated the Constitution as the sacred shield of the system +that was waging war on the Union and which insisted that it must +remain untouched, he proclaimed that "we shall change the Constitution +if it suits us to do so." He solemnly affirmed "that the only +enduring, the only imperishable cement of all free institutions +has been the blood of traitors." He alluded to the fact that he +had lived amid the surroundings of slavery, and had been among +those who sustained and upheld the system; but, recognizing that +it was this institution which had lifted the sword against the +Union, he aroused the enthusiasm of his vast audience by his +unhesitating declaration that we must "use all power to exterminate +and extinguish it." Next to the official platform itself, the +speech of Dr. Breckinridge was the most inspiring utterance of the +Convention. + +When the question of calling the roll of the Southern States and +of receiving their delegates was reached, Thaddeus Stevens objected +on the ground that such an act might be regarded as recognizing +the right of States in rebellion to participate in the Electoral +College. The Convention decided however to call the roll of all +the States, and to refer the question of admitting their delegates +to the Committee on Credentials. Ex-Governor Dennison of Ohio was +elected permanent president. Preston King of New York from the +Committee on Credentials reported in favor of admitting the Radical +Union delegation from Missouri, and excluding the Conservative +Union or Blair delegation. It was proposed to amend by admitting +both delegations to seats; but the recognition of the Radical Union +delegation was urged on the ground not only that they were regularly +elected, but that it was the duty of the Convention to strengthen +the advanced Union sentiment of the South, and that their admission +would be the practical adhesion of the national party to the broad +anti-slavery policy which was essential to the salvation of the +country. This view prevailed by a vote of 440 to 4. The admission +of the delegations from Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana was a +question of no less interest. It involved the effect of the +rebellion upon the relation of the rebelling States to the Union. +Could they have a voice in public affairs without specific measures +of restoration, or were the acts of secession a nullity without +influence upon their legal status? The committee reported in favor +of admitting the delegations from these States, without the right +to vote. The chairman, Mr. King, was the only member who dissented, +and he moved to amend by admitting them on the same footing as all +the other delegates. The question was first taken on Tennessee, +and the amendment was carried by a vote of 310 to 153--a decision +which had an important bearing on the subsequent nomination for +Vice-President. The delegates from Arkansas and Louisiana were +given the right to vote by 307 to 167. The Territories of Colorado, +Nebraska, and Nevada were soon to enter the Union as States, and +their delegates were allowed to vote. The remaining Territories +and the States of Virginia and Florida were admitted without the +right to vote. + + THE PLATFORM AND THE CANDIDATE. + +With the completion of the organization the Committee on Resolutions +made their report through Mr. Henry J. Raymond. The platform upon +which it had unanimously agreed was a trenchant and powerful +declaration of policy. Its tone was elevated, its expression was +direct and unequivocal. It pledged every effort to aid the Government +in quelling by force of arms the rebellion against its authority; +it approved "the determination of the government not to compromise +with rebels nor to offer them any terms of peace except such as +may be based upon an unconditional surrender of their hostility +and a return to their just allegiance to the Constitution and laws +of the United States;" and it called upon the government to prosecute +the war with the utmost possible vigor to the complete suppression +of the Rebellion. It resolved that "as slavery was the cause and +now constitutes the strength of this Rebellion, and as it must be +always and everywhere hostile to the principles of Republican +government, justice and the national safety demand its utter and +complete extirpation from the soil of the Republic;" and it declared +for "such an amendment to the Constitution as shall terminate and +forever prohibit the existence of slavery within the limits or +jurisdiction of the United States." The heroism of the soldiers +and sailors of the Republic was gratefully acknowledged. The +wisdom, patriotism, and fidelity of President Lincoln, and his +measures for the defense of the nation were approved. A general +expression that harmony should prevail in the national councils +was interpreted as contemplating a possible reconstruction of the +Cabinet. Declarations for the encouragement of foreign immigration +by a liberal policy, for the speedy construction of a Pacific +railroad, for the inviolability of the National faith, and for the +re-assertion of the Monroe doctrine, completed a platform which in +all its parts was pervaded by the most vigorous spirit. Its +commanding feature was its explicit demand for the abolition of +slavery. The President's Proclamation of Emancipation had been +issued more than a year before, but this was the first National +assemblage with power to make it the fixed policy of a party. The +Baltimore platform, which was adopted by acclamation, made this +the paramount issue, and from that hour Freedom and the Union were +inseparably associated. + +The nomination for President being in order, there was a strife +for the honor of naming Mr. Lincoln. General Simon Cameron offered +a resolution declaring Abraham Lincoln the choice of the Union +party for President, and Hannibal Hamlin its candidate for Vice- +President. To this proposition the immediate objection was made that +it might be open to the misconstruction of not permitting a free +vote, and that it complicated the selection for the first place +with a contest over the second. After some discussion General +Cameron withdrew his resolution, and on a general demand, in order +to remove all ground for the charge that the nomination was forced, +the roll of the Convention was called. Abraham Lincoln was named +by 497 delegates,--all of the Convention except the 22 from Missouri, +who under instructions voted for General Grant. Amid great enthusiasm +Mr. Lincoln's nomination was then declared to be unanimous. + + CANDIDATES FOR THE VICE-PRESIDENT. + +The Vice-Presidency had excited an animated contest. While many +felt that the old ticket should remain unbroken, and that Mr. Hamlin +should continue to be associated with Mr. Lincoln, there was a wide +sentiment in favor of recognizing the war Democrats, who had acted +with the Union party, by selecting one of their number for the +second place. Two prominent representatives of this class were +suggested,--Daniel S. Dickinson of New York and Andrew Johnson of +Tennessee. One was identified with the patriotic Democrats of the +North and the other with the sturdy and intrepid Unionists of the +South. Mr. Dickinson, by reason both of his earnest loyalty and +of his coming from the important State of New York, was regarded +in many quarters with special favor. The Massachusetts delegation +early declared their preference, and sent a message to the New-York +delegation announcing their purpose to vote for him if New York +would present him as a candidate. Had New York given him a united +support his nomination would not have been doubtful. But the very +reasons which commended him in other sections excited jealousy in +his own State, and prompted an opposition which led to his defeat. + +Mr. Dickinson's career had been long and honorable. He had been +chosen to the State Senate in 1837, and quickly attained a leading +place. After serving as lieutenant-governor, he was in 1844 +appointed United-States senator by Governor Bouck to fill a vacancy, +and was subsequently elected by the Legislature for a full term. +Appearing in the Senate at the important juncture when the annexation +of Texas and the Mexican war were agitating the country, he soon +took an active part in the discussions. He was particularly +distinguished for his aptness in repartee, and for his keen and +incisive humor. Politically he belonged to the conservative or +_Hunker_ wing of the Democracy. Entering the Senate just as Silas +Wright was leaving it to assume the Governor's chair, he joined +Secretary Marcy and the influences that moulded Polk's Administration, +against the able and powerful statesman who had so long held sway +over the Democratic party in New York. Mr. Dickinson's talent made +him the leader of the Hunkers, and in 1852 he was one of their +candidates for President. When the war came, he declared himself +unreservedly on the side of the Government, and rendered valuable +service to the Union party. He was especially effective on the +stump. His sharp wit, his rich fund of anecdotes, his sparkling +humor, his singular felicity and aptness of biblical illustration, +which had earned for him the popular name of "Scripture Dick," +served to give him wonderful command over an audience, and the +effect was heightened by his personal appearance, which his long, +flowing silvery locks made strikingly impressive. + +The suggestion of Mr. Dickinson's name for Vice-President was +cordially received by many delegates. But some of the controlling +influences among the New-York Republicans were not well disposed +towards the advancement of those who came from the Democratic ranks. +They feared, besides, that if the candidate from Vice-President +were taken from New York, it might prejudice her claims for the +Cabinet, and might endanger Mr. Seward's position as Secretary of +State. For these reasons their influence was thrown against Mr. +Dickinson's nomination. On a test-vote in the New-York delegation, +Dickinson received 28, Johnson 22, and Hamlin 6. This result was +fatal to Mr. Dickinson's chances, and brought Mr. Johnson prominently +forward. His record and character had much to attract the patriotic +respect of the country. The vigor and boldness with which, though +a Southern senator, he had denounced secession at the beginning of +the outbreak, had taken strong hold of the popular heart. The +firmness and unyielding loyalty he had displayed as Military Governor +of Tennessee greatly deepened the favorable impression. The +delegates from his own and other Southern States had been admitted +to the Convention as an evidence that the Republican party honored +the tried and faithful loyalists of the South, and many felt that +the nomination of Mr. Johnson would emphasize this sentiment, and +free the party from the imputation of sectional passion and purpose. +The ballot for Vice-President gave Johnson 200; Dickinson 113; +Hamlin 145; General B. F. Butler 26; General L. H. Rousseau 21; +with a few scattering votes. Before the final announcement, several +delegations changed to Johnson, until as declared the ballot stood, +Johnson 492; Dickinson 17; Hamlin 9. Mr. Johnson was then unanimously +nominated. The Convention had completed its work, and the results +were hailed with satisfaction throughout the country. + +The Republicans had been compelled in 1856 and 1860 to nominate +their candidates both for President and Vice-President from the +North. This was contrary to the patriotic traditions of the country +with which a single exception had in all parties divided the +candidates between the two great sections of the country. Strangely +enough both parties violated the practice in the exciting canvass +of 1828, when Jackson and Calhoun were the candidates of the +Democratic party and Adams and Rush were the candidates of the +National Republican party. The nomination now of Andrew Johnson +from the South tended, in the phrase of the day, to _nationalize_ +the Republican party, and this consideration gave it popularity +throughout the North. It was nevertheless felt by many of Mr. +Hamlin's friends to be an injustice to him. But it did him no +injury. He accepted the result in a cordial manner and worked +earnestly for the success of the nominees. The whole country saw +that the grounds upon which Mr. Hamlin was superseded were not in +derogation of the honorable record he had made in his long and +faithful public career. + + + DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, 1864. + +The Democratic National Convention was held nearly three months +after the Republican Convention had renominated Mr. Lincoln, and +only two months prior to the election. It had originally been +called to meet in Chicago on the 4th of July; but as the time +approached, the brighter military prospects and the rekindled +national hopes left a darker Democratic outlook, and the assembling +of the Convention had been delayed to the 29th of August. Several +reasons had combined to secure the selection of this unusually late +day. It gave longer opportunity to observe the course of the +military campaign, and to take advantage of any unfavorable +exigencies; it allowed more time to compose Democratic dissensions; +and it furnished more scope for the party, whose chances rested +solely upon the degree of popular discontent, to seize upon any +disturbed state of the public mind, and turn it to account. + +The delay of nearly two months had been accompanied by a marked +change in the situation. The advance of the Union cause which had +depressed Democratic expectations in the spring, had been succeeded +by inactivity and doubts which revived Democratic hopes in August. +The postponement which had been ordered that they might avail +themselves of any unfavorable course of affairs, thus deluded them +into a bold abandonment of all reserve. Changes in the military +situation were sometimes sudden and swift. Had the Convention been +postponed another week, its tone and action might have been +essentially different; for its tumultuous session had scarcely +closed before the clouds that hung over the country during the +summer were scattered, and our armies entered upon the most brilliant +movements and triumphs of the war--triumphs which did not cease +until the surrender at Appomattox. + +But the Convention assembled at a time of uncertainty if not of +gloom and depression. The issue of the great struggle was not yet +clear. General Grant, with his unquailing resolution "to fight it +out on this line," had cut his way through the Wilderness over the +bloody field of Spotsylvania, and against the deadly lines of Cold +Harbor. He had fastened his iron grip upon Petersburg, and there +the opposing armies were still halting in their trenches. In the +Shenandoah Valley, Early was defiant and aggressive. In the West, +the delay at Kennesaw, the fall of the heroic McPherson, and other +reverses had marked a campaign of slow advances. The assaults upon +Mr. Lincoln's Administration had been renewed with increased venom +and persistence. Mistaken and abortive peace negotiations with +pretended rebel commissioners at Niagara Falls had provoked much +criticism and given rise to unfounded charges. The loyal spirit +and purpose of the people were unshaken; but there was some degree +of popular impatience with the lack of progress, and it was the +expectation of the Democratic managers that the restive feeling +might be turned into the channel of opposition to the Administration. + +The Convention included among its delegates many of the most +distinguished leaders of the Democratic party. Massachusetts sent +Josiah G. Abbott and George Lunt. The credentials of Connecticut +were borne by the positive and aggressive William W. Eaton. Among +the representatives of New York were the accomplished Governor +Seymour; the acute Dean Richmond; Samuel J. Tilden, who had not +yet achieved his national distinction; Sanford E. Church, who +afterwards became chief judge of the Court of Appeals; and Ex- +Governor Washington Hunt, whose Silver-Gray conservatism had carried +him into the Democratic party. Ohio counted on the roll of her +delegates William Allen, who had been the contemporary of Webster +and Clay in the Senate; George H. Pendleton and Allen G. Thurman, +who were yet to take high rank in that body; and Clement L. +Vallandigham, just then more prominent with a doubtful celebrity +than any one of his abler colleagues. Pennsylvania contributed Ex- +Governor Bigler, and William A. Wallace already showing the political +talent which afterwards gave him a leading position. The Indiana +delegation was led by Joseph E. McDonald, and the Kentucky delegation +by Governor Powell, James Guthrie, and by Ex-Governor Wickliffe who +had been driven by Mr. Lincoln's anti-slavery policy into the ranks +of his most bitter opponents. In ability and leadership the +Convention fairly represented the great party whose principles and +policy it had met to declare. Besides the accredited delegates, +it brought together a large number of the active and ruling members +of the Democratic organization. The opposition to the war was +stronger in the West than in the East, and the presence of the +Convention in the heart of the region where disloyal societies were +rife, gathered about it a large and positive representation of the +Peace party, which manifested itself in public meetings and in +inflammatory utterances. + + DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, 1864. + +The representatives inside and outside of the Convention were united +in opposing the War and in demanding Peace. But there were different +shades of the Peace sentiment. One portion of the Convention, led +chiefly by the adroit New-York managers, arraigned the whole conduct +and policy of the Administration, and insisted upon a cessation of +hostilities, but at the same time modified the force and effect of +this attitude by urging the nomination of General McClellan for +President. They concurred in the demand for an armistice, but made +a reservation in favor of continuing the war in case the rebels +refused to accept it. Another portion sought to make the declaration +against the war so broad and emphatic that neither General McClellan +nor any man who had been identified with the struggle for the Union +could become the candidate. Both divisions agreed in denouncing +the war measures of the Administration, in resisting emancipation, +in calling for immediate cessation of military movements, and in +opposing the requirement of any conditions from the Southern States. +They differed only in the degree of their hostility to the war. +The faction peculiarly distinguished as the Peace party was led by +Mr. Vallandigham of Ohio, who was the central figure of the +Convention. He had been conspicuous in Congress as the most vehement +and violent opponent of every measure for the prosecution of the +war. Subsequent events had increased his notoriety, and given +explicit significance to his participation in the National Convention +of his party. + +The Convention, meeting in the same city where Abraham Lincoln had +first been nominated four years before, struck its keynote in +opposition to his Administration. Mr. August Belmont, Chairman of +the National Committee, opened the proceedings with a violent +speech. "Four years of misrule," he said, "by a sectional, fanatical, +and corrupt party have brought our country to the very verge of +ruin. . . . The past and present are sufficient warnings of the +disastrous consequences which would befall us if Mr. Lincoln's re- +election should be made possible by our want of patriotism and +unity." In still more explicit terms he went on to picture the +direful effects of that catastrophe. "The inevitable results of +such a calamity," he said, "must be the utter disintegration of +our whole political and social system amid bloodshed and anarchy, +with the great problems of liberal progress and self-government +jeopardized for generations to come." + +Ex-Governor Bigler of Pennsylvania was made temporary chairman, +and followed in a speech which expressed similar sentiments in more +discreet and temperate language than Mr. Belmont had used. He +contented himself with general utterances, and was not betrayed +into personal reflections or prophecies of ruin. The organization +was promptly completed, and the character of the platform was +foreshadowed when it was known that Mr. Vallandigham was a ruling +spirit in the Committee on Resolutions. It was a suggestive incident +that Ex-Governor Wickliffe of Kentucky presented letters from two +delegates chosen to represent that State, explaining their absence +by the fact that they were imprisoned by the Union Government, +without cause, as they alleged, but presumably for disloyal conduct. +Various individual propositions were then brought forward. The +temper and purpose of the Convention may be judged from the offer +of a resolution by so conservative and moderate a man as Ex-Governor +Hunt of New York, declaring in favor of an armistice and of a +convention of States "to review and amend the Constitution so as +to insure to each State the enjoyment of all its rights and the +constitutional control of its domestic concerns,"--meaning in +plainer words the perpetuation and protection of slavery. This +policy aimed to stop the Rebellion by conceding what the rebels +fought for. Then came a characteristic proposition from Alexander +Long of Ohio. Mr. Long was a member of Congress, and next to Mr. +Vallandigham had been most active in resisting war measures. For +a speech which was treasonable in tone he had been publicly censured +by the House. His proposition provided for the appointment of a +committee to proceed at once to Washington, and urge President +Lincoln to stop the draft until the people could decide the question +of peace or war. These various propositions, following the usual +course, were referred to the Committee on Resolutions. + + THE PEACE POLICY PROCLAIMED. + +Governor Horatio Seymour of New York was chosen president, and on +taking the chair made the most elaborate and important address of +the Convention. He was exceedingly popular with his party, and +was justly recognized as among the ablest defenders of its views. +By virtue both of his official position and of his personal strength +he was looked to more than any other leader for the exposition of +Democratic policy. Singularly prepossessing in manner, endowed +with a rare gift of polished and persuasive speech, he put in more +plausible form the extreme and virulent utterances of intemperate +partisans. He was skilled in dialectics, and his rhetorical +dexterity had more than once served him and his friends in good +stead. He was well-nigh the idol of his party, and no other man +could so effectively rally its strength or direct its policy. His +address as presiding officer was intended to be free from the +menacing tone which marked most of the speeches of the Convention, +but it veiled the same sentiment in more subtle and specious phrase. +He charged both the cause and the continuance of the war upon the +Republican party. "Four years ago," he said, "a convention met in +this city when our country was peaceful, prosperous, and united. +Its delegates did not mean to destroy our government, to overwhelm +us with debt, or to drench our land with blood; but they were +animated by intolerance and fanaticism, and blinded by an ignorance +of the spirit of our institutions, the character of our people, +and the condition of our land. They thought they might safely +indulge their passions, and they concluded to do so. Their passions +have wrought out their natural results." Governor Seymour had no +criticism for those who had drawn the sword against the government; +he did not impute to them any responsibility for the war; but he +charged the wrong upon those who were defending the Union. In +advocating an armistice which would involve a practical surrender +of the contest he said: "The Administration will not let the +shedding of blood cease, even for a little time, to see if Christian +charity or the wisdom of statesmanship may not work out a method +to save our country. Nay, more, they will not listen to a proposal +for peace which does not offer that which this government has no +right to ask." It was the abolition of slavery which "this government +has no right to ask." As he advanced towards his conclusion +Governor Seymour grew more pronounced and less discreet. "But as +for us," he said, "we are resolved that the party which has made +the history of our country since its advent to power seem like some +unnatural and terrible dream, shall be overthrown. We have forborne +much because those who are now charged with the conduct of public +affairs know but little about the principles of our government." +The entire speech was able, adroit, and mischievous. + +In the preparation of the platform the champions of the peace policy +had their own way. The friends of General McClellan were so +anxious to secure his nomination and to conciliate the opposition +that they studiously avoided provoking any conflict with the +predominant peace sentiment. The substance and vital spirit of +the platform were contained in the second resolution as follows: +"That this Convention does explicitly declare as the sense of the +American people, that after four years of failure to restore the +Union by the experiment of war, during which under the pretense of +a military necessity of a war power higher than the Constitution, +the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and +public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material +prosperity of the country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, +liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be +made for a cessation of hostilities with a view to an ultimate +convention of all the States, or other peaceable means, to the end +that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on +the basis of the Federal Union of the States." The few remaining +resolutions pledged fidelity to the Union, condemned the alleged +interference of the military authority with certain State elections, +denounced what were recited as arbitrary acts of Administrative +usurpation, reprobated "the shameful disregard of the Administration +of its duty in respect to our fellow-citizens who now are and long +have been prisoners of war," and declared the sympathy of the +Democratic party with the soldiers of the Republic. + +The extreme Peace party having carried the platform, the less +radical section of the Convention secured the candidate for President. +But General McClellan was not nominated without a vehement protest. +The presentation of his name was the signal for a stormy debate. +Mr. Harris of Maryland passionately declared that one man named as +a candidate "was a tyrant." "He it was," continued the speaker, +"who first initiated the policy by which our rights and liberties +were stricken down. That man is George B. McClellan. Maryland +which has suffered so much at the hands of that man will not submit +in silence to his nomination." This attack produced great confusion, +and to justify his course Mr. Harris read General McClellan's order +for the arrest of the Maryland Legislature. He proceeded, "All the +charges of usurpation and tyranny that can be brought against +Lincoln and Butler can be made and substantiated against McClellan. +He is the assassin of State rights, the usurper of liberty, and if +nominated will be beaten everywhere, as he was at Antietam." + +General Morgan of Ohio warmly defended McClellan. He declared that +there was a treasonable conspiracy in Maryland to pass an ordinance +of secession, and that McClellan had thwarted it. Mr. Long espoused +the other side. "You have arraigned Lincoln," he said, "as being +guilty of interfering with the freedom of speech, the freedom of +elections, and of arbitrary arrests, and yet you propose to nominate +a man who has gone even farther than Lincoln has gone in the +perpetration of similar tyrannical measures. McClellan is guilty +of the arrest of the Legislature of a sovereign State. He has +suspended the writ of _habeas corpus_, and helped to enforce the +odious Emancipation Proclamation of Lincoln, the wiling instrument +of a corrupt and tyrannical administration. He has aided while +possessing military power all its efforts to strip American freemen +of their liberties." + +The heated debate lasted till darkness forced an adjournment, and +on re-assembling in the morning a ballot was immediately taken. +General McClellan received 162 votes, and 64 votes were divided +among Horatio Seymour, Thomas H. Seymour of Connecticut and others; +but before the result was announced several changes were made, and +the vote as finally declared as 2021/2 for McClellan and 231/2 for +Thomas H. Seymour. For Vice-President two ballots were taken. On +the first, James Guthrie of Kentucky had 651/2 votes; George H. +Pendleton of Ohio, 541/2; Governor Powell of Kentucky, 321/2; George +W. Cass of Pennsylvania, 26. Mr. Guthrie had been identified with +the war party; Mr. Pendleton as a member of Congress had opposed +the war and was the favorite of the Peace party; and on the second +ballot Mr. Guthrie's name was withdrawn and Mr. Pendleton unanimously +nominated. This act completed the work of the Convention. + + RE-ACTION AGAINST THE DEMOCRACY. + +The response of the country to the action of the Democratic +representatives was an immediate outburst of indignant rebuke. +There were thousands of patriotic Democrats who deeply resented +the hostility of the Convention to the loyal sentiment of the +people, and who felt that it was as fatal as it was offensive. +The general expression of condemnation, and the manifestations on +all sides foreshadowed the doom of the Chicago ticket. General +McClellan and his friends felt the necessity of doing something to +placate the aroused sentiment which they could not resist, and he +vainly sought to make his letter of acceptance neutralize the +baneful effect of the Democratic platform. + +In truth General McClellan practically disavowed the platform. He +ignored the demand for a cessation of hostilities and the declaration +that the war was a failure. "The re-establishment of the Union," +he said, "in all its integrity is and must continue to be the +indispensable condition in any settlement. So soon as it as clear, +or even probable, that our present adversaries are ready for peace +upon the basis of the Union, we should exhaust all the resources +of statesmanship practiced by civilized nations and taught by the +traditions of the American people, consistent with the honor and +interests of the country, to secure such peace, re-establish the +Union, and guarantee for the future the constitutional rights of +every State. The Union is the one condition of peace. We ask no +more." While thus proposing to "exhaust the resources of statesmanship" +to secure peace, he indicated that if such efforts were unavailing +the responsibility for consequences would fall upon those who +remained in arms against the Union. But the letter failed to attain +its object. Its dissent from the dangerous and obnoxious propositions +of the platform was too guarded and reserved to be satisfactory. +The people felt moreover that the deliberate declarations of the +Convention and not the individual expressions of the candidate +defined the policy of the party. + +One of the first results of the Democratic position was the withdrawal +of General Fremont from the canvass. As a loyal man he could not +fail to see that his position was entirely untenable. Either Mr. +Lincoln or General McClellan would be the next President and his +duty was made so plain that he could not hesitate. The argument +for Mr. Lincoln's re-election addressed itself with irresistible +force to the patriotic sentiment and sober judgment of the country. +Apart from every consideration growing out of the disloyal attitude +of the Democratic Convention, it was felt that the rejection of +Mr. Lincoln would be regarded by the rebels as the condemnation of +the war policy and would encourage them to renewed, prolonged, and +more desperate resistance. This conviction appealed to patriotic +men of all parties. Mere political feeling largely subsided, and +the people were actuated by a higher sense of public duty. Especially +was every effort made to remove all grounds of difference which +had divided members of the Union party. The Baltimore platform +indicated some dissatisfaction with the Cabinet, and, acting upon +this suggestion, the President requested and received the resignation +of Postmaster-General Blair. It is but just to Mr. Blair to say +that he gave to Mr. Lincoln his earnest and faithful support in +the election. + +From the hour of the Chicago Convention the whole course of events +steadily strengthened the canvass for Mr. Lincoln. The turn of +the political tide came with sudden and overpowering force. The +news of the capture of Fort Morgan burst upon the Democratic +Convention while it was declaring the war a failure, and the day +after its adjournment brought the still more inspiring intelligence +that Sherman had taken Atalanta. The swift successes of Farragut +in Mobile Bay, following the fall of the rebel stronghold in the +South, filled the country with joy. Within two days from the hour +when the Chicago delegates separated with the demand for a practical +surrender to the rebellion, President Lincoln was able to issue a +proclamation for thanksgiving in all the churches for the great +Union triumphs; and this was followed by national salutes from +every navy-yard and arsenal and from all military headquarters. +The political effect of the victories was instantaneous and +overwhelming. As Secretary Seward expressed it in a public speech, +"Sherman and Farragut have knocked the planks out of the Chicago +platform." + + GREAT VICTORY FOR MR. LINCOLN. + +The tide of victory swept on. While Grant was holding Lee as in +a vise at Petersburg, and Sherman was breaking the shell of the +Confederacy at Atlanta, Sheridan was dashing through the Shenandoah +Valley. Three striking victories crowned his bold and brilliant +progress. The battles of Winchester and Fisher's Hill came within +three weeks of Atlanta and within three days of each other. The +third exploit at Cedar Creek was still more dramatic and thrilling. +The succession of matchless triumphs was the theme of every journal +and every orator, and the North was aflame with the enthusiasm it +kindled. In the light of the answer flashed back from a score of +battle-fields, the Chicago declaration that the war was a failure +was not only seen to be unpatriotic and mischievous but was made +contemptible by universal ridicule and obloquy. + +The political effect of these victories was precisely what Mr. +Lincoln had foreseen and foretold. Speaking of the issue to a +friend, he said, "With reverses in the field the case is doubtful +at the polls. With victory in the field the election will take +care of itself." And so it was. Vermont and Maine in September, +Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana in October, registered in advance +the edict of the people in regard to the Presidency. The result +in November was an overwhelming triumph for Mr. Lincoln. Of the +twenty-two States participating in the election, General McClellan +received the electoral vote of but three. It is perhaps a still +stronger statement to say that of the eighteen free States he +received the vote of but one. New Jersey gave him her electors, +and Kentucky and Delaware, angered by the impending destruction of +Slavery, turned against the Administration and against the prosecution +of the war. Maryland had escaped from all influences connected +with Slavery by its abolition the preceding October, and now cast +her vote for Mr. Lincoln. Missouri and West Virginia, the only +other slave States loyal to the Union, stood firmly by the President. +Mr. Lincoln received two hundred and twelve electoral votes and +General McClellan received twenty-one. + +The chief interest of the whole country for the last month of the +campaign had centred in New York. As nearly as Mr. Lincoln was +willing to regard a political contest as personal to himself, he +had so regarded the contest between Mr. Seymour and Mr. Fenton. +Governor Seymour's speech in the Chicago Convention had been an +indictment of a most malignant type against the Administration. +The President felt that he was himself wholly wrong or Governor +Seymour was wholly wrong, and the people of New York were to decide +which. They rendered their verdict in the election of Reuben E. +Fenton to the Governorship by a majority of thousands over Mr. +Seymour. Without that result Mr. Lincoln's triumph would have been +incomplete. For its accomplishment great credit was awarded to +the Republican candidate for the admirable thoroughness of his +canvass and for the judicious direction of public thought to the +necessity of vindicating the President against the aspersions of +Mr. Seymour. The victory in the Nation was the most complete ever +achieved in an election that was seriously contested. + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +President's Message, December, 1864.--General Sherman's March.-- +Compensated Emancipation abandoned.--Thirteenth Amendment.--Earnestly +recommended by the President.--He appeals to the Democratic Members. +--Mr. Ashley's Energetic Work.--Democratic Opportunity.--Unwisely +neglected.--Mr. Pendleton's Argument.--Final Vote.--Amendment +adopted.--Cases arising under it.--Supreme Court.--Change of Judges +at Different Periods.--Peace Conference at Fortress Monroe.-- +Secretary Chase resigns.--Mr. Fessenden succeeds him.--Mr. Fessenden's +Report.--Surrender of Lee.--General Grant's Military Character.-- +Assassination of President Lincoln.--His Characteristics.--Cost of +the War.--Compared with Wars of Other Nations.--Our Navy.--Created +during the War.--Effective Blockade.--Its Effect upon the South.-- +Its Influence upon the Struggle.--Relative Numbers in Loyal and +Disloyal States.--Comparison of Union and Confederate Armies.-- +Confederate Army at the Close of the War.--Union Armies compared +with Armies of Foreign Countries.--Area of the War.--Its Effect +upon the Cost.