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If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: My Diary: North and South (vol. 2 of 2) - -Author: William Howard Russell - -Release Date: May 19, 2022 [eBook #68126] - -Language: English - -Produced by: MWS, John Campbell and the Online Distributed Proofreading - Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from - images generously made available by The Internet - Archive/American Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY DIARY: NORTH AND SOUTH -(VOL. 2 OF 2) *** - - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE - - Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. - - Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been - placed at the end of the book. - - Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. - - - - -MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH. - - - - - MY DIARY - - NORTH AND SOUTH. - - - BY - WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL. - - - IN TWO VOLUMES. - - VOL. II. - - - LONDON: - BRADBURY AND EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET. - 1863. - - [_The right of Translation is reserved._] - - - - - LONDON: - BRADBURY AND EVANS PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. - - - - - CONTENTS. - - - CHAPTER I. - PAGE - Down the Mississippi--Hotel at Vicksburg--Dinner--Public - meeting--News of the progress of the war--Slavery and - England--Jackson--Governor Pettus--Insecurity of life--Strong - Southern enthusiasm--Troops bound for the North--Approach to - Memphis--Slaves for sale--Memphis--General Pillow 1 - - CHAPTER II. - - Camp Randolph--Cannon practice--Volunteers--“Dixie”--Forced - return from the South--Apathy of the North--General retrospect of - politics--Energy and earnestness of the South--Firearms--Position - of Great Britain towards the belligerents--Feeling towards the - Old Country 22 - - - CHAPTER III. - - Heavy Bill--Railway travelling--Introductions--Assassinations - --Tennessee--“Corinth”--“Troy”--“Humbolt”--“The Confederate - camp”--Return Northwards--Columbus--Cairo--The slavery question - --Prospects of the war--Coarse journalism 41 - - - CHAPTER IV. - - Camp at Cairo--The North and the South in respect to Europe-- - Political reflections--Mr. Colonel Oglesby--My speech--Northern - and Southern soldiers compared--American country-walks-- - Recklessness of life--Want of cavalry--Emeute in the camp-- - Defects of army medical department--Horrors of war--Bad - discipline 63 - - - CHAPTER V. - - Impending battle--By railway to Chicago--Northern enlightenment - --Mound City--“Cotton is King”--Land in the States--Dead level of - American society--Return into the Union--American homes--Across - the prairie--White labourers--New pillager--Lake Michigan 77 - - - CHAPTER VI. - - Progress of events--Policy of Great Britain as regarded by - the North--The American Press and its comments--Privacy a - luxury--Chicago--Senator Douglas and his widow--American - ingratitude--Apathy in volunteering--Colonel Turchin’s camp 88 - - CHAPTER VII. - - Niagara--Impression of the Falls--Battle scenes in the - neighbourhood--A village of Indians--General Scott--Hostile - movements on both sides--The Hudson--Military school at West - Point--Return to New York--Altered appearance of the city-- - Misery and suffering--Altered state of public opinion as to - the Union and towards Great Britain 96 - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - Departure for Washington--A “servant”--The American Press on - the War--Military aspect of the States--Philadelphia--Baltimore - --Washington--Lord Lyons--Mr. Sumner--Irritation against Great - Britain--“Independence” day--Meeting of Congress--General - state of affairs 114 - - - CHAPTER IX. - - Interview with Mr. Seward--My passport--Mr. Seward’s views - as to the war--Illumination at Washington--My “servant” - absents himself--New York journalism--The Capitol--Interior of - Congress--The President’s Message--Speeches in Congress--Lord - Lyons--General M‘Dowell--Low standard in the army--Accident to - the “Stars and Stripes”--A street row--Mr. Bigelow--Mr. N.P. - Willis 124 - - - CHAPTER X. - - Arlington Heights and the Potomac--Washington--The Federal - camp--General M‘Dowell--Flying rumours--Newspaper correspondents - --General Fremont--Silencing the Press and Telegraph--A Loan - Bill--Interview with Mr. Cameron--Newspaper criticism on Lord - Lyons--Rumours about M‘Clellan--The Northern army as reported - and as it is--General M‘Clellan 142 - - - CHAPTER XI. - - Fortress Monroe--General Butler--Hospital accommodation--Wounded - soldiers--Aristocratic pedigrees--A great gun--Newport - News--Fraudulent contractors--General Butler--Artillery - practice--Contraband negroes--Confederate lines--Tombs of - American loyalists--Troops and contractors--Duryea’s New York - Zouaves--Military calculations--A voyage by steamer to - Annapolis 160 - - - CHAPTER XII. - - The “State House” at Annapolis--Washington--General Scott’s - quarters--Want of a staff--Rival camps--Demand for horses--Popular - excitement--Lord Lyons--General M‘Dowell’s movements--Retreat - from Fairfax Court House--General Scott’s quarters--General - Mansfield--Battle of Bull’s Run 186 - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - Skirmish at Bull’s Run--The crisis in Congress--Dearth of - horses--War prices at Washington--Estimate of the effects of - Bull’s Run--Password and countersign--Transatlantic view of - “The Times”--Difficulties of a newspaper correspondent in - the field 202 - - - CHAPTER XIV. - - To the scene of action--The Confederate camp--Centreville-- - Action at Bull Run--Defeat of the Federals--Disorderly retreat - to Centreville--My ride back to Washington 214 - - - CHAPTER XV. - - A runaway crowd at Washington--The army of the Potomac in - retreat--Mail-day--Want of order and authority--Newspaper - lies--Alarm at Washington--Confederate prisoners--General - M‘Clellan--M. Mercier--Effects of the defeat on Mr. Seward and - the President--M‘Dowell--General Patterson 250 - - - CHAPTER XVI. - - Attack of illness--General M‘Clellan--Reception at the White - House--Drunkenness among the Volunteers--Visit from Mr. - Olmsted--Georgetown--Intense heat--M‘Clellan and the Newspapers - --Reception at Mr. Seward’s--Alexandria--A storm--Sudden death - of an English officer--The Maryland Club--A Prayer and Fast - Day--Financial difficulties 267 - - - CHAPTER XVII. - - Return to Baltimore--Colonel Carroll--A priest’s view of the - abolition of Slavery--Slavery in Maryland--Harper’s Ferry--John - Brown--Back by train to Washington--Further accounts of Bull - Run--American vanity--My own unpopularity for speaking the - truth--Killing a “Nigger” no murder--Navy Department 284 - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - - A tour of inspection round the camp--A troublesome - horse--M‘Dowell and the President--My opinion of Bull Run - indorsed by American officers--Influence of the Press--Newspaper - correspondents--Dr. Bray--My letters--Captain Meagher--Military - adventures--Probable duration of the war--Lord A. Vane - Tempest--The American journalist--Threats of assassination 304 - - - CHAPTER XIX. - - Personal unpopularity--American naval officers--A gun levelled - at me in fun--Increase of odium against me--Success of the - Hatteras expedition--General Scott and M‘Clellan--M‘Clellan on - his camp-bed--General Scott’s pass refused--Prospect of an - attack on Washington--Skirmishing--Anonymous letters--General - Halleck--General M‘Clellan and the Sabbath--Rumoured death of - Jefferson Davis--Spread of my unpopularity--An offer for my - horse--Dinner at the Legation--Discussion on Slavery 320 - - - CHAPTER XX. - - A Crimean acquaintance--Personal abuse of myself--Close - firing--A reconnaissance--Major-General Bell--The Prince de - Joinville and his nephews--American estimate of Louis Napoleon - --Arrest of members of the Maryland Legislature--Life at - Washington--War cries--News from the Far West--Journey to the - Western States--Along the Susquehannah and Juniata--Chicago-- - Sport in the prairie--Arrested for shooting on Sunday--The - town of Dwight--Return to Washington--Mr. Seward and myself 341 - - - CHAPTER XXI. - - Another Crimean acquaintance--Summary dismissal of a newspaper - correspondent--Dinner at Lord Lyons’--Review of artillery-- - “Habeas Corpus”--The President’s duties--M‘Clellan’s policy--The - Union army--Soldiers and the patrol--Public men in America--Mr. - Seward and Lord Lyons--A judge placed under arrest--Death and - funeral of Senator Baker--Disorderly troops and officers-- - Official fibs--Duck-shooting at Baltimore 366 - - - CHAPTER XXII. - - General Scott’s resignation--Mrs. A. Lincoln--Unofficial mission - to Europe--Uneasy feeling with regard to France--Ball given - by the United States cavalry--The United States army--Success - at Beaufort--Arrests--Dinner at Mr. Seward’s--News of Captain - Wilkes and the Trent--Messrs. Mason and Slidell--Discussion - as to Wilkes--Prince de Joinville--The American press on the - Trent affair--Absence of thieves in Washington--“Thanksgiving - Day”--Success thus far in favour of the North 392 - - - CHAPTER XXIII. - - A Captain under arrest--Opening of Congress--Colonel Dutassy--An - ex-pugilist turned Senator--Mr. Cameron--Ball in the officers’ - huts--Presentation of standards at Arlington--Dinner at - Lord Lyons’--Paper currency--A polyglot dinner--Visit to - Washington’s Tomb--Mr. Chase’s Report--Colonel Seaton--Unanimity - of the South--The Potomac blockade--A Dutch-American Crimean - acquaintance--The American Lawyers on the Trent affair--Mr. - Sumner--M‘Clellan’s Army--Impressions produced in America by - the English Press on the affair of the Trent--Mr. Sumner on the - crisis--Mutual feelings between the two nations--Rumours of war - with Great Britain 410 - - - CHAPTER XXIV. - - News of the death of the Prince Consort--Mr. Sumner and - the Trent Affair--His dispatch to Lord Russell--The Southern - Commissioners given up--Effects on the friends of the South--My - own unpopularity at New York--Attack of fever--My tour in - Canada--My return to New York in February--Successes of the - Western States--Mr. Stanton succeeds Mr. Cameron as Secretary - of War--Reverse and retreat of M‘Clellan--My free pass--The - Merrimac and Monitor--My arrangement to accompany M‘Clellan’s - head-quarters--Mr. Stanton refuses his sanction--National vanity - wounded by my truthfulness--My retirement and my return to - Europe 426 - - - - -MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - Down the Mississippi--Hotel at Vicksburg--Dinner--Public - meeting--News of the progress of the war--Slavery and - England--Jackson--Governor Pettus--Insecurity of life--Strong - Southern enthusiasm--Troops bound for the North--Approach to - Memphis--Slaves for sale--Memphis--General Pillow. - - -_Friday, June 14th._--Last night with my good host from his -plantation to the great two-storied steamer General Quitman, at -Natchez. She was crowded with planters, soldiers and their families, -and as the lights shone out of her windows, looked like a walled -castle blazing from double lines of embrasures. - -The Mississippi is assuredly the most uninteresting river in the -world, and I can only describe it hereabout by referring to the -account of its appearance which I have already given--not a particle -of romance in spite of oratorical patriots and prophets, can ever -shine from its depths, sacred to cat and buffalo fish, or vivify its -turbid waters. - -Before noon we were in sight of Vicksburg, which is situated on a -high bank or bluff on the left bank of the river, about 400 miles -above New Orleans and some 120 miles from Natchez. - -Mr. MacMeekan, the proprietor of the “Washington,” declares himself -to have been the pioneer of hotels in the far west; but he has now -built himself this huge caravanserai, and rests from his wanderings. -We entered the dining saloon, and found the tables closely packed -with a numerous company of every condition in life, from generals -and planters down to soldiers in the uniform of privates. At the -end of the room there was a long table on which the joints and -dishes were brought hot from the kitchen to be carved by the negro -waiters, male and female, and as each was brought in the proprietor, -standing in the centre of the room, shouted out with a loud voice, -“Now, then, here is a splendid goose! ladies and gentlemen, don’t -neglect the goose and apple-sauce! Here’s a piece of beef that _I_ -can recommend! upon my honour you will never regret taking a slice of -the beef. Oyster-pie! oyster-pie! never was better oyster-pie seen in -Vicksburg. Run about, boys, and take orders. Ladies and gentlemen, -just look at that turkey! who’s for turkey?”--and so on, wiping the -perspiration from his forehead and combating with the flies. - -Altogether it was a semi-barbarous scene, but the host was active and -attentive; and after all, his recommendations were very much like -those which it was the habit of the taverners in old London to call -out in the streets to the passers-by when the joints were ready. The -little negroes who ran about to take orders were smart, but now and -then came into violent collision, and were cuffed incontinently. One -mild-looking little fellow stood by my chair and appeared so sad that -I asked him “Are you happy, my boy?” He looked quite frightened. -“Why don’t you answer me?” “I’se afeered, sir; I can’t tell that to -Massa.” “Is not your master kind to you?” “Massa very kind man, sir; -very good man when he is not angry with me,” and his eyes filled with -tears to the brim. - -The war fever is rife in Vicksburg, and the Irish and German -labourers, to the extent of several hundreds, have all gone off to -the war. - -When dinner was over, the mayor and several gentlemen of the city -were good enough to request that I would attend a meeting, at a room -in the railway-station, where some of the inhabitants of the town had -assembled. Accordingly I went to the terminus and found a room filled -with gentlemen. Large china bowls, blocks of ice, bottles of wine and -spirits, and boxes of cigars were on the table, and all the materials -for a symposium. - -The company discussed recent events, some of which I learned for the -first time. Dislike was expressed to the course of the authorities in -demanding negro labour for the fortifications along the river, and -uneasiness was expressed respecting a negro plot in Arkansas; but -the most interesting matter was Judge Taney’s protest against the -legality of the President’s course in suspending the writ of _habeas -corpus_ in the case of Merriman. The lawyers who were present at this -meeting were delighted with his argument, which insists that Congress -alone can suspend the writ, and that the President, cannot legally do -so. - -The news of the defeat of an expedition from Fortress Monroe against -a Confederate post at Great Bethel, has caused great rejoicing. The -accounts show that there was the grossest mismanagement on the part -of the Federal officers. The Northern papers particularly regret the -loss of Major Winthrop, aide-de-camp to General Butler, a writer of -promise. At four o’clock p.m. I bade the company farewell, and the -train started for Jackson. The line runs through a poor clay country, -cut up with gulleys and water-courses made by violent rain. - -There were a number of volunteer soldiers in the train; and their -presence no doubt attracted the girls and women who waved flags and -cheered for Jeff. Davis and States Rights. Well, as I travel on -through such scenes, with a fine critical nose in the air, I ask -myself “Is any Englishman better than these publicans and sinners in -regard to this question of slavery?” It was not on moral or religious -grounds that our ancestors abolished serfdom. And if to-morrow our -good farmers, deprived of mowers, reapers, ploughmen, hedgers and -ditchers, were to find substitutes in certain people of a dark skin -assigned to their use by Act of Parliament, I fear they would be -almost as ingenious as the Rev. Dr. Seabury in discovering arguments -physiological, ethnological, and biblical for the retention of -their property. And an evil day would it be for them if they were -so tempted; for assuredly, without any derogation to the intellect -of the Southern men, it may be said that a large proportion of the -population is in a state of very great moral degradation compared -with civilised Anglo-Saxon communities. - -The man is more natural, and more reckless; he has more of the -qualities of the Arab than are to be reconciled with civilisation; -and it is only among the upper classes that the influences of the -aristocratic condition which is generated by the subjection of -masses of men to their fellow-man are to be found. - -At six o’clock the train stopped in the country at a railway crossing -by the side of a large platform. On the right was a common, bounded -by a few detached wooden houses, separated by palings from each -other, and surrounded by rows of trees. In front of the station -were two long wooden sheds, which, as the signboard indicates, were -exchanges or drinking saloons; and beyond these again were visible -some rudimentary streets of straggling houses, above which rose three -pretentious spires and domes, resolved into insignificance by nearer -approach. This was Jackson. - -Our host was at the station in his carriage, and drove us to his -residence, which consisted of some detached houses shaded by trees -in a small enclosure, and bounded by a kitchen garden. He was one of -the men who had been filled with the afflatus of 1848, and joined -the Young Ireland party before it had seriously committed itself to -an unfortunate outbreak; and when all hope of success had vanished, -he sought, like many others of his countrymen, a shelter under the -stars and stripes, which, like most of the Irish settled in Southern -States, he was now bent on tearing asunder. He has the honour of -being mayor of Jackson, and of enjoying a competitive examination -with his medical rivals for the honour of attending the citizens. - -In the evening I walked out with him to the adjacent city, which has -no title to the name, except as being the State capital. The mushroom -growth of these States, using that phrase merely as to their rapid -development, raises hamlets in a small space to the dignity of -cities. It is in such outlying expansion of the great republic that -the influence of the foreign emigration is most forcibly displayed. -It would be curious to inquire, for example, how many men there are -in the city of Jackson exercising mechanical arts or engaged in small -commerce, in skilled or manual labour, who are really Americans in -the proper sense of the word. I was struck by the names over the -doors of the shops, which were German, Irish, Italian, French, and by -foreign tongues and accents in the streets; but, on the other hand, -it is the native-born American who obtains the highest political -stations and arrogates to himself the largest share of governmental -emoluments. - -Jackson proper consists of strings of wooden houses, with white -porticoes and pillars a world too wide for their shrunk rooms, and -various religious and other public edifices, of the hydrocephalic -order of architecture, where vulgar cupola and exaggerated steeple -tower above little bodies far too feeble to support them. There -are of course a monster hotel and blazing bar-rooms--the former -celebrated as the scene of many a serious difficulty, out of some of -which the participators never escaped alive. The streets consist of -rows of houses such as I have seen at Macon, Montgomery, and Bâton -Rouge; and as we walked towards the capital or State-house there -were many more invitations “to take a drink” addressed to my friend -and me than we were able to comply with. Our steps were bent to the -State-house, which is a pile of stone, with open colonnades, and an -air of importance at a distance which a nearer examination of its -dilapidated condition does not confirm. Mr. Pettus, the Governor of -the State of Mississippi, was in the Capitol; and on sending in our -cards, we were introduced to his room, which certainly was of more -than republican simplicity. The apartment was surrounded with some -common glass cases, containing papers and odd volumes of books; the -furniture, a table or desk, and a few chairs and a ragged carpet; -the glass in the windows cracked and broken; the walls and ceiling -discoloured by mildew. - -The Governor is a silent man, of abrupt speech, but easy of access; -and, indeed, whilst we were speaking, strangers and soldiers walked -in and out of his room, looked around them, and acted in all respects -as if they were in a public-house, except in ordering drinks. This -grim, tall, angular man seemed to me such a development of public -institutions in the South as Mr. Seward was in a higher phase in the -North. For years he hunted deer and trapped in the forest of the far -west, and lived in a Natty Bumpo or David Crocket state of life; -and he was not ashamed of the fact when taunted with it during his -election contest, but very rightly made the most of his independence -and his hard work. - -The pecuniary honours of his position are not very great as Governor -of the enormous State of Mississippi. He has simply an income of -£800 a year and a house provided for his use; he is not only quite -contented with what he has but believes that the society in which he -lives is the highest development of civilised life, notwithstanding -the fact that there are more outrages on the person in his State, -nay, more murders perpetrated in the very capital, than were known in -the worst days of mediæval Venice or Florence;--indeed, as a citizen -said to me, “Well, I think our average in Jackson is a murder a -month;” but he used a milder name for the crime. - -The Governor conversed on the aspect of affairs, and evinced that -wonderful confidence in his own people which, whether it arises from -ignorance of the power of the North, or a conviction of greater -resources, is to me so remarkable. “Well, sir,” said he, dropping -a portentous plug of tobacco just outside the spittoon, with the -air of a man who wished to show he could have hit the centre if he -liked, “England is no doubt a great country, and has got fleets -and the like of that, and may have a good deal to do in Eu-_rope_; -but the sovereign State of Mississippi can do a great deal better -without England than England can do without her.” Having some slight -recollection of Mississippi repudiation, in which Mr. Jefferson Davis -was so actively engaged, I thought it possible that the Governor -might be right; and after a time his Excellency shook me by the hand, -and I left, much wondering within myself what manner of men they -must be in the State of Mississippi when Mr. Pettus is their chosen -Governor; and yet, after all, he is honest and fierce; and perhaps he -is so far qualified as well as any other man to be Governor of the -State. There are newspapers, electric telegraphs, and railways; there -are many educated families, even much good society, I am told, in the -State; but the larger masses of the people struck me as being in a -condition not much elevated from that of the original backwoodsman. -On my return to the Doctor’s house I found some letters which had -been forwarded to me from New Orleans had gone astray, and I was -obliged, therefore, to make arrangements for my departure on the -following evening. - -_June 16th._--I was compelled to send my excuses to Governor Pettus, -and remained quietly within the house of my host, entreating him -to protect me from visitors and especially my own _confrères_, -that I