--Character of Edwin M. Stanton. + +Sustained by so emphatic a vote of popular confidence, President +Lincoln greeted Congress on the first Monday of December, 1864, +with a hopeful and cheerful message. He reported that our armies, +holding all the lines and positions gained, "have steadily advanced, +thus liberating the regions left in the rear." The President +regarded "General Sherman's march of three hundred miles directly +through an insurgent country" as the "most remarkable feature in +the military operations of the year." It was in progress when the +President delivered his message, and "the result not yet being +known, conjecture in regard to it cannot be here indulged." The +President reported that the actual disbursements in money from the +Treasury for the past fiscal year were $865,234,087.86. + +Mr. Lincoln had finally abandoned the project of compensating the +Border States for their loss of property in slaves. The people of +those States had, through their representatives, blindly and +willfully rejected the offer when it was urged upon them by the +Administration, and had defeated the bill embodying the proposition +on the eve of its passage in the House when it had already passed +the Senate. The situation was now entirely changed. Maryland, +without waiting for National action and regardless of compensation, +had in the preceding October taken the matter under her own control +and deliberately abolished slavery. Mr. Lincoln now announced the +State as "secure to liberty and union for all the future. The +genius of rebellion will no longer claim Maryland. Like another +foul spirit being driven out, it may seek to tear her, but it will +woo her no more." There was no reason why the other Border States +should not follow her example--and there was the strongest argument +against compensating another State for doing what Maryland had done +of her own free will and from an instinct of patriotism, as the +one act which would conclusively separate her from all possibility +of sympathy with the rebellion. + +Freed thus from what he may have regarded as the obligations of +his Border-State policy and upheld by the great popular majority +which he had received in the election, the President warmly +recommended to Congress the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment +to the Constitution. He called attention to the fact that it had +already received the sanction of the Senate, but failed in the +House for lack of the requisite two-thirds vote. There was no +doubt that the large Republican majority, already elected to the +Thirty-ninth Congress, would adopt the Amendment, but such adoption +implied postponement for a whole year, with loss of the moral +influence which would be gained by prompter action. It implied +also that the Amendment would depend solely upon Republican votes, +and the President was especially anxious that it should receive +Democratic support. Still another reason wrought upon the President's +mind. He believed the rebellion to be near its end, and no man +could tell how soon a proposition might come for the surrender of +the Confederate Armies and the return of the Rebel States to their +National allegiance. If such a proposition should be made, Mr. +Lincoln knew that there would be a wild desire among the loyal +people to accept it, and that in the forgiving joy of re-union they +would not insist upon the conditions which he believed essential +to the future safety and strength of the National Government. +Slavery had been abolished in the District of Columbia by a law of +Congress, and in Maryland by her own action. It still existed in +the other Border States and in Tennessee, and its abolition in the +remaining States of the Confederacy depended upon the validity of +the President's Proclamation of Emancipation. + + THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT. + +Without discussing the validity of the Proclamation Mr. Lincoln +incidentally assumed it, with an emphatic assertion of his own +position, which came nearer the language of threat than his habitual +prudence and moderation had ever permitted him to indulge. "In +presenting the abandonment of armed resistance on the part of the +insurgents as the only indispensable condition to ending the war," +said the President, "I retract nothing heretofore said as to slavery. +. . . While I remain in my present position I shall not attempt to +retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation. Nor shall I return +to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that Proclamation +or by any of the Acts of Congress. _If the people should, by +whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to re-enslave +such persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to +perform it._." This was fair notice by Mr. Lincoln to all the +world that so long as he was President the absolute validity of +the Proclamation would be maintained at all hazards. + +This position enabled the President to plead effectively with +Congress for the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment and the +consequent avoidance of all possible conflicts between different +departments of the Government touching the legal character of the +Proclamation. Recognizing the fact that he was addressing the same +House of Representatives which had already rejected the anti-slavery +amendment, he made a special appeal, though without using partisan +names, to the Democratic members. "Without questioning the wisdom +or patriotism of those who stood in opposition," said the President, +"I venture to recommend the reconsideration and passage of the +measure at the present session. Of course the abstract question +is not changed, but an intervening election shows almost certainly +that the next Congress will pass the measure if this Congress does +not. Hence there is only a question of time as to when the proposed +amendment will go to the States for their action, and as it is to +go at all events, may we not agree that the sooner the better?" +He urged the argument still more closely upon the Democratic members. +"In a great national crisis like ours, unanimity of action among +those seeking a common end is very desirable, almost indispensable, +and yet no approach to such unanimity is attainable unless some +deference shall be paid to the will of the majority." Mr. Lincoln +found much encouragement in the fact that in the national election +"no candidate for any office whatever, high or low, ventured to +seek votes on the avowal that he was in favor of giving up the +Union. . . . In the distinct issue of Union or no Union the +politicians have shown their instinctive knowledge that there is +no diversity among the people." + +The proposed Constitutional amendment was brought before the House +on the 6th of January by Mr. Ashley of Ohio, upon whose motion to +reconsider the adverse vote of the preceding session, the question +continued to have a parliamentary status. He made a forcible speech +in support of the amendment, but the chief value of his work did +not consist in speaking, but in his watchful care of the measure, +in the quick and intuitive judgment with which he discerned every +man on the Democratic side of the House who felt anxious as to the +vote he should give on the momentous question, and in the pressure +which he brought to bear upon him from the best and most influential +of his constituents. The issue presented was one that might well +make thoughtful men pause and consider. The instant restoration +to four millions of human beings of the God-given right of freedom +so long denied them, depended upon the vote of the House of +Representatives. It addressed itself to the enlightened judgment +and to the Christian philanthropy of every member. Each one had +to decide for himself whether so far as lay in the power of his +own vote he would give liberty to the slave, or forge his fetters +anew. The constitutional duty of not interfering with slavery in +the States could not be pleaded at the bar of conscience for an +adverse vote. There was no doubt that under the terms of the +Constitution such interference was unwarranted. But this was a +question of changing the Constitution itself so as to confer upon +Congress the express power to enlarge the field of personal liberty +and make the Republic free indeed. It came therefore as an original +and a distinct question whether millions of people with their +descendants for all time should be doomed to slavery or gifted with +freedom. + +It was a singular opportunity for the Democratic party. Its members +had always professed to be endued with a broader spirit of liberty +than their opponents who under various organizations had confronted +them in the political contests of the preceding half-century. In +their evangelization of Liberty the Democrats had halted at the +color-line, but, as they alleged, only because the solemn obligations +of the Constitution forbade a step beyond. Here by the converging +exigencies of war it became of vast interest to the white race that +slavery should be smitten and destroyed. Its destruction was indeed +the deadliest blow that could be given to the Rebellion which was +threatening destruction to the Republic. It was not unfair to say, +as was said by many during the crisis, that it was brought to every +man's conscience to decide whether he would continue to imperil +the fate of the Union by refusing the enfranchise the slave. + + THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT. + +It fell to Mr. George H. Pendleton to play an important part in +this crisis. His leadership on the Democratic side of the House +had been confirmed by the popular voice of his party in the nomination +for the Vice-Presidency, and though he had been defeated in the +election he returned to the House with increased prestige among +his own political associates. The argument he had made the preceding +session was now repeated with earnest spirit and in plausible form. +He maintained that "three-fourths of the States do not possess the +constitutional power to pass this amendment." A colleague from +Ohio (Mr. S. S. Cox) had made a radical argument in the other +direction, asserting that "three-fourths of the States have the +right to amend the Constitution in every particular except the two +specified in the instrument; they have the right to do any thing, +even to erect a monarchy!" Without carrying the argument so far, +Mr. Cox might well have reminded his colleague that four years +before, in the winter of compromise preceding the war, the one +point sought to be gained by all who asked additional guaranties +for slavery was that the power to abolish the institution by +constitutional amendment should be taken from the States. It would +have been a precious consolation at the time to Mr. Pendleton's +Southern friends, to hear from him the argument that no such power +existed and that slavery was in no danger from its attempted +exercise. Such action by the Federal Government was the one thing +which the South had especially dreaded and which all the amendments +to the Constitution proposed by the Peace Congress of 1861 aimed +to prevent. Mr. Pendleton omitted his argument therefore at the +most pertinent time for its submission, but he made it now with +freshness and vigor and with evident effect upon his political +associates. + +Mr. Pendleton was very effectively answered by many members on the +Republican side of the House; by General Garfield elaborately, by +Mr. Boutwell briefly but most pointedly. The debate was prolonged +and able. At least one-third of the entire House took part in it. +The ground was somewhat beaten, but many of the arguments were of +permanent historic interest. Among the most valuable were the +speeches of Mr. Glenni W. Scofield of Pennsylvania, Mr. John A. +Kasson of Iowa, and Mr. James S. Rollins of Missouri. As the +representative of a slave-holding constituency the argument and +vote of Mr. Rollins were of special weight. The tone and temper +of the speeches exhibited assurance on one side and failing confidence +on the other. The moral pressure was steadily for the Amendment +and its strength grew rapidly both in Congress and the country. +It had been borne into the minds of the people that slavery had +produced the war, and it seemed a righteous retribution that slavery +should end with the war. It had drawn the sword; let it perish by +the sword. + +When the hour arrived for the final struggle, on Tuesday, January +31, 1865, the galleries of the House were filled in every part, +largely no doubt by friends of the measure. There were eight +absentees, without pairs. They were all Democrats. It may be +assumed that they assented to the amendment, but that they were +not prepared to give it positive support. This list comprised +Jesse Lazear of Pennsylvania, John F. McKinney and Francis C. Le +Blond of Ohio, Daniel W. Voorhees and James F. McDowell of Indiana, +George Middleton and A. J. Rogers of New Jersey, and Daniel Marcy +of New Hampshire. The members of the Democratic party who gave +their votes for the amendment, and thus secured its passage by the +Thirty-eighth Congress, were James E. English of Connecticut, Anson +Herrick, William Radford, Homer A. Nelson, John B. Steele and John +Ganson of New York, A. H. Coffroth and Archibald McAllister of +Pennsylvania, Wells A. Hutchins of Ohio, and Augustus C. Baldwin +of Michigan. Mr. Nelson had not voted at the first session, but +all the others are recorded against the proposition. With the aid +of these eleven, the vote was 119 yeas to 56 nays--more than the +constitutional two-thirds. When the announcement was made, the +Speaker became powerless to preserve order. The members upon the +Republican side sprang upon their seats cheering, shouting, and +waving hands, hats, and canes, while the spectators upon the floor +and in the galleries joined heartily in the demonstration. Upon +the restoration of order Mr. Ingersoll of Illinois rose and said, +"Mr. Speaker, in honor of this immortal and sublime event, I move +that this House do now adjourn." The Speaker declared the motion +carried, but Mr. Harris of Maryland demanded the ayes and noes, +and the House adjourned by a vote of 121 to 24. + +The great act of Liberation, so far as Congress could control it, +was complete. The amendment was at once submitted to the States, +and by official proclamation of December 18, 1865,--less than eleven +months after Congress had spoken,--the Secretary of State announced +that it had been ratified by the Legislatures of twenty-seven States +and was a part of the Constitution. The result was attained by +the united action of one party and the aid of a minority of the +other party. The co-operation of the Democratic members had gained +for the cause of emancipation a whole year. The action was of +transcendent importance,--lofty in conception, masterful in execution. +Slavery in the United States was dead. To succeeding and not +distant generations its existence in a Republic, for three-quarters +of a century, will be an increasing marvel. + + THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT IN COURT. + +The language of the Thirteenth Amendment is so comprehensive and +absolute that vital questions of law are not likely at any time to +arise under it. The Article is in two parts. _First_, "Neither +slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime +whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within +the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. +_Second_, Congres shall have power to enforce this Article by +appropriate legislation." By this Amendment the relation between +the National and State Governments, respecting the question of +Human Liberty, was radically changed. Before its adoption slavery +could be established or abolished in any State at the will of the +majority. The National prohibition now extended everywhere that +the flag floated; freedom of the person became thenceforth a matter +of National concern. The power of the State was subordinated to +the continuing and supreme authority of the Nation. + +The Supreme Court has had occasion in a few cases only to deal with +the Thirteenth Amendment, and in those cases the questions raised +did not touch the validity or scope of the Article. In the case +of _White_ v. _Hart_, reported in 13 _Wallace_, the Court held that +a note given for slaves at a time prior to emancipation was a valid +contract and could be enforced. This judgment was rendered in the +face of the fact that the Reconstructed Constitution of the State +of Georgia, where the contract was made, contained a provision that +no Court should have or take "jurisdiction in any case of debt the +consideration of which was a slave or the hire thereof." The Court +held that the provision in the Georgia Constitution was invalid as +to all agreements made prior to its adoption, upon the ground that +it was a violation of the Constitution of the United States which +provides that no State shall make any law "impairing the obligation +of contracts." In the case of _Osborne_ v. _Nicholson_, 13 _Wallace_, +where the cause of action was a note given for a slave in Arkansas, +March 20, 1861, the Court held that the Thirteenth Amendment did +not constitute a bar to the claim. These cases serve to show the +narrow and restricted character of the issues made under the Article +--issues long since passed by the limitation of time. + +One point in the adoption of the Amendment caused much speculation +at the time, not unaccompanied with anxiety. The whole number of +States was thirty-six. The assent of three-fourths of that number +was required to amend the Constitution. Twenty-seven States voted +through their Legislatures in favor of the Amendment--precisely +the requisite number. But of these, nine had been in rebellion +and had not at the time been restored to the enjoyment of their +rights as States in the Union. They had not been re-admitted to +representation either in the House or the Senate. The majority of +these States were not considered to be entitled to representation +in Congress for three years after they had given their formal assent +to the Thirteenth Amendment. The question as to whether they could +give valid assent to an amendment to the Constitution was one which +might possibly be raised. If they were not in condition to enjoy +representation in Congress, it might be asked how they could be in +condition to perform a much higher function. If they could not +participate in the enactment of Statute Law, how could they +participate in the far weightier duty of framing the Organic Law +of the Republic? + +If the same judges who pronounced the Dred Scott decision had been +still on the Bench, serious trouble might have arisen. But there +had been a radical change in the Judicial Department, not simply +in the _personnel_ of the judges but in the views they entertained +touching the functions, powers, and duties of the Federal Government. +It fell to Mr. Lincoln's lot to appoint a majority of the judges +and thus practically to constitute a new Court. Washington, the +elder Adams, and Jackson were the only Presidents before him who +had appointed a Chief Justice, and when he nominated Mr. Chase, +there had been only one other chief justice named for sixty-three +years. He appointed as associate justices Noah Swayne of Ohio, +Samuel F. Miller of Iowa, David Davis of Illinois, all in 1862, +and Stephen J. Field of California the year following. Mr. Lincoln's +sound judgment was apparent in this as in other great duties. +There are single judges in our history who, in point of learning, +rank higher in the estimation of the legal profession, but perhaps +never a majority of the court who were superior in all the qualities +which adorn the Judicial character. + + THE JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT. + +Considering that the tenure is for life, it seemed as if an +extraordinary number of Judicial appointments fell to one President. +But as the eminence which fits a man for the high station is not +attained until past the middle period of life, the changes are +necessarily somewhat rapid. Washington in his Presidency of eight +years nominated, for a Court of six members, eleven judges who +served, besides one who declined and one who was rejected. Down +to this period in our history (1884) it has fallen to the lot of +each of our twenty-one Presidents except Harrison, Tyler, and +Johnson, to nominate at least one associate justice. Under Jackson +and Van Buren the entire Court was revolutionized. A Chief Justice +and six associates were appointed, selected exclusively from their +political supporters. From that time onward until the Administration +of Mr. Lincoln, every judge was selected from the Democratic party, +with the exception of Benjamin R. Curtis who was appointed by +President Fillmore. When Mr. Lincoln entered upon his official +duties, the Judicial Department of the Government differenced in +every conceivable way from his construction of the Constitution in +so far as the question of slavery was involved. But one judge +could be expected to look with favor upon the course he would +pursue. The venerable John McLean, though placed on the Bench by +Jackson, had changed his political views and relations, and he +alone of all the justices sympathized with Mr. Lincoln. + +The Southern States prior to 1860 had secured a large majority of +appointments on the Supreme Bench. In originally constituting the +Court Washington had equally divided the judges between the slave +States and the free States. After his Administration and until +the incoming of President Lincoln, the Court uniformly contained +a majority of Southern men. From the beginning of the Government +until the election of Mr. Lincoln, there had been eighteen associate +justices appointed from the slave States, and but fifteen from the +free States. The average term of service of the judges from the +South had been about fourteen years; from the North about twelve +years. From 1789 to 1860, the Chief Justice had been from the +South during the whole period with the exception of twelve years. +It is a fact worth noting that neither the elder nor the younger +Adams appointed a Northern man to the Bench. They appointed three +from the South. It is not among the least of the honors belonging +to the elder Adams that he gave to the country the illustrious +Chief Justice Marshall. + +Directly after the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment came a wide- +spread rumor that negotiations for peace were in progress which +might interfere with the anti-slavery action of Congress. On the +8th of February Mr. Thaddeus Stevens moved and the House unanimously +adopted a resolution requesting "the President to communicate to +the House such information as he may deem not incompatible with +the public interest relative to the recent conference between +himself and the Secretary of State and Messrs. Alexander H. Stephens, +Robert M. T. Hunter, and John A. Campbell in Hampton Roads." Mr. +Lincoln replied at once, giving in detail every step which had led +to the conference, and all that was accomplished by it. It was +brought about by the elder Francis P. Blair, who under a flag of +truce had visited Richmond early in January. Mr. Lincoln had +steadily insisted on three preliminary conditions: First, the +absolute restoration of the national authority in all the States; +second, no receding from the positions taken on the slavery question; +third, no cessation of military operations on the part of the +Government till the hostile forces surrendered and disbanded. On +these conditions the Confederate agents could not treat, and the +conference came to no agreement. In his message Mr. Lincoln made +one significant remark. "By the other party it was not said that +in any event or on any condition they would ever consent to re- +union; and yet they equally omitted to declare that they would not +so consent." The proceedings left no special interest, except one +characteristic anecdote of Mr. Lincoln. The Confederate agents +desired the recognition of the power of "President" Davis to make +a treaty. Mr. Lincoln would not consent to this, would not in any +event or in any way recognize another "President" within the +territory of the United States. Mr. Hunter cited the example of +Charles I. treating with rebels in his own kingdom. Mr. Lincoln +replied that his only distinct recollection of that matter was that +Charles lost his head! + + + MR. FESSENDEN IN THE TREASURY. + +Soon after the Baltimore Convention, Mr. Chase resigned his position +as Secretary of the Treasury. The relations between himself and +the President had become personally somewhat unpleasant, but that +there had been no loss of confidence or respect was proven by the +President's nomination of Mr. Chase to be Chief Justice of the +United States as the successor of the venerable Roger B. Taney, +who died on the 12th of October (1864). William Pitt Fessenden +succeeded Mr. Chase in the Treasury, and entered upon his duties +on the fifth day of July. He was admirably fitted by every mental +and moral quality for the position, but he did not possess the +physical strength necessary for the arduous labor which it imposed. +He consented in response to the very earnest request of Mr. Lincoln +to accept the trust for a brief period. It was of great importance +to the country, to the Administration, and to Mr. Lincoln personally +that Mr. Chase should be succeeded by a man of no less eminent +character. + +In his report of December 6, 1864, Mr. Fessenden discussed the +financial situation with comprehensive ability. He urged additional +taxation, some plan for making the public lands available as a +source of revenue, and arrangements for carrying out the laws for +a sinking-fund. He opposed the suggestion of resorting to foreign +loans for any part of the money needed. He said, "This nation has +been able thus far to conduct a domestic war of unparalleled +magnitude and cost without appealing for aid to any foreign people. +It has chosen to demonstrate its power to put down insurrection by +its own strength, and furnish no pretense for doubt of its entire +ability to do so, either to domestic or foreign foes. The people +of the United States have felt a just pride in this position before +the world. In the judgment of the secretary it may well be doubted +whether the national credit abroad has not been strengthened and +sustained by the fact that foreign investments in our securities +have not been sought by us, and whether we have not found a pecuniary +advantage in self-reliance." Reciting the steps which he had taken +for placing loans, he declared; "These negotiations have afforded +satisfactory evidence not only of the ability of the people to +furnish at a short notice such sums as may be required but of the +entire confidence felt in the national securities. After nearly +four years of a most expensive and wasting war, the means to continue +it seem apparently undiminished, while the determination to prosecute +it with vigor to the end is unabated." + +Liberal response was made by Congress to Mr. Fessenden's request +for enlarged power to borrow money. The internal revenue was made +more stringent, the tariff was amended and made still more protective, +and to facilitate the raising of troops the Conscription Act was +made more severe and exacting. Congress proceeded as if the war +were still to continue for years. Nothing was neglected, nothing +relaxed. But every one could see that the Confederacy was tottering +to its fall. Sherman's magnificent march across Georgia, to which +the President referred as in progress when he sent his message to +Congress, had been completed with entire success, with an _eclat_ +indeed which startled Europe as well as America. He had captured +Savannah, and was marching North driving the army of General Joseph +E. Johnston before him. General Grant meanwhile was tightening +his hold on Richmond and on the army of General Lee. From his camp +on the James he was directing military operations over an area of +vast extent. The great victory which General Thomas had won over +Hood's army in the preceding December at Nashville had effectually +destroyed the military power of the Confederacy in the South-West, +and when Congress adjourned on the day of Mr. Lincoln's second +inauguration there was in the mind of the people everywhere a +conviction that the end was near. + +The President himself spoke guardedly in his Inaugural address. +He simply said that "the progress of our armies is reasonably +satisfactory and encouraging. With high hope for the future, no +prediction in regard to it is ventured." The tone of the address, +so far from being jubilant as the mass of his hearers felt, was +ineffably sad. It seemed to bear the wail of an oppressed spirit. +The thought and the language were as majestic as those of the +ancient prophets. As if in agony of soul the President cried out: +"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge +of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue +until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty +years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of +blood drawn with the lash shall be paid with another drawn with +the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must +be said that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous +altogether." + +The fall of the military power of the rebellion was in the end more +rapid and more complete than the most sanguine had dared to expect. +The month of March was one of great activity with our military +forces. Three weeks after his inauguration the President went to +City Point, Virginia, partly to escape the pressure of duty at +Washington and party to be near the scene of the final triumph to +settle any important questions that might arise, if an offer of +surrender should be made by the Confederate commander. On the day +before his inauguration he had directed the Secretary of War to +say to General Grant that he wished him to "have no conference with +General Lee unless for the capitulation of his army or for some +purely military matter." The President did "not wish General Grant +to decide, discuss or confer upon any political question." He +would not submit such questions "to military conferences or +conventions." He returned to Washington on the 8th of April and +on the succeeding day the Army of Lee surrendered to General Grant. + + THE SURRENDER OF GENERAL LEE. + +The rejoicing throughout the Loyal States cannot be pictured. +Congratulation was universal. The end had come. Sympathy with +the South in her exhausted and impoverished condition mingled +largely with the exultant joy over a restored Union, a triumphant +flag, an assured future of National progress. Admiration was not +withheld from the soldiers of the Confederacy, who had borne their +banner so bravely against every discouragement on a hundred fields +of battle. The bearing of General Grant and General Lee at the +final surrender was marked by a spirit of chivalric dignity which +was an instructive lesson to all their countrymen--alike to the +victor and to the vanquished. + +General Grant's active service in the field closed with the surrender +of Lee. All the commanders of Confederate forces followed the +example of their General-in-Chief, and before the end of the month +the armed enemies of the Union had practically ceased to exist. +The fame of General Grant was full. He had entered the service +with no factitious advantage, and his promotion, from the first to +the last, had been based on merit alone,--without the aid of +political influence, without the interposition of personal friends. +Criticism of military skill is but idle chatter in the face of an +unbroken career of victory. General Grant's campaigns were varied +in their requirements and, but for the fertility of his resources +and his unbending will, might often have ended in disaster. Courage +is as contagious as fear, and General Grant possessed in the highest +degree that faculty which is essential to all great commanders,-- +the faculty of imparting throughout the rank and file of his army +the same determination to win with which he was himself always +inspired. + +One peculiarity of General Grant's military career was his constant +readiness to fight. He wished for no long periods of preparation, +lost no opportunity which promptness could turn to advantage. He +always accepted, without cavil or question, the position to which +he might be assigned. He never troubled the War Department with +requests or complaints, and when injustice was inflicted upon him, +he submitted silently, and did a soldier's duty. Few men in any +service would have acquiesced so quietly as did General Grant, when +at the close of the remarkable campaign beginning at Fort Henry +and ending at Shiloh, he found himself superseded by General Halleck, +and assigned to a subordinate command in an army whose glory was +inseparably associated with his own name. Self-control is the +first requisite for him who aims to control others. In that +indispensable form of mental discipline General Grant exhibited +perfection. + +When he was appointed Lieutenant-General, and placed in command of +all the armies of the Union, he exercised military control over a +greater number of men than has any general since the invention of +fire-arms. In the campaigns of 1864 and 1865, the armies of the +Union contained in the aggregate not less than a million of men. +The movements of all the vast forces were kept in harmony by his +comprehensive mind, and in the grand consummation which insured +Union and Liberty, his name became inseparably associated with the +true glory of his country. + + +Six days after the surrender of Lee, the Nation was thrown into +the deepest grief by the assassination of the President. The gloom +which enshrouded the country was as thick darkness. The people +had come, through many alterations of fear and hope, to repose the +most absolute trust in Mr. Lincoln. They realized that he had seen +clearly where they were blind, that he had known fully where they +were ignorant. He had been patient, faithful, and far-seeing. +Religious people regarded him as one divinely appointed, like the +prophets of old, to a great work, and they found comfort in the +parallel which they saw in his death with that of the leader of +Israel. He too had reached the mountain's top, and had seen the +land redeemed unto the utmost sea, and had then died. + + CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +Mr. Lincoln had been some time in the Presidency before the public +estimate of him was correct or appreciative. The people did not +at first understand him. In the glamour of the Presidential canvass +they had idealized him,--attributing to him some traits above and +many below his essential qualities. After his election and before +his inauguration there was a general disposition to depreciate him. +He became associated in the popular mind with an impending calamity, +and tens of thousands who had voted for him, heartily repented the +act and inwardly execrated the day that committed the destinies of +the Union to his keeping. The first strong test brought upon Mr. +Lincoln was this depressing re-action among so many of his supporters. +A man with less resolute purpose would have been cast down by it, +but Mr. Lincoln preserved the _mens aequa in arduis_. Through the +gloom of the weeks preceding his inauguration he held his even way. +Perhaps in the more terrible crises through which he was afterwards +called to pass, a firmer nerve was required, but not so rare a +combination of qualities as he had shown in the dismal months with +which the year 1861 opened. + +Mr. Lincoln united firmness and gentleness in a singular degree. +He rarely spoke a harsh word. Ready to hear argument and always +open to conviction, he adhered tenaciously to the conclusions which +he had finally reached. Altogether modest, he had confidence in +himself, trusted to the reasoning of his own mind, believed in the +correctness of his own judgment. Many of the popular conceptions +concerning him are erroneous. No man was farther than he from the +easy, familiar, jocose character in which he is often painted. +While he paid little attention to form or ceremony he was not a +men with whom liberties could be taken. There was but one person +in Illinois outside of his own household who ventured to address +him by his first name. There was no one in Washington who ever +attempted it. Appreciating wit and humor, he relished a good story, +especially if it illustrated a truth or strengthened an argument, +and he had a vast fund of illustrative anecdote which he used with +the happiest effect. But the long list of vulgar, salacious stories +attributed to him, were retailed only by those who never enjoyed +the privilege of exchanging a word with him. His life was altogether +a serious one--inspired by the noblest spirit, devoted to the +highest aims. Humor was but an incident with him, a partial relief +to the melancholy which tinged all his years. + +He presented an extraordinary combination of mental and moral +qualities. As a statesman he had the loftiest ideal, and it fell +to his lot to inaugurate measures which changed the fate of millions +of living men, of tens of millions yet to be born. As a manager +of political issues and master of the art of presenting them, he +has had no rival in this country unless one be found in Jefferson. +The complete discomfiture of his most formidable assailants in +1863, especially of those who sought to prejudice him before the +people on account of the arrest of Vallandigham, cannot easily be +paralleled for shrewdness of treatment and for keen appreciation +of the reactionary influences which are certain to control public +opinion. Mr. Van Buren stands without rival in the use of partisan +tactics. He operated altogether on men, and believed in self- +interest as the mainspring of human action. Mr. Lincoln's ability +was of a far higher and broader character. There was never the +slightest lack of candor or fairness in his methods. He sought to +control men through their reason and their conscience. The only +art the employed was that of presenting his views so convincingly +as to force conviction on the minds of his hearers and his readers. + +The Executive talent of Mr. Lincoln was remarkable. He was +emphatically the head of his own Administration, ultimate judge at +all points and on all occasions where questions of weight were to +be decided. An unwise eulogist of Mr. Seward attributes to him +the origination and enforcement of the great policies which +distinguished the Administration. So far is this from the truth +that in more than one instance the most momentous steps were taken +against the judgment and contrary to the advice of the Secretary +of State. The position of control and command so firmly held by +Mr. Lincoln was strikingly shown when the Peace Conference was +about to assemble at Fortress Monroe. He dispatched Mr. Seward to +the place of meeting in advance of his own departure from Washington, +giving him the most explicit instructions as to his mode of action, +--prescribing carefully the limitations he should observe, and +concluding with these words: "_You will hear all they may choose +to say, and report it to me. You will not assume to definitely +consummate any thing_." Assuredly this is not the language of +deference. It does not stop short of being the language of command. +It is indeed the expression of one who realized that he was clothed +with all the power belonging to his great office. No one had a +more sincere admiration of Mr. Seward's large qualities than the +President; no one more thoroughly appreciated his matchless powers. +But Mr. Lincoln had not only full trust in his own capacity, but +a deep sense of his own responsibility--a responsibility which +could not be transferred and for which he felt answerable to his +conscience and to God. + + CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. + +There has been discussion as to Mr. Lincoln's religious belief. +He was silent as to his own preference among creeds. Prejudice +against any particular denomination he did not entertain. Allied +all his life with Protestant Christianity, he thankfully availed +himself of the services of an eminent Catholic prelate--Archbishop +Hughes of New York--in a personal mission to England, of great +importance, at a crisis when the relations between the two countries +were disturbed and threatening. Throughout the whole period of +the war he constantly directed the attention of the nation to +dependence on God. It may indeed be doubted whether he omitted +this in a single state paper. In every message to Congress, in +eery proclamation to the people, he made it prominent. In July, +1863, after the battle of Gettysburg he called upon the people to +give thanks because "it had pleased Almighty God to hearken to the +supplications and prayers of an afflicted people and to vouchsafe +signal and effective victories to the Army and Navy of the United +States," and he asked the people "to render homage to the Divine +Majesty and to invoke the influence of his Holy Spirit to subdue +the anger which has produced and so long sustained a needless and +cruel rebellion." On another occasion, recounting the blessings +which had come to the Union, he said, "No human counsel hath devised, +nor hath any mortal hand worked out, these great things. They are +the gracious gifts of the Most High God who, while dealing with us +in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy." +Throughout his entire official career,--attended at all times with +exacting duty and painful responsibility,--he never forgot his own +dependence, or the dependence of the people, upon a Higher Power. +In his last public address, delivered to an immense crowd assembled +at the White House on the 11th of April, to congratulate him on +the victories of the Union, the President, standing as he unconsciously +was in the very shadow of death, said reverently to his hearers, +"In the midst of your joyous expression, He from whom all blessings +flow must first be remembered"! + + +Not only in life but in treasure the cost of the war was enormous. +In addition to the large revenues of the Government which had been +currently absorbed, the public debt at the close of the struggle +was $2,808,549,437.55. The incidental losses were innumerable in +kind, incalculable in amount. Mention is made here only of the +actual expenditure of money--estimated by the standard of gold. +The outlay was indeed principally made in paper, but the faith of +the United States was given for redemption in coin--a faith which +has never been tarnished, and which in this instance has been +signally vindicated by the steady determination of the people. +Never, in the same space of time, has there been a National +expenditure so great. + +Other nations have made costly sacrifices in struggles affecting +their existence or their master passions. In the memorable campaigns +of the French in 1794, when the Republic was putting forth its most +gigantic energies, the expenses rose to 200,000,000 francs a month, +or about $450,000,000 a year. For the three years of the rebellion, +after the first year, our War Department alone expended $603,314,411.82, +$690,391,048.66, and $1,030,690,400 respectively. The French +Directory broke down under its expenditures by its lavish issue of +_assignats_ and the French Republic became bankrupt. Our Government +was saved by its rigorous system of taxation imposed upon the people +by themselves. Under Napoleon, in addition to the impositions on +conquered countries, the budgets hardly exceeded in francs the +charges of the United States for the rebellion, in dollars. Thus +in 1805 the French budget exhibited total expenditures of 666,155,139 +francs, including 69,140,000 francs for interest on the debt. In +the same year the minister stated to the Chambers that income was +derived from Italy of 30,000,000 francs, and from Germany and +Holland 100,000,000, leaving 588,998,705 to be collected from +France. In 1813 the French expenditures had risen to 953,658,772 +francs, and the total receipts from French revenue were 780,959,847 +francs. The French national debt has been measured since 1797 by +the interest paid, fixed at that time at five per cent. From 1800 +to 1814, the period of the Consulate and the Empire, this interest +was increased by 23,091,635 francs, indicating an addition of twenty +times that sum to the principal of the debt. The Government of +the Restoration added in 1815, 101,260,635 francs to the annual +interest. Thus the cost of the Napoleonic wars to France may be +stated at about $487,000,000 added to the principal of the debt, +or less than one-fifth of the increment of our national obligations +on account of the rebellion. The French burdens were extended over +the whole period from 1800 to 1814. Our own were concentrated into +the space of four years. + + NATIONAL EXPENDITURES IN THE WAR. + +The total expenditures of Great Britain during the French Revolution +and the career of Napoleon were L1,490,000,888, or nearly five +times that sum in dollars. The largest expenditures in any single +year were in 1815, L130,305,958, or in dollars, $631,976,894. +After 1862 our expenditures were not so low as that in any year, +and they were more than double that sum in the closing year of the +war when the great armies were mustered out of service and final +payment was made to all. + +The British expenditures in the war against the French during the +period of the Revolution were a little more than L490,000,000 and +against Napoleon a little less than L1,000,000,000; or $4,850,000,000 +in the aggregate, for twenty-three years. The total outlay was +therefore larger than our payments on account of the rebellion. +But there was no period of ten years in her wars with the French, +in which Great Britain expended so much as the United States expended +in four years. The loss of Great Britain by discounts in raising +money or by the use of depreciated paper was greater than that +incurred by the United States. A leading English authority says +that of the vast burden up to 1816, the "artificial enhancements +due to discounts in raising money were so great that for every L100 +received into the treasury a national debt of L173 was created." + +No other wars than those of England and France can be compared with +ours in point of expenditure. For the war between France and +Germany in 1870 the indemnity demanded by the conqueror was +5,000,000,000 francs, equivalent in American money to $930,000,000. +This sum was much in excess of the outlay of Germany. The expenses +of France on her own account in that contest were 1,873,238,000 +francs, or $348,432,068, and this is only from one-half to one- +third of the annual outlay of the United States during the rebellion. +France added to the interest charge at this time 349,637,116 francs, +indicating that the whole sum of the indemnity and other war +expenditures has passed into the principal of the permanent debt +of the country. + +The one grand feature of this lavish expenditure of wealth by the +Government of the United States is that it was directed and enforced +by the people themselves. No imperial power commanded it, no kingly +prerogative controlled it. It was the free, unbiased, unchangeable +will of the Sovereign People. They declared at the ballot-box, by +untrammeled popular suffrage, that the war must go on. "The American +people,"--said Henry Winter Davis in the House of Representatives +at one of the most exciting periods of the struggle,--"the American +people, rising to the height of the occasion, dedicate this generation +to the sword, and, pouring out the blood of their children, demand +that there be no compromise; that ruin to the Republic or ruin to +the Rebel Confederacy are the only alternatives; that no peace +shall be made except under the banner of Victory. Standing on this +great resolve to accept nothing but Victory or ruin, Victory is +ours!" + + +At the outbreak of hostilities the Government discovered that it +had no Navy at its command. The Secretary, Mr. Welles, found upon +entering his office but a single ship in a Northern port fitted to +engage in aggressive operations. In the beginning of the great +contest which was at once to be waged upon the seas, wherein the +Government proposed to close Southern ports, and the South to +destroy Northern commerce, the advantage was clearly with the South. +From Cape Henry to the Rio Grande the Navy of the United States +was called upon to create an effective blockade against all ingress +and egress. The conformation of the coast, which along great +distances prevented the entrance and exit of ocean-going vessels, +materially aided in the task, but it was still such a one as had +never before been attempted in the naval history of the world. +The line to be subjected to blockade was as long as the line from +the Bay of Biscay to the Golden Horn and in many respects it was +far more difficult to control. + +This blockade was an absolute necessity imposed on the United +States. The South relied with implicit faith upon its ability to +secure by the sale of cotton the means of carrying on the war. +The Confederate Government did not believe that the United States +would hazard a conflict with the manufacturing nations of Europe, +by attempting a blockade that would prevent the export of the +staple; or if they did believe it, they looked upon it as the +fatuous step on the part of the National Government that would +promptly induce intervention by the combined power of England and +France. This reliance was explicitly stated in advance by Mr. +Hammond of South Carolina, who three years before the inauguration +of Mr. Lincoln, on the fourth day of March, 1858, made this +declaration in the United-States Senate:-- + +"Without firing a gun, without drawing a sword, should the North +make war on us, we could bring the whole world to our feet. What +would happen if no cotton was furnished for three years? I will +not stop to depict what every one can imagine, but this is certain, +England would topple headlong and carry the whole civilized world +with her. No, you dare not make war on cotton. No Power on earth +dares to make war upon cotton. _Cotton is King_." + + EFFECTIVENESS OF THE BLOCKADE. + +Boastful and impotent as the declaration of Mr. Hammond now seems, +it had a better basis of fact to stand upon than many of the fiery +predictions in which Southern statesmen were wont to indulge. The +importance of cotton to the civilized world could hardly be +exaggerated, and yet it was this very importance that forced the +United States to the course which was pursued. The National +Government could not permit the export of cotton without constantly +aggrandizing the power of the rebellion, and it could not prevent +its export without tempting the manufacturing nations of Europe to +raise the blockade. The Administration wisely prepared to enforce +the blockade and to meet all the consequences. + +To accomplish its undertaking, the energy of the Nation was devoted +to the creation of a navy. By the end of the year 1863 the government +had six hundred vessels of war which were increased to seven hundred +before the rebellion was subdued. Of the total number at least +seventy-five were ironclad. It may be instanced with laudable +pride that one enterprising man, honorably distinguished as a +scientific engineer, constructed in less than a hundred days an +armored squadron of eight ships, in the aggregate of five thousand +tons burden, capable of steaming nine knots per hour and destined +for effective service upon the rivers of the South-West. When the +contractor, Mr. James B. Eads of St. Louis, agreed to furnish these +steamers to the Government, the timber from which they were to be +built was still standing in the forest and the machinery with which +the armor was to be rolled was not constructed. + +A year after the first battle was fought the naval force of the +United States had practically interdicted all legitimate commerce +with the Southern States. No more effective method of warfare +could have been devised. At the outbreak of the war the States in +rebellion were able to manufacture but few of the articles +indispensable to the ordinary life of a people. Their wealth was +purely agricultural. Cotton and tobacco were their only exports. +For a supply of manufactures the South had depended wholly upon +its trade with the North and with Europe. The natural effect of +the war was greatly to lessen production, and the blockade made it +impossible to find a market for any large portion of the diminished +product of cotton. As a striking evidence of the prosperity in +the South at the time it complained of oppression, the largest +cotton crop which had ever been grown was that of 1860. It numbered +more than five million two hundred thousand bales, nearly four and +a half millions of which had found a ready market in Europe and +the North before the outbreak of the war. The crop of 1861 was +little more than one-half that of the preceding year. Of the three +and a half millions which remained available for export at the end +of 1861 it was estimated that up to August, 1862, not more than +fifty thousand bales had been carried to England, the principal +foreign consumer. + +The demand for food created by the Southern army caused a majority +of the plantations to raise corn, and the cotton crop of 1862 did +not amount to more than one million bales, very little of which +found a foreign market; and the supply and exportation diminished +from this time onward. Cotton which sold in December, 1861, in +Liverpool for 113/4_d_. per pound had risen in December, 1862, to +241/2_d_. per pound, and as a result, half a million persons in +England, dependent for their daily bread upon this manufacturing +industry, were thrown out of employment and reduced to beggary. +So great was the distress that by April, 1863, nearly two million +pounds sterling had been expended for their relief, and this sum +does not include the vast amounts expended in local volunteer +charities. English manufacturers saw that the supply of the raw +product from America could no longer be depended upon, and efforts +were made to introduce the manufacture of the inferior staple from +India, but the experiment proved in the main unsatisfactory and +unprofitable. + +The stringency of the blockade which prevented the exportation of +cotton, prevented also the importation of manufactured articles. +While compelled to acknowledge this fact, the Confederate Secretary +of State, Mr. Benjamin, attempted very cleverly to turn it to +account by showing the advantages which would accrue to the commercial +and manufacturing classes of England by the speedy triumph of the +rebellion. Writing to Mr. Mason, who represented the Confederacy +in England, Mr. Benjamin said, "The almost total cessation of +external commerce for the last two years has produced the complete +exhaustion of all articles of foreign growth and manufacture, and +it is but a moderate computation to estimate the imports into the +Confederacy at three hundred millions of dollars for the first six +months which will ensue after the treaty of peace." The unexpressed +part of the proposition which this statement covered was the most +interesting. The merchants and ship-owners of England were to +understand that the sale and transportation of this vast amount of +fabrics would fall into the hands of England if the Confederacy +should succeed, and that if it should fail, the domestic trade of +the United States would absorb the whole of it. It was a shrewd +appeal to a nation whose foreign policy has always been largely +influenced by considerations of trade. + + EFFECTIVENESS OF THE BLOCKADE. + +The economic condition of the South at this time may be compared +to that of a man with full purse, lost in a desert. Southern cotton +would easily sell in the markets of New York or Liverpool for four +times its price in Charleston, while the manufactures of Manchester +or of Lowell were worth in Charleston four times the price in +Liverpool or New York. Exchange was rendered by the blockade +practically impossible. When the profits of a successful voyage +from Liverpool to Charleston and return, would more than repay the +expense of the construction of the best steamer and of the voyage, +the temptation to evade the blockade was altogether too strong to +be resisted by the merchants and manufacturers of England. Blockade- +running became a regular business with them, and the extent to +which it was carried may be inferred from the fact that during the +war the American fleet captured or sunk more than seven hundred +vessels bound from British ports to ports of the Confederacy. How +many vessels escaped our navy and safely ran the blockade may never +be known, but for three years it was a steady contest between the +navy of the United States and the blockade-runners of England. +The persistent course of the latter was stimulated both by cupidity +and by ill will to this country. They were anxious to make pecuniary +gains for themselves and to aid the Confederacy at the same time. +They were checked only by the extra-hazardous character imparted +to the trade by the alertness and superior vigilance of our cruisers +which sent many millions of English ventures to less profitable +markets and many millions to the adjudication of our own Prize- +courts. + +The establishment and maintenance of a blockade is not accounted +by naval officers as the most brilliant service to which in the +line of their profession they may be deputed, but it was a service +of inestimable value to the cause of the Union, and it was performed +with a skill and thoroughness never surpassed. The blockade required +an enormous force of men. In addition to the marines, to the large +body of soldiers transferred from time to time to the navy, and to +the rebel prisoners that joined in the service, there were 121,807 +men specially enlisted in the navy during the war. But for the +aid thus rendered by the navy, the hard fight would have been longer +and more sanguinary. Had not the South been thus deprived of the +munitions of war, of clothing and of all manner of supplies which +England and France were eager to furnish her, we should not have +seen the end of the civil war in 1865, and we should have been +subjected to all the hazards implied by the indefinite continuance +of the struggle. + + +The census of 1860 shows that the thirty-three States and seven +Territories, which at that time composed the United States, contained +a population of 31,443,791. Fifteen of these States with 12,140,296 +inhabitants were slave-holding, more than four millions of the +population being slaves; eighteen with an aggregate population of +19,303,494 were classed as free. Four of the fifteen slave States, +Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky, whose people numbered +three and one-half millions, constituted what were known as the +Border slave States--West Virginia being added to the list in 1862. +Though a considerable proportion of the inhabitants of these States, +from association and interest, sympathized with the South, they +contributed to the Union cause an army equal to two hundred thousand +men enlisted for three years, and throughout the war they were +loyal to the National Government. Many of the inhabitants of these +States fought in the Confederate Army, but this loss was more than +compensated by the effective aid rendered by the loyal men who +joined the Union Army from the rebellious States. Tennessee +furnished more than thirty thousand men to the armies of the Union, +and from almost every State which formed a portion of the Confederacy +men enlisted in the loyal forces. It may with reasonable precision +be affirmed that the encouragement which the Confederacy received +from the slave States that remained true to the Union, was more +than offset by the effective aid rendered by loyal men residing +within the limits of the rebellious States. + + STRENGTH OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. + +As the source of supply for an army the Southern Confederacy had +eleven States with an aggregate population of nine millions. It +is difficult to estimate with accuracy the numerical strength of +the army which they organized at the beginning of the war. In a +semi-official publication it was asserted that the army numbered +more than five hundred thousand men, but as twenty thousand of this +army were credited to Maryland and thirty-five thousand to Missouri, +the number given was evidently a gross exaggeration. The statement +was probably made for effect upon the North rather than in the +interest of truth. A member of the Confederate Congress from North +Carolina stated in debate in 1864 that the Confederate muster-roll +numbered more than four hundred thousand men, "of whom probably +one-half were not there." During the entire period of the war it +is probable that eleven hundred thousand men were embodied in the +Confederate Army, though its effective strength did not at any time +consist of more than one-half that number. But this force was +obtained by the South at great sacrifice. The necessity of a +stringent conscription act was felt as early as April 16, 1862, at +which time the first Enrolment Act was passed by the Confederate +Congress. Under this Act, which was amended on the 27th of September +of the same year, Mr. Davis issued on the 15th of July, 1863, his +first conscription proclamation which called into the service of +the Confederacy all white men between the ages of eighteen and +forty-five who were not legally exempted from military service. +The date of the proclamation shows that it was forced upon the +Confederates by Lee's abortive invasion of Pennsylvania, and was +intended to fill the ranks of the army which had been shattered +and beaten on the field of Gettysburg. Further legislation by the +Confederate Congress in February, 1864, extended the enrolment so +as to include all white male residents of the Confederate States +between the ages of seventeen and fifty. In February, 1865, Mr. +Davis estimated that more than one hundred and fifty thousand men +were added to the Confederate armies by this forced conscription. + +Comparing the strength of the Confederate Army with the population +from which it was recruited, and taking into account the absolute +lack of provision made for the comfort of the Southern soldier, +the insufficient provision made for his sustenance and clothing, +and the consequent desertion which made it imperative to repair +diminished strength, it is evident that the conscription legislation +bore with fearful severity upon the people of the South. Comprehensive +as was the Enrolment Act, which rendered liable to military duty +the entire male population between the ages of seventeen and fifty, +the South was compelled to overstep its self-imposed limit. The +forces which Lee and Johnston surrendered contained so many boys +unfitted by youth and so many men unfitted by age for military +service, that a Northern General epigrammatically remarked that +for its armies the Confederacy had been compelled in the end to +rob alike the cradle and the grave. + +Grave misstatements however have been made in regard to the diminished +forces of the Confederacy at the cessation of the war. The astounding +assertion has crept into statements intended to be historical that +Lee surrendered an army of only ten thousand men, and Johnston an +army of most insignificant numbers in comparison with that of +Sherman. An accurate count made of the forces surrendered by the +Confederacy and paroled by the North at the conclusion of the war, +shows that the following numbers were embodied in the various +Southern armies and were rendering active service in the field:-- + +The army of Virginia under General Robert E. Lee . . . . 28,356 +The army of Tennessee under General Joseph E. Johnston . . 37,047 +The army of Florida under Major-General Samuel Jones . . . 2,113 +The army of Alabama under Lieutenant-General Richard Taylor . 12,723 +The Trans-Mississippi army of General E. Kirby Smith . . . 10,167 +The Arkansas army of Brigadier-General M. Jeff Thompson . . 5,048 + + Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95,454 + +These figures are given as the result of actual count made of the +paroles signed, and have been verified by officers both of the +Union Army and of the Confederate Army. They represent the actual +force engaged in the field, and upon the basis of calculation +adopted in the North would indicate a Confederate Army of nearly +three hundred thousand men at the close of the struggle. When the +frequent desertions from the Southern Army are remembered, and +their losses in prisoners and those disabled in the fearful fights +of the months which preceded the surrender of Lee, it will not be +exaggeration to say that the South had at the opening of General +Grant's campaign in Virginia the preceding summer more than five +hundred thousand men borne upon the rolls of its armies. The waste +of the Confederate forces during the sixty days immediately preceding +the final surrender was very great. The knowledge of the situation +had penetrated the ranks, and the men lost spirit and hope. The +result which followed was precisely that which has always happened +with armies so circumstanced. The ranks melted away, and there +were neither resource nor discipline to fill them again. + + THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES. + +It would be but poor compliment to the soldiers of the Union to +withhold just recognition of the brave opponents who met them on +so many hard-fought fields. Nor is there any disposition among +loyal men to stint the praise which is always due to courage. +Never perhaps was an army organized with fighting qualities superior +to those of the army put into the field by the Confederacy. They +fought with an absolute conviction, however erroneous, that their +cause was just; and their arms were nerved by the feeling which +their leaders had instilled deeply into their minds, that they were +contending against an intolerable tyranny and protecting the +sacredness of home. In a war purely defensive, as was that of the +Confederacy, an army such as they raised and maintained can baffle +the efforts of vastly superior numbers. The Confederates found +from their own experience how changed was the task when they assumed +the offensive and ventured to leave their own territory, with their +perfect knowledge of its topography and with a surrounding population +of sympathizers and helpers. In their first attempt at invasion +they did not get beyond cannon-sound of the Potomac, and in the +second they were turned back by the result of the first battle. +These facts do not impeach the prowess of the Confederate soldiery, +but they illustrate the task imposed on the Army of the Union and +they suggest the vast difference in the responsibilities which the +invading and the defensive forces were called upon to meet. + +For so large an army as the Government of the Union was compelled +to raise, volunteering could not be relied upon as a steady resource +for recruitment. Great as was the ardor among the loyal people at +the beginning of the struggle, it was soon found, as it has always +been found in other nations, that unaided patriotism could not +supply the heavy demands constantly made to repair the waste from +the casualties of war and from the ravages of disease. The Act of +Congress of March 3, 1863, provided for the enrolment of all able- +bodied male citizens between the ages of twenty and forty-five +years, while the Act of February 24, 1864, granted freedom to all +male slaves between the ages of twenty and forty-five who might +enlist in the Northern armies. Reward was made to go with duty, +and by the Act of July 4, 1864, Congress ameliorated the rigors of +the conscription by paying to each drafted man a bounty for one +years' service, at the same time doubling and trebling the amount +for two and three years' service respectively. The Secretary of +War was by the same law directed to discharge from service at the +request of parents all persons under the age of eighteen years who +might have enlisted in the army, and it was made an offense punishable +with loss of commission for any officer knowingly to enlist a person +less than sixteen years of age. Conscription laws have been +unpopular in all countries, and though resisted among us on one +occasion with riot, they were upheld with strong courage by the +mass of the loyal people. Representatives in Congress who had +voted for the enactments were returned by large majorities, and +Mr. Lincoln was re-elected with an overwhelming expression of +popular favor at the very time when he was directing the enforcement +of the draft. The vote of 1864 was perhaps the most significant +exhibition of patriotism made during the war, and had an extraordinary +influence in discouraging those who were directing the fortunes of +the Confederacy. + +In the Loyal States the Government called for more than 2,750,000 +men at various time throughout the war. In the South nearly every +white person capable of bearing arms rendered at one time or another +service in the army. A leading military authority of England, +speaking of the strength of the armies of the United States and of +the Confederacy, says, "The total number of men called under arms +by the Government of the United States between April, 1861, and +April, 1865, amounted to 2,759,049, of whom 2,656,053 were actually +embodied in the armies. If to these be added the 1,100,000 men +embodied by the Southern States during the same time, the total +armed forces reach the enormous amount of nearly 4,000,000, drawn +from a population of only 32,000,000 of all ages. Before this vast +aggregate, the celebrated uprising of the French nation in 1793, +or the recent efforts of France and Germany in the war of 1870-71, +sink into insignificance. And within three years the whole of +these vast forces were peaceably disbanded and the army had shrunk +to a normal strength of only 30,000 men." + +Germany with a population of 41,000,000 can in time of war furnish +an army of 1,250,000 men. France with a population of 36,000,000 +claims that she can set more than 1,500,000 men afield. With a +population of less than 25,000,0000 from which to levy troops, the +Government of the United States had when the war closed more than +1,000,000 men upon the muster-rolls of the army to be paid off and +discharged. Of this vast force probably not more than forty per +cent. were available for operations on the field. The wounded, +the sick, those upon furlough, upon detail in other service, upon +military service elsewhere than in the field, together with those +in military parlance absent or "not accounted for," would, it is +estimated, be equal to sixty per cent. of the entire army. + + AREA OF THE WAR AND ITS COST. + +The area over which the armies of the Union were called to operate +was 800,000 square miles in extent,--as large as the German Empire, +France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland combined. Those who +led in the secession movement relied confidently upon the impossibility +of overcoming a population inhabiting so great an expanse of +territory. Their judgment was confirmed by that of the best military +critics of Europe who looked pityingly upon the folly of the United +States for undertaking a task which after years of suffering and +great loss of life could end only in defeat, with hopeless bankruptcy +for the surviving remnant of the Republic. Could the Government +have had the advantage of a small area for its military operations, +its power to overcome the rebellion would have been greatly enhanced, +and an army not exceeding half of that which was raised could have +vindicated the authority of the flag and maintained the integrity +of the Union. The National expenditures would have been decreased +in even greater ratio, for aside from reducing the number of troops, +the enormous cost involved in transportation would have been lessened +by hundreds of millions of dollars in the four years of the war. + +Another cause of increased expenditure was the haste necessarily +attendant upon all the military preparations of the Government. +Armies were to be created from the basis of an organization hardly +greater than would serve as a police force for the Republic. When +Fort Sumter was fired upon, the Army of the United States, rank +and file, scarcely exceeded sixteen thousand men. The Government +was compelled to equip its vast forces from stores of which hardly +a nucleus existed. Arms, ammunition, military supplies, were all +to be instantly gathered. The growth of the great host, its +equipment, its marshaling, its prodigious strength, are among the +marvels and the glories of our history. To admit that mistakes +were made is only to say that the work was in human hands. Criticism +may well be drowned in the acclaim of success. No National emergency +has ever been met with greater courage, promptness, or skill. + +The loss to the country and the expenditures from its Treasury +could not be estimated when the war closed. We knew that a half- +million citizens of the Republic had laid down their lives--three +hundred thousand in defending the Union, two hundred thousand in +attempting to destroy it. We knew the enormous amounts which had +been paid in supporting our armies. But we were not wholly prepared +for the millions that must be paid in satisfaction of claims which +there had been no mode of reckoning. Nor had there been any standard +by which an estimate could be made of the sums required by the +pensions which the gratitude and the justice of the Government +would be called upon to grant. It was soon apparent that the need +of relief was proportional to the magnitude of the struggle, and +the Government prepared to respond with a munificence never +paralleled. + + + THE CHARACTER OF EDWIN M. STANTON. + +Nine months after the outbreak of hostilities the organization and +equipment of the National forces were placed under the direction +of Edwin M. Stanton as Secretary of War. Outside of his professional +reputation, which was high, Mr. Stanton had been known to the public +by his service in the Cabinet of Mr. Buchanan during the last three +months of his Administration. In that position he had undoubtedly +exhibited zeal and fidelity in the cause of the Union. He was a +member of the Democratic party, a thorough believer in its principles, +and a hearty opponent of Mr. Lincoln in the contest of 1860. In +speech and writing he referred to Mr. Lincoln's supporters in the +extreme partisan phrase of the day,--as "Black Republicans." He +had no sympathy with Mr. Lincoln's views on the subject of slavery, +and was openly hostile to any revival of the doctrine of Protection. +If Mr. Buchanan had been governed by the views of Mr. Stanton he +would undoubtedly have vetoed the Morrill Tariff bill, and thus an +unintended injury would have been inflicted upon the reviving credit +of the nation. A citizen of the District of Columbia, Mr. Stanton +was not called upon to make a personal record in the Presidential +election of 1860, but his sympathies were well understood to be +with the supporters of Breckinridge. + +With these political principles and affiliations, Mr. Stanton was +not even considered in connection with the original organization +of Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet. But the fact of his being a Democrat +was now in his favor, for Mr. Lincoln was anxious to signify by +some decisive expression, his appreciation of the patriotism which +had induced so large a proportion of the Democratic party to lay +aside prejudice and unite in support of his Administration. He +had a high estimate of Mr. Stanton's capacity, derived from personal +intercourse in a professional engagement some three years before. +He had learned something of his powers of endurance, of his trained +habits of thought, of his systematic method of labor, and he had +confidence that at forty-seven years of age, with vigorous health +and a robust constitution, Mr. Stanton could endure the strain +which the increasing labor of the War Department would impose. +His nomination was confirmed without delay, and the whole country +received his appointment with profound satisfaction. + +No Cabinet minister in our history has been so intemperately +denounced, so extravagantly eulogized. The crowning fact in his +favor is that through all the mutations of his stormy career he +was trusted and loved by Mr. Lincoln to the end of his days. He +was at all times and under all circumstances absolutely free from +corruption, and was savagely hostile to every man in the military +service who was even suspected of irregularity or wrong. He +possessed the executive faculty in the highest degree. He was +prompt, punctual, methodical, rapid, clear, explicit in all his +work. He imparted energy to every branch of the service, and his +vigorous determination was felt on the most distant field of the +war as a present and inspiring force. + +Mr. Stanton had faults. He was subject to unaccountable and violent +prejudice, and under its sway he was capable of harsh injustice. +Many officers of merit and of spotless fame fell under his displeasure +and were deeply wronged by him. General Stone was perhaps the most +conspicuous example of the extremity of outrage to which the +Secretary's temper could carry him. He was lacking in magnanimity. +Even when intellectually convinced of an error, he was reluctant +to acknowledge it. He had none of that grace which turns an enemy +to a friend by healing the wounds which have been unjustly inflicted. +While oppressing many who were under his control, he had the keenest +appreciation of power, and to men who were wielding great influence +he exhibited the most deferential consideration. He had a quick +insight into character, and at a glance could tell a man who would +resist and resent from one who would silently submit. He was +ambitious to the point of uncontrollable greed for fame, and by +this quality was subject to its counterpart of jealousy, and to an +envy of the increasing reputation of others. It was a sore trial +to him that after his able and persistent organization of all the +elements of victory, the share of credit which justly belonged to +him, was lost sight of in the glory which surrounded the hero of +a successful battle. + +But his weaknesses did not obscure the loftiness of his character. +The capricious malignity and brutal injustice of the Great Frederick +might as well be cited against the acknowledged grandeur of his +career, as an indictment be brought against Stanton's fame on his +personal defects, glaring and even exasperating as they were. To +the Nation's trust he was sublimely true. To him was committed, +in a larger degree than to any other man except the President alone, +the successful prosecution of the war and the consequent preservation +of the Union. Against those qualities which made him so many +enemies, against those insulting displays of temper which wounded +so many proud spirits helplessly subject to him for the time, +against those acts of rank injustice which, in the judgment of his +most partial eulogist, will always mar his fame, must be remembered +his absolute consecration to all that he was and of all he could +hope to be, to the cause of his country. For more than three years, +of unceasing and immeasurable responsibility, he stood at his post, +by day and by night, never flagging in zeal, never doubting in +faith. Even his burly frame and rugged strength were overborne by +the weight of his cares and by the strain upon his nerves, but not +until his work was finished, not until the great salvation had +come. Persecution and obloquy have followed him into the grave, +but an impartial verdict must be that he was inspired with the +devotion of a martyr, and that he wore out his life in a service +of priceless value to all the generations of his countrymen. + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +Relation with Great Britain.