might secure a few hours even in that ardent heat to write -letters to home. Now, there is some self-denial required, if -one be at all solicitous of the _popularis aura_, to offend the -susceptibilities of the irritable genus in America. It may make all -the difference between millions of people hearing and believing you -are a high-toned, whole-souled gentleman or a wretched ignorant -and prejudiced John Bull; but, nevertheless, the solid pudding of -self-content and the satisfaction of doing one’s work are preferable -to the praise even of a New York newspaper editor. - -When my work was over I walked out and sat in the shade with a -gentleman whose talk turned upon the practises of the Mississippi -duello. Without the smallest animus, and in the most natural way -in the world, he told us tale after tale of blood, and recounted -terrible tragedies enacted outside bars of hotels and in the public -streets close beside us. The very air seemed to become purple as he -spoke, the land around a veritable “Aceldama.” There may, indeed, be -security for property, but there is none for the life of its owner in -difficulties, who may be shot by a stray bullet from a pistol as he -walks up the street. - -I learned many valuable facts. I was warned, for example, against the -impolicy of trusting to small-bored pistols or to pocket six-shooters -in case of a close fight, because suppose you hit your man mortally -he may still run in upon you and rip you up with a bowie knife before -he falls dead; whereas if you drive a good heavy bullet into him, -or make a hole in him with a “Derringer” ball, he gets faintish and -drops at once. - -Many illustrations, too, were given of the value of practical lessons -of this sort. One particularly struck me. If a gentleman with whom -you are engaged in altercation moves his hand towards his breeches -pocket, or behind his back, you must smash him or shoot him at once, -for he is either going to draw his six-shooter, to pull out a bowie -knife, or to shoot you through the lining of his pocket. The latter -practice is considered rather ungentlemanly, but it has somewhat -been more honoured lately in the observance than in the breach. In -fact, the savage practice of walking about with pistols, knifes, -and poniards, in bar-rooms and gambling-saloons, with passions -ungoverned, because there is no law to punish the deeds to which they -lead, affords facilities for crime which an uncivilised condition of -society leaves too often without punishment, but which must be put -down or the country in which it is tolerated will become as barbarous -as a jungle inhabited by wild beasts. - -Our host gave me an early dinner, at which I met some of the citizens -of Jackson, and at six o’clock I proceeded by the train for Memphis. -The carriages were of course, full of soldiers or volunteers, -bound for a large camp at a place called Corinth, who made night -hideous by their song and cries, stimulated by enormous draughts of -whiskey and a proportionate consumption of tobacco, by teeth and by -fire. The heat in the carriages added to the discomforts arising -from these causes, and from great quantities of biting insects in -the sleeping places. The people have all the air and manners of -settlers. Altogether the impression produced on my mind was by no -means agreeable, and I felt as if I was indeed in the land of Lynch -law and bowie knives, where the passions of men have not yet been -subordinated to the influence of the tribunals of justice. Much of -this feeling has no doubt been produced by the tales to which I have -been listening around me--most of which have a smack of manslaughter -about them. - -_June 17th._ If it was any consolation to me that the very noisy -and very turbulent warriors of last night were exceedingly sick, -dejected, and crestfallen this morning, I had it to the full. Their -cries for water were incessant to allay the internal fires caused -by “40 rod” and “60 rod,” as whiskey is called, which is supposed -to kill people at those distances. Their officers had no control -over them--and the only authority they seemed to respect was that -of the “gentlemanly” conductor whom they were accustomed to fear -individually, as he is a great man in America and has much authority -and power to make himself disagreeable if he likes. - -The victory at Big or Little Bethel has greatly elated these men, -and they think they can walk all over the Northern States. It was -a relief to get out of the train for a few minutes at a station -called Holly Springs, where the passengers breakfasted at a dirty -table on most execrable coffee, corn bread, rancid butter, and very -dubious meats, and the wild soldiers outside made the most of their -time, as they had recovered from their temporary depression by this -time, and got out on the tops of the carriages, over which they -performed tumultuous dances to the music of their band, and the great -admiration of the surrounding negrodom. Their demeanour is very -unlike that of the unexcitable staid people of the North. - -There were in the train some Texans who were going to Richmond -to offer their services to Mr. Davis. They denounced Sam Houston -as a traitor, but admitted there were some Unionists, or as they -termed them, Lincolnite skunks, in the State. The real object of -their journey was, in my mind, to get assistance from the Southern -Confederacy, to put down their enemies in Texas. - -In order to conceal from the minds of the people that the government -at Washington claims to be that of the United States, the press -politicians and speakers divert their attention to the names of -Lincoln, Seward, and other black republicans, and class the whole of -the North together as the Abolitionists. They call the Federal levies -“Lincoln’s mercenaries” and “abolition hordes,” though their own -troops are paid at the same rate as those of the United States. This -is a common mode of procedure in revolutions and rebellions, and is -not unfrequent in wars. - -The enthusiasm for the Southern cause among all the people is most -remarkable,--the sight of the flag waving from the carriage windows -drew all the population of the hamlets and the workers in the field, -black and white, to the side of the carriages to cheer for Jeff. -Davis and the Southern Confederacy, and to wave whatever they could -lay hold of in the air. The country seems very poorly cultivated, -the fields full of stumps of trees, and the plantation houses very -indifferent. At every station more “soldiers,” as they are called, -got in, till the smell and heat were suffocating. - -These men were as fanciful in their names and dress as could be. -In the train which preceded us there was a band of volunteers armed -with rifled pistols and enormous bowie knives, who called themselves -“The Toothpick Company.” They carried along with them a coffin, with -a plate inscribed, “Abe Lincoln, died ----,” and declared they were -“bound” to bring his body back in it, and that they did not intend -to use muskets or rifles, but just go in with knife and six-shooter, -and whip the Yankees straight away. How astonished they will be when -the first round shot flies into them, or a cap full of grape rattles -about their bowie knives. - -At the station of Grand Junction, north of Holly Springs, which -latter is 210 miles north of Jackson, several hundreds of our warrior -friends were turned out in order to take the train north-westward for -Richmond, Virginia. The 1st Company, seventy rank and file, consisted -of Irishmen armed with sporting rifles without bayonets. Five-sixths -of the 2nd Company, who were armed with muskets, were of the same -nationality. The 3rd Company were all Americans. The 4th Company -were almost all Irish. Some were in green others were in grey, the -Americans who were in blue had not yet received their arms. When the -word fix bayonets was given by the officer, a smart keen-looking man, -there was an astonishing hurry and tumult in the ranks. - -“Now then, Sweeny, whar are yes dhriven me too? Is it out of the -redjmint amongst the officers yer shovin’ me?” - -“Sullivan, don’t ye hear we’re to fix beenits?” - -“Sarjent, jewel, wud yes ayse the shtrap of me baynit?” - -“If ye prod me wid that agin; I’ll let dayloite into ye.” - -The officer, reading, “No 23, James Phelan.” - -No reply. - -Officer again, “No. 23, James Phelan.” - -Voice from the rank, “Shure, captain, and faix Phelan’s gone, he wint -at the last depôt.” - -“No. 40, Miles Corrigan.” - -Voice further on, “He’s the worse for dhrink in the cars, yer honour, -and says he’ll shoot us if we touch him;” and so on. - -But these fellows were, nevertheless, the material for fighting -and for marching after proper drill and with good officers, even -though there was too large a proportion of old men and young lads in -the ranks. To judge from their dress these recruits came from the -labouring and poorest classes of whites. The officers affected a -French cut and bearing with indifferent success, and in the luggage -vans there were three foolish young women with slop-dress imitation -clothes of the Vivandière type, who, with dishevelled hair, dirty -faces, and dusty hats and jackets, looked sad, sorry, and absurd. -Their notions of propriety did not justify them in adopting straps, -boots, and trousers, and the rest of the tawdry ill-made costume -looked very bad indeed. - -The train which still bore a large number of soldiers for the camp -of Corinth, proceeded through dreary swamps, stunted forests, and -clearings of the rudest kind at very long intervals. We had got -out of the cotton district and were entering poorer soil, or land -which, when cleared, was devoted to wheat and corn, and I was told -that the crops ran from forty to sixty bushels to the acre. A more -uninteresting country than this portion of the State of Mississippi I -have never witnessed. There was some variety of scenery about Holly -Springs where undulating ground covered with wood, diversified the -aspect of the flat, but since that we have been travelling through -mile after mile of insignificantly grown timber and swamps. - -On approaching Memphis the line ascends towards the bluff of the -Mississippi, and farms of a better appearance come in sight on the -side of the rail; but after all I do not envy the fate of the man -who, surrounded by slaves and shut out from the world, has to pass -his life in this dismal region, be the crops never so good. - -At a station where a stone pillar marks the limit between the -sovereign State of Mississippi and that of Tennessee, there was -a house two stories high, from the windows of which a number of -negro girls and young men were staring on the passengers. Some of -them smiled, laughed, and chatted, but the majority of them looked -gloomy and sad enough. They were packed as close as they could, -and I observed that at the door a very ruffianly looking fellow in -a straw hat, long straight hair, flannel shirt, and slippers, was -standing with his legs across and a heavy whip in his hand. One of -the passengers walked over and chatted to him. They looked in and up -at the negroes and laughed, and when the man came near the carriage -in which I sat, a friend called out, “Whose are they, Sam?” “He’s a -dealer at Jackson, Mr. Smith. They’re as prime a lot of fine Virginny -niggers as I’ve seen this long time, and he wants to realise, for the -news looks so bad.” - -It was 1.40 p.m. when the train arrived at Memphis. I was speedily -on my way to the Gayoso House, so called after an old Spanish ruler -of the district, which is situated in the street on the bluff, which -runs parallel with the course of the Mississippi. This resuscitated -Egyptian city is a place of importance, and extends for several miles -along the high bank of the river, though it does not run very far -back. The streets are at right angles to the principal thoroughfares, -which are parallel to the stream; and I by no means expected to see -the lofty stores, warehouses, rows of shops, and handsome buildings -on the broad esplanade along the river, and the extent and size -of the edifices public and private in this city, which is one of -the developments of trade and commerce created by the Mississippi. -Memphis contains nearly 30,000 inhabitants, but many of them are -foreigners, and there is a nomad draft into and out of the place, -which abounds in haunts for Bohemians, drinking and dancing-saloons, -and gaming-rooms. And this strange kaleidoscope of negroes and whites -of the extremes of civilisation in its American development, and of -the semi-savage degraded by his contact with the white; of enormous -steamers on the river, which bears equally the dug-out or canoe of -the black fisherman; the rail, penetrating the inmost recesses of -swamps, which on either side of it remain no doubt in the same state -as they were centuries ago; the roll of heavily-laden waggons through -the streets; the rattle of omnibuses and all the phenomena of active -commercial life before our eyes, included in the same scope of vision -which takes in at the other side of the Mississippi lands scarcely -yet settled, though the march of empire has gone thousands of miles -beyond them, amuses but perplexes the traveller in this new land. - -The evening was so exceedingly warm that I was glad to remain within -the walls of my darkened bed-room. All the six hundred and odd guests -whom the Gayoso House is said to accommodate were apparently in the -passage at one time. At present it is the head-quarters of General -Gideon J. Pillow, who is charged with the defences of the Tennessee -side of the river, and commands a considerable body of troops around -the city and in the works above. The house is consequently filled -with men in uniform, belonging to the General’s staff or the various -regiments of Tennessee troops. - -The Governors and the Legislatures of the States, view with dislike -every action on the part of Mr. Davis which tends to form the State -troops into a national army. At first, indeed, the doctrine prevailed -that troops could not be sent beyond the limits of the State in -which they were raised--then it was argued that they ought not to be -called upon to move outside their borders; and I have heard people -in the South inveighing against the sloth and want of spirit of the -Virginians, who allowed their State to be invaded without resisting -the enemy. Such complaints were met by the remark that all the -Northern States had combined to pour their troops into Virginia, -and that her sister States ought in honour to protect her. Finally, -the martial enthusiasm of the Southern regiments impelled them to -press forward to the frontier, and by delicate management, and -the perfect knowledge of his countrymen which Mr. Jefferson Davis -possesses, he is now enabled to amalgamate in some sort the diverse -individualities of his regiments into something like a national army. - -On hearing of my arrival. General Pillow sent his aide-de-camp to -inform me that he was about starting in a steamer up the river, to -make an inspection of the works and garrison at Fort Randolph and -at other points where batteries had been erected to command the -stream, supported by large levies of Tennesseans. The aide-de-camp -conducted me to the General, whom I found in his bed-room, fitted up -as an office, littered with plans and papers. Before the Mexican war -General Pillow was a flourishing solicitor, connected in business -with President Polk, and commanding so much influence that when the -expedition was formed he received the nomination of brigadier-general -of volunteers. He served with distinction and was severely wounded at -the battle of Chapultepec and at the conclusion of the campaign he -retired into civil life, and was engaged directing the work of his -plantation till this great rebellion summoned him once more to the -field. - -Of course there is, and must be, always an inclination to deride -these volunteer officers on the part of regular soldiers; and I was -informed by one of the officers in attendance on the General that -he had made himself ludicrously celebrated in Mexico for having -undertaken to throw up a battery which, when completed, was found -to face the wrong way, so that the guns were exposed to the enemy. -General Pillow is a small, compact, clear-complexioned man, with -short grey whiskers, cut in the English fashion, a quick eye, and -a pompous manner of speech; and I had not been long in his company -before I heard of Chapultepec and his wound, which causes him to -limp a little in his walk, and gives him inconvenience in the saddle. -He wore a round black hat, plain blue frock coat, dark trousers, and -brass spurs on his boots; but no sign of military rank. The General -ordered carriages to the door, and we went to see the batteries on -the bluff or front of the esplanade, which are intended to check -any ship attempting to pass down the river from Cairo, where the -Federals under General Prentiss have entrenched themselves, and are -understood to meditate an expedition against the city. A parapet of -cotton bales, covered with tarpaulin, has been erected close to the -edge of the bank of earth, which rises to heights varying from 60 to -150 feet almost perpendicularly from the waters of the Mississippi, -with zigzag roads running down through it to the landing-places. This -parapet could offer no cover against vertical fire, and is so placed -that well-directed shell into the bank below it would tumble it all -into the water. The zigzag roads are barricaded with weak planks, -which would be shivered to pieces by boat-guns; and the assaulting -parties could easily mount through these covered ways to the rear of -the parapet, and up to the very centre of the esplanade. - -The blockade of the river at this point is complete; not a boat -is permitted to pass either up or down. At the extremity of the -esplanade, on an angle of the bank, an earthen battery, mounted with -six heavy guns, has been thrown up, which has a fine command of the -river; and the General informed me he intends to mount sixteen guns -in addition, on a prolongation of the face of the same work. - -The inspection over, we drove down a steep road to the water -beneath, where the Ingomar, a large river steamer, now chartered for -the service of the State of Tennessee, was lying to receive us. The -vessel was crowded with troops--all volunteers, of course--about to -join those in camp. Great as were their numbers, the proportion of -the officers was inordinately large, and the rank of the greater -number preposterously high. It seemed to me as if I was introduced to -a battalion of colonels, and that I was not permitted to pierce to -any lower strata of military rank. I counted seventeen colonels, and -believe the number was not then exhausted. - -General Clarke, of Mississippi, who had come over from the camp -at Corinth, was on board, and I had the pleasure of making his -acquaintance. He spoke with sense and firmness of the present -troubles, and dealt with the political difficulties in a tone of -moderation which bespoke a gentleman and a man of education and -thought. He also had served in the Mexican war, and had the air -and manner of a soldier. With all his quietness of tone, there was -not the smallest disposition to be traced in his words to retire -from the present contest, or to consent to a re-union with the -United States under any circumstances whatever. Another general, -of a very different type, was among our passengers--a dirty-faced, -frightened-looking young man, of some twenty-three or twenty-four -years of age, redolent of tobacco, his chin and shirt slavered by its -foul juices, dressed in a green cut-away coat, white jean trousers, -strapped under a pair of prunella slippers, in which he promenaded -the deck in an Agag-like manner, which gave rise to a suspicion of -bunions or corns. This strange figure was topped by a tremendous -black felt sombrero, looped up at one side by a gilt eagle, in -which was stuck a plume of ostrich feathers and from the other side -dangled a heavy gold tassel. This decrepit young warrior’s name was -Ruggles or Struggles, who came from Arkansas, where he passed, I was -informed, for “quite a leading citizen.” - -Our voyage as we steamed up the river afforded no novelty, nor any -physical difference worthy of remark, to contrast it with the lower -portions of the stream, except that upon our right hand side, which -is, in effect, the left bank, there are ranges of exceedingly high -bluffs, some parallel with and others at right angles to the course -of the stream. The river is of the same pea-soup colour with the same -masses of leaves, decaying vegetation, stumps of trees, forming small -floating islands, or giant cotton-tree, pines, and balks of timber -whirling down the current. Our progress was slow; nor did I regret -the captain’s caution, as there must have been fully nine hundred -persons on board; and although there is but little danger of being -snagged in the present condition of the river, we encountered now -and then a trunk of a tree, which struck against the bows with force -enough to make the vessel quiver from stem to stern. I was furnished -with a small berth, to which I retired at midnight, just as the -Ingomar was brought to at the Chickasaw Bluffs, above which lies Camp -Randolph. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - Camp Randolph--Cannon practice--Volunteers--“Dixie”--Forced - return from the South--Apathy of the North--General retrospect of - politics--Energy and earnestness of the South--Firearms--Position - of Great Britain towards the belligerents--Feeling towards the - Old Country. - - -_June 18th._ On looking out of my cabin window this morning I found -the steamer fast alongside a small wharf, above which rose, to the -height of 150 feet, at an angle of 45 degrees, the rugged bluff -already mentioned. The wharf was covered with commissariat stores and -ammunition. Three heavy guns, which some men were endeavouring to -sling to rude bullock-carts, in a manner defiant of all the laws of -gravitation, seemed likely to go slap into the water at every moment; -but of the many great strapping fellows who were lounging about, not -one gave a hand to the working party. A dusty track wound up the hill -to the brow, and there disappeared; and at the height of fifty feet -or so above the level of the river two earthworks had been rudely -erected in an ineffective position. The volunteers who were lounging -about the edge of the stream were dressed in different ways, and had -no uniform. - -Already the heat of the sun compelled me to seek the shade; and a -number of the soldiers, labouring under the same infatuation as that -which induces little boys to disport themselves in the Thames at -Waterloo Bridge, under the notion that they are washing themselves, -were swimming about in a backwater of the great river, regardless of -cat-fish, mud, and fever. - -General Pillow proceeded on shore after breakfast, and we mounted -the coarse cart-horse chargers which were in waiting at the jetty to -receive us. It is scarcely worth while to transcribe from my diary a -description of the works which I sent over at the time to England. -Certainly, a more extraordinary maze could not be conceived, even in -the dreams of a sick engineer--a number of mad beavers might possibly -construct such dams. They were so ingeniously made as to prevent the -troops engaged in their defence from resisting the enemy’s attacks, -or getting away from them when the assailants had got inside--most -difficult and troublesome to defend, and still more difficult for the -defenders to leave, the latter perhaps being their chief merit. - -The General ordered some practice to be made with round shot down -the river. An old forty-two pound carronade was loaded with some -difficulty, and pointed at a tree about 1700 yards--which I was told, -however, was not less than 2500 yards--distant. The General and his -staff took their posts on the parapet to leeward, and I ventured to -say, “I think, General, the smoke will prevent your seeing the shot.” -To which the General replied, “No, sir,” in a tone which indicated, -“I beg you to understand I have been wounded in Mexico, and know all -about this kind of thing.” “Fire,” the string was pulled, and out -of the touch-hole popped a piece of metal with a little chirrup. -“Darn these friction tubes! I prefer the linstock and match,” quoth -one of the staff, _sotto voce_, “but General Pillow will have us use -friction tubes made at Memphis, that arn’t worth a cuss.” Tube No. 2, -however, did explode, but where the ball went no one could say, as -the smoke drifted right into our eyes. - -The General then moved to the other side of the gun, which was fired -a third time, the shot falling short in good line, but without -any ricochet. Gun No. 3 was next fired. Off went the ball down -the river, but off went the gun, too, and with a frantic leap it -jumped, carriage and all, clean off the platform. Nor was it at all -wonderful, for the poor old-fashioned chamber cannonade had been -loaded with a charge and a solid shot heavy enough to make it burst -with indignation. Most of us felt relieved when the firing was over, -and, for my own part, I would much rather have been close to the -target than to the battery. - -Slowly winding for some distance up the steep road in a blazing sun, -we proceeded through the tents which are scattered in small groups, -for health’s sake, fifteen and twenty together, on the wooded plateau -above the river. The tents are of the small ridge-pole pattern, six -men to each, many of whom, from their exposure to the sun, whilst -working in these trenches, and from the badness of the water, had -already been laid up with illness. As a proof of General Pillow’s -energy, it is only fair to say he is constructing, on the very summit -of the plateau, large cisterns, which will be filled with water from -the river by steam power. - -The volunteers were mostly engaged at drill in distinct companies, -but by order of the General some 700 or 800 of them were formed into -line for inspection. Many of these men were in their shirt sleeves, -and the awkwardness with which they handled their arms showed that, -however good they might be as shots, they were bad hands at manual -platoon exercise; but such great strapping fellows, that, as I -walked down the ranks there were few whose shoulders were not above -the level of my head, excepting here and there a weedy old man or a -growing lad. They were armed with old pattern percussion muskets, -no two clad alike, many very badly shod, few with knapsacks, but -all provided with a tin water-flask and a blanket. These men have -been only five weeks enrolled, and were called out by the State of -Tennessee, in anticipation of the vote of secession. - -I could get no exact details as to the supply of food, but from the -Quartermaster-General I heard that each man had from ¾ lb. to 1¼ -lb. of meat, and a sufficiency of bread, sugar, coffee, and rice -daily; however, these military Olivers “asked for more.” Neither -whisky nor tobacco was served out to them, which to such heavy -consumers of both, must prove one source of dissatisfaction. The -officers were plain, farmerly planters, merchants, lawyers, and the -like--energetic, determined men, but utterly ignorant of the most -rudimentary parts of military science. It is this want of knowledge -on the part of the officer which renders it so difficult to arrive at -a tolerable condition of discipline among volunteers, as the privates -are quite well aware they know as much of soldiering as the great -majority of their officers. - -Having gone down the lines of these motley companies, the General -addressed them in a harangue in which he expatiated on their -patriotism, on their courage, and the atrocity of the enemy, in an -odd farrago of military and political subjects. But the only matter -which appeared to interest them much was the announcement that they -would be released from work in another day or so, and that negroes -would be sent to perform all that was required. This announcement was -received with the words, “Bully for us!” and “That’s good.” And when -General Pillow wound up a florid peroration by assuring them, “When -the hour of danger comes I will be with you,” the effect was by no -means equal to his expectations. The men did not seem to care much -whether General Pillow was with them or not at that eventful moment; -and, indeed, all dusty as he was in his plain clothes he did not look -very imposing, or give one an idea that he would contribute much to -the means of resistance. However, one of the officers called out, -“Boys, three cheers for General Pillow.” - -What they may do in the North I know not, but certainly the Southern -soldiers cannot cheer, and what passes muster for that jubilant sound -is a shrill ringing scream with a touch of the Indian war-whoop in -it. As these cries ended, a stentorian voice shouted out, “Who cares -for General Pillow?” No one answered; whence I inferred the General -would not be very popular until the niggers were actually at work in -the trenches. - -We returned to the steamer, headed up stream and proceeded onwards -for more than an hour, to another landing, protected by a battery, -where we disembarked, the General being received by a guard dressed -in uniform, who turned out with some appearance of soldierly -smartness. On my remarking the difference to the General, he told me -the corps encamped at this point was composed of gentlemen planters, -and farmers. They had all clad themselves, and consisted of some of -the best families in the State of Tennessee. - -As we walked down the gangway to the shore, the band on the upper -deck struck up, out of compliment to the English element in the -party, the unaccustomed strains of “God save the Queen;” and I am not -quite sure that the loyalty which induced me to stand in the sun, -with uncovered head, till the musicians were good enough to desist, -was appreciated. Certainly a gentleman, who asked me why I did so, -looked very incredulous, and said “That he could understand it if -it had been in a church; but that he would not broil his skull in -the sun, not if General Washington was standing just before him.” -The General gave orders to exercise the battery at this point, and a -working party was told off to firing drill. ’Twas fully six minutes -between the giving of the orders and the first gun being ready. - -On the word “fire” being given, the gunner pulled the lanyard, but -the tube did not explode; a second tube was inserted, but a strong -jerk pulled it out without exploding; a third time one of the -General’s fuses was applied, which gave way to the pull, and was -broken in two; a fourth time was more successful--the gun exploded, -and the shot fell short and under the mark--in fact, nothing could -be worse than the artillery practice which I saw here, and a fleet -of vessels coming down the river might, in the present state of the -garrisons, escape unhurt. - -There are no disparts, tangents, or elevating screws to the gun, -which are laid by eye and wooden chocks. I could see no shells in -the battery, but was told there were some in the magazine. - -Altogether, though Randolph’s Point and Fort Pillow afford strong -positions, in the present state of the service, and equipment of -guns and works, gunboats could run past them without serious loss, -and, as the river falls, the fire of the batteries will be even less -effective. - -On returning to the boats the band struck up “The Marseillaise” and -“Dixie’s Land.” There are two explanations of the word Dixie--one -is that it is the general term for the Slave States, which are, of -course, south of Mason and Dixon’s line; another, that a planter -named Dixie, died long ago, to the intense grief of his animated -property. Whether they were ill-treated after he died, and thus had -reason to regret his loss, or that they had merely a longing in the -abstract after Heaven, no fact known to me can determine; but certain -it is that they long much after Dixie, in the land to which his -spirit was supposed by them to have departed, and console themselves -in their sorrow by clamorous wishes to follow their master, where -probably the revered spirit would be much surprised to find himself -in their company. The song is the work of the negro melodists of New -York. - -In the afternoon we returned to Memphis. Here I was obliged to cut -short my Southern tour, though I would willingly have stayed, to have -seen the most remarkable social and political changes the world has -probably ever witnessed. The necessity of my position obliged me to -return northwards--unless I could write, there was no use in my being -on the spot at all. By this time the Federal fleets have succeeded -in closing the ports, if not effectually, so far as to render the -carriage of letters precarious, and the route must be at best devious -and uncertain. - -Mr. Jefferson Davis was, I was assured, prepared to give me every -facility at Richmond to enable me to know and to see all that was -most interesting in the military and political action of the New -Confederacy; but of what use could this knowledge be if I could not -communicate it to the journal I served? - -I had left the North when it was suffering from a political -paralysis, and was in a state of coma in which it appeared conscious -of the coming convulsion but unable to avert it. The sole sign of -life in the body corporate was some feeble twitching of the limbs at -Washington, when the district militia were called out, whilst Mr. -Seward descanted on the merits of the Inaugural, and believed that -the anger of the South was a short madness, which would be cured by a -mild application of philosophical essays. - -The politicians, who were urging in the most forcible manner the -complete vindication of the rights of the Union, were engaged, when I -left them arguing, that the Union had no rights at all as opposed to -those of the States. Men who had heard with nods of approval of the -ordinance of secession passed by State after State were now shrieking -out, “Slay the traitors!” - -The printed rags which had been deriding the President as the great -“rail splitter,” and his Cabinet as a collection of ignoble fanatics, -were now heading the popular rush, and calling out to the country -to support Mr. Lincoln and his Ministry, and were menacing with war -the foreign States which dared to stand neutral in the quarrel. The -declaration of Lord John Russell that the Southern Confederacy -should have limited belligerent rights had at first created a thrill -of exultation in the South, because the politicians believed that in -this concession was contained the principle of recognition; while -it had stung to fury the people of the North, to whom it seemed the -first warning of the coming disunion. - -Much, therefore, as I desired to go to Richmond, where I was urged -to repair by many considerations, and by the earnest appeals of -those around me, I felt it would be impossible, notwithstanding the -interest attached to the proceedings there, to perform my duties in -a place cut off from all communication with the outer world; and so -I decided to proceed to Chicago, and thence to Washington, where the -Federals had assembled a large army, with the purpose of marching -upon Richmond, in obedience to the cry of nearly every journal of -influence in the Northern cities. - -My resolution was mainly formed in consequence of the intelligence -which was communicated to me at Memphis, and I told General Pillow -that I would continue my journey to Cairo, in order to get within the -Federal lines. As the river was blockaded, the only means of doing so -was to proceed by rail to Columbus, and thence to take a steamer to -the Federal position; and so, whilst the General was continuing his -inspection, I rode to the telegraph office, in one of the camps, to -order my luggage to be prepared for departure as soon as I arrived, -and thence went on board the steamer, where I sat down in the cabin -to write my last despatch from Dixie. - -So far I had certainly no reason to agree with Mr. Seward in -thinking this rebellion was the result of a localised energetic -action on the part of a fierce minority in the seceding States, and -that there was in each a large, if inert, mass opposed to secession, -which would rally round the Stars and Stripes the instant they were -displayed in their sight. On the contrary, I met everywhere with -but one feeling, with exceptions which proved its unanimity and its -force. To a man the people went with their States, and had but one -battle cry, “States’ rights, and death to those who make war against -them!” - -Day after day I had seen this feeling intensified by the accounts -which came from the North of a fixed determination to maintain the -war; and day after day, I am bound to add, the impression on my mind -was strengthened that “States’ rights” meant protection to slavery, -extension of slave territory, and free-trade in slave produce with -the outer world; nor was it any argument against the conclusion that -the popular passion gave vent to the most vehement outcries against -Yankees, abolitionists, German mercenaries, and modern invasion. -I was fully satisfied in my mind also that the population of the -South, who had taken up arms, were so convinced of the righteousness -of their cause, and so competent to vindicate it, that they would -fight with the utmost energy and valour in its defence and successful -establishment. - -The saloon in which I was sitting afforded abundant evidence of the -vigour with which the South are entering upon the contest. Men of -every variety and condition of life had taken up arms against the -cursed Yankee and the black Republican--there was not a man there -who would not have given his life for the rare pleasure of striking -Mr. Lincoln’s head off his shoulders, and yet to a cold European the -scene was almost ludicrous. - -Along the covered deck lay tall Tennesseans, asleep, whose plumed -felt hats were generally the only indications of their martial -calling, for few indeed had any other signs of uniform, except -the rare volunteers, who wore stripes of red and yellow cloth on -their trousers, or leaden buttons, and discoloured worsted braid -and facings on their jackets. The afterpart of the saloon deck -was appropriated to General Pillow, his staff, and officers. The -approach to it was guarded by a sentry, a tall, good-looking young -fellow, in a grey flannel shirt, grey trousers, fastened with a belt -and a brass buckle, inscribed U.S., which came from some plundered -Federal arsenal, and a black wide-awake hat, decorated with a green -plume. His Enfield rifle lay beside him on the deck, and, with great -interest expressed on his face, he leant forward in his rocking-chair -to watch the varying features of a party squatted on the floor, who -were employed in the national game of “Euchre.” As he raised his -eyes to examine the condition of the cigar he was smoking, he caught -sight of me, and by the simple expedient of holding his leg across -my chest, and calling out, “Hallo! where are you going to?” brought -me to a standstill--whilst his captain, who was one of the happy -euchreists, exclaimed, “Now, Sam, you let nobody go in there.” - -I was obliged to explain who I was, whereupon the sentry started to -his feet, and said, “Oh! indeed, you are Russell that’s been in that -war with the Rooshians. Well, I’m very much pleased to know you. I -shall be off sentry in a few minutes; I’ll just ask you to tell me -something about that fighting.” He held out his hand, and shook mine -warmly as he spoke. There was not the smallest intention to offend in -his manner; but, sitting down again, he nodded to the captain, and -said, “It’s all right; it’s Pillow’s friend--that’s Russell of the -London _Times_.” The game of euchre was continued--and indeed it had -been perhaps all night--for my last recollection on looking out of my -cabin was of a number of people playing cards on the floor and on the -tables all down the saloon, and of shouts of “Eu-kerr!” “Ten dollars, -you don’t!” “I’ll lay twenty on this!” and so on; and with breakfast -the sport seemed to be fully revived. - -There would have been much more animation in the game, no doubt, -had the bar on board the Ingomar been opened; but the intelligent -gentleman who presided inside had been restricted by General Pillow -in his avocations; and when numerous thirsty souls from the camps -came on board, with dry tongues and husky voices, and asked for -“mint juleps,” “brandy smashes,” or “whisky cocktails,” he seemed -to take a saturnine pleasure by saying, “The General won’t allow no -spirit on board, but I can give you a nice drink of Pillow’s own iced -Mississippi water,” an announcement which generally caused infinite -disgust and some unhandsome wishes respecting the General’s future -happiness. - -By and bye, a number of sick men were brought down on litters, and -placed here and there along the deck. As there was a considerable -misunderstanding between the civilian and military doctors, it -appeared to be understood that the best way of arranging it was not -to attend to the sick at all, and unfortunate men suffering from -fever and dysentery were left to roll and groan, and lie on their -stretchers, without a soul to help them. I had a medicine chest on -board, and I ventured to use the lessons of my experience in such -matters, administered my quinine, James’s Powder, calomel, and -opium, _secundum meam artem_, and nothing could be more grateful -than the poor fellows were for the smallest mark of attention. -“Stranger, remember, if I die,” gasped one great fellow, attenuated -to a skeleton by dysentery, “That I am Robert Tallon, of Tishimingo -county, and that I died for States’ rights; see, now, they put that -in the papers, won’t you? Robert Tallon died for States’ rights,” and -so he turned round on his blanket. - -Presently the General came on board, and the Ingomar proceeded on -her way back to Memphis. General Clarke, to whom I mentioned the -great neglect from which the soldiers were suffering, told me he was -afraid the men had no medical attendance in camp. All the doctors, in -fact, wanted to fight, and as they were educated men, and generally -connected with respectable families, or had political influence in -the State, they aspired to be colonels at the very least, and to -wield the sword instead of the scalpel. - -Next to the medical department, the commissariat and transport were -most deficient; but by constant courts-martial, stoppages of pay, and -severe sentences, he hoped these evils would be eventually somewhat -mitigated. As one who had received a regular military education, -General Clarke was probably shocked by volunteer irregularities; -and in such matters as guard-mounting, reliefs, patrols, and -picket-duties, he declared they were enough to break one’s heart; but -I was astonished to hear from him that the Germans were by far the -worst of the five thousand troops under his command, of whom they -formed more than a fifth. - -Whilst we were conversing, the captain of the steamer invited us to -come up into his cabin on the upper deck; and as railway conductors, -steamboat captains, bar-keepers, hotel-clerks, and telegraph officers -are among the natural aristocracy of the land, we could not disobey -the invitation, which led to the consumption of some of the captain’s -private stores, and many warm professions of political faith. - -The captain told me it was rough work abroad sometimes with “sports” -and chaps of that kind; but “God bless you,” said he, “the river now -is not what it used to be a few years ago, when we’d have three or -four difficulties of an afternoon, and may-be now and then a regular -free fight all up and down the decks, that would last a couple of -hours, so that when we came to a town we would have to send for all -the doctors twenty miles round, and may-be some of them would die -in spite of that. It was the rowdies used to get these fights up; -but we’ve put them pretty well down. The citizens have hunted them -out, and they’s gone away west.” “Well, then, captain, one’s life -was not very safe on board sometimes.” “Safe! Lord bless you!” said -the captain; “if you did not meddle, just as safe as you are now, if -the boiler don’t collapse. You must, in course, know how to handle -your weepins, and be pretty spry in taking your own part.” “Ho, you -Bill!” to his coloured servant, “open that clothes-press.” “Now, -here,” he continued, “is how I travel; so that I am always easy in my -mind in case of trouble on board.” Putting his hand under the pillow -of the bed close beside him, he pulled out a formidable looking -double-barrelled pistol at half-cock, with the caps upon it. “That’s -as purty a pistol as Derringer ever made. I’ve got the brace of -them--here’s the other;” and with that he whipped out pistol No. 2, -in an equal state of forwardness, from a little shelf over his bed; -and then going over to the clothes-press, he said, “Here’s a real old -Kentuck, one of the old sort, as light on the trigger as gossamer, -and sure as deeth--Why, law bless me, a child would cut a turkey’s -head off with it at a hundred yards.” This was a huge lump of iron, -about five feet long, with a small hole bored down the centre, fitted -in a coarse German-fashioned stock. “But,” continued he, “this is my -main dependence; here is a regular beauty, a first-rate, with ball or -buckshot, or whatever you like--made in London; I gave two hundred -dollars for it; and it is so short and handy and straight shooting, -I’d just as soon part with my life as let it go to anybody” and, -with a glow of pride in his face, the captain handed round again a -very short double-barrelled gun, of some eleven or twelve bore, with -back action locks, and an audacious “Joseph Manton, London,” stamped -on the plate. The manner of the man was perfectly simple and _bonâ -fide_; very much as if Inspector Podger were revealing to a simpleton -the mode by which the London police managed refractory characters in -the station-house. - -From such matters as these I was diverted by the more serious subject -of the attitude taken by England in this quarrel. The concession of -belligerent rights was, I found, misunderstood, and was considered -as an admission that the Southern States had established their -independence before they had done more than declare their intention -to fight for it. - -It is not within my power to determine whether the North is as -unfair to Great Britain as the South; but I fear the history of the -people, and the tendency of their institutions, are adverse to any -hope of fair-play and justice to the old country. And yet it is the -only power in Europe for the good opinion of which they really seem -to care. Let any French, Austrian, or Russian journal write what -it pleases of the United States, it is received with indifferent -criticism or callous head-shaking. But let a London paper speak, and -the whole American press is delighted or furious. - -The political sentiment quite overrides all other feelings; and it -is the only symptom statesmen should care about, as it guides the -policy of the country. If a man can put faith in the influence for -peace of common interests, of common origin, common intentions, -with the spectacle of this incipient war before his eyes, he must -be