--Close of the Year 1860.--Prince of +Wales's Visit to the United States.--Exchange of Congratulatory +Notes.--Dawn of the Rebellion.--Lord Lyons's Dispatch.--Mr. Seward's +Views.--Lord John Russell's Threats.--Condition of Affairs at Mr. +Lincoln's Inauguration.--Unfriendly Manifestations by Great Britain. +--Recognizes Belligerency of Southern States.--Discourtesy to +American Minister.--England and France make Propositions to the +Confederate States.--Unfriendly in their Character to the United +States.--Full Details given.--Motives inquired into.--Trent Affair. +--Lord John Russell.--Lord Lyons.--Mr. Seward.--Mason and Slidell +released.--Doubtful Grounds assigned.--Greater Wrongs against us +by Great Britain.--Queen Victoria's Friendship.--Isolation of United +States.--Foreign Aid to Confederates on the Sea.--Details given.-- +So-called Neutrality.--French Attempt to establish an Empire in +Mexico.--Lord Palmerston in 1848, in 1859, in 1861.--Conclusive +Observations. + +At the close of the year 1860 the long series of irritating and +dangerous questions which had disturbed the relations of the United +States and Great Britain, from the time of the Declaration of +Independence, had reached final and friendly solution. The fact +gave unalloyed satisfaction to the American people and to their +Government. Mr. Buchanan was able to say in his message of December, +in language which Lord Lyons truly described as "the most cordial +which has appeared in any President's message since the foundation +of the Republic,"-- + +"Our relations with Great Britain are of the most friendly character. +Since the commencement of my Administration the two dangerous +questions arising from the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and from the right +of search claimed by the British Government have been amicably and +honorably adjusted. The discordant constructions of the Clayton- +Bulwer Treaty, which at different periods of the discussion bore +a threatening aspect, have resulted in a final settlement entirely +satisfactory to this government. The only question of any importance +which still remains open is the disputed title between the two +governments to the Island of San Juan in the vicinity of Washington +Territory." It was obvious that neither government looked forward +to any trouble from this source. + +To give manifestation of the cordiality with which our friendship +was reciprocated, Her Majesty had selected this auspicious year +for a visit of her son, the Prince of Wales, to this country. His +Royal Highness was received everywhere by the government and the +people with genuine and even enthusiastic hospitality, and at the +termination of his visit Lord Lyons was instructed to express the +thanks of Her Majesty. + +"One of the main objects," His Lordship wrote to Secretary Cass on +the 8th of December, 1860, "which Her Majesty had in view in +sanctioning the visit of His Royal Highness was to prove to the +President and citizens of the United States the sincerity of those +sentiments of esteem and regard which Her Majesty and all classes +of her subjects entertain for the kindred race which occupies so +distinguished a position in the community of nations. Her Majesty +has seen with the greatest satisfaction that her feelings and those +of her people in this respect have been met with the warmest sympathy +in the great American Union; and Her Majesty trusts that the feelings +of confidence and affection, of which late events have proved beyond +all question the existence, will long continue to prevail between +the two countries to their mutual advantage and to the general +interests of civilization and humanity. I am commanded to state +to the President that the Queen would be gratified by his making +known generally to the citizens of the United States her grateful +sense of the kindness with which they received her son, who has +returned to England deeply impressed with all he saw during his +progress through the States, and more especially so with the friendly +and cordial good will manifested towards him on every occasion by +all classes of the community." + +Mr. William Henry Trescott, then Assistant Secretary of State, +replied to Lord Lyons's note without delay, writing on the 11th of +December: "I am instructed by the President to express the +gratification with which he has learned how correctly Her Majesty +has appreciated the spirit in which His Royal Highness was received +throughout the Republic, and the cordial manifestation of that +spirit by the people of the United States which accompanied him in +every step of his progress. Her Majesty has justly recognized that +the visit of her son aroused the kind and generous sympathies of +our citizens, and, if I may so speak, has created an almost personal +interest in the fortunes of the Royalty which he so well represents. +The President trusts that this sympathy and interest towards the +future representative of the Sovereignty of Great Britain are at +once an evidence and a guaranty of that consciousness of common +interest and mutual regard which have bound in the past, and will +in the future bind together more strongly than treaties, the feelings +and the fortunes of the two nations which represent the enterprise, +the civilization, and the constitutional liberty of the same great +race. I have also been instructed to make this correspondence +public, that the citizens of the United States may have the +satisfaction of knowing how strongly and properly Her Majesty has +appreciated the cordial warmth of their welcome to His Royal +Highness." + + VISIT OF THE PRINCE OF WALES. + +Time was soon to test "the sincerity of those sentiments of esteem +and regard which Her Majesty and all classes of her subjects +entertain for the kindred race which occupies so distinguished a +position in the community of nations." Within a few days after +the exchange of this correspondence it became the duty of Lord +Lyons to announce to his government that the domestic differences +"in the great American Union" were deepening into so fierce a feud +that from different motives both General Cass the Secretary of +State, to whom his letter had been addressed, and Mr. Trescott the +Assistant Secretary of State, by whom it had been answered, had +resigned, and that the United States, one "of the two great nations +which represent the enterprise, the civilization, and the constitutional +liberty of the same great race," was about to confront the gravest +danger that can threaten national existence. + +The State of South Carolina passed its Ordinance of Secession +December 17, 1860. From that date until the surrender of Fort +Sumter, April 14, 1861, many of the most patriotic and able statesmen +of the country and a large majority of the people of the North +hoped that some reasonable and peaceful adjustment of the difficulties +would be found. The new Administration had every right to expect +that foreign powers would maintain the utmost reserve, both in +opinion and in action, until it could have a fair opportunity to +decide upon a policy. The great need of the new President was +time. Both he and his advisers felt that every day's delay was a +substantial gain, and that the maintenance of the _status quo_, +with no fresh outbreak at home and no unfriendly expression aborad, +was of incalculable advantage to the cause of the Union. + +Amid the varying and contradictory impressions of the hour, Lord +Lyons had reported events as they occurred, with singular fairness +and accuracy. Just one month before Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated, +on the 4th of February, 1861, His Lordship wrote to Lord John +Russell, at that time Her Majesty's Minister of Foreign Affairs: +"Mr. Seward's real view of the state of the country appears to be +that if bloodshed can be avoided until the new government is +installed, the seceding States will in no long time return to the +Confederation. He seems to think that in a few months the evils +and hardships produced by secession will become intolerably grievous +to the Southern States, that they will be completely re-assured as +to the intentions of the Administration, and that the conservative +element which is now kept under the surface by the violent pressure +of the Secessionists will emerge with irresistible force. From +all these causes he confidently expects that when elections for +the State Legislatures are held in the Southern States in November +next, the Union party will have a clear majority and will bring +the seceding States back into the Confederation. He then hopes to +place himself at the head of a strong Union party having extensive +ramifications both in the North and in the South, and to make 'Union +or Disunion, not Freedom or Slavery,' the watchwords of political +parties." It can scarcely escape notice how significant, even at +this early period, is the use in this dispatch of the word +"confederation" as applied to the United States,--a use never before +made of it in diplomatic communication since the establishment of +the Constitution, and indicating, only too clearly, the view to be +taken by the British Government of the relation of the States to +the Union. + +Whatever may have been the estimate at home of the policy attributed +to Mr. Seward, it was certainly one which would commend itself to +the sympathy of a friendly nation, and one, to the success of which +no neutral power would hesitate to contribute all the aid it could +rightfully render. The dispatch of Lord Lyons was received in +London on the 18th of February, and on the 20th Lord John Russell +replied as follows: "The success or failure of Mr. Seward's plans +to prevent a disruption of the North-American Union is a matter of +deep interest to Her Majesty's Government, but they can only expect +and hope. They are not called upon nor would they be acting +prudently were they to obtrude their advice on the dissentient +parties in the United States. Supposing however that Mr. Lincoln, +acting under bad advice, should endeavor to provide excitement for +the public mind by raising questions with Great Britain, Her +Majesty's Government feel no hesitation as to the policy they would +pursue. They would in the first place be very forbearing. They +would show by their acts how highly they value the relations of +peace and amity with the United States. But they would take care +to let the government which multiplied provocations and sought for +quarrels understand that their forbearance sprung from the +consciousness of strength and not from the timidity of weakness. +They would warn a government which was making political capital +out of blustering demonstrations that our patience might be tried +too far." + + THREATS FROM LORD JOHN RUSSELL. + +It is impossible to mistake the spirit or the temper of this +dispatch. It is difficult to account for the manifest irritation +of its tone except upon the ground that Lord John Russell saw in +a possible reconciliation, between North and South, something that +threatened the interest or jarred upon the sympathy of the British +Government. It was at least sufficient and ominous warning of what +the United States might expect from "the confidence and affection" +which had only a few weeks before been outpoured so lavishly by +Her Majesty's Government. The fact is worthy of emphasis that +since the cordial interchange of notes touching the visit of the +Prince of Wales there had not been a single word of unkindness in +the correspondence of the two governments. But our embarrassments +had been steadily deepening, and according to many precedents in +the career of that illustrious statesman, Lord John seems to have +considered the period of our distress a fitting time to assert that +"British forbearance springs from the consciousness of strength +and not from the timidity of weakness." + + +On the 4th of March, 1861, the administration of Mr. Lincoln assumed +the responsibility of government. At that date the organization +of the Southern Confederacy had not been perfected. Four States +which ultimately joined it had not yet seceded from the Union. +There had been no overt act of violence. The Administration still +believed in the possibility of a peaceful settlement. But on the +12th of April Fort Sumter was attacked. On the 14th it was +surrendered. On the 15th the President issued his Proclamation +calling out seventy-five thousand militia and summoning Congress +to meet on the 4th of July. On the 17th the President of the +Confederacy authorized the issue of letters of marque. On the 19th +the President of the United States proclaimed a blockade of the +Southern ports and declared that privateers with letters of marque +from the Southern Confederacy would be treated as pirates. + +This condition of affairs rendered the relation of foreign powers +to the Union and to the Confederacy at once urgent and critical. +It is true that Fort Sumter had surrendered to a warlike demonstration, +but fortunately no blood had been shed. It is true that letters +of marque had been authorized, but none had been actually issued. +It is true that a blockade had been proclaimed, but some time must +elapse before it could be practically enforced. All that can be +said is that the rebellion had organized itself with promptness +and courage for a conflict. There was still a pause. Neither +party thoroughly realized the horror of the work before them, though +every day made it more clearly apparent. Until then the United +States was the only organized government on our soil known to +England, and with it she had for three-quarters of a century +maintained commercial and political relations which had grown closer +and more friendly every year. The vital element of that government +was Union. Whatever might be the complicated relations of their +domestic law, to the world and to themselves the United States of +America was the indivisible government. This instinct of union +had gathered them together as colonies, had formed them into an +imperfect confederation, had matured them under a National +Constitution. It gave them their vigor at home, their power and +influence abroad. To destroy their union was to resolve them into +worse than colonial disintegration. + +But the separation of the States was more than the dissolution of +the Union. For, treating with all due respect the conviction of +the Southern States as to the violation of their constitutional +rights, no fair-minded man can deny that the central idea of the +secession movement was the establishment of a great slave-holding +empire around the Gulf of Mexico. It was a bold and imperial +conception. With an abounding soil, with millions of trained and +patient laborers, with a proud and martial people, with leaders +used to power and skilled in government, controlling some of the +greatest and most necessary of the commercial staples of the world, +the haughty oligarchy of the South would have founded a slave +republic which, in its successful development, would have changed +the future of this continent and of the world. When English +statesmen were called upon to deal with such a crisis, the United +States had a right to expect, if not active sympathy, at least that +neutrality which would confine itself within the strict limit of +international obligation, and would not withhold friendly wishes +for the preservation of the Union. + + RELATIONS OF ENGLAND AND THE UNION. + +England had tested slowly but surely the worth of the American +Union. As the United States had extended its territory, had +developed in wealth, had increased in population, richer and richer +had become the returns to England's merchants and manufacturers; +question after question of angry controversy had been amicably +settled by the conviction of mutual, growing, and peaceful interests. +And while it had become a rhetorical truism with English historians +and statesmen, that relations with the independent Republic were +stronger, safer, and more valuable than those of the old colonial +connection, her own principles of constitutional liberty were re- +invigorated by the skill and the breadth with which they were +applied and administered by her own children in a new country. +England could not but know that all this was due to the Union,-- +the Union which had concentrated the weakness of scattered States +into a government that protected the citizen and welcomed the +immigrant, which carried law and liberty to the pioneer on the +remotest border, which had made of provincial villages centres of +wealth and civilization that would not have discredited the capitals +of older nations, and which above all had created a Federal +representative government whose successful working might teach +England herself how to hold together the ample colonies that still +formed the outposts of her Empire. + +More than all, a Cabinet, every member of which by personal relation +of tradition connection belonged to the great liberal party that +felt the achievement of Emancipation to be a part of its historic +glory, should have realized that no diminution of a rival, no +monopoly of commerce, could bring to England any compensation for +the establishment of a slave-holding empire upon the central waters +of the world. + +With this natural expectation the Government in less than sixty +days after Mr. Lincoln's inauguration, sent its minister to London, +confident that he would at least be allowed to present to the +British Government for friendly consideration, the condition and +policy of the Republic before any positive action should disturb +the apparently amicable relations of the two countries. Mr. Charles +Francis Adams, who was selected for this important duty, was +instructed to explain to the British Government that the peculiar +relation of the States to the Federal Government, and the reticence +and reservations consequent upon a change of administration, had +hitherto restrained the action of the President in the formation +and declaration of his policy; that without foreign interference +the condition of affairs still afforded reasonable hope of a +satisfactory solution; and especially that it was necessary, if +there existed a sincere desire to avoid wrong and injury to the +United States, for foreign powers to abstain from any act of +pretended neutrality which would give material advantage or moral +encouragement to the organized forces of the rebellion. + +Before Mr. Adams could cross the Atlantic the British Government, +although aware of his mission and its object, decided upon its own +course, in concerted action with France, and without reference to +the views or wishes or interest of the United States. On the day +before Mr. Adams's arrival in England, as if to give him offensive +warning how little his representations would be regarded, Her +Majesty's Government issued a proclamation recognizing the confederated +Southern States as belligerents. It is entirely unnecessary to +discuss the question of the right to recognize belligerency. The +great powers of Europe had the same right to recognize the Southern +Confederacy as a belligerent that they had to recognize it as an +established nationality, and with the same consequences,--all +dependent upon whether the fact so recognized were indeed a fact. +But the recognition of belligerency or independence may be the +means to achieve a result, and not simply an impartial acquiescence +in a result already achieved. The question therefore was not +whether foreign powers had a right to recognize, but whether the +time and method of such recognition were not distinctly hostile,-- +whether they were not the efficient and coldly calculated means to +strengthen the hands of the Rebellion. + +Events proved that if the English Government had postponed this +action until the Government of the United States had been allowed +a frank discussion of its policy, no possible injury to English +interests could have resulted. It was but a very short time before +the rebellion assumed proportions that led to the recognition of +the Confederacy as a belligerent by the civil, judicial, and military +authorities of the Union; a recognition by foreign powers would +then have been simply an act of impartial neutrality. But, declared +with such precipitancy, recognition could be regarded only as an +act of unfriendliness to the United States. The proof of this is +inherent in the case:-- + +1. The purpose of the secession, openly avowed from the beginning, +was the dissolution of the Union and the establishment of an +independent slave-empire; and the joint recognition was a declaration +that such a result, fraught with ruin to us, was not antagonistic +to the feelings or to the supposed interests of Europe, and that +both the commercial ambition of England and the military aspirations +of France in Mexico hoped to find profit in the event. + + ENGLAND'S RECOGNITION OF BELLIGERENCY. + +2. This recognition of belligerency in defiance of the known wishes +and interests of the United States, accompanied by the discourteous +refusal to allow a few hours' delay for the reception of the American +minister, was a significant warning to the seceded States that no +respect due to the old Union would long delay the establishment of +new relations, and that they should put forth all their energies +before the embarrassed Administration could concentrate its efforts +in defense of the National life. + +3. The recognition of the belligerent flag of the Southern +Confederacy, with the equal right to supplies and hospitality, +guarantied by such recognition, gave to the insurgents facilities +and opportunities which were energetically used, and led to +consequences which belong to a later period of this history, but +the injury and error of which were emphatically rebuked by a judgment +of the most important tribunal that has ever been assembled to +interpret and administer international law. + +The demand which naturally followed for a rigid enforcement of the +blockade, imposed a heavy burden upon the Government of the United +States just at the time when it was least prepared to assume such +a burden. Apologists for the unfriendly course of England interpose +the plea that the declaration of blockade by the United States was +in fact a prior recognition of Southern belligerency. But it must +be remembered that when the United States proposed to avoid this +technical argument by closing the insurgent ports instead of +blockading them, Mr. Seward was informed by Lord Lyons, acting in +concert with the French minister, that Her Majesty's Government +"would consider a decree closing the ports of the South actually +in possession of the insurgent or Confederate States, as null and +void, and that they would not submit to measures on the high seas +in pursuance of such decree." Bitterly might Mr. Seward announce +the fact which has sunk deep into the American heart: "It is indeed +manifest in the tone of the speeches, as well as in the general +tenor of popular discussion, that neither the responsible ministers +nor the House of Commons nor the active portion of the people of +Great Britain sympathize with this government, and hope, or even +wish, for its success in suppressing the insurrection; and that on +the contrary the whole British nation, speaking practically, desire +and expect the dismemberment of the Republic." + +This very decided step towards a hostile policy was soon followed +by another even more significant. On the 9th of May, 1861, only +a few days before the Proclamation of Her Britannic Majesty, +recognizing the belligerency of the Southern Confederacy and thus +developing itself as a part of a concerted and systematic policy, +Lord Cowley, the British Ambassador at Paris, wrote to Lord John +Russell: "I called this afternoon on M. Thouvenel, Minister of +Foreign Affairs, for the purpose of obtaining his answer to the +proposals contained in your Lordship's dispatch of the 6th inst. +relative to the measures which should be pursued by the Maritime +Powers of Europe for the protection of neutral property in presence +of the events which are passing in the American States. M. Thouvenel +said the Imperial Government concurred entirely in the views of +Her Majesty's Government in endeavoring to _obtain of the belligerents_ +a _formal_ recognition of the second, third, and fourth articles +of the Declaration of Paris. Count de Flahault (French Ambassador +in London) would receive instructions to make this known officially +to your Lordship. With regard to the manner in which this endeavor +should be made, M. Thouvenel said that he thought a communication +should be addressed to both parties _in as nearly as possible the +same language_, the consuls being made the organs of communication +with the Southern States." + +Communicating this intelligence to Lord Lyons in a dispatch dated +May 18, 1861, Lord John Russell added these instructions: "Your +Lordship may therefore be prepared to find your French colleague +ready to take the same line with yourself in his communications +with the Government of the United States. I need not tell your +Lordship that Her Majesty's Government would very gladly see a +practice which is calculated to lead to great irregularities and +to increase the calamities of war renounced by _both_ the contending +parties in America as it has been renounced by almost _every other +nation_ in the world. . . . You will take such measures as you +shall judge most expedient to transmit to Her Majesty's consul at +Charleston or New Orleans a copy of my previous dispatch to you of +this day's date, to be communicated at Montgomery to the President +of the so-styled Confederate States." + +The identity of the address and the equality upon which both the +belligerents were invited to do what had been done by "almost every +other _nation_ of the world" need not be emphasized. + + ACTION OF CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT. + +On July 5, 1861, Lord Lyons instructed Mr. Bunch, the British Consul +at Charleston, South Carolina:-- + +"The course of events having invested the States assuming the title +of Confederate States of America with the character of belligerents, +it has become necessary for Her Majesty's Government to obtain from +the existing government in those States securities concerning the +proper treatment of neutrals. I am authorized by Lord John Russell +to confide the negotiation on this matter to you, and I have great +satisfaction in doing so. In order to make you acquainted with +the views of Her Majesty's Government, I transmit to you a duplicate +of a dispatch to me in which they are fully stated." His Lordship +then proceeded to instruct the consul as to the manner in which it +might be best to conduct the negotiation, the object being to avoid +as far as possible a direct official communication with the +authorities of the Confederate States. Instructions to the same +purport were addressed by the French Government to their consul at +Charleston. + +What then was the point of the negotiations committed to these +consuls? It will be found in the dispatch from Lord John Russell, +communicated by his order to Mr. Bunch. It was the accession of +the United States and of the Confederate States to the Declaration +of Paris of April 16, 1856. That Declaration was signed by the +Ministers of Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, +Sardinia, and Turkey. It adopted as article of Maritime Law the +following points:-- + +"1. Privateering is and remains abolished. + +"2. The neutral flag covers enemy's goods with the exception of +contraband of war. + +"3. Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are +not liable to capture under the enemy's flag. + +"4. Blockades in order to be binding must be effective,--that is +to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent access +to the coast of the enemy." + +The Powers signing the Declaration engaged to bring it to the +knowledge of those Powers which had not taken part in that Congress +of Paris, and to invite them to accede to it; and they agreed that +"the present Declaration is not and shall not be binding except +between those Powers which have acceded or shall accede to it." +It was accepted by all the European and South American Powers. +The United States, Mexico, and the Oriental Powers did not join in +the general acceptance. + +The English and French consuls in Charleston, having received these +instructions, sought and found an intermediary whose position and +diplomatic experience would satisfy the requirements. This agent +accepted the trust on two conditions,--one, that he should be +furnished with the instructions as proof to the Confederate Government +of the genuineness of the negotiation, the other, that the answer +of the Confederate Government should be received in whatever shape +that government should think proper to frame it. The negotiations +in Richmond which had by this time become the seat of the Insurgent +Government were speedily concluded, and on the 13th of August, +1861, the Confederate Government passed the following resolution:-- + +"WHEREAS the Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria, France, +Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey, in a conference held at +Paris on the 16th of April, 1856, made certain declarations concerning +Maritime Law, to serve as uniform rules for their guidance in all +cases arising out of the principles thus proclaimed; + +"AND WHEREAS it being desirable not only to attain certainty and +uniformity as far as may be practicable in maritime law, but also +to maintain whatever is just and proper in the established usages +of nations, the Confederate States of America deem it important to +declare the principles by which they will be governed in their +intercourse with the rest of mankind: Now therefore be it + +"_Resolved_, by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, + +"1st, That we maintain the right of privateering as it has been +long established by the practice and recognized by the law of +nations. + +"2d, That the neutral flag covers enemy's goods with the exception +of contraband of war. + +"3d, That neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, +are not liable to capture under the enemy's flag. + +"4th, Blockades in order to be binding must be effective; that is +to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent access +to the coast of the enemy." + + ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND THE CONFEDERACY. + +"These resolutions," says Mr. Bunch to Lord Lyons on Aug. 16, 1861, +"were passed on the 13th inst., approved on the same day by the +President, and I have the honor to enclose herewith to your Lordship +the copy of them which has been sent to Mr. ---- by the Secretary +of State to be delivered to M. de Belligny and myself." On Aug. +30, 1861, Lord Lyons wrote to Lord John Russell: "I have received, +just in time to have the enclosed copy made for your Lordship, a +dispatch from Mr. Consul Bunch reporting the proceedings taken by +him in conjunction with his French colleague M. de Belligny to +obtain the adherence of the so-called Confederate States to the +last three articles of the Declaration of Paris;" and a few days +later he says, "I am confirmed in the opinion that the negotiation, +which was difficult and delicate, was managed with great tact and +judgment by the two consuls." + +Upon the discovery of this "difficult and delicate negotiation," +Mr. Seward demanded the removal of Mr. Bunch. Lord John Russell +replied to Mr. Adams Sept. 9, 1861, "The undersigned will without +hesitation state to Mr. Adams that in pursuance of an agreement +between the British and French Government, Mr. Bunch was instructed +to communicate to the persons exercising authority in the so-called +Confederate States the desire of those governments that the second, +third, and fourth articles of the Declaration of Paris should be +observed by those States in the prosecution of the hostilities in +which they were engaged. Mr. Adams will observe that the commerce +of Great Britain and France is deeply interested in the maintenance +of the articles providing that the flag covers the goods, and that +the goods of a neutral taken on board a belligerent ship are not +liable to confiscation. Mr. Bunch, therefore, in what he has done +in this matter, has acted in obedience to the instructions of his +government, who accept the responsibility of his proceedings so +far as they are known to the Foreign Department, and who cannot +remove him from his office for having obeyed instructions." + +Here then was a complete official negotiation with the Confederate +States. Mr. Montagu Bernard, in his ingenious and learned work, +_The Neutrality of Great Britain during the American War_, conceals +the true character of the work in which the British Government had +been engaged: "The history of an unofficial application made to +the Confederate States on the same subject is told in the two +following dispatches. It will be seen that the channel of +communication was a private person instructed by the British and +French consuls, who had been themselves instructed by the ministers +of their respective governments at Washington." The presence of +a private intermediary at one point cannot break the chain of +official communication if the communications are themselves official. +For certain purposes the governments of England and France consulted +and determined upon a specific line of policy. That policy was +communicated in regular official instructions to their minister in +Washington. The Ministers were to select the instruments to carry +it out, and the persons selected were the official consular +representatives of France and England, who although residing at +the South held their _exequatures_ from the United-States Government. +They were instructed to make a political application to the government +of the Confederacy, and Lord John Russell could not disguise that +government under the mask of "the persons exercising authority in +the so-called Confederate States." Their application was received +by the Confederate Government through their agent just as it would +have been received through the mail addressed to the Secretary of +State. Their application was officially acted upon by the Confederate +Congress, and the result contained in an official document was +transmitted to them, and forwarded by them to their immediate +official superiors in Washington, who recognized it as a successful +result of "a difficult and delicate negotiation." It was then sent +to the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries, and the responsibility +of the act was fully and finally assumed by those ministers. + +Nor can it be justified as an application to a belligerent, informing +him that in the exercise of belligerent rights England and France +would expect a strict conformity to International Law. The four +articles of the Treaty of Paris were not provisions of International +Law. They were explicit modifications of that law as it had long +existed, and the Declaration itself stated that it was not to bind +any of the Powers which had not agreed expressly to accept it. It +was therefore an invitation, not to a belligerent but to the Southern +Confederacy, to accept and thus become a part to an international +compact to which in the very nature of things there could be no +parties save those whose acceptance constituted an international +obligation. It has never yet been claimed that a mere insurgent +belligerent, however strong, occupied such position. If instead +of declaring by resolution that the second, third, and fourth +articles of the Declaration of Paris were principles which by their +own voluntary action they would adopt as rules for their own +government, the Confederate States had, with an astute policy which +the invitation itself seems intended to suggest, demanded that they +should be allowed to accept the Declaration in the same method in +which it had been accepted "by every other nation," it is difficult +to see how their demand could have been refused; and if it has been +admitted, what would have been wanting to perfect the recognition +of the independence of the Southern Confederacy? + + THE PARIS CONVENTION. + +The motive of England and France in this extraordinary negotiation +with the Confederacy is plain. The right of privateering was not +left untouched except with deep design. By securing the assent of +the Confederacy to the other three articles of the Paris Convention, +safety was assured to British and French cargoes under the American +flag, while every American cargo was at risk unless protected by +a Foreign flag--generally the flag of England. It would have been +impossible to invent a process more gainful to British commerce, +more harmful to American commerce. While the British and French +consuls were conducting this negotiation with the Confederate +States, the British and French ministers were conducting another +to the same purport with the United States. Finally Mr. Seward +offered to waive the point made by Secretary Marcy many years before +at the date of the Declaration, and to accept the four articles of +the Paris Convention, pure and simple. But his could not be done, +because the Confederate States had not accepted the first article +abolishing privateering and her privateers must therefore be +recognized. England and France used this fact as a pretext for +absolutely declining to permit the accession of the United States, +one of the great maritime powers of the world, to a treaty which +was proclaimed to be a wise and humane improvement of the old and +harsh law of nations, and to which in former years the United States +had been most earnestly invited to give her assent. This course +throws a flood of light on the clandestine correspondence with the +Confederacy, and plainly exposes the reasons why it was desired +that the right of privateering should be left open to the Confederates. +Through that instrumentality great harm could be inflicted on the +United States and at the same time England could be guarded against +a cotton famine. To accomplish these ends she negotiated what was +little less than a hostile treaty with an Insurgent Government. +This action was initiated before a single battle was fought, and +was evidently intended as encouragement and inspiration to the +Confederates to persist in their revolutionary proceedings against +the Government of the United States. Any reasonable man, looking +at the condition of affairs, could not doubt that the public +recognition of the independence of the Confederacy by England and +France, was a foregone and rapidly approaching conclusion. + + +With this condition of affairs leading necessarily