incapable of appreciating the consequences which follow from man -being an animal. A war between England and the United States would -be unnatural; but it would not be nearly so unnatural now as it was -when it was actually waged in 1776 between people who were barely -separated from each other by a single generation; or in 1812-14, when -the foreign immigration had done comparatively little to dilute the -Anglo-Saxon blood. The Norman of Hampshire and Sussex did not care -much for the ties of consanguinity and race when he followed his lord -in fee to ravage Guienne or Brittany. - -The general result of my intercourse with Americans is to produce -the notion that they consider Great Britain in a state of corruption -and decay, and eagerly seek to exalt France at her expense. Their -language is the sole link between England and the United States, and -it only binds the England of 1770 to the American of 1860. - -There is scarcely an American on either side of Mason and Dixon’s -line who does not religiously believe that the colonies, alone and -single-handed, encountered the whole undivided force of Great Britain -in the revolution, and defeated it. I mean, of course, the vast mass -of the people; and I do not think there is an orator or a writer who -would venture to tell them the truth on the subject. Again, they -firmly believe that their petty frigate engagements established -as complete a naval ascendancy over Great Britain as the latter -obtained by her great encounters with the fleets of France and Spain. -Their reverses, defeats, and headlong routs in the first war, their -reverses in the second, are covered over by a huge Buncombe plaster, -made up of Bunker’s Hill, Plattsburg, Baltimore, and New Orleans. - -Their delusions are increased and solidified by the extraordinary -text-books of so-called history, and by the feasts, and festivals, -and celebrations of their every-day political life, in all of which -we pass through imaginary Caudine Forks; and they entertain towards -the old country at best very much the feeling which a high-spirited -young man would feel towards the guardian who, when he had come of -age, and was free from all control, sought to restrain the passions -of his early life. - -Now I could not refuse to believe that in New Orleans, Montgomery, -Mobile, Jackson, and Memphis there is a reckless and violent -condition of society, unfavourable to civilisation, and but little -hopeful for the future. The most absolute and despotic rule, -under which a man’s life and property are safe, is better than the -largest measure of democratic freedom, which deprives the freeman -of any security for either. The state of legal protection for the -most serious interests of man, considered as a civilised and social -creature, which prevails in America, could not be tolerated for -an instant, and would generate a revolution in the worst governed -country in Europe. I would much sooner, as the accidental victim of -a generally disorganized police, be plundered by a chance diligence -robber in Mexico, or have a fair fight with a Greek Klepht, suffer -from Italian banditti, or be garroted by a London ticket-of-leave -man, than be bowie-knifed or revolvered in consequence of a political -or personal difference with a man, who is certain not in the least -degree to suffer from an accidental success in his argument. - -On our return to the hotel I dined with the General and his staff -at the public table, where there was a large assemblage of military -men, Southern ladies, their families, and contractors. This latter -race has risen up as if by magic, to meet the wants of the new -Confederacy; and it is significant to measure the amount of the -dependence on Northern manufacturers by the advertisements in the -Southern journals, indicating the creation of new branches of -workmanship, mechanical science, and manufacturing skill. - -Hitherto they have been dependent on the North for the very -necessaries of their industrial life. These States were so intent -on gathering in money for their produce, expending it luxuriously, -and paying it out for Northern labour, that they found themselves -suddenly in the condition of a child brought up by hand, whose nurse -and mother have left it on the steps of the poor-house. But they have -certainly essayed to remedy the evil and are endeavouring to make -steam-engines, gunpowder, lamps, clothes, boots, railway carriages, -steel springs, glass, and all the smaller articles for which even -Southern households find a necessity. - -The peculiar character of this contest develops itself in a manner -almost incomprehensible to a stranger who has been accustomed to -regard the United States as a nation. Here is General Pillow, for -example, in the State of Tennessee, commanding the forces of the -State, which, in effect, belongs to the Southern Confederacy; but he -tells me that he cannot venture to move across a certain geographical -line, dividing Tennessee from Kentucky, because the State of -Kentucky, in the exercise of its sovereign powers and rights, which -the Southern States are bound specially to respect, in virtue of -their championship of States’ rights, has, like the United Kingdom -of Great Britain and Ireland, declared it will be neutral in the -struggle; and Beriah Magoffin, Governor of the aforesaid State, has -warned off Federal and Confederate troops from his territory. - -General Pillow is particularly indignant with the cowardice of the -well-known Secessionists of Kentucky; but I think he is rather more -annoyed by the accumulation of Federal troops at Cairo, and their -recent expedition to Columbus on the Kentucky shore, a little below -them, where they seized a Confederate flag. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - Heavy Bill--Railway travelling--Introductions--Assassinations - --Tennessee--“Corinth”--“Troy”--“Humbolt”--“The Confederate - camp”--Return Northwards--Columbus--Cairo--The slavery question - --Prospects of the war--Coarse journalism. - - -_June 19th._ It is probable the landlord of the Gayoso House was a -strong Secessionist, and resolved, therefore, to make the most out -of a neutral customer like myself--certainly Herodotus would have -been astonished if he were called upon to pay the little bill which -was presented to me in the modern Memphis; and had the old Egyptian -hostelries been conducted on the same principles as those of the -Tennessean Memphis, the “Father of History” would have had to sell -off a good many editions in order to pay his way. I had to rise at -three o’clock a.m., to reach the train, which started before five. -The omnibus which took us to the station was literally nave deep -in the dust; and of all the bad roads and dusty streets I have yet -seen in the New World, where both prevail, North and South, those -of Memphis are the worst. Indeed, as the citizen, of Hibernian -birth, who presided over the luggage of the passengers on the roof, -declared, “The streets are paved with waves of mud, only the mud is -all dust when it’s fine weather.” - -By the time I had arrived at the station my clothes were covered -with a fine alluvial deposit in a state of powder; the platform was -crowded with volunteers moving off for the wars, and I was obliged -to take my place in a carriage full of Confederate officers and -soldiers who had a large supply of whisky, which at that early hour -they were consuming as a prophylactic against the influence of the -morning dews, which hereabouts are of such a deadly character that, -to be quite safe from their influence, it appears to be necessary, -judging from the examples of my companions, to get as nearly drunk -as possible. Whisky, by-the-by, is also a sovereign specific against -the bites of rattlesnakes. All the dews of the Mississippi and the -rattlesnakes of the prairie might have spent their force or venom in -vain on my companions before we had got as far as Union City. - -I was evidently regarded with considerable suspicion by my fellow -passengers, when they heard I was going to Cairo, until the conductor -obligingly informed them who I was, whereupon I was much entreated to -fortify myself against the dews and rattlesnakes, and received many -offers of service and kindness. - -Whatever may be the normal comforts of American railway cars, they -are certainly most unpleasant conveyances when the war spirit is -abroad, and the heat of the day, which was excessive, did not -contribute to diminish the annoyance of foul air--the odour of -whisky, tobacco, and the like, combined with innumerable flies. At -Humbolt, which is eighty-two miles away, there was a change of cars, -and an opportunity of obtaining some refreshment,--the station was -crowded by great numbers of men and women dressed in their best, who -were making holiday in order to visit Union City, forty-six miles -distant, where a force of Tennesseean and Mississippi regiments -are encamped. The ladies boldly advanced into carriages which were -quite full, and as they looked quite prepared to sit down on the -occupants of the seats if they did not move, and to destroy them -with all-absorbing articles of feminine warfare, either defensive -or aggressive, and crush them with iron-bound crinolines, they soon -drove us out into the broiling sun. - -Whilst I was on the platform I underwent the usual process of -American introduction, not, I fear, very good-humouredly. A gentleman -whom you never saw before in your life, walks up to you and says, “I -am happy to see you among us, sir,” and if he finds a hand wandering -about, he shakes it cordially. “My name is Jones, sir, Judge Jones -of Pumpkin County. Any information about this place or State that I -can give is quite at your service.” This is all very civil and well -meant of Jones, but before you have made up your mind what to say, -or on what matter to test the worth of his proffered information, -he darts off and seizes one of the group who have been watching -Jones’s advance, and comes forward with a tall man, like himself, -busily engaged with a piece of tobacco. “Colonel, let me introduce -you to my friend, Mr. Russell. This, sir, is one of our leading -citizens, Colonel Knags.” Whereupon the Colonel shakes hands, uses -nearly the same formula as Judge Jones, immediately returns to his -friends, and cuts in before Jones is back with other friends, whom -he is hurrying up the platform, introduces General Cassius Mudd and -Dr. Ordlando Bellows, who go through the same ceremony, and as each -man has a circle of his own, my acquaintance becomes prodigiously -extended, and my hand considerably tortured in the space of a few -minutes; finally I am introduced to the driver of the engine and -the stoker, but they proved to be acquaintances not at all to be -despised, for they gave me a seat on the engine, which was really a -boon considering that the train was crowded beyond endurance, and in -a state of internal nastiness scarcely conceivable. - -When I had got up on the engine a gentleman clambered after me in -order to have a little conversation, and he turned out to be an -intelligent and clever man well acquainted with the people and the -country. I had been much impressed by the account in the Memphis -papers of the lawlessness and crime which seemed to prevail in the -state of Mississippi, and of the brutal shootings and stabbings -which disgraced it and other Southern States. He admitted it was -true, but could not see any remedy. “Why not?” “Well, sir, the -rowdies have rushed in on us, and we can’t master them; they are -too strong for the respectable people.” “Then you admit the law is -nearly powerless?” “Well, you see, sir, these men have got hold of -the people who ought to administer the law, and when they fail to do -so they are so powerful by reason of their numbers, and so reckless, -they have things their own way.” - -“In effect, then, you are living under a reign of terror, and the -rule of a ruffian mob?” “It’s not quite so bad as that, perhaps, for -the respectable people are not much affected by it, and most of the -crimes of which you speak are committed by these bad classes in their -own section; but it is disgraceful to have such a state of things, -and when this war is over, and we have started the Confederacy all -fair, we’ll put the whole thing down. We are quite determined -to take the law into our own hands, and the first remedy for the -condition of affairs which, we all lament, will be to confine the -suffrage to native-born Americans, and to get rid of the infamous, -scoundrelly foreigners, who now overrule us in our country.” “But are -not many regiments of Irish and Germans now fighting for you? And -will these foreigners who have taken up arms in your cause be content -to receive as the result of their success an inferior position, -politically, to that which they now hold?” “Well, sir, they must; we -are bound to go through with this thing if we would save society.” I -had so often heard a similar determination expressed by men belonging -to the thinking classes in the South that I am bound to believe -the project is entertained by many of those engaged in this great -revolt--one principle of which indeed, may be considered hostility to -universal suffrage, combining with it, of course, the limitation of -the immigrant vote. - -The portion of Tennessee through which the rail runs is exceedingly -uninteresting, and looks unhealthy, the clearings occur at long -intervals in the forest, and the unwholesome population, who came -out of their low shanties, situated amidst blackened stumps of trees -or fields of Indian corn, did not seem prosperous or comfortable. -The twists and curves of the rail, through cane brakes and swamps -exceeded in that respect any line I have ever travelled on; but the -vertical irregularities of the rail were still greater, and the -engine bounded as if it were at sea. - -The names of the stations show that a savant has been rambling about -the district. Here is Corinth, which consists of a wooden grog-shop -and three log shanties; the acropolis is represented by a grocery -store, of which the proprietors, no doubt, have gone to the wars, as -their names were suspiciously Milesian, and the doors and windows -were fastened; but occasionally the names of the stations on the -railway boards represented towns and villages, hidden in the wood -some distance away, and Mummius might have something to ruin if he -marched off the track but not otherwise. - -The city of Troy was still simpler in architecture than the Grecian -capitol. The Dardanian towers were represented by a timber-house, in -the verandah of which the American Helen was seated, in the shape of -an old woman smoking a pipe, and she certainly could have set the -Palace of Priam on fire much more readily than her prototype. Four -sheds, three log huts, a sawmill, about twenty negroes sitting on -a wood-pile, and looking at the train, constituted the rest of the -place, which was certainly too new for one to say, _Troja fuit_, -whilst the general “fixins” would scarcely authorise us to say with -any confidence, _Troja fuerit_. - -The train from Troy passed through a cypress swamp, over which the -engine rattled, and hopped at a perilous rate along high trestle -work, till forty-six miles from Humbolt we came to Union City, which -was apparently formed by aggregate meetings of discontented shavings -that had travelled out of the forest hard by. But a little beyond it -was the Confederate camp, which so many citizens and citizenesses -had come out into the wilderness to see; and a general descent was -made upon the place whilst the volunteers came swarming out of their -tents to meet their friends. It was interesting to observe the -affectionate greetings between the young soldiers, mothers, wives, -and sweethearts, and as a display of the force and earnestness of -the Southern people--the camp itself containing thousands of men, -many of whom were members of the first families in the State--was -specially significant. - -There is no appearance of military order or discipline about -the camps, though they were guarded by sentries and cannon, and -implements of war and soldiers’ accoutrements were abundant. Some -of the sentinels carried their firelocks under their arms like -umbrellas, others carried the butt over the shoulder and the muzzle -downwards, and one for his greater ease had stuck the bayonet of his -firelock into the ground, and was leaning his elbow on the stock -with his chin on his hand, whilst Sybarites less ingenious, had -simply deposited their muskets against the trees, and were lying -down reading newspapers. Their arms and uniforms were of different -descriptions--sporting rifles, fowling pieces, flint muskets, smooth -bores, long and short barrels, new Enfields, and the like; but the -men, nevertheless, were undoubtedly material for excellent soldiers. -There were some few boys, too young to carry arms, although the zeal -and ardour of such lads cannot but have a good effect, if they behave -well in action. - -The great attraction of this train lay in a vast supply of stores, -with which several large vans were closely packed, and for fully -two hours the train was delayed, whilst hampers of wine, spirits, -vegetables, fruit, meat, groceries, and all the various articles -acceptable to soldiers living under canvas were disgorged on the -platform, and carried away by the expectant military. - -I was pleased to observe the perfect confidence that was felt in -the honesty of the men. The railway servants simply deposited each -article as it came out on the platform--the men came up, read the -address, and carried it away, or left it, as the case might be; and -only in one instance did I see a scramble, which was certainly quite -justifiable, for in handing out a large basket the bottom gave way, -and out tumbled onions, apples, and potatoes among the soldiery, who -stuffed their pockets and haversacks with the unexpected bounty. One -young fellow, who was handed a large wicker-covered jar from the -van, having shaken it, and gratified his ear by the pleasant jingle -inside, retired to the roadside, drew the cork, and, raising it -slowly to his mouth, proceeded to take a good pull at the contents, -to the envy of his comrades; but the pleasant expression upon his -face rapidly vanished, and spurting out the fluid with a hideous -grimace, he exclaimed, “D---; why, if the old woman has not gone and -sent me a gallon of syrup.” The matter was evidently considered too -serious to joke about, for not a soul in the crowd even smiled; but -they walked away from the man, who, putting down the jar, seemed in -doubt as to whether he would take it away or not. - -Numerous were the invitations to stop, which I received from the -officers. “Why not stay with us, sir; what can a gentleman want to go -among black Republicans and Yankees for.” It is quite obvious that my -return to the Northern States is regarded with some suspicion; but I -am bound to say that my explanation of the necessity of the step was -always well received, and satisfied my Southern friends that I had -no alternative. A special correspondent, whose letters cannot get -out of the country in which he is engaged, can scarcely fulfil the -purpose of his mission; and I used to point out, good-humouredly, to -these gentlemen that until they had either opened the communication -with the North, or had broken the blockade, and established steam -communication with Europe, I must seek my base of operations -elsewhere. - -At last we started from Union City; and there came into the car, -among other soldiers who were going-out to Columbus, a fine -specimen of the wild filibustering population of the South, which -furnish many recruits to the ranks of the Confederate army--a tall, -brawny-shouldered, brown-faced, black-bearded, hairy-handed man, -with a hunter’s eye, and rather a Jewish face, full of life, energy, -and daring. I easily got into conversation with him, as my companion -happened to be a freemason, and he told us he had been a planter -in Mississippi, and once owned 110 negroes, worth at least some -20,000_l._; but, as he said himself, “I was always patrioting it -about;” and so he went off, first with Lopez to Cuba, was wounded -and taken prisoner by the Spaniards, but had the good fortune to be -saved from the execution which was inflicted on the ringleaders of -the expedition. When he came back he found his plantation all the -worse, and a decrease amongst his negroes; but his love of adventure -and filibustering was stronger than his prudence or desire of gain. -He took up with Walker, the “the grey eyed man of destiny,” and -accompanied him in his strange career till his leader received the -_coup de grace_ in the final raid upon Nicaragua. - -Again he was taken prisoner, and would have been put to death by the -Nicaraguans, but for the intervention of Captain Aldham. “I don’t -bear any love to the Britishers,” said he, “but I’m bound to say, -as so many charges have been made against Captain Aldham, that he -behaved like a gentleman, and if I had been at New Orleans when them -cussed cowardly blackguards ill-used him, I’d have left my mark so -deep on a few of them, that their clothes would not cover them long.” -He told us that at present he had only five negroes left, “but I’m -not going to let the black republicans lay hold of them, and I’m -just going to stand up for States’ rights as long as I can draw a -trigger--so snakes and Abolitionists look out.” He was so reduced by -starvation, ill-treatment, and sickness in Nicaragua, when Captain -Aldham procured his release, that he weighed only 110 pounds, but at -present he was over 200 pounds, a splendid _bête fauve_, and without -wishing so fine a looking fellow any harm, I could not but help -thinking that it must be a benefit to American society to get rid of -a considerable number of these class of which he is a representative -man. And there is every probability that they will have a full -opportunity of doing so. - -On the arrival of the train at Columbus, twenty-five miles from -Union City, my friend got out, and a good number of men in uniform -joined him, which led me to conclude that they had some more serious -object than a mere pleasure trip to the very uninteresting looking -city on the banks of the Mississippi, which is asserted to be -neutral territory, as it belongs to the sovereign state of Kentucky. -I heard, accidentally, as I came in the train, that a party of -Federal soldiers from the camp at Cairo, up the river, had recently -descended to Columbus and torn down a secession flag which had been -hoisted on the river’s bank, to the great indignation of many of the -inhabitants. - -In those border states the coming war promises to produce the -greatest misery; they will be the scenes of hostile operations; the -population is divided in sentiment; the greatest efforts will be made -by each side to gain the ascendancy in the state, and to crush the -opposite faction, and it is not possible to believe that Kentucky can -maintain a neutral position, or that either Federal or Confederates -will pay the smallest regard to the proclamation of Governor -McGoffin, and to his empty menaces. - -At Columbus the steamer was waiting to convey us up to Cairo, and -I congratulated myself on the good fortune of arriving in time for -the last opportunity that will be afforded of proceeding northward -by this route. General Pillow on the one hand, and General Prentiss -on the other, have resolved to blockade the Mississippi, and as -the facilities for Confederates going up to Columbus and obtaining -information of what is happening in the Federal camps cannot readily -be checked, the general in command of the port to which I am bound -has intimated that the