to a more +pronounced unfriendliness, an incident occurred towards the close +of the year which seriously threatened a final breach of amicable +relations. On the 9th of November, 1861, Captain Wilkes of the +United-States steamer _San Jacinto_, seized the persons of James +M. Mason and John Slidell, ministers from the Southern Confederacy, +and their secretaries, on board the British mail-steamer _Trent_ +on her way from Havana to Kingston. Messrs. Mason and Slidell were +accredited by the Executive of the Southern Confederacy to the +Governments of England and France. Their avowed object was to +obtain the recognition by those governments of the independence of +the new Southern Republic, and their success would have been a most +dangerous if not a fatal blow to the cause of the Union. But they +were not by any recognized principle of international law contraband +of war, and they were proceeding from a neutral port to a neutral +port in a neutral vessel. The action of the officer who seized +them was not authorized by any instructions, and the seizure was +itself in violation of those principles of maritime law for which +the United States had steadily and consistently contended from the +establishment of its national life. The difficulty of adjustment +lay not in the temper or conviction of either government, but in +the passionate and very natural excitement of popular feeling in +both countries. In the United States there was universal and +enthusiastic approval of the act of Captain Wilkes. In England +there was an equally vehement demand for immediate and signal +reparation. + + LORD JOHN RUSSELL AND LORD LYONS. + +Lord John Russell, after reciting the facts, instructed Lord Lyons +in a dispatch of Nov. 30, 1861: "Her Majesty's Government therefore +trust that when this matter shall have been brought under the +consideration of the Government of the United States, that government +will of its own accord offer to the British Government such redress +as alone would satisfy the British nation; namely, the liberation +of the four gentlemen and their delivery to your Lordship in order +that they may again be placed under British protection, and a +suitable apology for the aggression which has been committed. +Should these terms not be offered by Mr. Seward you will propose +them to him." In a dispatch of the same date Lord John Russell +says to Lord Lyons: "In my previous dispatch of this date I have +instructed you by command of Her Majesty to make certain demands +of the Government of the United States. Should Mr. Seward ask for +delay in order that this grave and painful matter should be +deliberately considered, you will consent to a delay not exceeding +seven days. If at the end of that time no answer is given, or if +any other answer is given except that of compliance with the demands +of Her Majesty's Government, your Lordship is instructed to leave +Washington with all the members of your Legation, bringing with +you the archives of the Legation, and to repair immediately to +London. If however you should be of opinion that the requirements +of Her Majesty's Government are substantially complied with you +may report the facts to Her Majesty's Government for their +consideration, and remain at your post until you receive further +orders." The communication of this peremptory limitation of time +for a reply would have been an offensive threat; but it was a +private instruction to guide the discretion of the minister, not +to be used if the condition of things upon its arrival promised an +amicable solution. It must also in justice be remembered that +excited feeling had been shown by different departments of our own +Government as well as by the press and the people. The House of +Representatives had unanimously adopted a resolution thanking +Captain Wilkes "for his brave, adroit, and patriotic conduct;" and +the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Gideon Welles, had publicly and +officially approved his action. + +The spirit in which Lord Lyons would receive his instructions was +indicated in advance by his own dispatch to Lord John Russell of +Nov. 19, 1861: "I have accordingly deemed it right to maintain +the most complete reserve on the subject. To conceal the distress +which I feel would be impossible, nor would it if possible be +desirable; but I have expressed no opinion on the questions of +international law involved; I have hazarded no conjecture as to +the course which will be taken by Her Majesty's Government. On +the one hand I dare not run the risk of compromising the honor and +inviolability of the British flag by asking for a measure of +reparation which may prove to be inadequate. On the other hand I +am scarcely less unwilling to incur the danger of rendering a +satisfactory settlement of the question more difficult by making +a demand which may turn out to be unnecessarily great. In the +present imperfect state of my information I feel that the only +proper and prudent course is to wait for the orders which your +Lordship will give, with a complete knowledge of the whole case. +I am unwilling moreover to deprive any explanation or reparation +which the United-States Government may think it right to offer, of +the grace of being made spontaneously. I know too that a demand +from me would very much increase the main difficulty which the +government would feel in yielding to any disposition which they +may have to make amends to Great Britain. The American people +would more easily tolerate a spontaneous offer of reparation made +by its government from a sense of justice than a compliance with +a demand for satisfaction from a foreign minister." + +In accordance with the sentiments thus expressed, Lord Lyons, +interpreting his discretion liberally and even generously, called +upon Mr. Seward on the 19th of December, 1861, and the following +is his official account of the interview: "The Messenger Seymour +delivered to me at half-past eleven o'clock last night your Lordship's +dispatch of the 30th ultimo, specifying the reparation required by +Her Majesty's Government for the seizure of Mr. Mason and Mr. +Slidell and their secretaries on board the royal mail-steamer +_Trent_. I waited on Mr. Seward this afternoon at the State +Department, and acquainted him in general terms with the tenor of +that dispatch. I stated in particular, as nearly as possible in +your Lordship's words, that the only redress which could satisfy +Her Majesty's Government and Her Majesty's people would be the +immediate delivery of the prisoners to me in order that they might +be placed under British protection, and moreover a suitable apology +for the aggression which had been committed. I added that Her +Majesty's Government hoped that the Government of the United States +would of its own accord offer this reparation; that it was in order +to facilitate such an arrangement that I had come to him without +any written demand, or even any written paper at all, in my hand; +that if there was a prospect of attaining this object I was willing +to be guided by him as to the conduct on my part which would render +its attainment most easy. Mr. Seward received my communication +seriously and with dignity, but without any manifestation of +dissatisfaction. Some further conversation ensued in consequence +of questions put by him with a view to ascertain the exact character +of the dispatch. At the conclusion he asked me to give him to- +morrow to consider the question and to communicate with the President. +On the day after he should, he said, be ready to express an opinion +with respect to the communication I had made. In the mean time he +begged me to be assured that he was very sensible of the friendly +and conciliatory manner in which I had made it." + + SECRETARY SEWARD AND LORD LYONS. + +On the 26th of December Mr. Seward transmitted to Lord Lyons the +reply of the United States to the demand of the British Government. +In forwarding it to his Government Lord Lyons said: "Before +transmitting to me the note of which a copy enclosed in my immediately +preceding dispatch of to-day's date, Mr. Seward sent for me to the +State Department, and said with some emotion that he thought that +it was due to the great kindness and consideration which I had +manifested throughout in dealing with the affair of the _Trent_, +that he should tell me with his own lips that he had been able to +effect a satisfactory settlement of it. He had now however been +authorized to address to me a note which would be satisfactory to +Her Majesty's Government. In answer to inquiries from me Mr. Seward +said that of course he understood Her Majesty's Government to leave +it open to the Government of Washington to present the case in the +form which would be most acceptable to the American people, but +that the note was intended to be and was a compliance with the +terms proposed by Her Majesty's Government. He would add that the +friendly spirit and discretion which I had manifested in the whole +matter from the day on which the intelligence of the seizure reached +Washington up to the present moment had more than any thing else +contributed to the satisfactory settlement of the question." + +In his reply Mr. Seward took the ground that we had the right to +detain the British vessel and to search for contraband persons and +dispatches, and moreover that the persons named and their dispatches +were contraband. But he found good reason for surrendering the +Confederate envoys in the fact that Captain Wilkes had neglected +to bring the _Trent_ into a Prize Court and to submit the whole +transaction to Judicial examination. Mr. Seward certainly strained +the argument of Mr. Madison as Secretary of State in 1804 to a most +extraordinary degree when he apparently made it cover the ground +that we would quietly have submitted to British right of search if +the "Floating Judgment-seat" could have been substituted by a +British Prize Court. The seizure of the _Trent_ would not have +been made more acceptable to the English Government by transferring +her to the jurisdiction of an American Prize-Court, unless indeed +that Court should have decided, as it most probably would have +decided, that the seizure was illegal. Measuring the English demand +not by the peremptory words of Lord John Russell but by the kindly +phrase in which Lord Lyons in a personal interview verbally +communicated them, Mr. Seward felt justified in saying that "the +claim of the British Government is not made in a discourteous +manner." Mr. Seward did not know that at the very moment he was +writing these conciliatory words, British troops were on their way +to the Dominion of Canada to menace the United States, and that +British cannon were shotted for our destruction. + +Lord John Russell, however much he might differ from Mr. Seward's +argument, found ample satisfaction to the British Government in +his conclusion. He said in reply: "Her Majesty's Government having +carefully taken into their consideration the liberation of the +prisoners, the delivery of them into your hands, and the explanations +to which I have just referred, have arrived at the conclusion that +they constitute the reparation which Her Majesty and the British +nation had a right to expect." And thus, by the delivery of the +prisoners in the form and at the place least calculated to excite +or wound the susceptibilities of the American people, this dangerous +question was settled. It is only to be regretted that the spirit +and discretion exhibited by the eminent diplomatist who represented +England here with such wisdom and good temper, had not been adopted +at an earlier date and more steadily maintained by the British +Government. It would have prevented much angry controversy, much +bitter feeling; it would have averted events and consequences which +still shadow with distrust a national friendship that ought to be +cordial and constant. + + ENGLAND, FRANCE, PRUSSIA, AND AUSTRIA. + +The painful event impressed upon the Government of the United States +a profound sense of its isolation from the sympathy of Europe. +The principle of maritime law, which was so promptly and rigorously +applied, was one for which the United States had contended in its +weakness against the usages of the world and against the arms of +Great Britain. There was apparent now an eager resolution to +enforce it, when that enforcement was sure to embarrass us and to +provoke a spirit of derisive triumph in our foes. It was clear +that no effort would be spared to restrict our belligerent rights +within the narrowest possible limits. Not content with leaving us +to settle this question with England, France and Prussia and Austria +hastened to inform us in language professedly friendly, that England +would be supported in her demand for reparation, cost what it might +to us in prestige, and in power to deal with the Rebellion at home. +At this time there was but one among the great nations of the world +which adhered to an active and avowed friendship for us. "We desire +above all things the maintenance of the American Union as one +indivisible nation," was the kindly and always to be remembered +greeting that came to us from the Emperor of Russia. + +The profound ability exhibited by Mr. Seward as Secretary of State +has long been acknowledged and emphasized by the admiration and +gratitude of the country. In the _Trent_ affair he acted under a +pressure of circumstances more harassing and perplexing than had +ever tested the skill of American diplomacy. It is with no +disposition to detract from the great service rendered by him that +a dissent is expressed from the ground upon which he placed the +surrender of Mason and Slidell. It is not believed that the doctrine +announced by Mr. Seward can be maintained on sound principles of +International Law, while it is certainly in conflict with the +practice which the United States had sought to establish from the +foundation of the Government. The restoration of the envoys on +any such apparently insufficient basis did not avoid the mortification +of the surrender; it only deprived us of the fuller credit and +advantage which we might have secured from the act. It is to be +regretted that we did not place the restoration of the prisoners +upon franker and truer ground, viz., that their seizure was in +violation of the principles which we had steadily and resolutely +maintained--principles which we would not abandon either for a +temporary advantage or to save the wounding of our National pride. + +The luminous speech of Mr. Sumner, when the papers in the _Trent_ +case were submitted to Congress, stated the ground for which the +United States had always contended with admirable precision. We +could not have refused to surrender Mason and Slidell without +trampling upon our own principles and disregarding the many precedents +we had sought to establish. But it must not be forgotten that the +sword of precedent cut both ways. It was as absolutely against +the peremptory demand of England for the surrender of the prisoners +as it was against the United States for the seizure of them. +Whatever wrong was inflicted on the British Flag by the action of +Captain Wilkes, had been time and again inflicted on the American +flag by officers of the English Navy,--without cause, without +redress, without apology. Hundreds and thousands of American +citizens had in time of peace been taken by British cruisers from +the decks of American vessels and violently impressed into the +naval service of that country. + +Lord Castlereagh practically confessed in Parliament that this +offense against the liberty of American citizens had been repeated +thirty-five hundred times. According to the records of our own +department of State as Mr. Sumner alleges "the quarter-deck of a +British man-of-war had been made a floating judgment-seat six +thousand times and upwards, and each time some citizen or other +person was taken from the protection of our national flag without +any form of trial whatever." So insolent and oppressive had British +aggression become before the war of 1812, that Mr. Jefferson in +his somewhat celebrated letter to Madame de Stael-Holstein of May +24, 1813, said, "No American could safely cross the ocean or venture +to pass by sea from one to another of our own ports. _It is not +long since they impressed at sea two nephews of General Washington +returning from Europe, and put them, as common seamen, under the +ordinary discipline of their ships of war_." + +After the war of 1812 these unendurable insults to our flag were +not repeated by Great Britain, but her Government steadily refused +to make any formal renunciation of her right to repeat them, so +that our immunity from like insults did not rest upon any better +foundation than that which might be dictated by considerations of +interest and prudence on the part of the offending Power. The +wrong which Captain Wilkes committed against the British flag was +surely not so great as if he had seized the persons of British +subjects--subjects, if you please, who were of kindred blood to +one who stands as high in the affection of the British people as +Washington stands in the affection of the American people,--if +indeed there be such a one in English tradition. + +The offense of Captain Wilkes was surely far below that in the +essential quality of outrage. He had not touched the hair of a +British subject's head. He had only removed from the hospitality +and shelter of a British ship four men who were bent on an errand +of destruction to the American Union. His act cannot be justified +by the canons of International Law as our own Government has +interpreted and enforced them. But in view of the past and of the +long series of graver outrages with which Great Britain had so +wantonly insulted the American flag, she might have refrained from +invoking the judgment of the civilized world against us, and +especially might she have refrained from making in the hour of our +sore trial and our deep distress, a demand which no British Minister +would address to this Government in the day of its strength and +its power. + + FRIENDLY POSITION OF THE QUEEN. + +It would be ungracious to withhold an expression of the lasting +appreciation entertained in this country of the course pursued by +Her Majesty, the Queen of England, throughout this most painful +ordeal. She was wiser than her Ministers, and there can be little +doubt but for her considerate interposition, softening the rigor +of the British demand, the two nations would have been forced into +war. On all the subsequent occasions for bitterness towards England, +by reason of the treatment we experienced during the war, there +was an instinctive feeling among Americans that the Queen desired +peace and good will, and did not sympathize with the insidious +efforts at our destruction, which had their origin in her dominions. +It was fortunate that the disposition of the Queen, and not of her +Ministry, was represented in Washington by Lord Lyons. The good +sense and good temper of His Lordship were of inestimable value to +both countries, in making the task of Mr. Seward practicable, +without increasing the resentment of our people. + + +It was well that the Government and people of the United States +were so early taught that their value to the world of foreign +principles, foreign feeling, and foreign interests was only what +they could themselves establish; that in this contest they must +depend upon themselves; and that the dissolution of their National +Unity and the destruction of their free, popular Government from +the lack of courage and wisdom in those whose duty it was to maintain +them, would not be unwelcome to the Principalities and Powers that +"were willing to wound, but yet afraid to strike." This is not +the time to describe the vacillating and hesitating development of +this hostile policy; but as the purpose of the United-States +Government grew more steady, more resolute, and more self-reliant, +a sickening doubt seemed to becloud the ill-concealed hope of our +ruin. It was not long until the brave and deluded rebels of the +South learned that there was no confidence to be placed in the +cruel and selfish calculation which encouraged their desperate +resistance with the show of sympathy, but would not avow an open +support or make a manly sacrifice in their behalf. + +This initial policy of foreign powers had developed its natural +consequences. It not only excited but it warranted in the Southern +Confederacy the hope of early recognition. It seemed impossible +that, with this recognized equality between the belligerents, there +would not occur somewhere just such incidents as the seizure of +the _Trent_ or the capture of the _Florida_ which would render it +very difficult to maintain peaceful relations between foreign Powers +and the United States. The neutrality laws were complicated. Men- +of-war commanded by ambitious, ardent, and patriotic officers would +sometimes in the excitement of honorable feeling, sometimes in +mistaken sense of duty, vindicate their country's flag; while it +was the interest of the officers of the Confederate cruisers, as +bold and ingenious men who ever commanded ship, to create, wherever +they could, difficulties which would embarrass the interests of +neutrals and intensify between the United States and foreign Powers +the growing feeling of distrust. Thus from month to month the +Government of the United States could never feel secure that there +would not arise questions which the indignation of its own people +and the pride and latent hostility of foreign government would +place beyond the power of friendly adjustment. Such questions did +arise with England, France, Brazil, Spain, and even with Mexico, +which the common disinclination to actual war succeeded in postponing +rather than settling. But as the civil war went on, three classes +of questions took continuous and precise shape. Their scope and +result can be fully and fairly considered. These were-- + +1. The building and equipping of Confederate cruisers and their +treatment as legitimate national vessels of war in the home and +colonial ports of foreign powers. + +2. The establishment at such ports as Nassau, in the immediate +vicinity of the blockaded ports of the Southern States, of depots +of supplies, which afforded to the Confederates enormous advantages +in the attempt to break the blockade. + +3. The distinct defiance of the traditional policy of the United +States by the invasion of the neighboring Republic of Mexico for +the avowed purpose of establishing there a foreign and monarchical +dynasty. + + SECRET SERVICE OF THE CONFEDERACY. + +No sooner had Her Brittanic Majesty's proclamation, recognizing +the belligerent rights of the Southern Confederacy, been issued, +than a naval officer of remarkable ability and energy was sent from +Montgomery to Liverpool. In his very interesting history of the +services rendered by him, that officer says: "The chief object of +this narrative is to demonstrate by a plain statement of facts that +the Confederate Government, through their agents, did nothing more +than all other belligerents have heretofore done in time of need; +namely, tried to obtain from every possible source the means +necessary to carry on the war in which they were engaged, and that +in so doing they took particular pains to understand the municipal +law of those countries in which they sought to supply their wants, +and were especially careful to keep with the statutes. . . . + +"The object of the Confederate Government was not merely to build +a single ship, but it was to maintain a permanent representative +of the Navy Department abroad, and to get ships and naval supplies +without hindrance so long as the war lasted. To effect this purpose +it was manifestly necessary to act with prudence and caution and +to do nothing in violation of the municipal law, because a single +conviction would both expose the object and defeat the aim." His +solicitor "therefore drew up a case for counsel's opinion and +submitted it to two eminent barristers, both of whom have since +filled the highest judicial positions. The case was submitted; +was a general and not a specific proposition. It was not intimated +for what purpose and on whose behalf the opinion was asked, and +the reply was therefore wholly without bias, and embraced a full +exposition of the Act in its bearing upon the question of building +and equipping ships in Her Majesty's dominions. + +"The inferences drawn from the investigation of the Act by counsel +were put in the following form by my solicitor:-- + +"'1. It is no offense (under the Act) for British subjects to +equip, etc., a ship at some country _without_ Her Majesty's dominions +though the intent be to cruise against a friendly State. + +"'2. It is no offense for _any_ person (subject or no subject) to +_equip_ a ship _within_ Her Majesty's dominions if it be _not_ done +with the intent to cruise against a friendly State. + +"'3. The mere building of a ship _within_ Her Majesty's dominions +by any person (subject or no subject) is no offense, _whatever may +be the intent of the parties_, because the offense is not in the +_building_, but the _equipping_. + +"'Therefore any ship-builder may build any ship in Her Majesty's +dominions, provided he does not equip her within Her Majesty's +dominions, and he had nothing to do with the acts of the purchasers +done _within_ Her Majesty's dominions without his concurrence, or +without Her Majesty's dominions even with his concurrence.'"-- +[BULLOCK's _Secret Service of the Confederate States_, vol. i, pp. +65-67.] + +It is an amazing courtesy which attributes to the eminent counsel +a complete ignorance of the object and purpose for which their +weighty opinion was sought in the construction of British law. +Such ignorance is feigned and not real, and the pretense of its +existence indicates either on the part of the author or the counsel +a full appreciation of the deadly consequences of that malign +interpretation of England's duty for which two illustrious members +of the English Bar were willing to stand sponsors before the world. +Conceding, as we fairly may concede, that the decision in the case +of the _Alexandra_ is confirmatory of the opinion given by these +leaders of the British bar, the result was simply the establishment +and administration of the Naval Department of the Confederacy in +England. There was its chief, there were its financial agents, +there its workshops. There were its vessels armed and commissioned. +Thence they sailed on their mission of destruction, and thither +they returned to repair their damages, and to renew their supplies. +Under formal contracts with the Confederate Government the colonial +ports of Nassau and the Bermudas were made depots of supplies which +were drawn upon with persistent and successful regularity. The +effects of this thoroughly organized system of so-called neutrality +that supplied ports, ships, arms, and men to a belligerent which +had none, are not matters of conjecture or exaggeration; they have +been proven and recorded. In three years fifteen million dollars' +worth of property was destroyed,--given to the flame or sunk beneath +the waters,--the shipping of the United States was reduced one- +half, and the commercial flag of the Union fluttered with terror +in every wind that blew, form the whale-fisheries of the Arctic to +the Southern Cross. + + MINISTER DAYTON'S INDIGNANT PROTEST. + +With this condition of affairs, permitted and encouraged by England +and France, our distinguished minister at Paris was justified in +saying to the Government of Louis Napoleon on the reception of the +Confederate steamer _Georgia_ at Brest, in language which though +but the bare recital of fact was of itself the keenest reproach to +the French Government:-- + +"The _Georgia_, like the _Florida_, the _Alabama_, and other scourges +of peaceful commerce, was born of that unhappy decree which gave +the rebels who did not own a ship-of-war or command a single port +the right of an ocean belligerent. Thus encouraged by foreign +powers they began to build and fit out in neutral ports a class of +vessels constructed mainly for speed, and whose acknowledged mission +is not to fight, but to rob, to burn, and to fly. Although the +smoke of burning ships has everywhere marked the track of the +_Georgia_ and the _Florida_ upon the ocean, they have never sought +a foe or fired a gun against an armed enemy. To dignify such +vessels with the name of ships-of-war seems to me, with deference, +a misnomer. Whatever flag may fly from their mast-head, or whatever +power may claim to own them, their conduct stamps them as piratical. +If vessels of war even, they would by this conduct have justly +forfeited all courtesies in ports of neutral nations. Manned by +foreign seamen, armed by foreign guns, entering no home port, and +waiting no judicial condemnation of prizes, they have already +devastated and destroyed our commerce to an extent, as compared +with their number, beyond any thing known in the records of +privateering." + +It would seem impossible that such a state of things could be the +result of the impartial administration of an honest neutrality. +It must be attributed to one of two causes;--either the municipal +law of foreign countries was not sufficient to enable the governments +to control the selfishness or the sentiment of their people,--to +which the reply is obvious that the weakness and incompetence of +municipal law cannot diminish or excuse international obligations: +or it must have been due to a misconception of the obligations +which international law imposes. How far there may have been a +motive for this misconception, how far the wish was father to the +thought of such misconstruction, it is perhaps needless now to +inquire. The theory of international law maintained by the foreign +Powers may be fairly stated in two propositions:-- + +1. That foreign Powers had the right, and in due regard to their +own interests were bound, to recognize belligerency as a fact. + +2. That belligerents once recognized, were equals and must be +treated with the same perfect neutrality. + +It is not necessary to deny these propositions, but simply to +ascertain their real meaning. In its primary and simple application, +the law of belligerency referred to two or more belligerents, +equally independent. Its application to the case of insurgents +against an established and recognized government is later, involves +other and in some respects different considerations, and cannot +even now be regarded as settled. To recognize an insurgent as a +belligerent is not to recognize him as fully the equal of the +government from which he secedes. This would be simply to recognize +his independence. The limitation which international law places +upon this recognition is stated in the English phrase, "the right +to recognize belligerency as a fact;"--that is, to recognize the +belligerent to the extent of his war capacity but no farther. The +neutral cannot on this principle recognize in the belligerent the +possession of any power which he does not actually possess, although +in the progress of the contest such power may be developed. + +The Southern Confederacy had an organized government and great +armies. To that extent its power was a fact. But when foreign +governments recognized in the insurgents the rights of ocean +belligerency, they went beyond the fact. They were actually giving +to the Confederacy a character which it did not possess and which +it never acquired. For the Confederacy had not a ship or an open +port. Whenever an insurgent power claims such right, it must be +in condition to assume and discharge the obligation which such +rights impose. When any power, insurgent or recognized, claims +such right,--the right to fly its flag, to deal in hostility with +the commerce of the world, to exercise dangerous privileges which +may affect the interests and complicate the relations of other +nations,--it must give to the world a guaranty that it is both able +and willing to administer the system of maritime law under which +it claims such rights and powers, by submitting its action to the +regular and formal jurisdiction of Prize Courts. Strike the Prize +Court out of modern maritime law and the whole system falls, and +capture on the sea becomes pure barbarism,--distinguished from +piracy only by the astuteness of a legal technicality. The Southern +Confederacy could give no guaranty. Just as it undertook to +naturalize foreign seamen upon the quarter-deck of its roving +cruisers, so it undertook to administer a system of maritime law +which precluded the most solemn and important of its provisions-- +a judicial decision--and converted the humane and legal right of +capture into an absolute and a ruthless decree of destruction. No +neutral has the right to make or accept such an interpolation into +the recognized and essential principles of the law of maritime +warfare. + + ENGLAND'S MALIGNANT NEUTRALITY. + +The application of this so-called neutrality to both the so-called +belligerents was not designed nor was it practicable. In referring +to the obligation of the neutral to furnish no assistance to either +of the belligerents, one of the oldest and most authoritative of +international law writers says: "I do not say to give assistance +equally but to give no assistance, for it would be absurd that a +state should assist at the same time two enemies. And besides it +would be impossible to do it with equality: the same things, the +like number of troops, the like quantity of arms and munitions +furnished under different circumstances are no longer equivalent +succors." Assistance is not a theoretical idea; it is a plain, +practical, unmistakable fact. When the United States had, at vast +cost and by incredible effort, shut the Southern Confederacy from +the sea and blockaded its ports against the entry of supplies, when +that government had no resources within its territory by which it +could put a ship upon the ocean, or break the blockade from within, +then it was that England allowed Confederate officers to camp upon +her soil, organize her labor, employ her machinery, use her ports, +occupy her colonial stations, almost within sight of the blockaded +coast, and to do this continuously, systematically, defiantly. + +By these acts the British government gave the most valuable assistance +to the South and actually engaged in defeating the military operations +of the United States. There was no equivalent assistance which +Great Britain could or did render to the United States. They might +have rendered other assistance, but none which would compensate +for this. Let it be supposed for one moment that Mexico had +practiced, on the other side of the Rio Grande, the same sort of +neutrality,--that she had lined the bank of the river with depots +of military supplies; that she had allowed officers of the Confederate +army to establish themselves and organize a complete system for +the receipt of cotton and the delivery of merchandise on her +territory; that her people had served as factors, intermediaries, +and carriers,--would any reasonable interpretation of international +law consider such conduct to be impartial neutrality? But illustration +does not strengthen the argument. The naked statement of England's +position is its worst condemnation. Her course, while ingeniously +avoiding public responsibility, gave unceasing help to the Confederacy +--as effective as if the intention had been proclaimed. The whole +procedure was in disregard of international obligation and was the +outgrowth of what M. Prevost-Paradol aptly charaterized as a +"malignant neutrality." + +It cannot be said in reply that the Governments of England and +France were unable to restrain this demonstration of the sympathy, +this exercise of the commercial enterprise of their people. For +the time came when they did restrain it. As soon as it became +evident that the Confederacy was growing weaker, that with all its +marvelous display of courage and endurance it could not prevent +the final success of the Union, there was no longer difficulty in +arresting the building of the iron-clads on the Mersey; then the +watchfulness of home and colonial authorities was quickened; then +supplies were meted out scantily; then the dangers of a great slave +empire began to impress Ministerial consciences, and the same Powers +prepared to greet the triumph of the Union with well-feigned +satisfaction. But even if this change had not occurred the condition +of repressed hostility could not have lasted. It was war in disguise +--not declared, only because the United-States Government could +not afford to multiply its enemies, and England felt that there +was still uncertainty enough in the result to caution her against +assuming so great a risk. But the tension of the relation was +aptly described by Mr. Seward in July, 1863, when he said,-- + +"If the law of Great Britain must be left without amendment and be +construed by the government in conformity with the rulings of the +chief Baron of the Exchequer [the _Alexandra_ case] then there will +be left for the United States no alternative but to protect themselves +and their commerce against armed cruisers proceeding from British +ports as against the naval forces of a public enemy. . . . British +ports, domestic as well as colonial, are now open under certain +restrictions to the visits of piratical vessels, and not only +furnish them coals, provisions, and repairs, but even receive their +prisoners when the enemies of the United States come in to obtain +such relief from voyages in which they have either burned ships +they have captured, or have even manned and armed them as pirates +and sent them abroad as auxiliaries in the work of destruction. +Can it be an occasion for either surprise or complaint that if this +condition of things is to remain and receive the deliberate sanction +of the British Government, the navy of the United States will +receive instructions to pursue these enemies into the ports which +thus in violation of the law of nations and the obligations of +neutrality become harbors for the pirates? The President very +distinctly perceives the risks and hazards which a naval conflict +thus maintained will bring to the commerce and even to the peace +of the two countries. But he is obliged to consider that in the +case supposed, the destruction of our commerce will probably amount +to a naval war, waged by a portion at least of the British nation +against the government and people of the United States--a war +tolerated although not declared or avowed by the British Government. +If through the necessary employment of all our means of national +defense such a partial war shall become a general one between the +two nations, the President thinks that the responsibility for that +painful result will not fall upon the United States." + + + ENGLAND'S MALIGNANT NEUTRALITY. + +The truth is that the so-called neutral policy of foreign Powers +was the vicious application of obsolete analogies to the conditions +of modern life. Because of the doctrine of belligerent recognition +had in its origin referred to nations of well established, independent +existence, the doctrine was now pushed forward to the extent of +giving ocean belligerency to an insurgent which had in reality no +maritime power whatever. It was an old and recognized principle +that the commercial relations of the neutral should not be interfered +with unless they worked positive injury to the belligerent. The +new application made the interests of neutral commerce the supreme +factor in determining how far belligerent rights should be respected. +The ship-building and carrying-trade of England were to be maintained +and encouraged at any cost to the belligerent. Under the old law, +a belligerent had the right to purchase a ship and a cargo, or a +neutral might run a blockade, taking all the risk of capture. By +the new construction, power was to be given to a belligerent to +transfer the entire administration of its naval service to foreign +soil, and to create and equip a navy which issued from foreign +waters, ready not for a dangerous journey to their own ports of +delivery, but for the immediate demonstration of hostile purpose. +No such absurd system can be found in the principles or precedents +of international law; no such system would be permitted by the +great powers of Europe if to-morrow they should engage in war. + +The principle of this policy was essentially mercenary. It professed +no moral sense. It might be perfectly indifferent to the high or +the low issues which the contest between the belligerents involved; +it was deaf to any thing which might be urged by justice of humanity +or friendship; it was the cynical recognition of the truth of the +old proverb that "It is an ill wind which blows good to no one." +It was the same principle upon which England declares with audacious +selfishness that she cannot sacrifice that portion of her Indian +revenue which comes from the opium trade or the capital which is +invested in its growth and manufacture, and that China must therefore +take the poison which diseases and degrades her population. But +selfish as is this market-policy, it is a policy of circumstance. +It may be resisted with success or it may be abandoned because it +cannot succeed. It creates bitterness; it leads to war; it may in +its selfishness cause the destruction of a nation, but it does not +necessarily imply a desire for that destruction. But there was in +the foreign policy of Europe towards the United States during the +civil war the manifestation of a spirit more intense in its hostility, +more dangerous in its consequences. It was the spirit of enmity +to the Union itself, and the emphatic demonstration of this feeling +was the invasion of Mexico for the purpose of converting the republic +by force into an empire. Louis Napoleon's enterprise was distinctly +based on the utter destruction of the American Union. + +The Declaration of Independence by the British Colonies in America +was something more than the creation of a new sovereignty. It was +the foundation of a new system both of internal government and +foreign relation, a system not entirely isolated from the affairs +of the Old World but independent of the dynastic complications and +the territorial interests which controlled the political conflicts +of Europe. At first, with its material resources undeveloped, its +territorial extension limited and surrounded by the colonies of +the great Powers, this principle although maintained as a conviction, +could not manifest itself in action. But it showed itself in that +abstinence from entangling alliances which would avoid the dangers +of even a too friendly connection. In time our territory expanded. +The colonies of foreign nations following our example became +independent republics whose people had the same aspirations, whose +governments were framed upon the same basis of popular right. The +rapidity of communication, supplied by the railroad and the telegraph, +facilitated and concentrated this political cohesion, and there +had been formed from the borders of Canada to the Straits of Magellan +a complete system of republics (to which Brazil can scarcely be +considered an exception) professing the same political creed, having +great commercial interests in common, and which with the extinction +of some few jealousies, were justified in the anticipation of a +prosperous and peaceful future. There was not an interest or an +ambition of a single one of these republics which threatened an +interest or an ambition of a single European power. + + THE REPUBLICS OF AMERICA. + +It needs no argument to show that the central element of the +stability of this system of American republics was the strength of +the Federal Union, its growth into a harmonious nationality, and +its ability to prevent anywhere on the two continents the armed +intervention of foreign Powers for the purpose of political +domination. This strength was known and this resolution publicly +declared, and it is safe to affirm that before 1861 or after 1865 +not one nor all of the European Powers would have willingly challenged +this policy. But the moment the strength of the Union seemed +weakened, the moment that the leading Republic of this system found +itself hampered and embarrassed by internal dissensions, all Europe +--that Europe which upon the threatening of a Belgian fortress, or +the invasion of a Swiss canton, or the loss of the key to a church +in Jerusalem, would have written protocols, summoned conferences, +and mustered armies--quietly acquiesced in as wanton, wicked, and +foolish an aggression as ever Imperial folly devised. The same +monarch who appealed with confidence to Heaven when he declared +war to prevent a Hohenzollern from ascending the throne of Spain, +appealed to the same Heaven with equal confidence and equal success +when he declared war to force a Hapsburg upon the throne of Mexico. + +The success of the establishment of a Foreign Empire in Mexico +would have been fatal to all that the United States cherished, to +all that it hoped peacefully to achieve. The scheme of invasion +rested on the assumption of the dissolution of the Union and its +division into two hostile governments; but aside from that possibility, +it threatened the United States upon the most vital questions. It +was at war with all our institutions and our habits of political +life, for it would have introduced into a great country on this +continent, capable of unlimited development, that curious and +mischievous form of government, that perplexing mixture of absolutism +and democracy,--imperial power supported by universal suffrage,-- +which seems certain to produce aggression abroad and corruption at +home, and which must have injuriously influenced the political +growth of the Spanish-American Republics. Firmly seated in Mexico, +it would have spread through Central America to the Isthmus, +controlling all canal communications between the two oceans which +were the boundaries of the Union, while its growth upon the Pacific +Coast would have been in direct rivalry with the natural and +increasing power of the United States. Commanding the Gulf of +Mexico it would have controlled the whole commerce of the West- +Indian islands and radically changed their future. Bound by dynastic +connection, checked and directed by European influence, it could +not have developed a national policy in harmony with neighboring +States, but its existence and its necessary efforts at expansion +would have made it not only a constant menace to American Republics +but a source of endless war and confusion between the great Powers +of the world. The policy signally failed. But surely European +statesmen, without miraculous foresight, might have anticipated +that its success would have been more dangerous than its defeat, +and that the conservative strength of the Union might be even to +them an influence of good and not of evil. + + FORMER VIEWS OF LORD PALMERSTON. + +In 1859 Lord Palmerston wrote to Lord John Russell: "It is plain +that France aims through Spain at getting fortified points on each +side of the Gut of Gibraltar which in the event of war between +Spain and France on the one hand and England on the other would by +a cross fire render that strait very difficult and dangerous to +pass and thus virtually shut us out of the Mediterranean. . . . +The French Minister of War or of marine said the other day that +Algeria never would be safe till France possessed a port on the +Atlantic coast of Africa. Against whom would such a port make +Algeria safe? Evidently only against England, and how could such +a port help France against England? Only by tending to shut us +out of the Mediterranean." Later in the same year writing to the +same colleague, he says, "Till lately I had strong confidence in +the fair intentions of Napoleon towards England, but of late I have +begun to feel great distrust and to suspect that his formerly +declared intention of avenging Waterloo has only lain dormant and +has not died away. He seems to have thought that he ought to lay +his foundation by beating with our aid or with our concurrence or +our neutrality, first Russia, then Austria, and by dealing with +them generously to make them his friends in any subsequent quarrel +with us. . . . Next he has been assiduously laboring to increase +his naval means, evidently for offensive as well as for defensive +purposes, and latterly great pains have been taken to raise throughout +France and especially among the army and navy, hatred of England +and a disparaging feeling of our military and naval means." + +Is it not strange that, even with such apprehensions, the destruction +of the Union was so welcome in England that it blinded the eyes of +her statesmen and her people? They should surely have seen that +the establishment of a Latin empire under the protection of France, +in the heart of the Spanish-American Republics, would open a field +far more dangerous to British interests than a combination for a +French port in Africa, and that in pursuing his policy the wily +Emperor was providing a throne for an Austrian archduke as a +compensation for the loss of Lombardy. There was a time when Lord +Palmerston himself held broader and juster views of what ought to +be the relations between England and the United States. In 1848 +he suggested to Lord John Russell a policy which looked to a complete +unification of the interests of the two countries: "If as I hope," +said His Lordship, "we shall succeed in altering our Navigation +Laws, and if as a consequence Great Britain and the United States +shall place their commercial marines upon a footing of mutual +equality with the exception of the coasting-trade and some other +special matters, might not such an arrangement afford us a good +opportunity for endeavoring to carry in some degree into execution +the wish which Mr. Fox entertained in 1783, when he wished to +substitute close alliance in the place of sovereignty and dependence +as the connecting link between the United States and Great Britain? +A treaty for mutual defense would no longer be applicable to the +condition of the two countries as independent Powers, but might +they not with mutual advantage conclude a treaty containing something +like the following conditions:-- + +"1. That in all cases of difference which may hereafter unfortunately +arise between the contracting parties, they will in the first place +have recourse to the mediation of some friendly Power, and that +hostilities shall not begin between them until every endeavor to +settle their difference by such means shall have proved fruitless. + +"2. That if either of the two should at any time be at war with +any other Power, no subject or citizen of the other contracting +party shall be allowed to take out letters of marque from such +Power under pain of being treated and dealt with as a pirate. + +"3. That in such case of war between either of the two parties +and a third Power, no subject or citizen of the other contracting +party shall be allowed to enter into the service naval or military +of such third Power. + +"4. That in such case of war as aforesaid, neither of the contracting +parties shall afford assistance to the enemies of the other by sea +or by land, unless war should break out between the two contracting +parties themselves after the failure of all endeavors to settle +their differences in the manner specified in Article 1." + +At the time Lord Palmerston expressed these opinions, we had just +closed the Mexican war, with vast acquisition of territory and with +a display of military power on distant fields of conquest which +surprised European statesmen. Our maritime interests were almost +equal to those of the United Kingdom, our prosperity was great, +the prestige of the Nation was growing. In the thirteen intervening +years between that date and the outbreak of the Southern Rebellion +we had grown enormously in wealth, our Pacific possessions had +shown an extraordinary production of precious metals, our population +had increased more than ten millions. If an alliance with the +United States was desirable for England in 1848, it was far more +desirable in 1861, and Lord Palmerston being Prime Minister in the +latter year, his power to propose and promote it was far greater. +Is there any reason that will satisfactorily account for His +Lordship's abandonment of this ideal relation of friendship between +the two countries except that he saw a speedier way of adding to +the power of England by conniving at the destruction of the Union? +His change from the policy which he painted in 1848 to that which +he acted in 1861 cannot be satisfactorily explained upon any other +hypothesis than that he could not resist the temptation to cripple +and humiliate the Great Republic. + + + FIXED POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES. + +This brief history of the spirit rather than the events which +characterized the foreign relations of the United States during +the civil war, has been undertaken with no desire to revive the +feelings of burning indignation which they provoked, or to prolong +the discussion of the angry questions to which they gave rise. +The relations of nations are not and should not be governed by +sentiment. The interest and ambition of states, like those of men, +will disturb the moral sense and incline to one side or the other +the strict balance of impartial justice. New days bring new issues +and old passions are unsafe counselors. Twenty years have gone +by. England has paid the cost of her mistakes. The Republic of +Mexico has seen the fame and the fortunes of the Emperors who sought +her conquest sink suddenly--as into the pits which they themselves +had digged for their victims--and the Republic of the United States +has come out of her long and bitter struggle, so strong that never +again will she afford the temptation or the opportunity for unfriendly +governments to strike at her National life. Let the past be the +past, but let it be the past with all the instruction and the +warning of its experience. + +The future safety of these continents rests upon the strength and +the maintenance of the Union, for had dissolution been possible, +events have shown with what small regard the interests or the honor +of either of the belligerents would have been treated. It has been +taught to the smaller republics that if this strength be shattered +they will be the spoil of foreign arms and the dependent provinces +again of foreign monarchs. When this contest was over, the day of +immaturity had passed and the United States stood before the world +a great and permanent Power. That Power can afford to bury all +resentments. Tranquil at home, developing its inexhaustible +resources with a rapidity and success unknown in history, bound in +sincere friendship, and beyond the possibility of a hostile rivalry, +with the other republics of the continents, standing midway between +Asia and Europe, a Power on the Pacific as well as on the Atlantic, +with no temptation to intermeddle in the questions which disturb +the Old World, the Republic of the United States desires to live +in amicable relation with all peoples, demanding only the abstinence +of foreign intervention in the development of that policy which +her political creed, her territorial extent, and the close and +cordial neighborhood of kindred governments have made the essential +rule of her National life. + +[NOTE.--In the foregoing chapter the term "piratical" is used +without qualification in referring to the Southern cruisers, because +it is the word used in the quotations made. It undoubtedly +represented the feeling of the country at that time, but in an +impartial discussion of the events of the war the word cannot be +used with propriety. Our own Courts have found themselves unable +to sustain such a conclusion. Looking to the future it is better +to rest our objections to the mode of maritime warfare adopted by +the Confederacy upon a sound and enduring principle; viz., that +the recognition of ocean belligerency, when the belligerent cannot +give to his lawful exercise of maritime warfare the guaranty of a +prize jurisdiction, is a violation of any just or reasonable system +of international law. The Confederacy had the plea of necessity +for its course, but the jurisdiction of England for aiding and +abetting the practice has not yet been presented.] + +[NOTE.--Her Britannic Majesty's principal ministers of State in +1861-2,--at the time of the correspondence touching the _Trent_ +affair, referred to in the preceding chapter,--were as follows:-- + + _Premier_--Lord Palmerston. + _Lord High Chancellor_--Lord Westbury. + _Lord President of the Council_--Earl Granville. + _Lord Privy Seal_--The Duke of Argyll. + _Secretary for Foreign Affairs_--Lord John Russell. + _Secretary for the Colonies_--The Duke of Newcastle. + _Secretary for the Home Department_--Sir George Gray. + _Secretary of State for War_--Sir G. C. Lewis. + _Secretary of State for India_--Sir Charles Wood. + _Chancellor of the Exchequer_--Rt. Honorable W. E. Gladstone. + _Secretary for Ireland_--Rt. Honorable Edward Cardwell. + _Postmaster-General_--Lord Stanley of Alderney. + _President Board of Trade_--Rt. Honorable Charles Pelham Villiers. + +The same Ministry, with unimportant changes, continued in power +throughout the whole period of the Rebellion in the United States.] + + +ADDENDUM. + +The Tenth chapter of this volume having been given to the press in +advance of formal publication, many inquiries have been received +in regard to the text of Judge Black's opinion of November 20, +1860, referred to on pp. 231, 232. The opinion was submitted to +the President by Judge Black as Attorney-General. So much of the +opinion as includes the points which are specially controverted +and criticized is here given--about one-half of the entire document. +It is as follows:-- + +. . . "I come now to the point in your letter which is probably of +the greatest practical importance. By the Act of 1807 you may +employ such parts of the land and naval forces as you may judge +necessary for the purpose of causing the laws to be duly executed, +in all cases where it is lawful to use the militia for the same +purpose. By the Act of 1795 the militia may be called forth +'whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the +execution thereof obstructed, in any State by combinations too +powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of Judicial +proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshals.' This imposes +upon the President the sole responsibility of deciding whether the +exigency has arisen which requires the use of military force, and +in proportion to the magnitude of that responsibility will be the +care not to overstep the limits of his legal and just authority. + +"The laws referred to in the Act of 1795 are manifestly those which +are administered by the judges, and executed by the ministerial +officers of the courts for the punishment of crime against the +United States, for the protection of rights claimed under the +Federal Constitution and laws, and for the enforcement of such +obligations as come within the cognizance of the Federal Judiciary. +To compel obedience to these laws, the courts have authority to +punish all who obstruct their regular administration, and the +marshals and their deputies have the same powers as sheriffs and +their deputies in the several States in executing the laws of the +States. These are the ordinary means provided for the execution +of the laws; and the whole spirit of our system is opposed to the +employment of any other, except in cases of extreme necessity +arising out of great and unusual combinations against them. Their +agency must continue to be used until their incapacity to cope with +the power opposed to them shall be plainly demonstrated. It is +only upon clear evidence to that effect that a military force can +be called into the field. Even then its operations must be purely +defensive. It can suppress only such combinations as are found +directly opposing the laws and obstructing the execution thereof. +It can do no more than what might and ought to be done by a civil +posse, if a civil posse could be raised large enough to meet the +same opposition. On such occasions, especially, the military power +must be kept in strict subordination to the civil authority, since +it is only in aid of the latter that the former can act at all. + +"But what if the feeling in any State against the United States +should become so universal that the Federal officers themselves +(including judges, district attorneys, and marshals) would be +reached by the same influences, and resign their places? Of course, +the first step would be to appoint others in their stead, if others +could be got to serve. But in such an event, it is more than +probable that great difficulty would be found in filling the offices. +We can easily conceive how it might become altogether impossible. +We are therefore obliged to consider what can be done in case we +have no courts to issue judicial process, and no ministerial officers +to execute it. In that event troops would certainly be out of +place, and their use wholly illegal. If they are sent to aid the +courts and marshals, there must be courts and marshals to be aided. +Without the exercise of those functions which belong exclusively to +the civil service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no +matter what may be the physical strength which the Government has +at its command. Under such circumstances, to send a military force +into any State, with orders to act against the people, would be +simply making war upon them. + +"The existing laws put and keep the Federal Government strictly on +the defensive. You can use force only to repel an assault on the +public property and aid the Courts in the performance of their +duty. If the means given you to collect the revenue and execute +the other laws be insufficient for that purpose, Congress may extend +and make them more effectual to those ends. + +"If one of the States should declare her independence, your action +cannot depend upon the righteousness of the cause upon which such +declaration is based. Whether the retirement of the State from +the Union be the exercise of a right reserved in the Constitution, +or a revolutionary movement, it is certain that you have not in +either case the authority to recognize her independence or to +absolve her from her Federal obligations. Congress, or the other +States in Convention assembled, must take such measures as may be +necessary and proper. In such an event, I see no course for you +but to go straight onward in the path you have hitherto trodden-- +that is, execute the laws to the extent of the defensive means +placed in your hands, and act generally upon the assumption that +the present constitutional relations between the States and the +Federal Government continue to exist, until a new code of things +shall be established either by law or force. + +"Whether Congress has the constitutional right to make war against +one or more States, and require the Executive of the Federal +Government to carry it on by means of force to be drawn from the +other States, is a question for Congress itself to consider. It +must be admitted that no such power is expressly given; nor are +there any words in the Constitution which imply it. Among the +powers enumerated in Article 1, Section 8, is that 'to declare war, +grant letters of marque and reprisal, and to make rules concerning +captures on land and water.' This certainly means nothing more +than the power to commence and carry on hostilities against the +foreign enemies of the nation. Another clause in the same section +gives Congress the power 'to provide for calling forth the militia,' +and to use them within the limits of the State. But this power is +so restricted by the words which immediately follow that it can be +exercised only for one of the following purposes: 1. To execute +the laws of the Union; that is, to aid the Federal officers in the +performance of their regular duties. 2. To suppress insurrection +against the State; but this is confined by Article 4, Section 4, to +cases in which the State herself shall apply for assistance against +her own people. 3. To repel the invasion of a State by enemies +who come from abroad to assail her in her own territory. All these +provisions are made to protect the States, not to authorize an +attack by one part of the country upon another; to preserve the +peace, and not to plunge them into civil war. Our forefathers do +not seem to have thought that war was calculated 'to form a more +perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, +provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and +secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.' +There was undoubtedly a strong and universal conviction among the +men who framed and ratified the Constitution, that military force +would not only be useless, but pernicious, as a means of holding +the States together. + +"If it be true that war cannot be declared, nor a system of general +hostilities carried on by the Central Government against a State, +then it seems to follow that an attempt to do so would be _ipso +facto_ an expulsion of such State from the Union. Being treated +as an alien and an enemy, she would be compelled to act accordingly. +And if Congress shall break up the present Union by unconstitutionally +putting strife and enmity and armed hostility between different +sections of the country, instead of the domestic tranquility which +the Constitution was meant to insure, will not all the States be +absolved from their Federal obligations? Is any portion of the +people bound to contribute their money or their blood to carry on +a contest like that? + +"The right of the General Government to preserve itself in its +whole constitutional vigor by repelling a direct and positive +aggression upon its property or its officers cannot be denied. +But this is a totally different thing from an offensive war to +punish the people for the political misdeeds of their State +Government, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of +the United States is supreme. The States are colleagues of one +another, and if some of them shall conquer the rest, and hold them +as subjugated provinces, it would totally destroy the whole theory +upon which they are now connected. + +"If this view of the subject be correct, as I think it is, then +the Union must utterly perish at the moment when Congress shall +arm one part of the people against another for any purpose beyond +that of merely protecting the General Government in the exercise +of its proper constitutional functions. + +"I am, very respectfully, yours, etc., + +"J. S. BLACK." + + +ERRATUM. + +In Chapter VIII., there is some inaccuracy in regard to the number +of killed in the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry. According to +the official report of Colonel Robert E. Lee, U.S.A., who commanded +the military force that relieved Harper's Ferry, the insurgents +numbered in all nineteen men,--fourteen white, five colored. Of +the white men, ten were killed; two, John Brown and Aaron C. Stevens, +were badly wounded; Edwin Coppee, unhurt, was taken prisoner; John +E. Cooke escaped. Of the colored men, two were killed, two taken +prisoner, one unaccounted for. + + +THE APPENDICES. + +The progress of the country, referred to so frequently in the text, +is strikingly illustrated and verified by the facts contained in the +several appendices which follow. + +The appendices include a variety of subjects, and they have all +been selected with the view of showing the progress and development +of the Nation in the different fields of enterprise and human labor. + +The tabular statements as to the population and wealth of the +country will be found especially accurate and valuable. The +statistics relating to Education and the Public Schools, to +Agriculture, to Railways, to Immigration, to the Army, to Shipping, +to the Coal and Iron Product, to National and State Banks, to the +Circulation of Paper Money, to the price of Gold, and to the Public +Debt, will be found full of interest. + +Thanks are due and are cordially given to Mr. Joseph Nimmo, Jr., +Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, and Mr. Charles W. Seaton, +Superintendent of the Census, for valuable aid rendered in the +preparation of the appendices. + +For courtesies constantly extended, and for most intelligent and +discriminating aid of various kinds, the sincerest acknowledgments +are made to Mr. Ainsworth R. Spofford, the accomplished Librarian +of Congress. + + +APPENDIX A. +POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES AT EACH CENSUS, FROM 1790 TO 1880 INCLUSIVE. +[From the Reports of the Superintendents of the Census.] + +STATES AND STATES AND +TERRITORIES. 1880. 1870. 1860. 1850. 1840. 1830. 1820. 1810. 1800. 1790. TERRITORIES. + +Alabama . . . . . . 1,262,505 996,992 964,201 771,623 590,756 309,527 127,901 . . . . . . . . . . Alabama. +Arkansas . . . . . . 802,525 484,471 435,450 209,897 97,574 30,388 { *18} . . . . . . . . . . Arkansas. + { 14,255} +California . . . . . 864,694 560,247 379,994 92,597 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . California. +Colorado . . . . . . 194,327 39,864 34,277 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colorado. +Connecticut . . . . 622,700 537,454 460,147 370,792 309,978 297,675 { *100} 261,942 251,002 237,946 . Connecticut. + { 275,148} +Delaware . . . . . . 146,608 125,015 112,216 91,532 78,085 76,748 72,749 72,674 64,273 59,006 . Delaware. +Florida . . . . . . 269,493 187,748 140,424 87,445 54,477 34,730 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Florida. +Georgia . . . . . . 1,542,180 1,184,109 1,057,286 906,185 691,392 516,823 340,985 252,433 162,686 82,548 . Georgia. +Illinois . . . . . . 3,077,871 2,539,891 1,711,951 851,470 476,183 157,445 55,162 12,282 . . . . . . . Illinois. +Indiana . . . . . . 1,978,301 1,680,637 1,350,428 988,416 685,866 343,031 147,178 24,520 5,641 . . . . Indiana. +Iowa . . . . . . . . 1,624,615 1,194,020 674,913 192,214 43,112 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Iowa. +Kansas . . . . . . . 996,096 364,399 107,206 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kansas. +Kentucky . . . . . . 1,648,690 1,321,011 1,155,684 982,405 779,828 687,917 { *182} 406,511 220.955 73,677 . Kentucky. + { 564,135} +Louisiana . . . . . 939,946 726,915 708,002 517,762 352,411 215,739 { *484} 76,556 . . . . . . . Louisiana. + { 152,923} +Maine . . . . . . . 648,936 626,915 628,279 583,169 501,793 399,455 { *66} 228,705 151,719 96,540 . Maine. + { 298,269} +Maryland . . . . . . 934,943 780.894 687,049 583,034 470,019 447,040 407,350 380,546 341,548 319,728 . Maryland. +Massachusetts . . . 1,783,085 1,457,351 1,231,066 994,514 737,699 610,408 { *128} 472,040 422,845 378,787 . Massachusetts. + { 523,159} +Michigan . . . . . . 1,636,937 1,184,059 749,113 397,654 212,267 31,639 { *131} 4,762 . . . . . . . Michigan. + { 8,765} +Minnesota . . . . . 780,773 439,706 172,023 6,077 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Minnesota. +Mississippi . . . . 1,131,597 827,922 791,305 606,526 375,651 136,621 75,448 40,352 8,850 . . . . Mississippi. +Missouri . . . . . . 2,168,380 1,721,295 1,182,012 682,044 383,702 140,455 { *29} 20,845 . . . . . . . Missouri. + { 66,557} +Nebraska . . . . . . 452,402 122,993 28,841 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nebraska. +Nevada . . . . . . . 62,266 42,491 6,857 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nevada. +New Hampshire . . . 346,991 318,300 326,073 317,976 284,574 269,328 { *139} 214,460 183,858 141,885 . New Hampshire. + { 244,022} +New Jersey . . . . . 1,131,116 906,096 672,035 489,555 373,306 320,823 { *149} 245,562 211,149 184,139 . New Jersey. + { 277,426} +New York . . . . . . 5,082,871 4,382,759 3,880,735 3,097,394 2,428,921 1,918,008 { *701} 949,059 589,051 340,120 . New York. + {1,372,111} +North Carolina . . . 1,399,750 1,071,361 922,622 869,039 753,419 737,987 638,829 555,500 478,103 393,751 . North Carolina. +Ohio . . . . . . . . 3,198,062 2,665,260 2,339,511 1,980,329 1,519,467 937,903 { *139} 230,760 45,365 . . . . Ohio. + { 581,295} +Oregon . . . . . . . 174,768 90,923 52,465 13,294 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oregon. +Pennsylvania . . . . 4,282,891 3,521,951 2,906,215 2,311,786 1,724,033 1,348,233 { *1,951} 810,001 602,365 434,373 . Pennsylvania. + {1,047,507} +Rhode Island . . . . 276,531 217,353 174,620 147,545 108,830 97,129 { *44} 76,931 69,122 68,825 . Rhode Island. + { 83,105} +South Carolina . . . 995,577 705,606 703,708 688,507 594,398 581,185 502,741 415,115 345,591 249,073 . South Carolina. +Tennessee . . . . . 1,542,359 1,258,520 1,109,801 1,002,717 829,210 681,904 { *52} 261,727 105,602 35,691 . Tennessee. + { 422,771} +Texas . . . . . . . 1,591,749 818,579 604,215 212,592 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Texas. +Vermont . . . . . . 332,286 330,551 315,098 314,120 291,948 280,652 { *15} 217,895 154,465 85,425 . Vermont. + { 235,966} +Virginia . . . . . . 1,512,565 1,225,163 1,956,318 1,421,661 1,239,797 1,211,405 { *250} 974,600 880,200 747,610 . Virginia. + {1,065,116} +West Virginia . . . 618,457 442,014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . West Virginia. +Wisconsin . . . . . 1,315,497 1,054,670 755,881 305,391 30,945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wisconsin. + + Total, States . . 49,371,340 38,115,641 31,183,744 23,067,262 17,019,641 12,820,868 { *4,631} 7,215,858 5,294,390 . . . . . Total, States. + {9,600,783} + +Arizona . . . . . . 40,440 9,658 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arizona. +Dakota . . . . . . . 135,177 14,181 4,837 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dakota. +District of Columbia 117,624 131,700 75,080 51,687 43,712 39,834 33,039 24,023 14,003 . . . . District of Columbia. +Idaho . . . . . . . 32,610 14,999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Idaho. +Montana . . . . . . 39,159 20,595 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Montana. +New Mexico . . . . . 119,565 91,874 93,516 61,547 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New Mexico. +Utah . . . . . . . . 143,963 86,786 40,273 11,380 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Utah. +Washington . . . . . 75,116 23,955 11,594 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Washington. +Wyoming . . . . . . 20,789 9,118 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wyoming. + + Total, Territories 784,443 443,730 259,577 124,614 43,712 39,834 33,039 24,023 14,093 . . . . . Total, Territories. + +On the public ships . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,100 5,318 . . . . . . . . . . . . . On the public ships. +In U. S. Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *4,631 . . . . . . . . . . In U. S. Service. + + Total, U. S. . . . 50,155,783 38,558,371 31,443,321 23,191,876 17,069,453 12,866,020 9,633,832 7,239,881 5,308,483 3,929,214 . . Total, U. S. + +* All other persons, except Indians, not taxed. + + +APPENDIX B. + +APPORTIONMENT AMONG THE STATES OF REPRESENTATIVES +IN CONGRESS AFTER EACH CENSUS. + + Admitted By Cons- By 1st By 2nd By 3d By 4th By 5th By 6th By 7th By 8th By 9th By 10th +STATES. to the titution, Census, Census Census, Census, Census, Census, Census, Census, Census, Census, + Union. 1789. 1790. 1800. 1810. 1820. 1830. 1840. 1850. 1860. 1870. 1880. +RATIO OF REPRESENTATION . . . . 30,000. 33,000. 33,000. 35,000. 40,000. 47,700. 70,680. 93,423. 127,381. 131,425. 154,325. + +Alabama . . . . . . . . 1819 . . . . . . . . 3 5 7 7 6 8 8 +Arkansas . . . . . . . . 1836 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 3 4 5 +California . . . . . . . 1850 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3 4 6 +Colorado . . . . . . . . 1876 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 +Connecticut . . . . . . . ---- 5 7 7 7 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 +Delaware . . . . . . . . ---- 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 +Florida . . . . . . . . 1845 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 2 2 +Georgia . . . . . . . . ---- 3 2 4 6 7 9 8 8 7 9 10 +Illinois . . . . . . . . 1818 . . . . . . . . 1 3 7 9 14 19 20 +Indiana . . . . . . . . 1816 . . . . . . . . 3 7 10 11 11 13 13 +Iowa . . . . . . . . . . 1846 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6 9 11 +Kansas . . . . . . . . . 1861 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 7 +Kentucky . . . . . . . . 1792 . . 2 6 10 12 13 10 10 9 10 11 +Louisiana . . . . . . . 1812 . . . . . . . . 3 3 4 4 5 6 6 +Maine . . . . . . . . . 1820 . . . . . . . . 7 8 7 6 5 5 4 +Maryland . . . . . . . . ---- 6 8 9 9 9 8 6 6 5 6 6 +Massachusetts . . . . . . ---- 8 14 17 20 13 12 10 11 10 11 12 +Michigan . . . . . . . . 1837 . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 6 9 11 +Minnesota . . . . . . . . 1858 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 3 5 +Mississippi . . . . . . . 1817 . . . . . . . . 1 2 4 5 5 6 7 +Missouri . . . . . . . . 1821 . . . . . . . . 1 2 5 7 9 13 14 +Nebraska . . . . . . . . 1867 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 3 +Nevada . . . . . . . . . 1864 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 1 +New Hampshire . . . . . . ---- 3 4 5 6 6 5 4 3 3 3 2 +New Jersey . . . . . . . ---- 4 5 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 7 7 +New York . . . . . . . . ---- 6 10 17 27 34 40 34 33 31 33 34 +North Carolina . . . . . ---- 5 10 12 13 13 13 9 8 7 8 9 +Ohio . . . . . . . . . . 1802 . . . . . . 6 14 19 21 21 19 20 21 +Oregon . . . . . . . . . 1859 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 1 1 +Pennsylvania . . . . . . ---- 8 13 18 23 26 28 24 25 24 27 28 +Rhode Island . . . . . . ---- 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 +South Carolina . . . . . ---- 5 6 8 9 9 9 7 6 4 5 7 +Tennessee . . . . . . . 1796 . . . . 3 6 9 13 11 10 8 10 10 +Texas . . . . . . . . . 1845 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4 6 11 +Vermont . . . . . . . . 1791 . . 2 4 6 5 5 4 3 3 3 2 +Virgina . . . . . . . . ---- 10 19 23 23 22 21 15 13 11 9 10 +West Virginia . . . . . 1863 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 +Wisconsin . . . . . . . 