steamers must cease running. It was late in -the day when we entered once more on the father of waters, which is -here just as broad, as muddy, as deep, and as wooded as it is at -Bâton Rouge, or Vicksburg. - -Columbus is situated on an elevated spur or elbow of land projecting -into the river, and has, in commercial faith, one of those futures -which have so many rallying points down the centre of the great -river. The steamer which lay at the wharf, or rather the wooden -piles in the bank which afforded a resting place for the gangway, -carried no flag, and on board presented traces of better days, a list -of refreshments no longer attainable, and of bill of fare utterly -fanciful. About twenty passengers came on board, most of whom had -a distracted air, as if they were doubtful of their journey. The -captain was surly, the office keeper petulant, the crew morose, and, -perhaps, only one man on board, a stout Englishman, who was purser -or chief of the victualling department, seemed at all inclined to be -communicative. At dinner he asked me whether I thought there would be -a fight, but as I was oscillating between one extreme and the other, -I considered it right to conceal my opinion even from the steward of -the Mississippi boat; and, as it happened, the expression of it would -not have been of much consequence one way or the other, for it turned -out that our friend was of very stern stuff, “This war,” he said, -“is all about niggers; I’ve been sixteen years in the country, and I -never met one of them yet was fit to be anything but a slave; I know -the two sections well, and I tell you, sir, the North, can’t whip the -South, let them do their best; they may ruin the country, but they’ll -do no good.” - -There were men on board who had expressed the strongest secession -sentiments in the train, but who now sat and listened and acquiesced -in the opinions of Northern men, and by the time Cairo was in sight, -they, no doubt, would have taken the oath of allegiance which every -doubtful person is required to utter before he is allowed to go -beyond the military post. - -In about two hours or so the captain pointed out to me a tall -building and some sheds, which seemed to arise out of a wide reach in -the river, “that’s Cairey,” said he, “where the Unionists have their -camp,” and very soon the stars and stripes were visible, waving from -a lofty staff, at the angle of low land formed by the junction of the -Mississippi and Ohio. - -For two months I had seen only the rival stars and bars, with the -exception of the rival banner floating from the ships and the fort at -Pickens. One of the passengers told me that the place was supposed -to be described by Mr. Dickens, in “Martin Chuzzlewit,” and as the -steamer approached the desolate embankment, which seemed the only -barrier between the low land on which the so-called city was built, -and the waters of the great river rising above it, it certainly -became impossible to believe that sane men, even as speculators, -could have fixed upon such a spot as the possible site of a great -city,--an emporium of trade and commerce. A more desolate woe-begone -looking place, now that all trade and commerce had ceased cannot -be conceived; but as the southern terminus of the central Illinois -railway, it displayed a very different scene before the war broke out. - -With the exception of the large hotel, which rises far above the -levée of the river, the public edifices are represented by a church -and spire, and the rest of the town by a line of shanties and small -houses, the rooms and upper stories of which are just visible above -the embankment. The general impression effected by the place was -decidedly like that which the Isle of Dogs produces on a despondent -foreigner as he approaches London by the river on a drizzly day in -November. The stream, formed by the united efforts of the Mississippi -and the Ohio, did not appear to gain much breadth, and each of the -confluents looked as large as its product with the other. Three -steamers lay alongside the wooden wharves projecting from the -embankment, which was also lined by some flat-boats. Sentries paraded -the gangways as the steamer made fast along the shore, but no inquiry -was directed to any of the passengers, and I walked up the levée and -proceeded straight to the hotel, which put me very much in mind of -an effort made by speculating proprietors to create a watering-place -on some lifeless beach. In the hall there were a number of officers -in United States’ uniforms, and the lower part of the hotel was, -apparently, occupied as a military bureau; finally, I was shoved into -a small dungeon, with a window opening out on the angle formed by the -two rivers, which was lined with sheds and huts and terminated by a -battery. - -These camps are such novelties in the country, and there is such -romance in the mere fact of a man living in a tent, that people -come far and wide to see their friends under such extraordinary -circumstances, and the hotel at Cairo was crowded by men and women -who had come from all parts of Illinois to visit their acquaintances -and relations belonging to the state troops encamped at this -important point. The _salle à manger_, a long and lofty room on the -ground floor, which I visited at supper time, was almost untenable -by reason of heat and flies; nor did I find that the free negroes, -who acted as attendants, possessed any advantages over their enslaved -brethren a few miles lower down the river; though their freedom was -obvious enough in their demeanour and manners. - -I was introduced to General Prentiss, an agreeable person, without -anything about him to indicate the soldier. He gave me a number of -newspapers, the articles in which were principally occupied with -a discussion of Lord John Russell’s speech on American affairs: -Much as the South found fault with the British minister for the -views he had expressed, the North appears much more indignant, and -denounces in the press what the journalists are pleased to call -“the hostility of the Foreign Minister to the United States.” It is -admitted, however, that the extreme irritation caused by admitting -the Southern States to exercise limited belligerent rights was not -quite justifiable. Soon after nightfall I retired to my room and -battled with mosquitoes till I sank into sleep and exhaustion, and -abandoned myself to their mercies; perhaps, after all, there were not -more than a hundred or so, and their united efforts could not absorb -as much blood as would be taken out by one leech, but then their -horrible acrimony, which leaves a wreck behind in the place where -they have banqueted, inspires the utmost indignation and appears to -be an indefensible prolongation of the outrage of the original bite. - -_June 20th._--When I awoke this morning and, gazing out of my little -window on the regiments parading on the level below me, after an -arduous struggle to obtain cold water for a bath, sat down to -consider what I had seen within the last two months, and to arrive -at some general results from the retrospect, I own that after much -thought my mind was reduced to a hazy analysis of the abstract -principles of right and wrong, in which it failed to come to any very -definite conclusion: the space of a very few miles has completely -altered the phases of thought and the forms of language. - -I am living among “abolitionists, cut-throats, Lincolnite -mercenaries, foreign invaders, assassins, and plundering Dutchmen.” -Such, at least, the men of Columbus tell me the garrison at Cairo -consists of. Down below me are “rebels, conspirators, robbers, slave -breeders, wretches bent upon destroying the most perfect government -on the face of the earth, in order to perpetuate an accursed system, -by which, however, beings are held in bondage and immortal souls -consigned to perdition.” - -On the whole, the impression left upon my mind by what I had seen in -slave states is unfavourable to the institution of slavery, both as -regards its effects on the slave and its influence on the master. But -my examination was necessarily superficial and hasty. I have reason -to believe that the more deeply the institution is probed, the more -clearly will its unsoundness and its radical evils be discerned. The -constant appeals made to the physical comforts of the slaves, and -their supposed contentment, have little or no effect on any person -who acts up to a higher standard of human happiness than that which -is applied to swine or the beasts of the fields “See how fat my pigs -are.” - -The arguments founded on a comparison of the condition of the slave -population with the pauperised inhabitants of European states are -utterly fallacious, inasmuch as in one point, which is the most -important by far, there can be no comparison at all. In effect -slavery can only be justified in the abstract on the grounds which -slavery advocates decline to take boldly, though they insinuate it -now and then, that is, the inferiority of the negro in respect to -white men, which removes them from the upper class of human beings -and places them in a condition which is as much below the Caucasian -standard as the quadrumanous creatures are beneath the negro. Slavery -is a curse, with its time of accomplishment not quite at hand--it is -a cancer, the ravages of which are covered by fair outward show, and -by the apparent health of the sufferer. - -The slave states, of course, would not support the Northern for a -year if cotton, sugar, and tobacco became suddenly worthless. But, -nevertheless, the slave owners would have strong grounds to stand -upon if they were content to point to the difficulties in the way of -emancipation, and the circumstances under which they received their -_damnosa hereditas_ from England, which fostered, nay forced, slavery -in legislative hotbeds throughout the colonies. The Englishman may -say “We abolished slavery when we saw its evils.” The slave owner -replies, “Yes, with you it was possible to decree the extinction--not -with us.” - -Never did a people enter on a war so utterly destitute of any reason -for waging it, or of the means of bringing it to a successful -termination against internal enemies. The thirteen colonies had a -large population of sea-faring and soldiering men, constantly engaged -in military expeditions. There was a large infusion, compared with -the numbers of men capable of commanding in the field, and their -great enemy was separated by a space far greater than the whole -circumference of the globe would be in the present time from the -scene of operations. Most American officers who took part in the -war of 1812-14 are now too old for service, or retired into private -life soon after the campaign. The same remark applies to the senior -officers who served in Mexico, and the experiences of that campaign -could not be of much use to those now in the service, of whom -the majority were subalterns, or at most, officers in command of -volunteers. - -A love of military display is very different indeed from a true -soldierly spirit, and at the base of the volunteer system there lies -a radical difficulty, which must be overcome before real military -efficiency can be expected. In the South the foreign element has -contributed largely to swell the ranks with many docile and a few -experienced soldiers, the number of the latter predominating in the -German levies, and the same remark is, I hear, true of the Northern -armies. - -The most active member of the staff here is a young Englishman -named Binmore, who was a stenographic writer in London, but has -now sharpened his pencil into a sword, and when I went into the -guard-room this morning I found that three-fourths of the officers, -including all who had seen actual service, were foreigners. One, -Milotzky, was an Hungarian; another, Waagner, was of the same -nationality; a third, Schuttner, was a German; another, Mac -something, was a Scotchman; another, was an Englishman. One only -(Colonel Morgan), who had served in Mexico, was an American. The -foreigners, of course, serve in this war as mercenaries; that is, -they enter into the conflict to gain something by it, either in pay, -in position, or in securing a status for themselves. - -The utter absence of any fixed principle determining the side which -the foreign nationalities adopt is proved by their going North or -South with the state in which they live. On the other hand, the -effects of discipline and of the principles of military life on rank -and file are shown by the fact that the soldiers of the regular -regiments of the United States and the sailors in the navy have to -a man adhered to their colours, notwithstanding the examples and -inducements of their officers. - -After breakfast I went down about the works, which fortify the bank -of mud, in the shape of a V, formed by the two rivers--a flêche with -a ditch, scarp, and counter-scarp. Some heavy pieces cover the end -of the spit at the other side of the Mississippi, at Bird’s Point. -On the side of Missouri there is a field entrenchment, held by a -regiment of Germans, Poles, and Hungarians, about 1000 strong, with -two field batteries. The sacred soil of Kentucky, on the other side -of the Ohio, is tabooed by Beriah Magoffin, but it is not possible -for the belligerents to stand so close face to face without occupying -either Columbus or Hickman. The thermometer was at 100° soon after -breakfast, and it was not wonderful to find that the men in Camp -Defiance, which is the name of the cantonment on the mud between the -levées of the Ohio and Mississippi, were suffering from diarrhœa and -fever. - -In the evening there was a review of three regiments, forming a -brigade of some 2800 men, who went through their drill, advancing in -columns of company, moving _en echelon_, changing front, deploying -into line on the centre company, very creditably. It was curious to -see what a start ran through the men during the parade when a gun -was fired from the battery close at hand, and how their heads turned -towards the river; but the steamer which had appeared round the bend -hoisted the private signs, by which she was known as a friend, and -tranquillity was restored. - -I am not sure that most of these troops desire anything but a long -residence at a tolerably comfortable station, with plenty of pay -and no marching. Cairo, indeed, is not comfortable; the worst -barrack that ever asphixiated the British soldier would be better -than the best shed here, and the flies and the mosquitoes are beyond -all conception virulent and pestiferous. I would give much to see -Cairo in its normal state, but it is my fate to witness the most -interesting scenes in the world through a glaze of gunpowder. It -would be unfair to say that any marked superiority in dwelling, -clothing, or comfort was visible between the mean white of Cairo or -the black chattel a few miles down the river. Brawling, rioting, and -a good deal of drunkenness prevailed in the miserable sheds which -line the stream, although there was nothing to justify the libels on -the garrison of the _Columbus Crescent_, edited by one Colonel L. -G. Faxon, of the Tennessee Tigers, with whose writings I was made -acquainted by General Prentiss, to whom they appeared to give more -annoyance than he was quite wise in showing. - -This is a style of journalism which may have its merits, and which -certainly is peculiar; I give a few small pieces. “The Irish are -for us, and they will knock Bologna sausages out of the Dutch, and -we will knock wooden nutmegs out of the Yankees.” “The mosquitoes -of Cairo have been sucking the lager-bier out of the dirty soldiers -there so long, they are bloated and swelled up as large as spring -’possums. An assortment of Columbus mosquitoes went up there -the other day to suck some, but as they have not returned, the -probability is they went off with _delirium tremens_; in fact, the -blood of these Hessians would poison the most degraded tumble bug in -creation.” - -Our editor is particularly angry about the recent seizure of a -Confederate flag at Columbus by Colonel Oglesby and a party of -Federals from Cairo. Speaking of a flag intended for himself, -he says, “Would that its folds had contained 1000 asps to sting -1000 Dutchmen to eternity unshriven.” Our friend is certainly a -genius. His paper of June the 19th opens with an apology for the -non-appearance of the journal for several weeks. “Before leaving,” -he says, “we engaged the services of a competent editor, and left a -printer here to issue the paper regularly. We were detained several -weeks beyond our time, the aforesaid printer promised faithfully to -perform his duties, but he left the same day we did, and consequently -there was no one to get out the paper. We have the charity to suppose -that fear and bad whisky had nothing to do with his evacuation of -Columbus.” Another elegant extract about the flag commences, “When -the bow-legged, wooden shoed, sour craut stinking, Bologna sausage -eating, hen roost robbing Dutch sons of ---- had accomplished the -brilliant feat of taking down the Secession flag on the river bank, -they were pointed to another flag of the same sort which their guns -did not cover, flying gloriously and defiantly, and dared yea! double -big black dog--dared, as we used to say at school, to take that -flag down--the cowardly pups, the thieving sheep dogs, the sneaking -skunks, dare not do so, because their twelve pieces of artillery were -not bearing on it.” As to the Federal commander at Cairo, Colonel -Faxon’s sentiments are unambiguous. “The qualifications of this man, -Prentiss,” he says, “for the command of such a squad of villains -and cut-throats are, that he is a miserable hound, a dirty dog, a -sociable fellow, a treacherous villain, a notorious thief, a lying -blackguard, who has served his regular five years in the Penitentiary -and keeps his hide continually full of Cincinnati whisky, which he -buys by the barrel in order to save his money--in him are embodied -the leprous rascalities of the world, and in this living score, the -gallows is cheated of its own. Prentiss wants our scalp; we propose -a plan by which he may get that valuable article. Let him select -150 of his best fighting men, or 250 of his lager-bier Dutchmen, we -will select 100, then let both parties meet where there will be no -interruption at the scalping business, and the longest pole will -knock the persimmon. If he does not accept this proposal, he is a -coward. We think this a gentlemanly proposition and quite fair and -equal to both parties.” - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - Camp at Cairo--The North and the South in respect to Europe-- - Political reflections--Mr. Colonel Oglesby--My speech--Northern - and Southern soldiers compared--American country-walks-- - Recklessness of life--Want of cavalry--Emeute in the camp-- - Defects of army medical department--Horrors of war--Bad - discipline. - - -_June 21st._ Verily I would be sooner in the Coptic Cairo, narrow -streeted, dark bazaared, many flied, much vexed by donkeys and by -overland route passengers, than the horrid tongue of land which licks -the muddy margin of the Ohio and the Mississippi. The thermometer at -100° in the shade before noon indicates nowhere else such an amount -of heat and suffering, and yet prostrate as I was, it was my fate to -argue that England was justified in conceding belligerent rights to -the South, and that the attitude of neutrality we had assumed in this -terrible quarrel is not in effect an aggression on the United States; -and here is a difference to be perceived between the North and the -South. - -The people of the seceding States, aware in their consciences that -they have been most active in their hostility to Great Britain, and -whilst they were in power were mainly responsible for the defiant, -irritating, and insulting tone commonly used to us by American -statesmen, are anxious at the present moment, when so much depends -on the action of foreign countries, to remove all unfavourable -impressions from our minds by declarations of good will, respect, and -admiration, not quite compatible with the language of their leaders -in times not long gone by. The North, as yet unconscious of the loss -of power, and reared in a school of menace and violent assertion -of their rights regarding themselves as the whole of the United -States, and animated by their own feeling of commercial and political -opposition to Great Britain, maintain the high tone of a people who -have never known let or hindrance in their passions, and consider it -an outrage that the whole world does not join in active sympathy for -a government which in its brief career has contrived to affront every -nation in Europe with which it had any dealings. - -If the United States have astonished France by their ingratitude, -they have certainly accustomed England to their petulance, and one -can fancy the satisfaction with which the Austrian Statesmen who -remember Mr. Webster’s despatch to Mr. Hulsemann, contemplate the -present condition of the United States in the face of an insurrection -of these sovereign and independent States which the Cabinet at -Washington stigmatises as an outbreak of rebels and traitors to the -royalty of the Union. - -During my short sojourn in this country I have never yet met any -person who could show me where the sovereignty of the Union resides. -General Prentiss, however, and his Illinois volunteers, are quite -ready to fight for it. - -In the afternoon the General drove me round the camps in company -with Mr. Washburne, Member of Congress, from Illinois, his staff -and a party of officers, among whom was Mr. Oglesby, colonel of -a regiment of State Volunteers, who struck me by his shrewdness, -simple honesty, and zeal.[1] He told me that he had begun life in the -utmost obscurity, but that somehow or other he got into a lawyer’s -office, and there, by hard drudgery, by mother wit, and industry, -notwithstanding a defective education, he had raised himself not only -to independence but to such a position that 1000 men had gathered at -his call and selected one who had never led a company in his life to -be their colonel; in fact, he is an excellent orator of the western -school, and made good homely, telling speeches to his men. - -“I’m not as good as your Frenchmen of the schools of Paris, nor am I -equal to the Russian colonels I met at St. Petersburg, who sketched -me out how they had beaten you Britishers at Sebastopol,” said he; -“but I know I can do good straight fighting with my boys when I get -a chance. There is a good deal in training, to be sure, but nature -tells too. Why I believe I would make a good artillery officer if I -was put to it. General, you heard how I laid one of them guns the -other day and touched her off with my own hand and sent the ball -right into a tree half-a-mile away.” The Colonel evidently thought -he had by that feat proved his fitness for the command of a field -battery. One of the German officers who was listening to the lively -old man’s talk, whispered to me, “Dere is a good many of tese -colonels in dis camp.” - -At each station the officers came out of their tents, shook hands all -round, and gave an unfailing invitation to get down and take a drink, -and the guns on the General’s approach fired salutes, as though it -was a time of profoundest peace. Powder was certainly more plentiful -than in the Confederate camps, where salutes are not permitted unless -by special order on great occasions. - -The General remained for some time in the camp of the Chicago light -artillery, which was commanded by a fine young Scotchman of the Saxon -genus Smith, who told me that the privates of his company represented -a million and a half of dollars in property. Their guns, horses, -carriages, and accoutrements were all in the most creditable order, -and there was an air about the men and about their camp which showed -they did not belong to the same class as the better disciplined -Hungarians of Milotzky close at hand. - -Whilst we were seated in Captain Smith’s tent, a number of the -privates came forward, and sang the “Star-spangled banner” and a -patriotic song, to the air of “God save the Queen,” and the rest of -the artillerymen, and a number of stragglers from the other camps, -assembled and then formed line behind the singers. When the chorus -was over there arose a great shout for Washburne, and the honourable -Congress man was fain to come forward and make a speech, in which -he assured his hearers of a very speedy victory and the advent of -liberty all over the land. Then “General Prentiss” was called for; -and as citizen soldiers command their Generals on such occasions, -he too was obliged to speak, and to tell his audience “the world -had never seen any men more devoted, gallant, or patriotic than -themselves.” “Oglesby” was next summoned, and the tall, portly, -good-humoured old man stepped to the front, and with excellent tact -and good sense, dished up in the Buncombe style, told them the time -for making speeches had passed, indeed it had lasted too long; -and although it was said there was very little fighting when there -was much talking, he believed too much talking was likely to lead -to a great deal more fighting than any one desired to see between -citizens of the United States of America, except their enemies, -who, no doubt, were much better pleased to see Americans fighting -each other than to find them engaged in any other employment. Great -as the mischief of too much talking had been, too much writing had -far more of the mischief to answer for. The pen was keener than the -tongue, hit harder, and left a more incurable wound; but the pen was -better than the tongue, because it was able to cure the mischief it -had inflicted. And so by a series of sentences the Colonel got round -to me, and to my consternation, remembering how I had fared with my -speech at the little private dinner on St. Patrick’s Day in New York, -I was called upon by stentorian lungs, and hustled to the stump by -a friendly circle, till I escaped by uttering a few sentences as to -“mighty struggle,” “Europe gazing,” “the world anxious,” “the virtues -of discipline,” “the admirable lessons of a soldier’s life,” and the -“aspiration that in a quarrel wherein a British subject was ordered, -by an authority he was bound to respect, to remain neutral, God might -preserve the right.” - -Colonel, General, and all addressed the soldiers as “gentlemen,” -and their auditory did not on their part refrain from expressing -their sentiments in the most unmistakeable manner. “Bully for you, -General!” “Bravo, Washburne!” “That’s so, Colonel!” and the like, -interrupted the harangues and when the oratorical exercises were -over the men crowded round the staff, cheered and hurrahed, and -tossed up their caps in the greatest delight. - -With the exception of the foreign officers, and some of the Staff, -there are very few of the colonels, majors, captains, or lieutenants -who know anything of their business. The men do not care for them, -and never think of saluting them. A regiment of Germans was sent -across from Bird’s Point this evening for plundering and robbing the -houses in the district in which they were quartered. - -It may be readily imagined that the scoundrels who had to fly from -every city in Europe before the face of the police will not stay -their hands when they find themselves masters of the situation in -the so-called country of an enemy. In such matters the officers -have little or no control, and discipline is exceedingly lax, and -punishments but sparingly inflicted, the use of the lash being -forbidden altogether. Fine as the men are, incomparably better -armed, clad--and doubtless better fed--than the Southern troops, -they will scarcely meet them man to man in the field with any chance -of success. Among the officers are bar-room keepers, persons little -above the position of potmen in England, grocers’ apprentices, and -such like--often inferior socially, and in every other respect, to -the men whom they are supposed to command. General Prentiss has seen -service, I believe, in Mexico; but he appears to me to be rather an -ardent politician, embittered against slaveholders and the South, -than a judicious or skilful military leader. - -The principles on which these isolated commanders carry on the war -are eminently defective. They apply their whole minds to petty -expeditions, which go out from the camps, attack some Secessionist -gathering, and then return, plundering as they go and come, -exasperating enemies, converting neutrals into opponents, disgusting -friends, and leaving it to the Secessionists to boast that they have -repulsed them. Instead of encouraging the men and improving their -discipline these ill-conducted expeditions have an opposite result. - -_June 22nd._ An active man would soon go mad if he were confined -in Cairo. A mudbank stretching along the course of a muddy river -is not attractive to a pedestrian; and, as is the case in most of -the Southern cities, there is no place round Cairo where a man can -stretch his legs, or take an honest walk in the country. A walk in -the country! The Americans have not an idea of what the thing means. -I speak now only of the inhabitants of the towns of the States -through which I have passed, as far as I have seen of them. The roads -are either impassible in mud or knee-deep in dust. There are no green -shady lanes, no sheltering groves, no quiet paths through green -meadows beneath umbrageous trees. Off the rail there is a morass--or, -at best, a clearing--full of stumps. No temptations to take a stroll. -Down away South the planters ride or drive; indeed in many places the -saunterer by the way-side would probably encounter an alligator, or -disturb a society of rattlesnakes. - -To-day I managed to struggle along the levée in a kind of sirocco, -and visited the works at the extremity, which were constructed by an -Hungarian named Waagner, one of the _emigrés_ who came with Kossuth -to the United States. I found him in a hut full of flies, suffering -from camp diarrhœa, and waited on by Mr. O’Leary, who was formerly -petty officer in our navy, served in the Furious in the Black Sea, -and in the Shannon Brigade in India, now a lieutenant in the United -States’ army, where I should say he feels himself very much out of -place. The Hungarian and the Milesian were, however, quite agreed -about the utter incompetence of their military friends around them, -and the great merits of heavy artillery. “When I tell them here the -way poor Sir William made us rattle about them 68-pounder guns, -the poor ignorant creatures laugh at me--not one of them believes -it.” “It is most astonishing,” says the colonel, “how ignorant they -are; there is not one of these men who can trace a regular work. Of -West Point men I speak not, but of the people about here, and they -will not learn of me--from me who knows.” However, the works were -well enough, strongly covered, commanded both rivers, and not to be -reduced without trouble. - -The heat drove me in among the flies of the crowded hotel, where -Brigadier Prentiss is planning one of those absurd expeditions -against a Secessionist camp at Commerce, in the State of Missouri, -about two hours steaming up the river, and some twelve or fourteen -miles inland. Cairo abounds in Secessionists and spies, and it is -needful to take great precautions lest the expedition be known; but, -after all, stores must be got ready, and put on board the steamers, -and preparations must be made which cannot be concealed from the -world. At dusk 700 men, supported by a six-pounder field-piece, were -put on board the “City of Alton,” on which they clustered like bees -in a swarm, and as the huge engine laboured up and down against the -stream, and the boat swayed from side to side, I felt a considerable -desire to see General Prentiss chucked into the stream for his utter -recklessness in cramming on board one huge tinder-box, all fire and -touchwood, so many human beings, who, in event of an explosion, or a -shot in the boiler, or of a heavy musketry fire on the banks, would -have been converted into a great slaughter-house. One small boat hung -from her stern, and although there were plenty of river flats and -numerous steamers, even the horses belonging to the field piece were -crammed in among the men along the deck. - -In my letter to Europe I made, at the time, some remarks by which the -belligerents might have profited, and which at the time these pages -are reproduced may strike them as possessing some value, illustrated -as they have been by many events in the war. “A handful of horsemen -would have been admirable to move in advance, feel the covers, and -make prisoners for political or other purposes in case of flight; -but the Americans persist in ignoring the use of horsemen, or at -least in depreciating it, though they will at last find that they may -shed much blood, and lose much more, before they can gain a victory -without the aid of artillery and charges after the retreating enemy. -From the want of cavalry, I suppose it is, the unmilitary practice -of ‘scouting,’ as it is called here, has arisen. It is all very well -in the days of Indian wars for footmen to creep about in the bushes, -and shoot or be shot by sentries and pickets; but no civilised war -recognises such means of annoyance as firing upon sentinels, unless -in case of an actual advance or feigned attack on the line. No camp -can be safe without cavalry videttes and pickets; for the enemy -can pour in impetuously after the alarm has been given, as fast as -the outlying footmen can run in. In feeling the way for a column, -cavalry are invaluable, and there can be little chance of ambuscades -or surprises where they are judiciously employed; but ‘scouting’ on -foot, or adventurous private expeditions on horseback, to have a look -at the enemy, can do, and will do, nothing but harm. Every day the -papers contain accounts of ‘scouts’ being killed, and sentries being -picked off. The latter is a very barbarous and savage practice; and -the Russian, in his most angry moments, abstained from it. If any -officer wishes to obtain information as to his enemy, he has two ways -of doing it. He can employ spies, who carry their lives in their -hands, or he can beat up their quarters by a proper reconnaissance on -his own responsibility, in which, however, it would be advisable not -to trust his force to a railway train.” - -At night there was a kind of _émeute_ in camp. The day, as I have -said, was excessively hot, and on returning to their tents and huts -from evening parade the men found the contractor who supplies them -with water had not filled the barrels; so they forced the sentries, -broke barracks after hours, mobbed their officers, and streamed up -to the hotel, which they surrounded, calling out, “Water, water,” -in chorus. The General came out, and got up on a rail: “Gentlemen,” -said he, “it is not my fault you are without water. It’s your -officers who are to blame; not me.” (“Groans for the Quartermaster,” -from the men.) “If it is the fault of the contractor, I’ll see -that he is punished. I’ll take steps at once to see that the -matter is remedied. And now, gentlemen, I hope you’ll go back to -your quarters;” and the gentlemen took it into their heads very -good-humouredly to obey the suggestion, fell in, and marched back two -deep to their huts. - -As the General was smoking his cigar before going to bed, I asked him -why the officers had not more control over the men. “Well,” said he, -“the officers are to blame for all this. The truth is, the term for -which these volunteers enlisted is drawing to a close; and they have -not as yet enrolled themselves in the United States’ army. They are -merely volunteer regiments of the State of Illinois. If they were -displeased with anything, therefore, they might refuse to enter the -service or to take fresh engagements: and the officers would find -themselves suddenly left without any men; they therefore curry favour -with the privates, many of them, too, having an eye to the votes of -the men when the elections of officers in the new regiments are to -take place.” - -The contractors have commenced plunder on a gigantic scale; and their -influence with the authorities of the State is so powerful, there -is little chance of punishing them. Besides, it is not considered -expedient to deter contractors, by too scrupulous an exactitude, -in coming forward at such a trying period; and the Quartermaster’s -department, which ought to be the most perfect, considering the -number of persons connected with transport and carriage is in a -most disgraceful and inefficient condition. I told the General that -one of the Southern leaders proposed to hang any contractor who was -found out in cheating the men, and that the press cordially approved -of the suggestion. “I am afraid,” said he, “if any such proposal -was carried out here, there would scarcely be a contractor left -throughout the States.” Equal ignorance is shown by the medical -authorities of the requirements of an army. There is not an ambulance -or cacolet of any kind attached to this camp; and, as far as I could -see, not even a litter was sent on board the steamer which has -started with the expedition. - -Although there has scarcely been a fought field or anything more -serious than the miserable skirmishes of Shenck and Butler, the -pressure of war has already told upon the people. The Cairo paper -makes an urgent appeal to the authorities to relieve the distress and -pauperism which the sudden interruption of trade has brought upon so -many respectable citizens. And when I was at Memphis the other day, -I observed a public notice in the journals, that the magistrates of -the city would issue orders for money to families left in distress by -the enrolment of the male members for military service. When General -Scott, sorely against his will, was urged to make preparations for -an armed invasion of the seceded states in case it became necessary, -he said it would need some hundreds of thousands of men and many -millions of money to effect that object. Mr. Seward, Mr. Chase, and -Mr. Lincoln laughed pleasantly at this exaggeration, but they have -begun to find by this time the old general was not quite so much in -the wrong. - -In reference to the discipline maintained in the camp, I must admit -that proper precautions are used to prevent spies entering the lines. -The sentries are posted closely and permit no one to go in without -a pass in the day and a countersign at night. A conversation with -General Prentiss in the front of the hotel was interrupted this -evening by an Irishman, who ran past us towards the camp, hotly -pursued by two policemen. The sentry on duty at the point of the -lines close to us brought him up by the point of the bayonet. “Who -goes tere?” “A friend, shure your honour; I’m a friend.” “Advance -three paces and give the countersign.” “I don’t know it, I tell you. -Let me in, let me in.” But the German was resolute, and the policemen -now coming up in hot pursuit, seized the culprit, who resisted -violently, till General Prentiss rose from his chair and ordered -the guard, who had turned out, to make a prisoner of the soldier -and hand him over to the civil power, for which the man seemed to -be most deeply grateful. As the policemen were walking him off, he -exclaimed, “Be quiet wid ye, till I spake a word to the Giniral,” and -then bowing and chuckling with drunken gravity, he said, “an’ indeed, -Giniral, I’m much obleeged to ye altogither for this kindness. Long -life to ye. We’ve got the better of that dirty German. Hoora’ for -Giniral Prentiss.” He preferred a chance of more whisky in the police -office and a light punishment to the work in camp and a heavy drill -in the morning. An officer who was challenged by a sentry the other -evening, asked him, “do you know the countersign yourself?” “No, sir, -it’s not nine o’clock and they have not given it out yet.” Another -sentry who stopped a man because he did not know the countersign. The -fellow said, “I dare say you don’t know it yourself.” “That’s a lie,” -he exclaimed, “its Plattsburgh.” “Plattsburgh it is, sure enough,” -said the other, and walked on without further parley. - -The Americans, Irish, and Germans, do not always coincide in -the phonetic value of each letter in the passwords, and several -difficulties have occurred in consequence. An incautious approach -towards the posts at night is attended with risk; for the raw -sentries are very quick on the trigger. More fatal and serious -injuries have been inflicted on the Federals by themselves than by -the enemy. “I declare to you, sir, the way the boys touched off their -irons at me going home to my camp last night, was just like a running -fight with the Ingins. I was a little ‘tight,’ and didn’t mind it a -cuss.” - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - Impending battle--By railway to Chicago--Northern enlightenment - --Mound City--“Cotton is King”--Land in the States--Dead level of - American society--Return into the Union--American homes--Across - the prairie--White labourers--New pillager--Lake Michigan. - - -_June 23rd._--The latest information which I received to-day is of -a nature to hasten my departure for Washington; it can no longer -be doubted that a battle between the two armies assembled in the -neighbourhood of the capital is imminent. The vague hope which from -time to time I have entertained of being able to visit Richmond -before I finally take up my quarters with the only army from which I -can communicate regularly with Europe has now vanished. - -At four o’clock in the evening I started by the train on the famous -Central Illinois line from Cairo to Chicago. - -The carriages were tolerably well filled with soldiers, and in -addition to them there were a few unfortunate women, undergoing -deportation to some less moral neighbourhood. Neither the look, -language, nor manners of my fellow passengers inspired me with an -exalted notion of the intelligence, comfort and respectability of the -people which are so much vaunted by Mr. Seward and American journals, -and which, though truly attributed, no doubt, to the people of the -New England states, cannot be affirmed with equal justice to belong -to all the other components of the Union. - -As the Southerners say, their negroes are the happiest people on the -earth, so the Northerners boast “We are the most enlightened nation -in the world.” The soldiers in the train were intelligent enough to -think they ought not to be kept without pay, and free enough to say -so. The soldiers abused Cairo roundly, and indeed it is wonderful if -the people can live on any food but quinine. However, speculators, -looking to its natural advantages as the point where the two great -rivers join, bespeak for Cairo a magnificent and prosperous future. -The present is not promising. - -Leaving the shanties, which face the levées, and some poor wooden -houses with a short vista of cross streets partially flooded at right -angles to them, the rail suddenly plunges into an unmistakeable -swamp, were a forest of dead trees wave their ghastly, leafless arms -over their buried trunks, like plumes over a hearse--a cheerless, -miserable place, sacred to the ague and fever. This occurs close -to the cleared space on which the city is to stand,--when it is -finished--and the rail, which runs on the top of the embankment or -levée, here takes to the trestle, and is borne over the water on the -usual timber frame work. - -“Mound City,” which is the first station, is composed of a mere heap -of earth, like a ruined brick-kiln, which rises to some height and is -covered with fine white oaks, beneath which are a few log huts and -hovels, giving the place its proud name. Tents were pitched on the -mound side, from which wild-looking banditti sort of men, with arms, -emerged as the train stopped. “I’ve been pretty well over Europe,” -said a meditative voice beside me, “and I’ve seen the despotic armies -of the old world, but I don’t think they equal that set of boys.” The -question was not worth arguing--the boys were in fact very “weedy,” -“splinter-shinned chaps,” as another critic insisted. - -There were some settlers in the woods around Mound City, and a -jolly-looking, corpulent man, who introduced himself as one of the -officers of the land department of the Central Illinois railroad, -described them as awful warnings to the emigrants not to stick in -the south part of Illinois. It was suggestive to find that a very -genuine John Bull, “located,” as they say in the States for many -years, had as much aversion to the principles of the abolitionists as -if he had been born a Southern planter. Another countryman of his and -mine, steward on board the steamer to Cairo, eagerly asked me what I -thought of the quarrel, and which side I would back. I declined to -say more than I thought the North possessed very great superiority of -means if the conflict were to be fought on the same terms. Whereupon -my Saxon friend exclaimed, “all the Northern States and all the power -of the world can’t beat the South; and why?