1848 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 8 8 9 + + 65 105 141 181 213 240 223 237 293 293 325 + +APPENDIX C. + +PUBLIC DEBT OF THE UNITED STATES, 1791-1883. + +Statement of the Outstanding Principal of the Public Debt of the United +States on the 1st of January of each Year from 1791 to 1842 inclusive; +and on the 1st of July of each Year from 1843 to 1883 inclusive. + +The amount given for the year 1791 represents the debt of the Revolution +under the Funding Bill of Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. +The debt had decreased to a considerable extent by the year 1812. In +consequence of the war with Great Britain, which began that year, there +was a rapid increase, the maximum being reached in 1816. Thenceforward, +with the exception of the years 1822, 1823, and 1824,--a period of +extreme financial depression,--the debt was steadily decreased, until +in the year 1835, under the Presidency of General Jackson, it was +extinguished,--the total amount outstanding being only $37,000 in bonds +which were not presented for payment. The creation of a new debt, +however, began at once, and was increased in the years 1847, 1848, and +1849 by the Mexican war. This, in turn, was quite steadily reduced +until the financial panic of 1857, when, during the administration of +Mr. Buchanan, there was another incease. The debt was about eighty +millions of dollars in amount when the civil war began. + +Year. Amount. Year. Amount. Year. Amount. Year. Amount. +1791 $75,463,476.52 1815 $ 99,833,660.15 1839 $ 3,573,343.82 1863 $1,119,772,138.63 +1792 77,227,924.66 1816 127,334,933.74 1840 5,270,875.54 1864 1,815,784,370.57 +1793 80,352,634,04 1817 123,491,965.16 1841 13,594,480.73 1865 2,680,647,869.74 +1794 78,427,404.77 1818 103,466,633.83 1842 20,601,226.28 1866 2,773,236,173.69 +1795 80,747,587,39 1819 95,529,648.28 1843 32,742,922.00 1867 2,678,126,103.87 +1796 83,762,172.07 1820 91,015,566.15 1844 23,461,652.50 1868 2,611,687,851.19 +1797 82,064,479.33 1821 89,987,427.66 1845 15,925,303.01 1869 2,588,452,213.94 +1798 79,228,529.12 1822 93,546,676.98 1846 15,550,202.97 1870 2,480,672,427.81 +1799 78,408,669.77 1823 90,875,877.28 1847 38,826,534.77 1871 2,353,211,332,32 +1800 82,976,294.35 1824 90,269,777.77 1848 47,044,862.23 1872 2,253,251,328.78 +1801 83,038,050,80 1825 83,788,432.71 1849 63,061,858.69 1873 2,234,482,993.20 +1802 86,712,632.25 1826 81,054,059.99 1850 63,452,773.55 1874 2,251,690,468.43 +1803 77,054,686.30 1827 73,987,357.20 1851 68,304,796.02 1875 2,232,284,531.95 +1804 86,427,120.88 1828 67,475,043.87 1852 66,199,341.71 1876 2,180,395,067.15 +1805 82,312,150.50 1829 58,421,413.67 1853 59,803,117.70 1877 2,205,301,392.10 +1806 75,723,270.66 1830 48,565,406.50 1854 42,242,222.42 1878 2,256,205,892.53 +1807 69,218.398.64 1831 39,123,191.68 1855 35,586,858.56 1879 2,245,495,072.04 +1808 65,196,317.97 1832 24,322,235,18 1856 31,972,537.90 1880 2,120,415,370.63 +1809 57,023,192.09 1833 7,001,698.83 1857 28,699,831.85 1881 2,069,013,569.58 +1810 53,173,217.52 1834 4,760,082.08 1858 44,911,881.03 1882 1,918,312,994.03 +1811 48,005,587.76 1835 37,513.05 1859 58,496,837.88 1883 1,884,171,728.07 +1812 45,209,737.90 1836 336,957.83 1860 64,842,287.88 +1813 55,962,827.57 1837 3,308,124.07 1861 90,580,873.72 +1814 81,487,846.24 1838 10,434,221.14 1862 524,176,412.13 + + +APPENDIX D. + +Showing the Highest and Lowest Price of Gold in the New-York Market every +Month, from the Suspension of Specie Payment by the Government in +January, 1862, until Resumption in January, 1879, a Period of Seventeen +Years. + 1862. 1863. 1864. 1865. 1866. 1867. +MONTH. Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest +January . . . 103-5/8 100 160-3/4 133-5/8 159-3/8 151-1/2 233-3/4 198-1/8 144-5/8 129 137-7/8 132 +February . . . 104-3/4 102-1/8 172-1/2 152-1/2 161 157-1/4 216-1/2 196-5/8 140-5/8 135-7/8 140-1/2 135-1/4 +March . . . . 102-3/8 101-1/4 171-3/4 139 169-3/4 159 201 148-1/4 136-1/2 125 140-3/8 133-3/8 +April . . . . 102-1/4 101 157-7/8 145-1/2 184-3/4 166-1/4 153-5/8 144 129-5/8 125-1/2 142 132-3/8 +May . . . . . 104-1/8 102-1/8 154-3/4 143-1/2 190 168 145-3/8 128-5/8 141-1/2 125-1/8 138-7/8 134-7/8 +June . . . . . 109-1/2 103-3/8 148-3/8 140-1/2 250 193 147-3/8 135-7/8 167-3/4 137-5/8 138-3/4 136-1/2 +July . . . . . 120-1/8 108-3/4 145 123-1/4 285 222 146 138-3/4 155-3/4 147 140-5/8 138 +August . . . . 116-1/4 112-1/2 129-3/4 122-1/8 259-1/2 231-1/2 145-3/8 140-1/4 152-1/4 146-1/2 142-3/8 139-7/8 +September . . 124 116-1/2 143-1/8 126-7/8 254-1/2 191 145 142-5/8 147-1/8 143-1/4 146-3/8 141 +October . . . 133-1/2 122 156-3/4 140-3/8 227-3/4 189 149 144-1/8 154-3/8 145-1/2 145-5/8 140-1/4 +November . . . 133-1/4 129 154 143 260 210 148-3/4 145-7/8 148-5/8 137-1/2 141-1/2 138-1/8 +December . . . 134 128-1/2 152-3/4 148-1/2 243 212-3/4 148-1/2 144-5/8 141-3/4 131-1/4 137-7/8 133 + + 1868. 1869. 1870. 1871. 1872. 1873. +MONTH. Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest +January . . . 141-7/8 133-1/4 136-5/8 134-5/8 123-1/4 119-3/8 111-1/4 110-1/2 110-1/8 108-1/2 114-1/4 111-5/8 +February . . . 144 139-5/8 136-1/4 130-7/8 121-1/2 115 112-1/2 110-3/4 111 109-1/2 115-7/8 112-7/8 +March . . . . 141-3/8 137-7/8 132-1/4 130-7/8 116-3/8 110-1/4 112 110-1/8 110-5/8 109-3/4 118-1/2 114-5/8 +April . . . . 140-3/8 137-3/4 134-3/8 131-1/4 115-5/8 111-1/2 111-1/4 110-1/8 110-5/8 109-3/4 118-1/2 114-5/8 +May . . . . . 140-1/2 139-1/8 144-7/8 134-5/8 115-1/2 113-3/4 112-1/4 111 114-3/4 112-1/8 118-5/8 116-5/8 +June . . . . . 141-1/2 139-1/8 139-5/8 136-1/2 114-3/4 110-7/8 113-1/8 111-3/4 114-3/4 113 118-1/4 115 +July . . . . . 145-1/4 140-1/8 137-7/8 134 122-3/4 111-1/8 113-1/4 111-3/4 115-1/4 113-1/2 116-3/8 115 +August . . . . 150 143-1/2 136-5/8 131-1/4 122 114-3/4 113-1/8 111-5/8 115-5/8 112-1/8 116-1/4 114-3/8 +September . . 145-1/8 141-1/8 162-1/2 130-5/8 116-3/4 113 115-1/8 112-1/4 115-1/8 112-5/8 116-1/8 110-7/8 +October . . . 140-3/8 133-3/4 132 128-1/8 114-1/4 111-1/8 115 111-1/2 115-1/4 112-1/4 111-1/4 107-5/8 +November . . . 137 132-1/8 128-5/8 121-1/2 113-1/4 110 112-5/8 110-1/2 114-1/4 111-3/8 110-1/2 106-1/8 +December . . . 136-3/4 134-1/2 124 119-1/2 111-1/4 110-1/2 110-3/8 108-1/2 113-3/8 111-1/8 112-5/8 108-3/8 + + 1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. +MONTH. Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest +January . . . 112-1/8 110-1/8 113-3/8 111-3/4 113-1/4 112-1/2 107-1/8 105-1/4 102-7/8 101-1/4 +February . . . 113 111-3/8 115-3/8 113-1/4 114-1/8 112/3-4 106-1/8 104-5/8 102-3/8 101-5/8 +March . . . . 113-5/8 111-1/4 117 114 115 113-3/4 105-3/8 104-1/4 102 100-3/4 +April . . . . 114-3/8 111-3/4 115-1/2 114 113-7/8 112-1/2 107-7/8 104-3/4 101-1/4 100-1/8 +May . . . . . 113-1/8 111-7/8 116-3/8 115 113-1/4 112-1/4 107-3/8 106-1/4 101-1/4 100-3/8 +June . . . . . 112-1/4 110-1/2 117-1/2 116-1/4 113 111-7/8 106-3/8 104-3/4 101 100-5/8 +July . . . . . 110-7/8 109 117-1/4 111-3/4 112-1/2 111-3/8 106-1/8 105-1/8 101-1/2 100-3/8 +August . . . . 110-1/4 109-1/4 114-3/4 112-5/8 112-1/8 109-3/8 105-1/2 103-7/8 100-3/4 100-1/2 +September . . 110-1/4 109-3/8 117-3/8 113-3/4 110-3/8 109-1/4 104 102-7/8 100-1/2 100-1/8 +October . . . 110-3/8 109-3/4 117-5/8 114-1/2 113-1/4 108-7/8 103-3/8 102-1/2 101-3/8 100-1/4 +November . . . 112-3/8 110 116-3/8 114-1/8 110-1/8 108-1/8 103-3/8 102-1/2 100-1/2 100-1/8 +December . . . 112-3/8 110-1/2 115-1/4 112-1/8 109 107 103-3/8 102-1/2 100-1/2 100 + +Table showing the Total Amount of Gold and Silver Coin issued from the +Mints of the United States in each Decennial Period since 1790. + +Period. Gold. Silver. Period. Gold. Silver. +1793-1800 . . $ 1,014,290.00 $ 1,440,454.75 1851-1860 . . $330,237,085.50 $ 46,582,183.00 +1801-1810 . . 3,250,742.50 3,569,165.25 1861-1870 . . 292,409,545.50 13,188,601.90 +1811-1820 . . 3,166,510.00 5,970,810.95 1871-1880 . . 393,125,751.00 155,123,087.10 +1821-1830 . . 1,903,092.50 16,781,046.95 1881-1883 . . 204,076,239.00 84,268,825.65 +1831-1840 . . 18,756,487.50 27,309,957.00 +1841-1850 . . 89,239,817.50 22,368,130.00 Total . . .$1,337,179,561.00 $376,602,262.55 + + +APPENDIX E. + +The following statement exhibits the total valuation of real and personal +estate in the United States, according to the Census Returns of 1850, +1860, 1870, and 1880. + +Both the "true" and the "assessed" valuation are given, except in 1850, +which gives only the "true." The dispartiy between the actual propery +and that which is assessed for taxation is very striking. + +The effect of the war and the consequent abolition of slavery on the +valuation of property in the Southern States is clearly shown by the +figures. + +In all comparisons of value between the different periods, it must be +borne in mind, that, in 1870, gold was at an average premium of 25.3 per +cent. To equate the valuation with those of other years, there must be +a reduction of one-fifth on the reported valuation of 1870, both "true" +and "assessed." + +The four periods exhibit a more rapid accumulation of wealth in the +United States than was ever known before in the history of the world. + +STATES 1850. 1860. 1870. 1880. STATES +AND Assessed Assessed Assessed AND +TERRITORIES. True Value. Value. True Value. Value. True Value. Value. True Value. TERRITORIES. + +Alabama . . . . . . . . . $228,204,332 $432,198,762 $495,237,078 $155,582,595 $201,835,841 $122,867,228 $428,000,000 . . Alabama. +Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,410,295 3,440,791 9,270,214 41,000,000 . . Arizona. +Arkansas . . . . . . . . 39,841,025 180,211,330 219,256,473 94,528,843 156,394,691 86,409,364 286,000,000 . . Arkansas. +California . . . . . . . 22,161,872 139,654,667 207,874,613 269,644,068 638,767,017 584,578,036 1,343,000,000 . . California. +Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,338,101 20,243,303 74,471,693 240,000,000 . . Colorado. +Connecticut . . . . . . . 155,707,980 341,256,976 444,274,114 425,433,237 774,631,524 327,177,385 799,000,000 . . Connecticut. +Dakota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,924,489 5,599,752 20,321,530 118,000,000 . . Dakota. +Delaware . . . . . . . . 21,062,556 39,767,233 46,242,181 64,787,223 97,180,833 59,951,643 130,000,000 . . Delaware. +District of Columbia . . 14,018,874 41,084,945 41,084,945 74,271,693 126,873,618 99,401,787 220,000,000 . . District of Columbia. +Florida . . . . . . . . . 22,862,270 68,929,685 73,101,500 32,480,843 44,163,655 30,938,309 120,000,000 . . Florida. +Georgia . . . . . . . . . 335,425,714 618,232,387 645,895,237 227,219,519 268,169,207 239,472,599 606,000,000 . . Georgia. +Idaho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,292,205 6,552,081 6,440,876 29,000,000 . . Idaho. +Illinois . . . . . . . . 156,265,006 389,207,372 871,860,282 482,899,575 2,121,680,579 786,616,394 3,210,000,000 . . Illinois. +Indiana . . . . . . . . . 202,650,264 411,042,424 528,835,371 663,455,044 1,268,180,543 727,815,131 1,681,000,000 . . Indiana. +Iowa . . . . . . . . . . 23,714,638 205,168,983 247,338,265 302,515,418 717,644,750 398,671,251 1,721,000,000 . . Iowa. +Kansas . . . . . . . . . . . . 22,518,232 31,327,895 92,125,861 188,892,014 160,891,689 700,000,000 . . Kansas. +Kentucky . . . . . . . . 301,628,456 528,212,693 666,043,112 409,544,294 604,318,552 350,563,971 902,000,000 . . Kentucky. +Louisiana . . . . . . . . 233,998,764 435,787,265 602,118,568 253,371,890 323,125,666 160,162,439 382,000,000 . . Louisiana. +Maine . . . . . . . . . . 122,777,571 154,380,388 190,211,600 204,253,780 348,155,671 235,978,716 511,000,000 . . Maine. +Maryland . . . . . . . . 219,217,364 297,135,238 376,919,944 423,834,918 643,748,976 497,307,675 837,000,000 . . Maryland. +Massachusetts . . . . . . 573,342,286 777,157,816 815,237,433 1,591,983,112 2,132,148,741 1,584,756,802 2,623,000,000 . . Masschusetts. +Michigan . . . . . . . . 59,787,255 163,533,005 257,163,983 272,242,917 719,208,118 517,666,359 1,580,000,000 . . Michigan. +Minnesota . . . . . . . . . . . 32,018,773 52,294,413 84,135,322 228,909,590 258,028,687 792,000,000 . . Minnesota. +Mississippi . . . . . . . 228,951,130 509,472,912 607,324,911 177,278,800 209,197,345 110,628,129 354,000,000 . . Mississippi. +Missouri . . . . . . . . 137,247,707 266,935,851 501,214,398 556,129,969 1,284,922,897 532,795,801 1,562,000,000 . . Missouri. +Montana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,943,411 15,184,522 18,609,802 40,000,000 . . Montana. +Nebraska . . . . . . . . . . . 7,426,949 9,131,056 54,584,616 69,277,483 90,585,782 385,000,000 . . Nebraska. +Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,740,973 31,134,012 29,291,459 156,000,000 . . Nevada. +New Hampshire . . . . . . 103,652,835 123,810,809 156,310,860 149,065.290 252,624,112 164,755,181 363,000,000 . . New Hampshire. +New Jersey . . . . . . . 200,000,000 296,682,492 467,918,324 624,868,971 940,976,064 572,518,361 1,305,000,000 . . New Jersey. +New Mexico . . . . . . . 5,174,471 20,838,780 20,813,768 17,784,014 31,349,793 11,363,406 49,000,000 . . New Mexico. +New York . . . . . . . . 1,080,309,216 1,390,464,638 1,843,338,517 1,967,001,185 6,500,841,264 2,651,940,006 6,308,000,000 . . New York. +North Carolina . . . . . 226,800,472 292,297,602 358,739,399 130,378,622 260,757,244 156,100,202 461,000,000 . . North Carolina. +Ohio . . . . . . . . . . 504,726,120 959,867,101 1,193,898,422 1,167,731,697 2,235,430,300 1,534,360,508 3,238,000,000 . . Ohio. +Oregon . . . . . . . . . 5,063,474 19,024,915 28,930,637 31,798,510 51,558,932 52,522,084 154,000,000 . . Oregon. +Pennsylvania . . . . . . 722,486,120 719,253,335 1,416,501,818 1,313,236,042 3,808,340,112 1,683,459,016 4,942,000,000 . . Pennsylvania. +Rhode Island . . . . . . 80,508,794 125,104,305 135,337,588 244,278,854 295,965,646 252,538,673 400,000,000 . . Rhode Island. +South Carolina . . . . . 288,257,694 489,319,128 548,138,754 183,913,337 208,146,989 133,560,135 322,000,000 . . South Carolina. +Tennessee . . . . . . . . 201,246,686 382,495,200 493,903,892 253,782,161 498,237,724 211,778,538 705,000,000 . . Tennessee. +Texas . . . . . . . . . . 52,740,473 267,792,335 365,200,614 149,732,929 159,052,542 340,364,515 825,000,000 . . Texas. +Utah . . . . . . . . . . 986,083 4,158,020 5,596,118 12,565,842 16,159,995 24,775,279 114,000,000 . . Utah. +Vermont . . . . . . . . . 92,205,049 84,758,619 122,477,170 102,548,528 235,349,553 86,806,775 302,000,000 . . Vermont. +Virginia . . . . . . . . 430,701,082 657,021,336 793,249,681 365,439,917 409,588,133 308,455,135 707,000,000 . . Virginia. +Washington . . . . . . . . . . 4,394,735 5,601,466 10,642,863 13,562,164 23,810,693 62,000,000 . . Washington. +West Virginia . . . . . . included in Virginia 140,538,273 190,651,491 139,622,705 350,000,000 . . West Virginia. +Wisconsin . . . . . . . . 42,056,595 185,945,489 273,671,668 333,209,838 702,307,329 438,971,751 1,139,000,000 . . Wisconsin. +Wyoming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,516,748 7,016,748 13,621,829 54,000,000 . . Wyoming. + + Total for U. S. . . . . $7,135,780,228 $12,084,560,005 $16,159,616,068 $14,178,986,732 $30,068,518,507 $16,902,993,543 $43,642,000,000 . . Total for U. S. + + +APPENDIX F. + +OWNERSHIP AND LOCATION OF PROPERTY. + +In the following table, the column headed "Location" gives the valuation +of the property located in each State and Territory, by the Census of +1880. The column headed "Ownership" gives the value of property owned +by the residents of the several States and Territories, wherever that +property may be located. Some interesting results are shown. Residents +of New York own thirteen hundred millions of property not located in +their State; residents of Pennsylvania, four hundred and fifty millions. +Many of the States show a large proportion of their property owned +elsewhere. Considerably more than half the property of Nevada is owned +outside the State. The whole table presents one of the most interesting +deductions of the Census Bureau. + +STATES +AND Ownership. Location. +TERRITORIES. + +Alabama . . . . . . $378,000,000 $428,000,000 +Arizona . . . . . . 23,000,000 41,000,000 +Arkansas . . . . . . 246,000,000 286,000,000 +California . . . . . 1,430,000,000 1,343,000,000 +Colorado . . . . . . 149,000,000 240,000,000 +Connecticut . . . . 852,000,000 779,000,000 +Dakota . . . . . . . 68,000,000 118,000,000 +Delaware . . . . . . 138,000,000 136,000,000 +Dist. of Columbia . 223,000,000 220,000,000 +Florida . . . . . . 95,000,000 120,000,000 +Georgia . . . . . . 554,000,000 606,000,000 +Idaho . . . . . . . 12,000,000 29,000,000 +Illinois . . . . . . 3,092,000,000 3,219,000,000 +Indiana . . . . . . 1,499,000,000 1,681,000,000 +Iowa . . . . . . . . 1,415,000,000 1,721,000,000 +Kansas . . . . . . . 575,000,000 760,000,000 +Kentucky . . . . . . 880,000,000 902,000,000 +Louisiana . . . . . 422,000,000 382,000,000 +Maine . . . . . . . 501,000,000 511,000,000 +Maryland . . . . . . 869,000,000 837,000,000 +Massachusetts . . . 2,795,000,000 2,623,000,000 +Michigan . . . . . . 1,370,000,000 1,580,000,000 +Minnesota . . . . . 638,000,000 792,000,000 +Mississippi . . . . 324,000,000 354,000,000 +Missouri . . . . . . 1,530,000,000 1,562,000,000 +Montana . . . . . . 29,000,000 40,000,000 +Nebraska . . . . . . 200,000,000 385,000,000 +Nevada . . . . . . . 69,000,000 156,000,000 +New Hampshire . . . 328,000,000 363,000,000 +New Jersey . . . . . 1,433,000,000 1,305,000,000 +New Mexico . . . . . 30,000,000 49,000,000 +New York . . . . . . 7,619,000,000 6,208,000,000 +North Carolina . . . 446,000,000 461,000,000 +Ohio . . . . . . . . 3,301,000,000 3,238,000,000 +Oregon . . . . . . . 126,000,000 154,000,000 +Pennsylvania . . . . 5,393,000,000 4,942,000,000 +Rhode Island . . . . 420,000,000 400,000,000 +South Carolina . . . 296,000,000 322,000,000 +Tennessee . . . . . 666,000,000 705,000,000 +Texas . . . . . . . 725,000,000 825,000,000 +Utah . . . . . . . . 67,000,000 114,000,000 +Vermont . . . . . . 289,000,000 302,000,000 +Virginia . . . . . . 693,000,000 707,000,000 +Washington . . . . . 48,000,000 62,000,000 +West Virginia . . . 307,000,000 350,000,000 +Wisconsin . . . . . 969,000,000 1,139,000,000 +Wyoming . . . . . . 20,000,000 54,000,000 + + $43,642,000,000 $43,642,000,000 + + +APPENDIX G + +The following table exhibits the amount of revenue collected at the +Customs Houses on foreign imports each year, from 1789 to 1883, under +the various tariff laws; also the amount of internal revenue collected +each year, from the foundation of the government to 1883. The separate +table gives the amount collected each year under the income-tax while +in force, and the total amount received from the tax on spirits and +beer for twenty-one years after it was first levied in 1862. + +Receipts of the United States from March 4, 1789, to June 30, 1883. + +Years. From Customs. From Internal Revenue. +1789-1791 $4,399,473.00 +1792 3,443,070.85 $208,942.81 +1793 4,255,306.56 337,705.70 +1794 4,801,065.28 274,089.62 +1795 5,588,461.62 337,755.36 +1796 6,567,987.94 475,289.60 +1797 7,549,649.65 575,491.45 +1798 7,106,061.93 644,357.95 +1799 6,610,449,31 779,136.44 +1800 9,080,932.78 809,396.55 +1801 10,750,778.93 1,048,033.43 +1802 12,438,235.74 621,898.89 +1803 10,479,417.61 215,179.69 +1804 11,098,565.33 50,941.29 +1805 12,938,487.04 21,747.15 +1806 14,667,698.17 20,101.45 +1807 15,845,521.61 13,051.40 +1808 16,363,550.58 8,190.23 +1809 7,257,506.62 4,034.29 +1810 8,583,309.31 7,430.63 +1811 13,313,222.73 2,295.95 +1812 8,958,777.53 4,903.06 +1813 13,224,623.25 4,755.04 +1814 5,998,772.08 1,662,984.83 +1815 7,282,942.22 4,678,059.07 +1816 36,306,874.88 5,124,708.31 +1817 26,283,348.49 2,678,100.77 +1818 17,176,385.00 955,270.20 +1819 20,283,608.76 229,593.63 +1820 15,005,612.15 106,260.53 +1821 13,004,447.15 69,027.63 +1822 17,589,761.94 67,665.71 +1823 19,088,433.44 34,242.17 +1824 17,878,325.71 34,663.37 +1825 20,098,713.45 25,771.35 +1826 23,341,331.77 21,589.93 +1827 19,712,283.29 19,885.68 +1828 23,205,523.64 17,451.54 +1829 22,681,965.91 14,502.74 +1830 21,922,391.39 12,160.62 +1831 24,224,441.77 6,933.51 +1832 28,465,237.24 11,630.65 +1833 29,031,508.91 2,759.00 +1834 16,214,957.15 4,196.09 +1835 19,391,310.59 10,459.48 +1836 23,409,940.53 370.00 +1837 11,169,290.39 5,493.84 +1838 16,158,800.36 2,467.27 +1839 23,137,924.81 2,553,32 +1840 13,499,502.17 1,682.25 +1841 14,487,216.74 3,261.36 +1842 18,187,908.76 495.00 +1843 7,046,843.91 103.25 +1844 26,183,570.94 1,777.34 +1845 27,528,112.70 3,517.12 +1846 26,712,667.87 2,897.26 +1847 23,747,864.66 375.00 +1848 31,757,070.96 375.00 +1849 28,346,738.82 +1850 39,668,686.42 +1851 49,017,567.92 +1852 47,339,326.62 +1853 58,931.865.52 +1854 64,224,190.27 +1855 53,025.794.21 +1856 64,022,863.50 +1857 63,875,905.05 +1858 41,789,620.96 +1859 49,565,824.38 +1860 53,187,511.87 +1861 39,582,125.64 +1862 49,056,397.62 +1863 69.059,642.40 $37,640,787.95 +1864 102,316,152.99 109,741,134.10 +1865 84,928,260.60 209,464,215.25 +1866 179,046,651.58 309,226,813.42 +1867 176,417,810.88 266,027,537.43 +1868 164,464,599.56 191,087,589.41 +1869 180,048,426.63 158,356,460.86 +1870 194,538,374.44 184,899,756.49 +1871 206,270,408.05 143,098,153.63 +1872 216,370,286.77 130,642,177.72 +1873 188,089,522.70 113,729,314.14 +1874 163,103,833.69 102,409,784.90 +1875 157,167,722.35 110,007,493.58 +1876 148,071,984.61 116,700,732.03 +1877 130,956,493.07 118,630,407.83 +1878 130,170,680.20 110,581,624.74 +1879 137,250,047.70 113,561,610.58 +1880 186,522,064.60 124,009,373.92 +1881 198,159,676.02 135,264,385.51 +1882 220,410,730.25 146,497,595.45 +1883 214,706,496.93 144,720,368.98 + + Total $5,073,240,329.60 $3,098,575,330.71 + + From Distilled Spirits. +Years. From Income Tax. | From Fermented Liquors. +1863 $2,741.858.25 $5,176,530.50 $1,628,933.82 +1864 20,294,731.74 30,329,149.53 2,290,009.14 +1865 32,050,017.44 18,731,422.45 3,734,928.06 +1866 72,982,159.03 33,268,171.82 5,220,552.72 +1867 66,014,429.34 33,542,951.72 6,057,500.63 +1868 41,455,598.36 18,655,630.90 5,955,868.92 +1869 34,791,855.84 45,071,230.86 6,099,879.54 +1870 37,775,873.62 55,606,094.15 6,319,126.90 +1871 19,162,650.75 46,281,848,10 7,389,501.82 +1872 14,436,861.78 49,475,516.36 8,258,498.46 +1873 5,062,311.62 52,099,371.78 9,324,937.84 +1874 139,472.09 49,444,089.85 9,304,679.72 +1875 232.64 52,081,991.12 9,144,004.41 +1876 588.27 56,426,365.13 9,571,280.66 +1877 97.79 57,469,429.72 9,480,789.17 +1878 50,420,815.80 9,937,051.78 +1879 52,570,284.69 10,729,320.08 +1880 61,185,508.79 12,829,802.84 +1881 3,021.92 67,153,974.88 13,700,241.21 +1882 69,873,408.18 16,153,920.42 +1883 74,368,775.20 16,900,615.81 + + Total $366,911,760.48 $979,232,561.53 $180,031,443.95 + +APPENDIX H. + +IMPORTANT CROPS. + +The following table exhibits the aggregate production in the United +States, for a series of years ending wih 1882, of certain crops which +contribute largely to the national wealth. The total acreage, the +yield per acre, and the value per acre, are given in each case. + +CORN. Yield per Acre. Value +Years. Bushels. Acres. | Value. per Acre. +1849 592.071,104 +1859 838,792,742 +1866 867,946,295 34,306,538 25 $591,666,295 +1867 768,320,000 32,520,249 23 610,948,390 +1868 906,527,000 34,887,246 25.9 569,512,460 $16.32 +1869 760,944,549 +1870 1,094,255,000 38,646,977 28.3 601,839,030 15.57 +1871 991,898,000 34,091,137 29.1 478,275,900 14.02 +1872 1,092,719,000 35,526,836 30.7 435,149,290 12.24 +1873 932,274,000 39,197,148 23.8 447,183,200 11.41 +1874 850,148,500 41,036,918 20.7 550,043,080 13.40 +1875 1,321,069,000 44,841,371 29.4 555,445,930 12.38 +1876 1,283,827,500 49,033,364 26.1 475,491,210 9.69 +1877 1,342,558,000 50,369,113 26.6 480,643,400 9.54 +1878 1,388,218,750 51,585,000 26.9 441,153,405 8.55 +1879 1,754,591,676 62,368,504 28.1 +1880 1,717,434,543 62,317,842 27.6 679,714,499 10.91 +1881 1,194,916,000 64,262,025 18.6 759,482,170 11.82 +1882 1,617,025,100 65,659,546 24.6 783,867,175 11.91 + +WHEAT. Yield per Acre. Value +Years. Bushels. Acres. | Value. per Acre. +1849 100,485,944 +1859 173,104,924 +1866 151,999,906 15,424,496 10 $333,773,646 +1867 212,441,400 18,321,561 11.5 421,796,460 +1868 224,036,600 18,460,132 12.1 319,195,290 $17.29 +1869 287,745,626 +1870 235,884,700 18,992,591 12.4 245,865,045 12.94 +1871 230,722,400 19,943,893 11.5 290,411,820 14.56 +1872 249,997,100 20,858,359 11.9 310,180,375 14.87 +1873 281,254,700 22,171,676 12.7 323,594,805 14.20 +1874 309,102,700 24,967,027 12.5 291,107,895 11.66 +1875 292,136,000 26,381,512 11 294,580,990 11.16 +1876 289,356,500 27,627,021 10.4 300,259,300 10.86 +1877 364,194,146 26,277,546 13.9 394,695,779 15.08 +1878 420,122,400 32,108,560 13.1 326,346,424 10.15 +1879 459,483,137 35,430,333 13 +1880 498,549,868 37,986,717 13.1 474,201,850 12.48 +1881 383,280,090 37,709,020 10.2 456,880,427 12.01 +1882 504,185,470 37,067,194 13.6 444,602,125 12.00 + +POTATOES. Yield per Acre. Value +Years. Bushels. Acres. | Value. per Acre. +1849 65,797,896 +1859 111,148,867 +1866 107,200,976 1,069,381 100 $72,939,029 +1867 97,783,000 1,192,195 82 89,276,830 +1868 106,090,000 1,131,552 93.7 84,150,040 $74.36 +1869 143,337,473 +1870 114,775,000 1,325,119 86.6 82,668,590 62.38 +1871 120,461,700 1,220,912 98.6 71,836,671 58.83 +1872 113,516,000 1,331,331 85.2 68,091,120 51.14 +1873 106,089,000 1,295,139 81.9 74,774,890 57.73 +1874 105,981,000 1,310,041 80.9 71,823,330 54.82 +1875 166,877,000 1,510,041 110.5 65,019,420 43.05 +1876 124,827,000 1,741,983 71.6 83,861,390 48.14 +1877 170,092,000 1,792,287 94.9 76,249,500 42.54 +1878 124,126,650 1,776,800 69.9 73,059,125 41.12 +1879 169,458,539 +1880 167,659,570 1,842,510 91 81,062,214 44.00 +1881 109,145,494 2,041,670 53.5 99,291,341 48.63 +1882 170,972,508 2,171,636 78.7 92,304,844 43.84 + +HAY. Yield per Acre. Value +Years. Tons. Acres. | Value. per Acre. +1849 13,838,642 +1859 19,083,896 +1866 21,778,627 17,668,904 1.22 $317,561,837 +1867 26,277,000 20,020,554 372,864,670 +1868 26,141,900 21,541,573 1.21 351,941,030 $16.33 +1869 27,316,048 +1870 24,525,000 19,861,805 1.23 338,969,680 17.06 +1871 22,239,409 19,009,052 1.17 351,717,035 18.50 +1872 23,812,800 20,318,936 1.17 345,969,079 17.02 +1873 25,085,100 21,894,084 1.34 339,895,486 15.52 +1874 24,133,900 21,769,772 1.11 331,420,738 15.22 +1875 27,873,600 23,507,964 1.18 342,203,445 14.55 +1876 30,867,100 25,282,797 1.22 300,901,252 11.90 +1877 31,629,300 25,367,708 1.24 271,934,950 10.72 +1878 39,608,296 26,931,300 1.47 285,543,752 10.60 +1879 35,150,711 30,631,054 1.15 +1880 31,925,233 25,863,955 1.23 371,811,084 14.38 +1881 35,135,064 30,888,700 1.14 415,131,366 13.43 +1882 38,138,049 32,339,585 1.15 369,958,158 11.45 + +TOBACCO. Yield per Acre. Value +Years. Pounds. Acres. | Value. per Acre. +1849 199,752,655 +1859 434,209,461 +1866 388,128,684 520,107 746 $ 53,778,888 +1867 313,724,000 494,333 631 41,283,431 +1868 320,982,000 427,189 751 40,081,942 $93.82 +1869 262,735,341 481,101 569 32,206,325 66.94 +1870 250,628,000 330,668 757 26,747,158 80.83 +1871 263,196,100 350,769 570 25,901,421 73.84 +1872 342,304,000 416,512 821.8 35,730,385 85.78 +1873 372,810,000 480,878 775 30,865,972 64.19 +1874 178,355,000 281,662 633.2 23,362,765 82.94 +1875 379,347,000 559,049 678.5 30,342,600 54.27 +1876 381,002,000 540,457 705 28,282,968 52.33 +1877 440,000,000 +1878 392,546,700 542,850 723.1 22,137,428 40.78 +1879 472,661,157 638,841 739.9 +1880 446,296,889 602,516 740.7 36,414,615 60.44 +1881 449,880,014 646,239 696.1 43,372,336 +1882 513,077,558 671,522 764 43,189,951 64.18 + + +APPENDIX I. + +The following table exhibits in a condensed and perspicuous form the +operations of the Post-Office Department, from the foundation of the +government. The very rapid increase in the revenue of the department +after 1860 will be noted. + + No. of Post Offices. + | Extent of Post-Routes in Miles. + | | Revenue of the Department. +Years. | | | Expenditure of the Department. + | | | | AMOUNT PAID FOR + | | | | Salaries of Post-Masters. + | | | | | Transportation of the Mail. +1790 75 1,875 $37,935 $32,140 $8,198 $22,081 +1795 453 13,207 160,620 117,893 30,272 75,359 +1800 903 20,817 280,804 213,994 69,243 128,644 +1805 1,558 31,076 421,373 377,378 111,552 239,635 +1810 2,300 36,406 551,684 495,969 149,438 327,966 +1815 3,000 43,748 1,043,065 748,121 241,901 487,779 +1816 3,260 48,673 961,782 804,422 265,944 521,979 +1817 3,459 52,089 1,002,973 916,515 303,916 589,189 +1818 3,618 59,473 1,130,235 1,035,832 346,429 664,611 +1819 4,000 67,586 1,204,737 1,117,801 375,828 717,881 +1820 4,500 72,492 1,111,927 1,160,926 352,295 782,425 +1821 4,650 78,808 1,059,087 1,184,283 337,599 815,681 +1822 4,709 82,763 1,117,490 1,167,572 335,299 788,618 +1823 4,043 84,860 1,130,115 1,156,995 360,462 767,464 +1824 5,182 84,860 1,197,758 1,188,019 383,804 768,939 +1825 5,677 94,052 1,306,525 1,229,043 411,183 785,646 +1826 6,150 94,052 1,447,703 1,366,712 447,727 885,100 +1827 7,003 105,336 1,524,633 1,468,959 486,411 942,345 +1828 7,530 105,336 1,659,915 1,689,945 548,049 1,086,313 +1829 8,004 115,000 1,707,418 1,782,132 559,237 1,153,646 +1830 8,450 115,176 1,850,583 1,932,708 595,234 1,274,226 +1831 8,686 115,486 1,997,811 1,936,122 635,028 1,252,226 +1832 9,205 104,466 2,258,570 2,266,171 715,481 1,482,507 +1833 10,127 119,916 2,617,011 2,930,414 826,283 1,894,638 +1834 10,693 119,916 2,823,749 2,910,605 897,317 1,925,544 +1835 10,770 112,774 2,903,356 2,757,350 945,418 1,719,007 +1836 11,091 118,264 3,408,323 3,841,766 812,803 1,638,052 +1837 11,767 141,242 4,236,779 3,544,630 891,352 1,996,727 +1838 12,519 134,818 4,238,733 4,430,662 933,948 3,131,308 +1839 12,780 133,999 4,484,657 4,636,536 980,000 3,285,622 +1840 13,468 155,739 4,543,522 4,718,236 1,028,925 3,296,876 +1841 13,778 155,026 4,407,726 4,499,528 1,018,645 3,159,375 +1842 13,733 149,732 4,456,849 5,674,752 1,146,256 3,087,796 +1843 13,814 142,295 4,296,225 4,374,754 1,426,394 2,947,319 +1844 14,103 144,687 4,237,288 4,296,513 1,358,316 2,938,551 +1845 14,183 143,940 4,289,841 4,320,732 1,409,875 2,905,504 +1846 14,601 152,865 3,487,199 4,084,297 1,042,079 2,716,673 +1847 15,146 153,818 3,955,893 3,979,570 1,060,228 2,476,435 +1848 16,159 163,208 4,371,077 4,326,850 2,394,703 +1849 16,749 163,703 4,905,178 4,479,049 1,320,921 2,577,407 +1850 18,417 178,672 5,552,971 5.212,953 1,549,376 2,965,786 +1851 19,796 196,290 6,727,867 6,278,402 1,781,686 3,538,064 +1852 20,901 214,284 6,925,971 7,108,459 1,296,765 4,225,311 +1853 22,320 217,743 5,940,725 7,982,957 1,406,477 4,906,308 +1854 23,548 219,935 6,955,586 8,577,424 1,707,708 5,401,382 +1855 24,410 227,908 7,342,136 9,968,342 2,135,335 6,076,335 +1856 25,565 239,642 7,620,822 10,405,286 2,102,891 6,765,639 +1857 26,586 242,601 8,053,952 11,508,058 2,285,610 7,239,333 +1858 27,977 260,603 8,186,793 12,722,470 2,355,016 8,246,054 +1859 28,539 260,052 8,668,484 15,754,093 2,453,901 7,157,629 +1860 28,498 240,594 8,518,067 19,170,610 2,552,868 8,808,710 +1861 28,586 140,139 8,349,296 13,606,759 2,514,157 5,309,454 +1862 28,875 134,013 8,299,821 11,125,364 2,340,767 5,853,834 +1863 29,047 139,598 11,163,790 11,314,207 2,876,983 5,740,576 +1864 28,878 139,171 12,438,254 12,644,786 3,174,326 5,818,469 +1865 20,550 142,340 14,556,159 13,694,728 3,383,382 6,246,884 +1866 23,828 180,921 14,386,986 15,352,079 3,454,677 7,630,474 +1867 25,163 203,245 15,237,027 19,235,483 4,033,728 9,336,286 +1868 26,481 216,928 16,292,601 22,730,593 4,255,311 10,266,056 +1869 27,106 223,731 18,344,511 23,698,131 4,546,958 10,406,501 +1870 28,492 231,232 19,772,221 23,998,837 4,673,466 10,884,653 +1871 30,045 238,350 20,037,045 24,390,104 5,028,382 11,529,395 +1872 31,863 251,398 21,915,426 26,658,192 5,121,665 15,547,821 +1873 33,244 256,210 22,996,742 29,084,946 5,725,468 16,161,034 +1874 34,294 269,097 26,447,072 32,126,415 5,818,472 18,881,319 +1875 35,547 277,873 26,791,360 33,611,309 7,049,936 18,777,201 +1876 36,383 281,708 27,895,908 33,263,488 7,397,397 18,361,048 +1877 37,345 292,820 27,468,323 33,486,322 7,295,251 18,529,238 +1878 39,258 301,966 29,277,517 34,165,084 7,977,852 19,262,421 +1879 40,855 316,711 30,041,983 33,449,899 7,185,540 20,012,872 +1880 42,989 343,888 33,315,479 36,542,804 7,701,418 22,255,984 +1881 44,512 344,006 36,785,398 39,251,736 8,298,743 23,196,032 +1882 46,231 343,618 41,876,410 40,039,635 8,964,677 22,846,112 +1883 47,863 353,166 45,508,692 42,816,700 10,315,394 23,870,666 + + +APPENDIX J. + +The following table exhibits the number of miles of railroad in +operation, and the number of miles constructed each year, in the United +States, from 1830 to 1883 inclusive. It will be observed that nearly +three-fourths of the total mileage have been constructed since 1869. + +Year. Miles in Operation the the End of each Year. + | Miles Constructed each Year. +1830 23 | +1831 95 72 +1832 229 134 +1833 380 151 +1834 633 253 +1835 1,098 465 +1836 1,273 175 +1837 1,497 224 +1838 1,913 416 +1839 2,302 389 +1840 2,818 516 +1841 3,535 717 +1842 4,026 491 +1843 4,185 159 +1844 4,377 192 +1845 4,633 256 +1846 4,930 297 +1847 5,598 668 +1848 5,996 398 +1849 7,365 1,369 +1850 9,021 1,656 +1851 10,982 1,961 +1852 12,908 1,926 +1853 15,360 2,452 +1854 16,720 1,360 +1855 18,374 1,654 +1856 22,016 3,642 +1857 24,503 2,487 +1858 26,968 2,465 +1859 28,789 1,821 +1860 30,635 1,846 +1861 31,286 651 +1862 32,120 834 +1863 33,170 1,050 +1864 33,908 738 +1865 35,085 1,177 +1866 36,801 1,716 +1867 39,250 2,449 +1868 42,229 2,979 +1869 46,844 4,615 +1870 52,885 6,079 +1871 60,293 7,379 +1872 66,171 5,878 +1873 70,278 4,107 +1874 72,383 2,105 +1875 74,096 1,713 +1876 76,808 2,712 +1877 79,089 2,281 +1878 81,776 2,687 +1879 86,497 4,721 +1880 93,545 7,174 +1881 103,334 11,142 +1882 114,930 11,591 +1883 119,937 6,608 + + +APPENDIX K. + +The following table gives the number of miles of railroad in operation +in each State and Territory in the United States during the years 1865, +1870, 1875, 1877, 1879, 1880, 1881, and 1882 respectively. + +STATES AND TERRITORIES. 1865. 1870. 1875. 1877. 1879. 1880. 1881. 1882. + +Maine . . . . . . . . . 521 786 980 989 1,009 1,004 1,027 1,056 +New Hampshire . . . . . 667 736 934 964 1,019 1,014 1,021 1,038 +Vermont . . . . . . . 587 614 810 872 873 916 918 920 +Masschusetts . . . .. 1,297 1,480 1,817 1,863 1,870 1,915 1,959 1,967 +Rhode Island . . . . 125 136 179 204 210 211 212 212 +Connecticut . . . . . . 637 742 918 922 922 922 959 962 + New England . . . . . 3,834 4,494 5,638 5,814 5,903 5,982 6,096 6,155 + +New York . . . . . . . 3,002 3,928 5,423 5,725 6,008 6,062 6,332 7,037 +New Jersey . . . . . . 864 1,125 1,511 1,661 1,663 1,602 1,781 1,870 +Pennsylvania . . . . . 3,728 4,656 5,705 5,902 6,068 6,166 6,331 6,857 +Delaware . . . . . . . 134 197 272 272 293 275 275 282 +Maryland and Dist. of + Columbia . . . . . . 446 671 929 944 966 1,005 1,030 1,063 +West Virginia . . . . . 365 387 615 638 694 691 706 813 + Middle States . . . . 8,539 10,964 14,455 15,142 15,679 15,891 16,455 17,922 + +Virginia . . . . . . . 1,407 1,449 1,608 1,635 1,672 1,897 2,224 2,446 +Kentucky . . . . . . . 567 1,017 1,326 1,509 1,595 1,592 1,734 1,807 +North Carolina . . . . 984 1,178 1,356 1,426 1,446 1,463 1,622 1,759 +Tennessee . . . . . . . 1,296 1,492 1,630 1,656 1,701 1,845 1,902 2,067 +South Carolina . . . . 1,007 1,139 1.335 1,406 1,424 1,427 1,479 1,517 +Georgia . . . . . . . . 1,420 1,845 2,264 2,339 2,460 2,438 2,540 2,874 +Florida . . . . . . . . 416 446 484 485 519 557 702 973 +Alabama . . . . . . . . 805 1,157 1,800 1,802 1,832 1,845 1,859 1,909 +Mississippi . . . . . . 898 990 1,018 1,088 1,140 1,133 1,188 1,309 +Louisiana . . . . . . . 335 450 466 466 544 675 937 1,032 + Southern States . . . 9,129 11,163 13,287 13,812 14,333 14,872 16,187 17,693 + +Ohio . . . . . . . . . 3,331 3,538 4,461 4,878 5,521 5,824 6,321 6,931 +Michigan . . . . . . . 941 1,638 3,446 3,477 3,673 3,981 4,326 4,654 +Indiana . . . . . . . . 2,217 3,177 3,963 4,057 4,336 4,020 4,406 5,018 +Illinois . . . . . . . 3,157 4,823 7,109 7,334 7,578 7,900 8,309 8,752 +Wisconsin . . . . . . . 1,010 1,525 2,566 2,701 2,896 3,169 3,471 3,824 +Minnesota . . . . . . . 213 1,092 1,900 2,194 3,008 3,390 3,577 3,974 +Dakota Territory . . . 65 275 290 400 1,320 1,733 2,133 +Iowa . . . . . . . . . 891 2,683 3,850 4,134 4,779 5,401 6,165 6,968 +Missouri . . . . . . . 925 2,000 2,905 3,198 3,740 3,964 4,206 4,500 +Indian Territory . . . 275 275 275 279 285 350 +Arkansas . . . . . . . 38 256 740 767 808 889 1,033 1,533 +Texas . . . . . . . . . 465 711 1,685 2,210 2,591 3,257 4,926 6,007 +Nebraska . . . . . . . 122 705 1,167 1,286 1,634 1,949 2,273 2,494 +Kansas . . . . . . . . 40 1,501 2,150 2,352 3,103 3,446 3,655 3,866 +Colorado . . . . . . . 157 807 1,045 1,208 1,576 2,193 2,772 +New-Mexico Territory . 118 745 1,034 1,076 +Wyoming Territory . . . 459 459 465 472 500 564 613 +Idaho Territory . . . . 220 182 251 472 +Utah Territory . . . . 257 506 506 593 747 782 967 +Montana Territory . . . 10 110 267 659 + Western States and + Territories . . . . . 13,350 24,587 38,254 41,160 46,963 52,649 59,777 67,563 + +Nevada . . . . . . . . 593 601 627 720 738 894 948 +California . . . . . . 214 925 1,503 2,080 2,209 2,201 2,315 2,643 +Arizona Territory . . . 183 401 549 765 +Oregon . . . . . . . . 19 159 248 248 295 561 627 807 +Weashington Territory . 110 197 212 250 434 434 + Pacific States and + Territories . . . . . 233 1,677 2,462 3,152 3,619 4,151 4,819 5,597 + +RECAPITULATION. +New-England States . . 3,834 4,494 5,638 5,814 5,903 5,982 6,096 6,155 +Middle States . . . . . 8,539 10,964 14,455 15,142 15,679 15,891 16,455 17,922 +Southern States . . . . 9,129 11,163 13,287 13,812 14,333 14,872 16,187 17,693 +Western States and + Territories . . . . . 13,350 24,587 38,254 41,169 46,963 52,649 59,777 67,563 +Pacific States and + Territories . . . . . 233 1,677 2,462 3,152 3,619 4,151 4,819 5,597 + + Grand Total . . . . . 35,085 52,885 74,096 79,089 86,497 93,545 103,334 114,930 + + +APPENDIX L. + +This table exhibits the total amount of pensions paid by the government +from its foundation, including those to soldiers of the Revolution, war +of 1812, Mexican war, war of the Rebellion, and the various Indian wars. + +Year. Pensions. +1791 $175,813.88 +1792 109,243.15 +1793 80,087.81 +1794 81,399.24 +1795 68,673.22 +1796 100,843.71 +1797 92,256.97 +1798 104,845.33 +1799 95,444.03 +1800 64,130.73 +1801 73,533.37 +1802 85,440.39 +1803 62,902.10 +1804 80,092.80 +1805 81,854.59 +1806 81,875.53 +1807 70,500.00 +1808 82,576.04 +1809 87,833.54 +1810 83,744.16 +1811 75,043.88 +1812 91,042.10 +1813 86,989.91 +1814 90,164.36 +1815 60,656.06 +1816 188,804.15 +1817 297,374.43 +1818 890,719.90 +1819 2,415,939.85 +1820 3,208,376.31 +1821 242,817.25 +1822 1,948,199.40 +1823 1,780,588.52 +1824 1,499,326.59 +1825 1,308,810.57 +1826 1,566,593.83 +1827 976,138.86 +1828 580,573.57 +1820 949,594.47 +1830 1,363,297.31 +1831 1,170,665.14 +1832 1,184,422.40 +1833 4,589,152.40 +1834 3,364,285,30 +1835 1,954,711.32 +1836 2,882,797.96 +1837 2,672,162.45 +1838 2,156,057.29 +1830 3,142,750.51 +1840 2,603,562.17 +1841 2,388,434.51 +1842 1,378,931.33 +1843 839,041.12 +1844 2,032,008.99 +1845 2,400,788.11 +1846 1,811,097.56 +1847 1,744,883.63 +1848 1,227,496.48 +1849 1,328,867.64 +1850 1,866,886.02 +1851 2,293,377.22 +1852 2,401,858.78 +1853 1,756.306.20 +1854 1,232,665.00 +1855 1,477,612.33 +1856 1,296,229.65 +1857 1,310,380.58 +1858 1,219,768.30 +1859 1,222,222.71 +1860 1,100,802.32 +1861 1,034,599.73 +1862 852,170.47 +1863 1,078,513.36 +1864 4,985,473.90 +1865 16,347,621.34 +1866 15,605,549.88 +1867 20.936,551.71 +1868 23,782,386.78 +1869 28,476,621.78 +1870 28,340,202.17 +1871 34,443,894.88 +1872 28,533,402.76 +1874 29,038,414.66 +1875 29,456,216.22 +1876 28,257,395.69 +1877 27,963,752.27 +1878 27,137,019.08 +1879 35,121,482.39 +1880 56,777,174.44 +1881 50,059,279.62 +1882 61,345,193.95 +1883 66,012,573.64 + + $724,658,382.78 + + +APPENDIX M. + +The following table shows the distribution of the tonnage of the +United-States merchant-marine employed in the foreign trade, the coasting +trade, and the fisheries, from 1789 to 1883 inclusive. + + Foreign Trade. + | Coasting Trade. + | | Whale Fisheries. +Year Ended | | | Cod Fisheries. + | | | | Mackerel Fisheries. + | | | | | Total Merchant-Marine. + Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. +Dec. 31, 1789 123,893 68,607 9,062 201,562 + 1790 346,254 103,775 28,348 478,377 + 1791 363,110 106,494 32,542 502,146 + 1792 411,438 120,957 32,062 564,457 + 1793 367,734 122,071 30,959 520,764 + 1794 438,863 162,578 4,129 23,048 628,618 + 1795 529,471 184,398 3,163 30,933 747,965 + 1796 576,733 217,841 2,364 34,962 831,900 + 1797 597,777 237,403 1,104 40,628 876,912 + 1798 603,376 251,443 763 42,746 898,328 + 1799 657,142 246,640 5,647 29,979 939,408 + 1800 667,107 272,492 3,466 29,427 972,492 + 1801 630,558 274,551 3,085 39,382 947,576 + 1802 557,760 289,623 3,201 41,522 892,106 + 1803 585,910 299,060 12,390 51,812 949,172 + 1804 680,514 317,537 12,339 52,014 1,042,404 + 1805 744,224 332,663 6,015 57,465 1,140,367 + 1806 798,507 340,540 10,507 59,183 1,208,737 + 1807 840,163 349,028 9,051 70,306 1,268,548 + 1808 765,252 420,819 4,526 51,998 1,242,595 + 1809 906,855 405,103 3,777 34,487 1,350,282 + 1810 981,019 405,347 3,589 34,828 1,424,783 + 1811 763,607 420,362 5,209 43,234 1,232,502 + 1812 758,636 477,972 2,930 30,459 1,269,997 + 1813 672,700 471,109 2,942 19,877 1,166,628 + 1814 674,633 466,159 562 17,855 1,159,209 + 1815 854,295 475,666 1,230 36,937 1,368,128 + 1816 800,760 522,165 1,168 48,126 1,372,219 + 1817 804,851 525,030 5,224 64,807 1,309,912 + 1818 589,954 549,374 16,750 69,107 1,225,185 + 1819 581,230 571,058 32,386 76,078 1,260,752 + 1820 583,657 588,025 36,445 72,040 1,280,167 + 1821 593,825 614,845 27,995 62,293 1,298,958 + 1822 582,701 624,189 48,583 69,226 1,324,699 + 1823 600,003 617,805 40,503 78,225 1,336,566 + 1824 636,807 641,563 33,346 77,447 1,389,163 + 1825 665,409 640,861 35,379 81,462 1,423,111 + 1826 696,221 722,330 41,984 73,656 1,534,191 + 1827 701,517 789,159 45,992 83,687 1,620,607 + 1828 757,998 842,906 54,801 85,687 1,741,392 + 1829 592,859 508,858 57,284 101,797 1,260,798 + 1830 537,563 516,979 39,705 61,556 35,973 1,191,776 + 1831 538,136 539,724 82,797 60,978 46,211 1,267,846 + 1832 614,121 649,627 73,246 55,028 47,428 1,439,450 + 1833 648,869 744,199 101,636 62,721 48,726 1,606,151 + 1834 749,378 783,619 108,424 56,404 61,082 1,758,907 +Sept. 30, 1835* 788,173 797,338 97,649 77,338 64,443 1,824,941 + 1836 753,094 873,023 146,254 63,307 46,424 1,882,102 + 1837 683,205 956,981 129,137 80,552 46,811 1,896,686 + 1838 702,962 1,041,105 124,860 70,084 56,649 1,995,640 + 1839 702,400 1,153,552 132,285 72,258 35,984 2,096,479 + 1840 762,838 1,176,694 136,927 76,036 28,269 2,180,764 + 1841 788,398 1,107,068 157,405 66,552 11,321 2,130,744 + 1842 823,746 1,045,753 151,990 54,805 16,007 2,092,391 +June 30, 1843* 856,930 1,076,156 152,517 61,224 11,776 2,158,603 + 1844 900,471 1,109,615 168,614 85,225 16,171 2,280,096 + 1845 904,476 1,223,218 190,903 76,901 21,414 2,417,002 + 1846 943,307 1,315,577 187,420 79,318 36,463 2,562,085 + 1847 1,047,454 1,488,601 103,859 77,681 31,451 2,839,046 + 1848 1,168,707 1,659,317 192,613 89,847 43,558 3,154,042 + 1849 1,258,756 1,770,376 180,186 81,756 42,942 3,334,016 + 1850 1,439,694 1,797,825 146,017 93,806 58,112 3,535,454 + 1851 1,544,663 1,899,976 181,644 95,617 50,539 3,772,439 + 1852 1,705,650 2,055,873 193,798 110,573 72,546 4,138,440 + 1853 1,910,471 2,134,258 193,203 109,228 59,850 4,407,010 + 1854 2,151,918 2,322,114 181,901 111,928 35,041 4,802,902 + 1855 2,348,358 2,543,255 186,848 111,915 21,625 5,212,001 + 1856 2,302,190 2,247,663 189,461 102,452 29,887 4,871,653 + 1857 2,268,196 2,336,609 195,842 111,868 28,328 4,940,843 + 1858 2,301,148 2,401,220 198,594 119,252 29,594 5,049,808 + 1859 2,321,674 2,488,929 185,728 129,637 27,070 5,145,038 + 1860 2,379,396 2,644,867 166,841 136,653 26,111 5,353,868 + 1861 2,496,894 2,704,544 145,734 137,846 54,795 5,539,813 + 1862 2,173,537 2,606,716 117,714 133,601 80,596 5,112,164 + 1863 1,926,886 2,960,633 99,228 117,290 51,019 5,155,056 + 1864 1,486,749 3,245,265 95,145 103,742 55,499 4,986,400 + 1865 1,518,350 3,381,522 90,516 65,185 41,209 5,096,782 + 1866 1,387,756 2,719,621 105,170 51,642 46,589 4,310,778 + 1867 1,515,648 2,660,390 52,384 44,567 31,498 4,304,487 + 1868 1,494,389 2,702,140 71,343 83,887** 4,351,759 + 1869 1,496,220 2,515,515 70,202 62,704 4,144,641 + 1870 1,448,846 2,638,247 67,954 91,460 4,246,507 + 1871 1,363,652 2,764,600 61,400 92,865 4,282,607 + 1872 1,359,040 2,929,552 51,608 97,547 4,437,747 + 1873 1,378,533 3,163,220 44,755 109,519 4,696,027 + 1874 1,389,815 3,292,439 39,108 78,290 4,800,652 + 1875 1,515,598 3,219,698 38,229 80,207 4,853,732 + 1876 1,553,705 2,598,835 30,116 87,802 4,279,458 + 1877 1,570,600 2,540,322 40,593 91,085 4,242,600 + 1878 1,589,348 2,497,170 39,700 86,547 4,212,765 + 1879 1,451,505 2,598,183 40,028 79,885 4,169,601 + 1880 1,314,402 2,637,686 38,408 77,538 4,068,034 + 1881 1,297,035 2,646,010 38,551 76,136 4,057,734 + 1882 1,259,492 2,795,777 32,802 77,862 4,165,933 + 1883 1,269,681 2,838,354 32,414 95,038 4,235,487 + +* Nine months +** After 1867 the tonnage engaged in mackerel fisheries is included in +this column. + + +APPENDIX N. + +The following table exhibits the immigration into the United States by +decades from 1821 to 1880. + + 1821 1831 1841 1851 1861 1871 +Countries. to to to to to to 1881. + 1830. 1840. 1850. 1860. 1870. 1880. + +England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,055 7,611 32,092 247,125 251,288 440,961 76,547 +Ireland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,724 207,381 780,719 914,119 456,593 444,589 79,909 +Scotland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,912 2,667 3,712 38,331 44,681 98,926 16,451 +Wales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 185 1,261 6,319 4,642 6,779 1,316 +Great Britain, not specified . . . . 7,942 65,347 229,979 132,199 349,766 7,908 7 + Total British Isles . . . . . . . 75,803 283,191 1,047,763 1,338,093 1,106,970 989,163 165,230 + +Austria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,398 69,558 21,437 +Belgium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 22 5,074 4,738 7,416 7,278 1,939 +Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 1,063 539 3,749 17,885 34,577 8,951 +France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,497 45,575 77,262 76,358 37,749 73,301 5,653 +Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,761 152,454 434,626 951,667 822,007 757,698 249,572 +Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 13,475 6,756 +Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 2,253 1,879 9,231 12,982 60,830 20,103 +Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,078 1,412 8,251 10,789 9,539 17,236 10,812 +Norway and Sweden . . . . . . . . . 91 1,201 13,903 20,931 117,798 226,488 82,859 +Russia and Poland . . . . . . . . . 91 646 656 1,621 5,047 54,606 14,476 +Spain and Portugal . . . . . . . . . 2,622 2,954 2,759 10,353 9,047 9,767 464 +Switzerland . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,226 4,821 4,644 25,011 23,839 31,722 11,628 +All other countries in Europe . . . 43 96 155 116 234 1,265 451 + Total Europe, not British Isles . 23,013 212,497 549,739 1,114,564 1,073,429 1,357,801 435,101 + Total Europe . . . . . . . . . . . 98,816 495,688 1,597,502 2,452,657 2,180,399 2,346,964 600,331 + +China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8 35 41,397 68,059 122,436 20,711 +All other countries of Asia . . . . 8 40 47 61 385 632 64 + Total Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 48 82 41,458 68,444 123,068 20,775 + +Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 52 55 210 324 221 37 + +British North American Provinces . . 2,277 13,624 41,723 59,309 184,713 430,210 95,188 +Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,817 6,599 3,271 3,078 2,386 5,164 244 +Central America . . . . . . . . . . 105 44 368 449 96 229 33 +South America . . . . . . . . . . . 531 856 3,579 1,224 1,443 1,153 85 +West Indies . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,834 12,301 13,528 10,660 9,698 14,461 1,009 + Total America . . . . . . . . . . 11,564 33,424 62,469 74,720 198,336 451,216 96,559 + +Islands of the Atlantic . . . . . . 352 103 337 3,090 3,778 10,121 1,287 +Islands of the Pacific . . . . . . 2 9 29 158 235 11,421 910 +All other countries, not specified . 32,679 69,801 52,777 25,921 15,236 1,684 146 + + Aggregate . . . . . . . . . . . . 143,439 599,125 1,713,251 2,598,214 2,466,752 2,944,695 720,045 + + +APPENDIX O. + +COAL AND IRON PRODUCT. + +The following table exhibits the quantity of coal produced in each +State and Territory of the United States during the census years ended +May 31, 1870, and 1880, and the calendar years 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879, +and 1881 (weight expressed in tons of 2,240 pounds). + +STATE OR 1870. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 1880. 1881. +TERRITORY. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. + +_Anthracite_. +Pennsylvania . . 15,648,437 21,436,667 23,619,911 20,605,262 26,142,689 28,640,819 28,500,016 +Rhode Island . . 14,000 14,000 14,000 14,000 15,000 6,176 10,000 +Virginia . . . . 2,817 + +_Bituminous_. +Pennsylvania . . 7,800,386 11,500,000 12,500,000 13,500,000 14,500,000 18,425,163 20,000,000 +Illinois . . . . 2,624,163 3,500,000 3,500,000 3,500,000 3,500,000 6,115,377 6,000,000 +Ohio . . . . . . 2,527,285 3,500,000 5,250,000 5,000,000 5,000,000 6,008,595 8,250,000 +Maryland . . . . 2,345,153 1,835,081 1,574,339 1,679,322 1,730,709 2,228,917 2,261,918 +Missouri . . . . 621,930 900,000 900,000 900,000 900,000 556,304 1,750,000 +West Virginia. . 608,878 800,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,250,000 1,839,845 1,500,000 +Indiana . . . . 437,870 950,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,454,327 1,500,000 +Iowa . . . . . . 263,487 1,500,000 1,500,000 1,500,000 1,600,000 1,461,116 1,750,000 +Kentucky . . . . 32,938 650,000 850,000 900,000 1,000,000 946,288 1,100,000 +Tennessee . . . 133,418 550,000 750,000 375,000 450,000 495,131 750,000 +Virginia . . . . 61,803 90,000 90,000 75,000 90,000 43,079 100,000 +Kansas . . . . . 150,582 125,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 771,142 750,000 +Oregon . . . . . 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 43,205 300,000 +Michigan . . . . 28,150 30,000 30,000 30,000 35,000 100,800 100,000 +California . . . 600,000 600,000 600,000 600,000 236,950 600,000 +Arkansas . . . . 14,778 30,000 +Montana . . . . 224 +North Carolina . 350 +Alabama . . . . 11,000 100,000 175,000 200,000 250,000 323,972 375,000 +Nebraska . . . . 1,425 30,000 50,000 75,000 75,000 200 75,000 +Wyoming . . . . 500,000 100,000 100,000 175,000 589,595 375,000 +Washington . . . 100,000 150,000 150,000 170,000 145,015 175,000 +Utah . . . . . . 45,000 45,000 60,000 225,000 225,000 +Colorado . . . . 250,000 300,000 367,000 400,000 462,747 700,000 +Georgia . . . . 100,000 154,644 150,000 + + Total bituminous + 17,648,468 27,569,081 30,688,339 31,525,322 36,665,709 42,417,764 48,816,918 + Total anthracite + 15,662,437 21,436,667 23,619,911 20,605,262 26,142,689 28,649,812 28,510,016 + Total anthracite and bituminous + 33,310,905 49,005,748 54,308,250 52,130,584 62,808,398 71,067,576 77,326,934 + +APPENDIX O--_Concluded_. + +The following table shows the quantity of pig-iron produced, imported, +exported, and retained for consumption in the United States, from 1867 +to 1882, expressed in tons of 2,240 pounds. + + Total Production and Imports. +Calendar Year Ended | Exports, Foreign and Domestic. +Year. Production. June 30, Imports. | | Retained for Home Consumption. + _Tons_. _Tons_. _Tons_. _Tons_._Tons_. +1866 1,205,663 1867 112,642 1,317,705 628 1,317,077 +1867 1,305,023 1868 112,133 1,417,156 282 1,416,874 +1868 1,431,250 1869 136,975 1,568,225 273 1,567,952 +1869 1,711,287 1870 153,283 1,864,570 1,456 1,863,114 +1870 1,665,178 1871 178,139 1,843,317 3,772 1,839,545 +1871 1,706,793 1872 247,529 1,954,322 2,172 1,952,150 +1872 2,548,713 1873 215,496 2,764,209 2,818 2,761,201 +1873 2,560,963 1874 92,042 2,653,005 10,152 2,642,853 +1874 2,401,262 1875 53,437 2,454,699 16,193 2,438,506 +1875 2,023,733 1876 79,455 2,103,188 7,241 2,095,947 +1876 1,868,961 1877 67,922 1,936,883 3,560 1,933,323 +1877 2,006,594 1878 55,000 2,121,594 6,198 2,115,396 +1878 2,301,215 1879 87,576 2,388,791 3,221 2,385,570 +1879 2,741,853 1880 754,657 3,406,510 2,607 3,493,903 +1880 3,835,191 1881 417,849 4,253,040 6,811 4,246,229 +1881 4,144,254 1882 496,045 4,640,299 9,519 4,630,780 + +Quantity of Iron and Steel Railroad Bars produced, imported, exported, +and retained for Consumption in the United States, from 1867 to 1882, +expressed in tons of 2,240 pounds. + Total Production and Imports. +Calendar Production. Year | Exports, Foreign and Domestic. +Year. Iron. Steel. Total. Ended Imports. | | Retained for Home Consumption. + _Tons_. _Tons_. _Tons_. June 30, _Tons_. _Tons_. _Tons_._Tons_. +1866 384,623 384,623 1867 96,272 480,895 159 480,736 +1867 410,319 2,277 412,596 1868 151,097 563,693 710 562,983 +1868 445,972 6,451 452,423 1869 237,704 690,127 564 689,563 +1869 521,371 8,616 529,987 1870 279,766 809,753 885 808,863 +1870 523,371 30,357 553,571 1871 458,056 1,011,627 1,341 1,010,286 +1871 658,467 34,152 692,619 1872 531,537 1,224,156 4,484 1,219,672 +1872 808,866 83,991 892,857 1873 357,631 1,250,488 7,147 1,243,341 +1873 679,520 115,192 794,712 1874 148,920 943,632 7,313 936,319 +1874 521,847 129,414 651,261 1875 42,082 693,343 14,199 679,144 +1875 447,901 259,699 707,000 1876 4,708 712,308 13,554 698,754 +1876 417,114 368,269 785,383 1877 30 785,413 6,103 779,310 +1877 296,911 385,865 682,776 1878 11 682,787 8,426 674,351 +1878 288,295 499,817 788,112 1879 2,611 790,723 7,127 783,596 +1879 375,143 618,851 993,994 1880 152,791 1,146,785 2,363 1,144,422 +1880 440,859 864,353 1,305,212 1881 302,294 1,607,506 4,274 1,603,232 +1881 436,233 1,210,285 1,646,518 1882 295,666 1,942,184 4,190 1,937,994 + + +APPENDIX P. + +The following table shows the number of men called for by the President +of the United States, and the number furnished by each State, Territory, +and the District of Columbia, both for the Army and Navy, from April. +15, 1861, to close of the war. + +STATES Aggregate. Aggregate +AND Men furnished Reduced to +TERRITORIES. Quota | Paid Commutation. a Three Years' + | | | Total. Standard. +Maine . . . . . . . . . 73,587 70,107 2,007 72,114 56,776 +New Hampshire . . . . . 35,897 33,937 692 34,629 30,849 +Vermont . . . . . . . . 32,074 33,288 1,074 35,262 29,068 +Massachusetts . . . . . 139,095 146,730 5,318 152,048 124,104 +Rhode Island . . . . . 18,898 23,236 463 23,699 17,866 +Connecticut . . . . . . 44,797 55,864 1,515 57,379 50,623 +New York . . . . . . . 507,148 448,850 18,197 467,047 392,270 +New Jersey . . . . . . 92,820 76,814 4,196 81,010 57,908 +Pennsylvania . . . . . 385,369 337,936 28,171 366,107 265,517 +Delaware . . . . . . . 13,935 12,284 1,386 13,670 10,322 +Maryland . . . . . . . 70,965 46,638 3,678 50,316 41,275 +West Virginia . . . . . 34,463 32,068 32,068 27,711 +District of Columbia . 13,973 16,534 338 16,872 11,506 +Ohio . . . . . . . . . 306,322 313,180 6,479 319,659 240,514 +Indiana . . . . . . . . 199,788 196,363 784 197,147 153,576 +Illinois . . . . . . . 244,496 259,092 55 259,147 214,133 +Michigan . . . . . . . 95,007 87,364 2,008 89,372 80,111 +Wisconsin . . . . . . . 109,080 91,327 5,097 96,424 79,260 +Minnesota . . . . . . . 26,326 24,020 1,032 25,052 19,693 +Iowa . . . . . . . . . 79,521 76,242 67 76,309 68,630 +Missouri . . . . . . . 122,496 109,111 109,111 86,530 +Kentucky . . . . . . . 100,782 75,760 3,265 79,025 70,832 +Kansas . . . . . . . . 12,931 20,149 2 20,151 18,706 +Tennessee . . . . . . . 1,560 31,092 31,092 26,394 +Arkansas . . . . . . . 780 8,289 8,289 7,863 +North Carolina . . . . 1,560 3,156 3,156 3,156 +California . . . . . . 15,725 15,725 15,725 +Nevada . . . . . . . . 1,080 1,080 1,080 +Oregon . . . . . . . . 1,810 1,810 1,810 +Washington Territory . 964 964 964 +Nebraska Territory . . 3,157 3,157 2,175 +Colorado Territory . . 4,903 4,903 3,697 +Dakota Territory . . . 206 206 206 +New-Mexico Territory . 6,561 6,561 4,432 +Alabama . . . . . . . . 2,576 2,576 1,611 +Florida . . . . . . . . 1,290 1,290 1,290 +Louisiana . . . . . . . 5,224 5,224 4,654 +Mississippi . . . . . . 545 545 545 +Texas . . . . . . . . . 1,965 1,965 1,632 +Indian Nation . . . . . 3,530 3,530 3,530 +Colored Troops* . . . . 93,441 93,441 91,789 + + Total . . . . . . . .2,763,670 2,772,408 86,724 2,859,132 2,320,272 + +* Colored troops organized at various stations in the States in +rebellion, embracing all not specifically credited to States, and which +cannot be so assigned. + +Reduced to Periods of Service only, the Following Aggregates for the +Different Periods in the Army and Navy appear:-- + +Periods of Enlistment. Number. + +60 days . . . . . . . . 2,045 +3 months . . . . . . . 108,416 +100 days . . . . . . . 85,807 +4 months . . . . . . . 42 +6 months . . . . . . . 26,118 +8 months . . . . . . . 373 +9 months . . . . . . . 89,899 +1 year . . . . . . . . 393,706 +2 years . . . . . . . . 44,400 +3 years . . . . . . . . 2,028,630 +4 years . . . . . . . . 1,042 + +Aggregate enlistments . 2,780,478 + +The Number of Indivials who served during the War is estimated as +follows:-- + +Number who died during the war . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304,360 +Number who were discharged for disability . . . . . . . . . . . 285,545 +Deserters (less those arrested and 25 per cent. additional) . . 128,352 +One-third of those serving terms of less than one year (estimated that + two-thirds thereof re-enlisted) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104,134 +One-half of those serving more than one year and less than two years + (estimated that one-half re-enlisted) . . . . . . . . . . . . 224,053 +Number in the service May 1, 1865 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000,516 + Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,046,969 +Add number in regular army at commencement of war . . . . . . 16,422 + +Aggregate number of different individuals who served during the war + 2,063,391 + +There are no records which give with accuracy the number of men in +the Confederate Army. The general aggregate for the four years is, +upon the best authority attainable, placed at one million one hundred +thousand men (1,100,000). The maximum number of men on the Confederate +Army rolls at any one time is estimated at five hundred thousand. The +irregular manner in which the men were conscripted during the last two +years of the war, taken in connection with the loss of records, makes +it impossible to give accurate statements of the numbers furnished by +the several States. + +REGULAR ARMY. + +The following table shows the actual strength of the regular army of +the United States at different periods, from 1789 to 1883 (retired +officers not included). + + Officers. +Date. | Men. Total. + 1780-90 . . 50 672 722 + 1795 . . . 212 3,228 3,440 + 1800 . . . 248 3,803 4,051 + 1805 . . . 196 2,534 2,730 + 1810 . . . 466 6,488 6,954 +July, 1812 . . . 301 6,385 6,686* +Feb., 1813 . . . 1,476 17,560 19,036* +Sept. 1814 . . . 2,395 35,791 38,186* +Feb., 1815 . . . 2,396 31,028 33,424* +Dec., 1820 . . . 712 8,230 8,942 + 1825 . . . 562 5,157 5,719 + 1830 . . . 627 5,324 5,951 + 1835 . . . 680 6,471 7,151 + 1840 . . . 733 9,837 10,570 + 1845 . . . 826 7,523 8,349 + 1850 . . . 948 9,815 10,763 + 1855 . . . 1,042 14,710 15,752 + 1860 . . . 1,108 15,250 16,367 + 1861 . . . 1,004 15,418 16,422 + 1862 . . . 1,720 21,450 23,170 + 1863 . . . 1,844 22,915 24,759 + 1864 . . . 1,813 19,791 21,604 + 1865 . . . 1,605 20,765 22,310 + 1866 . . . 2,020 31,470 33,490 + 1867 . . . 2,853 53,962 56,815 + 1868 . . . 2,835 48,081 50,916 + 1869 . . . 2,700 34,074 36,774 + 1870 . . . 2,541 34,534 37,075 + 1871 . . . 2,105 26,848 28,953 + 1872 . . . 2,104 26,071 28,175 + 1873 . . . 2,076 26,576 28,652 + 1874 . . . 2,080 26,364 28,444 + 1875 . . . 2,068 23,250 25,318 + 1876 . . . 2,151 26,129 28,250 + 1877 . . . 2,178 21,767 23,945 + 1878 . . . 2,153 23,365 25,818 + 1879 . . . 2,127 24,262 26,389 + 1880 . . . 2,152 24,259 26,411 + 1881 . . . 2,181 22,994 25,175 + 1882 . . . 2,162 23,024 25,186 + 1883 . . . 2,143 23,335 25,478 + +* Second war with Great Britain + +The following summary shows the total numbers of soldiers serving in +the various wars in which the United States was engaged prior to the +Rebellion. + +Soldiers of the War of the Revolution, 1775 to 1783 . . 289,715 +Indian War, General Wayne, 1794 . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,843 +Indian War, 1811 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650 +War with Great Britain, 1812 to 1815, number of soldiers, sailors + and marines serving 12 months or more . . . . 63,179 + Number of militia serving 6 months or more . 66,325 + " " " " 3 " " " . 125,643 + " " " " 1 month " " . 125,307 + " " " " less than 1 month . 147,200 + ------- 527,654 +Number of soldiers serving in + Seminole War, 1817-18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,911 + Black-Hawk War, 1831-32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,031 + South-western disturbances, 1836 . . . . . . . . . . 2,803 + Cherokee Country disturbances, 1836-37 . . . . . . . 3,926 + Creek disturbances, 1836-37 . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,418 + Florida War, 1836-42 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,122 +Number of soldiers and sailors serving in Mexican War, 1846-47 + . . . 105,454 +Number of soldiers serving in + New-York frontier disturbances, 1838-39 . . . . . . . 1,128 + Arostook disturbances, 1838-39, 2 regiments . . . . . 1,430 + + +APPENDIX Q. + +The following table exhibits the school age, population, and enrollment +of the States and Territories in 1881, with salaries paid to teachers, +and total expenditure for schools. + + School Age. + | School Population. +STATES. | | No. Enrolled in Public Schools. + | | | Aggregate Salaries Paid to Teachers. + | | | | Total Expenditure. +Alabama . . . . . . . . . 7-21 422,739 176,289 $384,769 $410,690 +Arkansas . . . . . . . . 6-21 272,841 98,744 388,412 +California . . . . . . . 5-17 211,237 163,855 2,346,056 3,047,605 +Colorado . . . . . . . . 6-21 40,804 26,000 557,151 +Connecticut . . . . . . . 4-16 143,745 119,381 1,025,323 1,476,691 +Delaware . . . . . . . . 6-21 37,285 29,122 138,819 207,281 +Florida . . . . . . . . . 4-21 88,677 39,315 97,115 114,895 +Georgia . . . . . . . . . 6-18 461,016 244,197 498,533 +Illinois . . . . . . . . 6-21 1,002,222 701,627 4,722,349 7,858,414 +Indiana . . . . . . . . . 6-21 714,343 503,855 3,057,110 4,528,754 +Iowa . . . . . . . . . . 5-21 594,730 431,513 3,040,716 5,129,819 +Kansas . . . . . . . . . 5-21 348,179 249,034 1,167,620 1,976,397 +Kentucky . . . . . . . . 6-20 553,638 238,440 1,248,524 +Louisiana . . . . . . . . 6-18 271,414 62,370 374,127 441,484 +Maine . . . . . . . . . . 4-21 213,927 150,067 965,697 1,089,414 +Maryland . . . . . . . . 5-20 319,201 158,909 1,162,429 1,604,580 +Massachusetts . . . . . . 5-15 312,680 325,239 4,130,714 5,776,542 +Michigan . . . . . . . . 5-20 518,294 371,743 2,114,567 3,418,233 +Minnesota . . . . . . . . 5-21 300,923 177,278 993,997 1,466,492 +Mississippi . . . . . . . 5-21 419,963 237,288 644,352 757,758 +Missouri . . . . . . . . 6-20 723,484 476,376 2,218,637 3,152,178 +Nebraska . . . . . . . . 5-21 152,824 100,776 627,717 1,165,103 +Nevada . . . . . . . . . 6-18 10,533 8,329 59,194 140,419 +New Hampshire . . . . . . 5-15 60,899 63,235 408,554 577,022 +New Jersey . . . . . . . 5-18 335,631 203,542 1,510,830 1,914,447 +New York . . . . . . . . 5-21 1,662,122 1,021,282 7,775,505 10,923,402 +North Carolina . . . . . 6-21 468,072 240,710 342,212 409,659 +Ohio . . . . . . . . . . 6-21 1,063,337 744,758 5,151,448 8,133,622 +Oregon . . . . . . . . . 4-20 61,641 34,498 234,818 318,331 +Pennsylvania . . . . . . 6-21 1,422,377 931,749 4,677,017 7,994,705 +Rhode Island . . . . . . 5-16 53,077 44,920 408,993 549,937 +South Carolina . . . . . 6-16 262,279 133,458 309,855 345,634 +Tennessee . . . . . . . . 6-21 545,875 283,468 529,618 638,009 +Texas . . . . . . . . . . 8-14 230,527 186,786 674,869 753,346 +Vermont . . . . . . . . . 5-20 99,463 74,646 366,448 447,252 +Virginia . . . . . . . . 5-21 556,665 239,046 823,310 1,100,239 +West Virginia . . . . . . 6-21 213,191 145,203 539,648 761,250 +Wisconsin . . . . . . . . 4-20 491,358 300,122 1,618,283 2,279,103 + Total for States . . . 15,661,213 9,737,176 $54,642,716 $83,601,327 + + School Age. + | School Population. +TERRITORIES. | | No. Enrolled in Public Schools. + | | | Aggregate Salaries Paid to Teachers. + | | | | Total Expenditure. +Arizona . . . . . . . . . 6-21 9,571 3,844 $44,628 +Dakota . . . . . . . . . 5-21 38,815 25,451 314,484 +District of Columbia . . 6-18 43,558 27,299 $295,668 527,312 +Idaho . . . . . . . . . . 5-21 7,520 6,080 38,174 44,840 +Montana . . . . . . . . . 4-21 9,895 5,112 52,781 55,781 +New Mexico . . . . . . . 7-18 29,255 4,755 28,002 28,973 +Utah . . . . . . . . . . 6-18 42,353 26,772 113,768 199,264 +Washington . . . . . . . 4-21 23,899 14,754 94,019 114,379 +Wyoming . . . . . . . . . 7-21 4,112 2,907 25,894 28,504 +Indian: + Cherokees . . . . . . . 3,715 3,048 52,500 + Chickasaws . . . . . . 900 650 33,550 + Choctaws . . . . . . . 2,600 1,460 31,700 + Creeks . . . . . . . . 1,700 799 26,909 + Seminoles . . . . . . . 400 226 7,500 +Total for Territories . . 218,293 123,157 $648,306 $1,510,115 +Total for States . . . . 15,661,213 9,737,176 54,642,716 83,601,327 + +Grand total . . . . . . . 15,879,506 9,860,333 $55,291,022 $85,111,442 + + +APPENDIX R. + +The following table gives some interesting and important statistics +respecting colleges in the United States. + + No. Universities and Colleges. + | No. Instructors in Preparatory Department. + | | No. Students in Preparatory Department. +STATES | | | No. Instructors in Collegiate Department. +AND | | | | No. Students in Collegiate Department. +TERRITORIES. | | | | | No. Volumes in College Libraries. + | | | | | | Value of Grounds, Buildings, and Apparatus. + | | | | | | | Income from Productive Funds. + | | | | | | | | Receipts for the last Year from Tuition Fees. +Alabama . . . . . 3 2 20 18 314 8,200 $300,000 $24,600 $8,000 +Arkansas . . . . . 4 10 564 28 271 2,286 114,000 1,000 8,300 +California . . . . 11 36 1,178 131 602 47,750 1,380,200 105,116 91,014 +Colorado . . . . . 3 2 113 23 45 11,000 230,000 1,282 366 +Connecticut . . . 3 62 959 148,155 472,884 120,776 114,128 +Delaware . . . . . 1 8 54 6,000 75,000 4,980 500 +Georgia . . . . . 6 2 70 54 554 30,100 652,300 43,493 10,650 +Illinois . . . . . 28 58 2,901 224 1,887 130,630 2,511,550 95,229 116,844 +Indiana . . . . . 15 58 1,793 128 1,329 76,591 1,298,000 50,029 29,646 +Iowa . . . . . . . 18 46 1,697 168 1,614 51,022 789,000 51,382 42,568 +Kansas . . . . . . 8 21 889 75 431 24,178 523,000 5,500 5,400 +Kentucky . . . . . 14 18 594 97 1,178 45,076 673,000 38,443 37,060 +Louisiana . . . . 9 22 1,022 68 174 57,995 837,000 15,100 21,060 +Maine . . . . . . 3 3 45 32 422 59,371 863,500 39,000 22,000 +Maryland . . . . . 11 18 325 160 1,385 49,922 892,500 181,734 45,705 +Massachusetts . . 7 7 192 151 1,865 292,626 1,250,000 276,131 166,851 +Michigan . . . . . 9 22 1,361 114 1,166 59,690 1,344,942 89,290 75,351 +Minnesota . . . . 5 1 279 44 408 21,600 421,196 50,900 8,340 +Mississippi . . . 3 7 557 21 320 8,400 446,000 32,643 8,275 +Missouri . . . . . 16 37 1,101 196 1,605 108,315 1,127,220 63,005 135,294 +Nebraska . . . . . 5 11 360 16 216 8,000 205,000 2,359 682 +Nevada . . . . . . 1 1 40 +New Hampshire . . 1 15 247 54,000 125,000 25,000 16,000 +New Jersey . . . . 4 73 677 60,600 1,150,000 86,615 20,770 +New York . . . . . 27 113 2,662 426 3,495 294,437 7,480,540 472,413 462,059 +North Carolina . . 9 8 616 69 590 31,250 549,000 10,000 37,096 +Ohio . . . . . . . 36 120 3,726 284 2,612 286,411 3,156,744 180,661 101,775 +Oregon . . . . . . 8 21 785 38 458 9,420 257,000 20,600 15,950 +Pennsylvania . . . 27 70 1,877 288 2,367 163,718 4,744,850 239,499 250,105 +Rhode Island . . . 1 18 251 53,000 36,999 30,869 +South Carolina . . 8 8 358 42 304 17,450 340,000 22,869 5,194 +Tennessee . . . . 19 33 1,122 148 1,876 51,708 1,498,250 80,475 39,720 +Texas . . . . . . 9 18 1,075 58 540 10,411 335,000 775 55,150 +Vermont . . . . . 2 18 93 33,000 440,000 16,328 6,082 +Virginia . . . . . 8 6 73 69 889 102,000 1,558,000 22,200 20,540 +West Virginia . . 4 7 134 32 201 5,800 295,000 8,469 5,592 +Wisconsin . . . . 8 15 786 88 658 48,765 890,300 101,556 56,702 +Dist. of Columbia 5 9 359 43 222 47,411 900,000 1,957 1,165 +Utah . . . . . . . 1 3 202 3 2,735 30,000 3,147 +Washington . . . . 2 7 83 11 90 3,200 100,000 500 4,500 + + Total . . . . . 362 820 28,959 3,541 32,459 2,522,223 $40,255,976 $2,618,008 $2,080,450 + +STATISTICS RESPECTING SCHOOLS OF SCIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Part I.--Institutions endowed with National Land-Grant. + + Number of Schools. + | No. Instructors. ) Preparatory Department. + | | No. Students.) + | | | No. Instructors. ) Scientific Department. +STATES. | | | | No. Students.) + | | | | | No. Volumes in General Libraries. + | | | | | | Value of Grounds, Buildings, and Apparatus. + | | | | | | | Income from Productive Funds. + | | | | | | | | Receipts for the last Year from Tuition Fees. +Alabama . . . . . . . . 1 1 47 11 135 2,000 $75,000 $20,280 +Arkansas . . . . . . . . 1 2 14 200 170,000 10,400 $2,000 +California . . . . . . . 1 0 0 26 101 +Colorado . . . . . . . . 1 5 57 150 55,000 +Connecticut . . . . . . 1 26 185 5,000 200,000 29,212 17,798 +Delaware . . . . . . . . 1 +Florida . . . . . . . . 0 10,004 +Georgia . . . . . . . . 5 16 877 19 182 3,500 164,000 17,914 1,800 +Illinois . . . . . . . . 1 3 77 24 303 12,942 545,000 21,398 10,619 +Indiana . . . . . . . . 1 2 141 9 140 2,065 250,000 17,000 2,029 +Iowa . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 15 20 211 6,000 500,000 45,000 0 +Kansas . . . . . . . . . 1 13 267 3,050 99,525 31,225 426 +Kentucky . . . . . . . . 1 2 13 182 85,000 9,900 1,500 +Louisiana . . . . . . . 1 1 40 9 29 17,000 400,000 14,500 0 +Maine . . . . . . . . . 1 8 110 4,105 145,000 7,500 +Maryland . . . . . . . . 1 6 7 49 100,000 6,975 825 +Massachusetts . . . . . 2 45 517 5,300 520,727 30,672 53,107 +Michigan . . . . . . . . 1 0 0 12 227 6,250 274,380 20,517 0 +Minnesota . . . . . . . 1 +Mississippi . . . . . . 2 10 437 9 102 2,380 300,000 11,679 +Missouri . . . . . . . . 2 2 25 15 209 1,750 46,660 7,680 1,300 +Nebraska . . . . . . . . 1 25,000 +Nevada . . . . . . . . . 1 +New Hampshire . . . . . 1 10 44 1,200 100,000 4,800 +New Jersey . . . . . . . 1 14 54 +New York . . . . . . . . 1 0 0 52 259 253,509 +North Carolina . . . . . 1 0 0 7 24 2,000 7,500 +Ohio . . . . . . . . . . 1 7 93 13 124 1,600 500,000 33,923 3,798 +Oregon . . . . . . . . . 1 3 60 10,000 5,000 +Pennsylvania . . . . . . 1 5 45 12 44 3,000 532,000 30,000 0 +Rhode Island . . . . . . 1 +South Carolina . . . . . 2 4 58 26,500 25,000 11,508 +Tennessee . . . . . . . 1 25,410 +Texas . . . . . . . . . 1 0 0 18 127 1,090 212,000 14,280 4,191 +Vermont . . . . . . . . 1 0 0 9 23 8,130 +Virginia . . . . . . . . 2 1 108 33 320 2,200 521,080 23,500 100 +West Virginia . . . . . 1 +Wisconsin . . . . . . . 1 0 0 18 124 200,000 15,322 18 + + Total . . . . . . . . 46 52 1,911 465 4,281 109,732 $6,308,881 $491,229 $99,511 + +U. S. Military Academy . 1 0 0 52 228 28,208 2,500,000 0 0 +U. S. Naval Academy . . 1 0 0 65 261 22,629 1,292,390 0 0 + + Grand total . . . . . 48 52 1,911 582 4,770 160,569 $10,101,271 $491,229 $99,511 + +Part II.--Insitutions not endowed with National Land-Grant. + + Number of Schools. + | No. Instructors. ) Preparatory Department. + | | No. Students.) + | | | No. Instructors. ) Scientific Department. +STATES. | | | | No. Students.) + | | | | | No. Volumes in General Libraries. + | | | | | | Value of Grounds, Buildings, and Apparatus. + | | | | | | | Income from Productive Funds. + | | | | | | | | Receipts for the last Year from Tuition Fees. +California . . . . . . . 1 2 34 5 68 300 +Colorado . . . . . . . . 2 8 83 600 $15,000 $1,500 +Georgia . . . . . . . . 1 +Indiana . . . . . . . . 1 900 135,000 $15,000 +Massachusetts . . . . . 5 103 224 6,200 188,500 72,755 10,050 +Michigan . . . . . . . . 1 3 7 +Missouri . . . . . . . . 1 5 249 17 153 125,000 +New Hampshire . . . . . 2 16 50 2,000 1,700 11,000 2,160 +New Jersey . . . . . . . 2 29 156 5,000 650,000 43,450 19,780 +New York . . . . . . . . 5 84 2,586 24,393 2,000,000 43,495 44,100 +Ohio . . . . . . . . . . 3 6 100,000 9,734 +Pennsylvania . . . . . . 8 7 89 2,268 42,468 594,000 6,050 +Vermont . . . . . . . . 1 10 20 4,000 20,000 1,000 +Virginia . . . . . . . . 3 8 123 550 400,000 1,200 7,000 +District of Columbia . . 1 + + Total . . . . . . . . 37 7 290 378 5,738 86,411 $4,229,200 $202,684 $85,590 + +GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE FOREGOING STATISTICS RESPECTING SUPERIOR +INSTRUCTION. + +Adding the statistics of public and private schools of science (i.e., +schools endowed and schools not endowed with the public land-grant) to +those of universities and colleges, we have the following totals: Number +of institutions, 447; number of instructors in preparatory departments, +879, in collegiate and scientific departments, 4,501; number of students +in preparatory departments, 31,160, in collegiate and scientific +departments, 42,967; income from productive funds, $3,311,921; income +from tuition, $2,265,551; volumes in college libraries, 2,769,203; value +of grounds, buildings, and apparatus, $54,586,447. + + +APPENDIX S. + +An exhibit of the legal-tender currency in circulation on the first day +of January and the first day of July in each year since the first +greenback was issued in 1862. + +Date. Amount. +Jan. 1, 1863 . . $223,108,000 +July 1, 1863 . . 297,767,114 +Jan. 1, 1864 . . 444,825,022 +July 1, 1864 . . 431,178,671 +Jan. 1, 1865 . . 447,074,374 +July 1, 1865 . . 432,687,966 +Jan. 1, 1866 . . 425,839,319 +July 1, 1866 . . 400,619,206 +Jan. 1, 1867 . . 380,276,160 +July 1, 1867 . . 371,783,597 +Jan. 1, 1868 . . 356,000,000 +July 1, 1868 . . 356,000,000 +Jan. 1, 1869 . . 356,000,000 +July 1, 1869 . . 356,000,000 +Jan. 1, 1870 . . 356,000,000 +July 1, 1870 . . 356,000,000 +Jan. 1, 1871 . . 356,000,000 +July 1, 1871 . . 356,000,000 +Jan. 1, 1872 . . 357,500,000 +July 1, 1872 . . 357,500,000 +Jan. 1, 1873 . . 358,557,907 +July 1, 1873 . . 356,000,000 +Jan. 1, 1874 . . 378,401,702 +July 1, 1874 . . 382,000,000 +Jan. 1, 1875 . . 382,000,000 +July 1, 1875 . . 375,771,580 +Jan. 1, 1876 . . 371,827,220 +July 1, 1876 . . 369,772,284 +Jan. 1, 1877 . . 366,055,084 +July 1, 1877 . . 359,764,332 +Jan. 1, 1878 . . 349,943,776 +July 1, 1878 . . 346,681,016 +Jan. 1, 1879 . . 346,681,016 +July 1, 1879 . . 346,681,016 +Jan. 1, 1880 . . 346,681,016 +July 1, 1880 . . 346,681,016 +Jan. 1, 1881 . . 346,681,016 +July 1, 1881 . . 346,681,016 +Jan. 1, 1882 . . 346,681,016 +July 1, 1882 . . 346,681,016 +Jan. 1, 1883 . . 346,681,016 +July 1, 1883 . . 346,681,016 +Jan. 1, 1884 . . 346,681,016 + + +APPENDIX T. + +This table presents the number of national banks each year from the +passage of the original Bank Act, with the average capital, deposits, +and circulation for each year on or near October 1 = from 1863 to 1883. + + No. of +Years. Banks. Capital. Deposits. Circulation. +1863 . . 66 $7,188,393 $8,497,682 +1864 . . 508 86,782,802 122,166,536 $45,260,504 +1865 . . 1,513 393,157,206 500,910,873 171,321,903 +1866 . . 1,644 415,472,369 564,616,778 280,253,818 +1867 . . 1,642 420,073,415 540,797,838 293,887,941 +1868 . . 1,643 420,634,511 580,940,821 295,593,645 +1869 . . 1,617 426,399,151 511,400,197 293,593,645 +1870 . . 1,648 430,399,301 501,407,587 291,798,640 +1871 . . 1,790 458,255,696 600,868,487 315,519,117 +1872 . . 1,940 479,629,174 613,290,671 333,495,027 +1873 . . 1,976 491,072,616 622,685,563 339,081,799 +1874 . . 2,027 493,765,121 669,068,996 333,225,298 +1875 . . 2,087 504,829,769 664,579,619 318,350,379 +1876 . . 2,089 499,802,232 651,385,210 291,544,020 +1877 . . 2,080 479,467,771 616,403,987 291,874,236 +1878 . . 2,053 466,147,436 620,236,176 301,888,092 +1879 . . 2,048 454,067,365 719,737,568 313,786,342 +1880 . . 2,090 457,553,985 873,537,637 317,350,036 +1881 . . 2,132 463,821,985 1,070,997,531 320,200,069 +1882 . . 2,269 483,104,213 1,122,472,682 314,721,215 +1883 . . 2,501 509,699,787 1,049,437,700 310,517,857 + + +APPENDIX U. + +The following table exhibits the principal items contained in the +returns of the State banks of the country, yearly, from 1834 to 1861:-- + + No. of +Years. Banks. Capital. Deposits. Circulation. +1834 . . 506 $200,005,944 $75,666,986 $94,839,570 +1835 . . 704 231,250,337 83,081,365 103,692,495 +1836 . . 713 251,875,292 115,104,440 140,301,038 +1837 . . 788 251,875,292 115,104,440 140,185,890 +1838 . . 829 317,636,778 84,601,184 116,138,910 +1839 . . 840 327,132,512 90,240,146 135,170,995 +1840 . . 901 358,442,692 75,696,857 106,968,572 +1841 . . 784 313,608,959 64,800,101 107,200,214 +1842 . . 692 260,171,797 62,408,870 83,734,011 +1843 . . 691 228,861,948 56,168,623 58,563,608 +1844 . . 696 210,872,056 84,550,785 75,167,646 +1845 . . 707 206,045,969 88,020,646 89,608,711 +1846 . . 707 196,894,309 96,913,070 105,552,427 +1847 . . 715 203,070,622 91,792,533 105,519,766 +1848 . . 751 204,838,175 103,226,177 128,506,091 +1849 . . 782 207,309,361 91,178,623 114,743,415 +1850 . . 824 217,317,211 109,586,585 131,366,526 +1851 . . 879 227,807,553 128,957,712 155,165,251 +1852 . . 914 247,858,036 137,255,794 150,619,015 +1853 . . 950 267,908,519 145,533,876 146,072,780 +1854 . . 1,208 301,376,071 188,188,744 204,680,207 +1855 . . 1,307 332,177,288 190,400,342 186,952,223 +1856 . . 1,398 343,874,272 212,705,662 195,747,950 +1857 . . 1,416 370,834,686 230,351,352 214,778,822 +1858 . . 1,422 394,622,799 185,932,049 155,208,244 +1859 . . 1,476 401,976,242 259,568,278 193,306,818 +1860 . . 1,562 421,880,095 253,802,129 207,102,477 +1861 . . 1,601 429,592,713 257,229,562 202,005,767 + + +APPENDIX V. + +MAP SHOWING THE TERRITORIAL GROWTH OF THE UNITED STATES. + +The annexed map is designed to show, clearly and accurately, the +territorial extent of the United States as established by the Treaty +of 1783, with the various additions since made, by purchase, conquest, +or voluntary annexation. + +The map is intended to illustrate many parts of the text, and, in +connection with the various Appendices, will exhibit within small +compass the expansion of free institutions, the growth of population, +and the increase of material wealth with which the Republic has been +blessed. + +[map omitted] + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2), by +James Gillespie Blaine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY YEARS OF CONGRESS *** + +***** This file should be named 21128.txt or 21128.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/1/2/21128/ + +Produced by Ed Ferris + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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