--because the South has -got cotton, and cotton is king.” - -The Central Illinois officer did not suggest the propriety of -purchasing lots but he did intimate I would be doing service if I -informed the world at large, they could get excellent land, at sums -varying from ten to twenty-five dollars an acre. In America a man’s -income is represented by capitalizing all that he is worth, and -whereas in England we say a man has so much a year, the Americans, in -representing his value, observe that he is worth so many dollars, by -which they mean that all he has in the world would realise the amount. - -It sounds very well to an Irish tenant farmer, an English cottier, -or a cultivator in the Lothians, to hear that he can get land at the -rate of from £2 to £5 per acre, to be his for ever, liable only to -state taxes; but when he comes to see a parallelogram marked upon the -map as “good soil, of unfathomable richness,” and finds in effect -that he must cut down trees, eradicate stumps, drain off water, build -a house, struggle for high-priced labour, and contend with imperfect -roads, the want of many things to which he has been accustomed in -the old country, the land may not appear to him such a bargain. In -the wooded districts he has, indeed a sufficiency of fuel as long as -trees and stumps last, but they are, of course, great impediments to -tillage. If he goes to the prairie he finds that fuel is scarce and -water by no means wholesome. - -When we left this swamp and forest, and came out after a run of many -miles on the clear lands which abut upon the prairie, large fields -of corn lay around us, which bore a peculiarly blighted and harassed -look. These fields were suffering from the ravages of an insect -called the “army worm,” almost as destructive to corn and crops as -the locust-like hordes of North and South, which are vying with each -other in laying waste the fields of Virginia. Night was falling as -the train rattled out into the wild, flat sea of waving grass, dotted -by patch-like Indian corn enclosures; but halts at such places as -Jonesburgh and Cobden, enabled us to see that these settlements in -Illinois were neither very flourishing nor very civilised. - -There is a level modicum of comfort, which may be consistent with the -greatest good of the greatest number, but which makes the standard -of the highest in point of well-being very low indeed. I own, that -to me, it would be more agreeable to see a flourishing community -placed on a high level in all that relates to the comfort and social -status of all its members than to recognise the old types of European -civilisation, which place the castle on the hill, surround its outer -walls with the mansion of doctor and lawyer, and drive the people -into obscure hovels outside. But then one must confess that there are -in the castle some elevating tendencies which cannot be found in the -uniform level of citizen equality. There are traditions of nobility -and noble deeds in the family; there are paintings on the walls; the -library is stored with valuable knowledge, and from its precincts are -derived the lessons not yet unlearned in Europe, that though man may -be equal the condition of men must vary as the accidents of life or -the effects of individual character, called fortune, may determine. - -The towns of Jonesburgh and Cobden have their little teapot-looking -churches and meeting houses, their lager-bier saloons, their -restaurants, their small libraries, institutes, and reading rooms, -and no doubt they have also their political cliques, social -distinctions and favouritisms; but it requires, nevertheless, little -sagacity to perceive that the highest of the bourgeois who leads -the mass at meeting and prayer, has but little to distinguish him -from the very lowest member of the same body politic. Cobden, for -example, has no less than four drinking saloons, all on the line of -rail, and no doubt the highest citizen in the place frequents some -one or other of them, and meets there the worst rowdy in the place. -Even though they do carry a vote for each adult man, “locations” here -would not appear very enviable in the eyes of the most miserable -Dorsetshire small farmer ever ferretted out by “S.G.O.” - -A considerable number of towns, formed by accretions of small stores -and drinking places, called magazines, round the original shed -wherein live the station master and his assistants, mark the course -of the railway. Some are important enough to possess a bank, which is -generally represented by a wooden hut, with a large board nailed in -front, bearing the names of the president and cashier, and announcing -the success and liberality of the management. The stores are also -decorated with large signs, recommending the names of the owners to -the attention of the public, and over all of them is to be seen the -significant announcement, “Cash for produce.” - -At Carbondale there was no coal at all to be found, but several -miles farther to the north, at a place called Dugoine, a field of -bituminous deposit crops out, which is sold at the pit’s mouth for -one dollar twenty-five cents, or about 5_s._ 2_d._ a-ton. Darkness -and night fell as I was noting such meagre particulars of the new -district as could be learned out of the window of a railway carriage; -and finally with a delicious sensation of cool night air creeping -in through the windows, the first I had experienced for many a long -day, we made ourselves up for repose, and were borne steadily, if -not rapidly, through the great prairie, having halted for tea at the -comfortable refreshment rooms of Centralia. - -There were no physical signs to mark the transition from the land -of the Secessionist to Union-loving soil. Until the troops were -quartered there, Cairo was for Secession, and Southern Illinois is -supposed to be deeply tainted with disaffection to Mr. Lincoln. -Placards on which were printed the words, “Vote for Lincoln and -Hamlin, for Union and Freedom,” and the old battle-cry of the last -election, still cling to the wooden walls of the groceries often -accompanied by bitter words or offensive additions. - -One of my friends argues that as slavery is at the base of Secession, -it follows that States or portions of States will be disposed to -join the Confederates or the Federalists just as the climate may be -favourable or adverse to the growth of slave produce. Thus in the -mountainous parts of the border States of Kentucky and Tennessee, in -the north-western part of Virginia, vulgarly called the pan handle, -and in the pine woods of North Carolina, where white men can work at -the rosin and naval store manufactories, there is a decided feeling -in favour of the Union; in fact, it becomes a matter of isothermal -lines. It would be very wrong to judge of the condition of a people -from the windows of a railway carriage, but the external aspect -of the settlements along the line, far superior to that of slave -hamlets, does not equal my expectations. We all know the aspect of a -wood in a gentleman’s park which is submitting to the axe, and has -been partially cleared, how raw and bleak the stumps look, and how -dreary is the naked land not yet turned into arable. Take such a -patch and fancy four or five houses made of pine planks, sometimes -not painted, lighted, by windows in which there is, or has been, -glass, each guarded by a paling around a piece of vegetable garden, -a pig house, and poultry box; let one be a grocery, which means a -whisky shop, another the post-office, and a third the store where -“cash is given for produce.” Multiply these groups if you desire -a larger settlement, and place a wooden church with a Brobdignag -spire and Lilliputian body out in a waste, to be approached only by -a causeway of planks; before each grocery let there be a gathering -of tall men in sombre clothing, of whom the majority have small -newspapers and all of whom are chewing tobacco; near the stores let -there be some light wheeled carts and ragged horses, around which are -knots of unmistakeably German women; then see the deep tracks which -lead off to similar settlements in the forest or prairie, and you -have a notion, if your imagination is strong enough, of one of these -civilising centres which the Americans assert to be the homes of the -most cultivated and intelligent communities in the world. - -Next morning, just at dawn, I woke up and got out on the platform -of the carriage, which is the favourite resort of smokers and their -antitheses, those who love pure fresh air, notwithstanding the -printed caution “It is dangerous to stand on the platform;” and under -the eye of early morn saw spread around a flat sea-like expanse not -yet warmed into colour and life by the sun. The line was no longer -guarded from daring Secessionists by soldiers’ outposts, and small -camps had disappeared. The train sped through the centre of the great -verdant circle as a ship through the sea, leaving the rigid iron wake -behind it tapering to a point at the horizon, and as the light spread -over it the surface of the crisping corn waved in broad undulations -beneath the breeze from east to west. This is the prairie indeed. -Hereabouts it is covered with the finest crops, some already cut and -stacked. Looking around one could see church spires rising in the -distance from the white patches of houses, and by degrees the tracks -across the fertile waste became apparent, and then carts and horses -were seen toiling through the rich soil. - -A large species of partridge or grouse appeared very abundant, and -rose in flocks from the long grass at the side of the rail or from -the rich carpet of flowers on the margin of the corn fields. They -sat on the fence almost unmoved by the rushing engine, and literally -swarmed along the line. These are called “prairie chickens” by the -people, and afford excellent sport. Another bird about the size -of a thrush, with a yellow breast and a harsh cry, I learned was -“the sky-lark;” and _à propos_ of the unmusical creature, I was very -briskly attacked by a young lady patriot for finding fault with the -sharp noise it made. “Oh, my! And you not to know that your Shelley -loved it above all things! Didn’t he write some verses--quite -beautiful, too, they are--to the sky-lark.” And so “the Britisher was -dried up,” as I read in a paper afterwards of a similar occurrence. - -At the little stations which occur at every few miles--there are some -forty of them, at each of which the train stops, in 365 miles between -Cairo and Chicago--the Union flag floated in the air; but we had left -all the circumstance of this inglorious war behind us, and the train -rattled boldly over the bridges across the rare streams, no longer -in danger from Secession hatchets. The swamp had given place to the -corn field. No black faces were turned up from the mowing and free -white labour was at work, and the type of the labourers was German -and Irish. - -The Yorkshireman expatiated on the fertility of the land, and on -the advantages it held out to the emigrant. But I observed all the -lots by the side of the rail, and apparently as far as the eye could -reach, were occupied. “Some of the very best land lies beyond on each -side,” said he. “Out over there in the fat places is where we put our -Englishmen.” By digging deep enough good water is always to be had, -and coal can be carried from the rail, where it costs only 7_s._ or -8_s._ a ton. Wood there is little or none in the prairies, and it was -rarely indeed a clump of trees could be detected, or anything higher -than some scrub brushwood. These little communities which we passed -were but the growth of a few years, and as we approached the Northern -portion of the line we could see, as it were, the village swelling -into the town, and the town spreading out to the dimensions of the -city. “I daresay, Major,” says one of the passengers, “this gentleman -never saw anything like these cities before. I’m told they’ve nothin’ -like them in Europe?” “Bless you,” rejoined the Major, with a wink, -“just leaving out London, Edinbro’, Paris, and Manchester, there’s -nothing on earth to ekal them.” My friend, who is a shrewd fellow, by -way of explanation of his military title, says, “I was a major once, -a major in the Queen’s Bays, but they would put troop-sergeant before -it them days.” Like many Englishmen he complains that the jealousy of -native-born Americans effectually bars the way to political position -of any naturalised citizen, and all the places are kept by the -natives. - -The scene now began to change gradually as we approached Chicago, -the prairie subsided into swampy land, and thick belts of trees -fringed the horizon; on our right glimpses of the sea could be -caught through openings in the wood--the inland sea on which stands -the Queen of the Lakes. Michigan looks broad and blue as the -Mediterranean. Large farm-houses stud the country, and houses which -must be the retreat of merchants and citizens of means; and when the -train, leaving the land altogether, dashes out on a pier and causeway -built along the borders of the lake, we see lines of noble houses, a -fine boulevard, a forest of masts, huge isolated piles of masonry, -the famed grain elevators by which so many have been hoisted to -fortune, churches and public edifices, and the apparatus of a great -city; and just at nine o’clock the train gives its last steam shout -and comes to a standstill in the spacious station of the Central -Illinois Company, and in half-an-hour more I am in comfortable -quarters at the Richmond House, where I find letters waiting for me, -by which it appears that the necessity for my being in Washington in -all haste, no longer exists. The wary General who commands the army -is aware that the advance to Richmond, for which so many journals are -clamouring, would be attended with serious risk at present, and the -politicians must be content to wait a little longer. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - - Progress of events--Policy of Great Britain as regarded by - the North--The American Press and its comments--Privacy a - luxury--Chicago--Senator Douglas and his widow--American - ingratitude--Apathy in volunteering--Colonel Turchin’s camp. - - -I shall here briefly recapitulate what has occurred since the last -mention of political events. - -In the first place the South has been developing every day greater -energy in widening the breach between it and the North, and preparing -to fill it with dead; and the North, so far as I can judge, has -been busy in raising up the Union as a nationality, and making out -the crime of treason from the act of Secession. The South has been -using conscription in Virginia, and is entering upon the conflict -with unsurpassable determination. The North is availing itself of -its greater resources and its foreign vagabondage and destitution -to swell the ranks of its volunteers, and boasts of its enormous -armies, as if it supposed conscripts well led do not fight better -than volunteers badly officered. Virginia has been invaded on three -points, one below and two above Washington, and passports are now -issued on both sides. - -The career open to the Southern privateers is effectually closed by -the Duke of Newcastle’s notification that the British Government will -not permit the cruisers of either side to bring their prizes into or -condemn them in English ports; but, strange to say, the Northerners -feel indignant against Great Britain for an act which deprives -their enemy of an enormous advantage, and which must reduce their -privateering to the mere work of plunder and destruction on the high -seas. In the same way the North affects to consider the declaration -of neutrality, and the concession of limited belligerent rights to -the seceding States, as deeply injurious and insulting; whereas our -course has, in fact, removed the greatest difficulty from the path of -the Washington Cabinet, and saved us from inconsistencies and serious -risks in our course of action. - -It is commonly said, “What would Great Britain have done if we had -declared ourselves neutral during the Canadian rebellion, or had -conceded limited belligerent rights to the Sepoys?” as if Canada -and Hindostan have the same relation to the British Crown that the -seceding States had to the Northern States. But if Canada, with its -parliament, judges, courts of law, and its people, declared it was -independent of Great Britain; and if the Government of Great Britain, -months after that declaration was made and acted upon, permitted the -new State to go free, whilst a large number of her Statesmen agreed -that Canada was perfectly right, we could find little fault with the -United States’ Government for issuing a proclamation of neutrality -the same as our own, when after a long interval of quiescence a war -broke out between the two countries. - -Secession was an accomplished fact months before Mr. Lincoln came -into office, but we heard no talk of rebels and pirates till Sumter -had fallen, and the North was perfectly quiescent--not only that--the -people of wealth in New York were calmly considering the results -of Secession as an accomplished fact, and seeking to make the best -of it; nay, more, when I arrived in Washington some members of the -Cabinet were perfectly ready to let the South go. - -One of the first questions put to me by Mr. Chase in my first -interview with him, was whether I thought a very injurious effect -would be produced to the _prestige_ of the Federal Government in -Europe if the Northern States let the South have its own way, and -told them to go in peace. “For my own part,” said he, “I should not -be averse to let them try it, for I believe they would soon find out -their mistake.” Mr. Chase may be finding out his mistake just now. -When I left England the prevalent opinion, as far as I could judge, -was, that a family quarrel, in which the South was in the wrong, had -taken place, and that it would be better to stand by and let the -Government put forth its strength to chastise rebellious children. -But now we see the house is divided against itself, and that the -family are determined to set up two separate establishments. These -remarks occur to me with the more force because I see the New York -papers are attacking me because I described a calm in a sea which -was afterwards agitated by a storm. “What a false witness is this,” -they cry, “See how angry and how vexed is our Bermoothes, and yet the -fellow says it was quite placid.” - -I have already seen so many statements respecting my sayings, -my doings, and my opinions, in the American papers, that I have -resolved to follow a general rule, with few exceptions indeed, -which prescribes as the best course to pursue, not so much an -indifference to these remarks as a fixed purpose to abstain from -the hopeless task of correcting them. The “Quicklys” of the press -are incorrigible. Commerce may well be proud of Chicago. I am not -going to reiterate what every Crispinus from the old country has -said again and again concerning this wonderful place--not one word -of statistics, of corn elevators, of shipping, or of the piles of -buildings raised from the foundation by ingenious applications of -screws. Nor am I going to enlarge on the splendid future of that -which has so much present prosperity, or on the benefits to mankind -opened up by the Illinois Central Railway. It is enough to say that -by the borders of this lake there has sprung up in thirty years a -wonderful city of fine streets, luxurious hotels, handsome shops, -magnificent stores, great warehouses, extensive quays, capacious -docks; and that as long as corn holds its own, and the mouths of -Europe are open, and her hands full, Chicago will acquire greater -importance, size, and wealth with every year. The only drawback, -perhaps, to the comfort of the money-making inhabitants, and of the -stranger within the gates, is to be found in the clouds of dust and -in the unpaved streets and thoroughfares, which give anguish to horse -and man. - -I spent three days here writing my letters and repairing the wear -and tear of my Southern expedition; and although it was hot enough, -the breeze from the lake carried health and vigour to the frame, -enervated by the sun of Louisiana and Mississippi. No need now to -wipe the large drops of moisture from the languid brow lest they -blind the eyes, nor to sit in a state of semi-clothing, worn out and -exhausted, and tracing with moist hand imperfect characters on the -paper. - -I could not satisfy myself whether there was, as I have been told, -a peculiar state of feeling in Chicago, which induced many people -to support the Government of Mr. Lincoln because they believed it -necessary for their own interests to obtain decided advantages over -the South in the field, whilst they were opposed _totis viribus_ to -the genius of emancipation and to the views of the black Republicans. -But the genius and eloquence of the little giant have left their -impress on the facile mould of democratic thought, and he who argued -with such acuteness and ability last March in Washington, in his -own study, against the possibility, or at least the constitutional -legality, of using the national forces, and the militia and -volunteers of the Northern States, to subjugate the Southern people, -carried away by the great bore which rushed through the placid North -when Sumter fell, or perceiving his inability to resist its force, -sprung to the crest of the wave, and carried to excess the violence -of the Union reaction. - -Whilst I was in the South I had seen his name in Northern papers with -sensation headings and descriptions of his magnificent crusade for -the Union in the west. I had heard his name reviled by those who had -once been his warm political allies, and his untimely death did not -seem to satisfy their hatred. His old foes in the North admired and -applauded the sudden apostasy of their eloquent opponent, and were -loud in lamentations over his loss. Imagine, then, how I felt when -visiting his grave at Chicago, seeing his bust in many houses, or -his portrait in all the shop-windows, I was told that the enormously -wealthy community of which he was the idol were permitting his widow -to live in a state not far removed from penury. - -“Senator Douglas, sir,” observed one of his friends to me, “died of -bad whisky. He killed himself with it while he was stumping for the -Union all over the country.” “Well,” I said, “I suppose, sir, the -abstraction called the Union, for which by your own account he killed -himself, will give a pension to his widow.” Virtue is its own reward, -and so is patriotism, unless it takes the form of contracts. - -As far as all considerations of wife, children, or family are -concerned, let a man serve a decent despot, or even a constitutional -country with an economising House of Commons, if he wants anything -more substantial than lip-service. The history of the great men of -America is full of instances of national ingratitude. They give -more praise and less pence to their benefactors than any nation on -the face of the earth. Washington got little, though the plundering -scouts who captured André were well rewarded; and the men who fought -during the War of Independence were long left in neglect and poverty, -sitting in sackcloth and ashes at the door-steps of the temple of -liberty, whilst the crowd rushed inside to worship Plutus. - -If a native of the British isles, of the natural ignorance of his own -imperfections which should characterise him, desires to be subjected -to a series of moral shower-baths, douches, and shampooing with a -rough glove, let him come to the United States. In Chicago he will -be told that the English people are fed by the beneficence of the -United States, and that all the trade and commerce of England are -simply directed to the one end of obtaining gold enough to pay the -western States for the breadstuffs exported for our population. We -know what the South think of our dependence on cotton. The people -of the east think they are striking a great blow at their enemy by -the Morrill tariff, and I was told by a patriot in North Carolina, -“Why, creation! if you let the Yankees shut up our ports, the whole -of your darned ships will go to rot. Where will you get your naval -stores from? Why, I guess in a year you could not scrape up enough of -tarpentine in the whole of your country for Queen Victoria to paint -her nursery-door with.” - -Nearly one half of the various companies enrolled in this district -are Germans, or are the descendants of German parents, and speak only -the language of the old country; two-thirds of the remainder are -Irish, or of immediate Irish descent; but it is said that a grand -reserve of Americans born lies behind this _avant garde_, who will -come into the battle should there ever be need for their services. - -Indeed so long as the Northern people furnish the means of paying -and equipping armies perfectly competent to do their work, and equal -in numbers to any demands made for men, they may rest satisfied with -the accomplishment of that duty, and with contributing from their -ranks the great majority of the superior and even of the subaltern -officers; but with the South it is far different. Their institutions -have repelled immigration; the black slave has barred the door to the -white free settler. Only on the seaboard and in the large cities are -German and Irish to be found, and they to a man have come forward to -fight for the South; but the proportion they bear to the native-born -Americans who have rushed to arms in defence of their menaced -borders, is of course far less than it is as yet to the number of -Americans in the Northern States who have volunteered to fight for -the Union. - -I was invited before I left to visit the camp of a Colonel Turchin, -who was described to me as a Russian officer of great ability and -experience in European warfare, in command of a regiment consisting -of Poles, Hungarians, and Germans, who were about to start for the -seat of war; but I was only able to walk through his tents, where -I was astonished at the amalgam of nations that constituted his -battalion; though, on inspection, I am bound to say there proved -to be an American element in the ranks which did not appear to -have coalesced with the bulk of the rude and, I fear, predatory -Cossacks of the Union. Many young men of good position have gone to -the wars, although there was no complaint, as in Southern cities, -that merchants offices have been deserted, and great establishments -left destitute of clerks and working hands. In warlike operations, -however, Chicago, with its communication open to the sea, its access -to the head waters of the Mississippi, its intercourse with the -marts of commerce and of manufacture, may be considered to possess -greater belligerent power and strength than the great city of New -Orleans; and there is much greater probability of Chicago sending its -contingent to attack the Crescent City than there is of the latter -being able to despatch a soldier within five hundred miles of its -streets. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - - Niagara--Impression of the Falls--Battle scenes in the - neighbourhood--A village of Indians--General Scott--Hostile - movements on both sides--The Hudson--Military school at West - Point--Return to New York--Altered appearance of the city-- - Misery and suffering--Altered state of public opinion, as to - the Union and towards Great Britain. - - -At eight o’clock on the morning of the 27th I left Chicago for -Niagara, which was so temptingly near that I resolved to make a -detour by that route to New York. The line from the city which I took -skirts the southern extremity of Lake Michigan for many miles, and -leaving its borders at New Buffalo, traverses the southern portion of -the state of Michigan by Albion and Jackson to the town of Detroit, -or the outflow of Lake St. Clair into Lake Erie, a distance of -284 miles, which was accomplished in about twelve hours. The most -enthusiastic patriot could not affirm the country was interesting. -The names of the stations were certainly novel to a Britisher. Thus -we had Kalumet, Pokagon, Dowagiac, Kalamazoo, Ypsilanti, among the -more familiar titles of Chelsea, Marengo, Albion, and Parma. - -It was dusk when we reached the steam ferry-boat at Detroit, which -took us across to Windsor; but through the dusk I could perceive the -Union Jack waving above the unimpressive little town which bears a -name so respected by British ears. The customs’ inspections seemed -very mild; and I was not much impressed by the representative of -the British crown, who, with a brass button on his coat and a very -husky voice, exercised his powers on behalf of Her Majesty at the -landing-place of Windsor. The officers of the railway company, who -received me as if I had been an old friend, and welcomed me as if I -had just got out of a battle-field. “Well, I do wonder them Yankees -have ever let you come out alive.” “May I ask why?” “Oh, because you -have not been praising them all round, sir. Why even the Northern -chaps get angry with a Britisher, as they call us, if he attempts to -say a word against those cursed niggers.” - -It did not appear the Americans are quite so thin-skinned, for whilst -crossing in the steamer a passage of arms between the Captain, who -was a genuine John Bull, and a Michigander, in the style which is -called chaff or slang, diverted most of the auditors, although it was -very much to the disadvantage of the Union champion. The Michigan -man had threatened the Captain that Canada would be annexed as the -consequence of our infamous conduct. “Why, I tell you,” said the -Captain, “we’d just draw up the negro chaps from our barbers’ shops, -and tell them we’d send them to Illinois if they did not lick you; -and I believe every creature in Michigan, pigs and all, would run -before them into Pennsylvania. We know what you are up to, you -and them Maine chaps; but Lor’ bless you, sooner than take such a -lot, we’d give you ten dollars a head to make you stay in your own -country; and we know you would go to the next worst place before -your time for half the money. The very Bluenoses would secede if you -were permitted to come under the old flag.” - -All night we travelled. A long day through a dreary, ill-settled, -pine-wooded, half-cleared country, swarming with mosquitoes and -biting flies, and famous for fevers. Just about daybreak the train -stopped. - -“Now, then,” said an English voice; “now, then, who’s for Clifton -Hotel? All passengers leave cars for this side of the Falls.” -Consigning our baggage to the commissioner of the Clifton, my -companion, Mr. Ward, and myself resolved to walk along the banks of -the river to the hotel, which is some two miles and a half distant, -and set out whilst it was still so obscure that the outline of the -beautiful bridge which springs so lightly across the chasm, filled -with furious hurrying waters, hundreds of feet below, was visible -only as is the tracery of some cathedral arch through the dim light -of the cloister. - -The road follows the course of the stream, which whirls and gurgles -in an Alpine torrent, many times magnified, in a deep gorge like that -of the Tête Noire. As the rude bellow of the steam-engine and the -rattle of the train proceeding on its journey were dying away, the -echoes seemed to swell into a sustained, reverberating, hollow sound -from the perpendicular banks of the St. Lawrence. We listened. “It is -the noise of the Falls,” said my companion; and as we walked on the -sound became louder, filling the air with a strange quavering note, -which played about a tremendous uniform bass note, and silencing -every other. Trees closed in the road on the river side, but when -we had walked a mile or so, the lovely light of morning spreading -with our steps, suddenly through an opening in the branches there -appeared, closing up the vista--white, flickering, indistinct, and -shroud-like--the Falls, rushing into a grave of black waters, and -uttering that tremendous cry which can never be forgotten. - -I have heard many people say they were disappointed with the first -impression of Niagara. Let those who desire to see the water-leap in -all its grandeur, approach it as I did, and I cannot conceive what -their expectations are if they do not confess the sight exceeded -their highest ideal. I do not pretend to describe the sensations or -to endeavour to give the effect produced on me by the scene or by -the Falls, then or subsequently; but I must say words can do no more -than confuse the writer’s own ideas of the grandeur of the sight, -and mislead altogether those who read them. It is of no avail to -do laborious statistics, and tell us how many gallons rush over in -that down-flung ocean every second, or how wide it is, how high it -is, how deep the earth-piercing caverns beneath. For my own part, I -always feel the distance of the sun to be insignificant, when I read -it is so many hundreds of thousands of miles away, compared with the -feeling of utter inaccessibility to anything human which is caused by -it when its setting rays illuminate some purple ocean studded with -golden islands in dreamland. - -Niagara is rolling its waters over the barrier. Larger and louder it -grows upon us. - -“I hope the hotel is not full,” quoth my friend. I confess, for the -time, I forgot all about Niagara, and was perturbed concerning a -breakfastless ramble and a hunt after lodgings by the borders of the -great river. - -But although Clifton Hotel was full enough, there was room for -us, too; and for two days a strange, weird-kind of life I led, -alternating between the roar of the cataract outside and the din -of politics within; for, be it known, that at the Canadian side -of the Falls many Americans of the Southern States, who would not -pollute their footsteps by contact with the soil of Yankee-land, were -sojourning, and that merchants and bankers of New York and other -Northern cities had selected it as their summer retreat, and, indeed, -with reason; for after excursions on both sides of the Falls, the -comparative seclusion of the settlements on the left bank appears to -me to render it infinitely preferable to the Rosherville gentism and -semi-rowdyism of the large American hotels and settlements on the -other side. - -It was distressing to find that Niagara was surrounded by the -paraphernalia of a fixed fair. I had looked forward to a certain -degree of solitude. It appeared impossible that man could cockneyfy -such a magnificent display of force and grandeur in nature. But, -alas! it is haunted by what poor Albert Smith used to denominate -“harpies.” The hateful race of guides infest the precincts of the -hotels, waylay you in the lanes, and prowl about the unguarded -moments of reverie. There are miserable little peepshows and -photographers, bird stuffers, shell polishers, collectors of -crystals, and proprietors of natural curiosity shops. - -There is, besides, a large village population. There is a -watering-side air about the people who walk along the road worse -than all their mills and factories working their water privileges -at both sides of the stream. At the American side there is a lanky, -pretentious town, with big hotels, shops of Indian curiosities, -and all the meagre forms of the bazaar life reduced to a minimum -of attractiveness which destroy the comfort of a traveller in -Switzerland. I had scarcely been an hour in the hotel before I was -asked to look at the Falls through a little piece of coloured glass. -Next I was solicited to purchase a collection of muddy photographs, -representing what I could look at with my own eyes for nothing. -Not finally by any means, I was assailed by a gentleman who was -particularly desirous of selling me an enormous pair of cow’s-horns -and a stuffed hawk. Small booths and peepshows corrupt the very -margin of the bank, and close by the remnant of the “Table Rock,” -a Jew (who, by-the-bye, deserves infinite credit for the zeal and -energy he has thrown into the collections for his museum), exhibits -bottled rattlesnakes, stuffed monkeys, Egyptian mummies, series of -coins, with a small living menagerie attached to the shop, in which -articles of Indian manufacture are exposed for sale. It was too bad -to be asked to admire such _lusus naturæ_ as double-headed calves and -dogs with three necks by the banks of Niagara. - -As I said before, I am not going to essay the impossible or to -describe the Falls. On the English side there are, independently of -other attractions, some scenes of recent historic interest, for close -to Niagara are Lundy’s Lane and Chippewa. There are few persons in -England aware of the exceedingly severe fighting which characterised -the contests between the Americans and the English and Canadian -troops during the campaign of 1814. At Chippewa, for example, -Major-General Riall, who, with 2000 men, one howitzer, and two -24-pounders, attacked a force of Americans of a similar strength, -was repulsed with a loss of 500 killed and wounded; and on the -morning of the 25th of July the action of Lundy’s Lane, between four -brigades of Americans and seven field-pieces, and 3100 men of the -British and seven field-pieces, took place, in which the Americans -were worsted, and retired with a loss of 854 men and two guns, whilst -the British lost 878. On the 14th of August following Sir Gordon -Drummond was repulsed with a loss of 905 men out of his small force -in an attack on Fort Erie; and on the 17th of September an American -sortie from the place was defeated with a loss of 510 killed and -wounded, the British having lost 609. In effect the American campaign -was unsuccessful; but their failures were redeemed by their successes -on Lake Champlain, and in the affair of Plattsburgh. - -There was more hard fighting than strategy in these battles, and -their results were not, on the whole, creditable to the military -skill of either party. They were sanguinary in proportion to the -number of troops engaged, but they were very petty skirmishes -considered in the light of contests between two great nations for the -purpose of obtaining specific results. As England was engaged in a -great war in Europe, was far removed from the scene of operations, -was destitute of steam-power, whilst America was fighting, as it -were, on her own soil, close at hand, with a full opportunity of -putting forth all her strength, the complete defeat of the American -invasion of Canada was more honourable to our arms than the successes -which the Americans achieved in resisting aggressive demonstrations. - -In the great hotel of Clifton we had every day a little war of our -own, for there were----but why should I mention names? Has not -government its bastiles? There were in effect men, and women too, who -regarded the people of the Northern States and the government they -had selected very much as the men of ’98 looked upon the government -and people of England; but withal these strong Southerners were not -very favourable to a country which they regarded as the natural ally -of the abolitionists, simply because it had resolved to be neutral. - -On the Canadian side these rebels were secure. British authority was -embodied in a respectable old Scottish gentleman, whose duty it was -to prevent smuggling across the boiling waters of the St. Lawrence, -and who performed it with zeal and diligence worthy of a higher post. -There was indeed a withered triumphal arch which stood over the spot -where the young Prince of our royal house had passed on his way to -the Table Rock, but beyond these signs and tokens there was nothing -to distinguish the American from the British side, except the greater -size and activity of the settlements upon the right bank. There is -no power in nature, according to great engineers, which cannot be -forced to succumb to the influence of money. The American papers -actually announce that “Niagara is to be sold;” the proprietors of -the land upon their side of the water have resolved to sell their -water privileges! A capitalist could render the islands the most -beautifully attractive places in the world. - -Life at Niagara is like that at most watering-places, though it is -a desecration to apply such a term to the Falls, and there is no -bathing there, except that which is confined to the precincts of -the hotels and to the ingenious establishment on the American side, -which permits one to enjoy the full rush of the current in covered -rooms with sides pierced, to let it come through with undiminished -force and with perfect security to the bather. There are drives and -picnics, and mild excursions to obscure places in the neighbourhood, -where only the roar of the Falls gives an idea of their presence. -The rambles about the islands, and the views of the boiling rapids -above them, are delightful, but I am glad to hear from one of the -guides that the great excitement of seeing a man and boat carried -over occurs but rarely. Every year, however, hapless creatures -crossing from one shore to the other, by some error of judgment or -miscalculation of strength, or malign influence, are swept away into -the rapids, and then, notwithstanding the wonderful rescues effected -by the American blacksmith and unwonted kindnesses of fortune, there -is little chance of saving body corporate or incorporate from the -headlong swoop to destruction. - -Next to the purveyors of curiosities and hotel keepers, the Indians, -who live in a village at some distance from Niagara, reap the largest -profit from the crowds of visitors who repair annually to the Falls. -They are a harmless and by no means elevated race of semi-civilised -savages, whose energies are expended on whiskey, feather fans, bark -canoes, ornamental moccasins, and carved pipe stems. I had arranged -for an excursion to see them in their wigwams one morning, when the -news was brought to me that General Scott had ordered, or been forced -to order the advance of the Federal troops encamped in front of -Washington, under the command of M‘Dowell, against the Confederates, -commanded by Beauregard, who was described as occupying a most -formidable position, covered with entrenchments and batteries in -front of a ridge of hills, through which the railway passes to -Richmond. - -The New York papers represent the Federal army to be of some grand -indefinite strength, varying from 60,000 to 120,000 men, full of -fight, admirably equipped, well disciplined, and provided with an -overwhelming force of artillery. General Scott, I am very well -assured, did not feel such confidence in the result of an invasion of -Virginia, that he would hurry raw levies and a rabble of regiments to -undertake a most arduous military operation. - -The day I was introduced to the General he was seated at a table -in the unpretending room which served as his boudoir in the still -humbler house where he held his head-quarters. On the table before -him were some plans and maps of the harbour defences of the Southern -ports. I inferred he was about to organise a force for the occupation -of positions along the coast. But when I mentioned my impression to -one of his officers, he said, “Oh, no, the General advised that long -ago; but he is now convinced we are too late. All he can hope, now, -is to be allowed time to prepare a force for the field, but there are -hopes that some compromise will yet take place.” - -The probabilities of this compromise have vanished: few entertain -them now. They have been hanging Secessionists in Illinois, and -the court-house itself has been made the scene of Lynch law murder -in Ogle county. Petitions, prepared by citizens of New York to -the President, for a general convention to consider a compromise, -have been seized. The Confederates have raised batteries along the -Virginian shore of the Potomac. General Banks, at Baltimore, has -deposed the police authorities “_proprio motu_,” in spite of the -protest of the board. Engagements have occurred between the Federal -steamers and the Confederate batteries on the Potomac. On all points, -wherever the Federal pickets have advanced in Virginia, they have -encountered opposition and have been obliged to halt or to retire. - - * * * * * - -As I stood on the verandah this morning, looking for the last time -on the Falls, which were covered with a grey mist, that rose from -the river and towered unto the sky in columns which were lost in the -clouds, a voice beside me said, “Mr. Russell, that is something like -the present condition of our country, mists and darkness obscure -it now, but we know the great waters are rushing behind, and will -flow till eternity.” The speaker was an earnest, thoughtful man, but -the country of which he spoke was the land of the South. “And do -you think,” said I, “when the mists clear away the Falls will be as -full and as grand as before?” “Well,” he replied, “they are great as -it is, though a rock divides them; we have merely thrown our rock -into the waters,--they will meet all the same in the pool below.” A -coloured boy, who has waited on me at the hotel, hearing I was going -away, entreated me to take him on any terms, which were, I found, an -advance of nine dollars, and twenty dollars a month, and, as I heard -a good account of him from the landlord, I installed the young man -into my service. In the evening I left Niagara on my way to New York. - -_July 2nd._--At early dawn this morning, looking out of the sleeping -car, I saw through the mist a broad, placid river on the right, -and on the left high wooded banks running sharply into the stream, -against the base of which the rails were laid. West Point, which is -celebrated for its picturesque scenery, as much as for its military -school, could not be seen through the fog, and I regretted time did -not allow me to stop and pay a visit to the academy. I was obliged to -content myself with the handiwork of some of the ex-pupils. The only -camaraderie I have witnessed in America exists among the West Point -men. It is to Americans what our great public schools are to young -Englishmen. To take a high place at West Point is to be a first-class -man, or wrangler. The academy turns out a kind of military -aristocracy, and I have heard complaints that the Irish and Germans -are almost completely excluded, because the nominations to West Point -are obtained by political influence; and the foreign element, though -powerful at the ballot box, has no enduring strength. The Murphies -and Schmidts seldom succeed in shoving their sons into the American -institution. North and South, I have observed, the old pupils refer -everything military to West Point. “I was with Beauregard at West -Point. He was three above me.” Or, “M‘Dowell and I were in the -same class.” An officer is measured by what he did there, and if -professional jealousies date from the state of common pupilage, so -do lasting friendships. I heard Beauregard, Lawton, Hardee, Bragg, -and others, speak of M‘Dowell, Lyon, M‘Clellan, and other men of the -academy, as their names turned up in the Northern papers, evidently -judging of them by the old school standard. The number of men who -have been educated there greatly exceeds the modest requirements of -the army. But there is likelihood of their being all in full work -very soon. - -At about nine a.m., the train reached New York, and in driving to -the house of Mr. Duncan, who accompanied me from Niagara, the first -thing which struck me was the changed aspect of the streets. Instead -of peaceful citizens, men in military uniforms thronged the pathways, -and such multitudes of United States’ flags floated from the windows -and roofs of the houses as to convey the impression that it was a -great holiday festival. The appearance of New York when I first saw -it was very different. For one day, indeed, after my arrival, there -were men in uniform to be seen in the streets, but they disappeared -after St. Patrick had been duly honoured, and it was very rarely I -ever saw a man in soldier’s clothes during the rest of my stay. Now, -fully a third of the people carried arms, and were dressed in some -kind of martial garb. - -The walls are covered with placards from military companies offering -inducements to recruits. An outburst of military tailors has taken -place in the streets; shops are devoted to militia equipments; -rifles, pistols, swords, plumes, long boots, saddle, bridle, camp -beds, canteens, tents, knapsacks, have usurped the place of the -ordinary articles of traffic. Pictures and engravings--bad, and very -bad--of the “battles” of Big Bethel and Vienna, full of furious -charges, smoke and dismembered bodies, have driven the French -prints out of the windows. Innumerable “General Scotts” glower at -you from every turn, making the General look wiser than he or any -man ever was. Ellsworths in almost equal proportion, Grebles and -Winthrops--the Union martyrs--and Tompkins, the temporary hero of -Fairfax court-house. - -The “flag of our country” is represented in a coloured engraving, the -original of which was not destitute of poetical feeling, as an angry -blue sky through which meteors fly streaked by the winds, whilst -between the red stripes the stars just shine out from the heavens, -the flag-staff being typified by a forest tree bending to the -force of the blast. The Americans like this idea--to my mind it is -significant of bloodshed and disaster. And why not! What would become -of all these pseudo-Zouaves who have come out like an eruption over -the States, and are in no respect, not even in their baggy breeches, -like their great originals, if this war were not to go on? I thought -I had had enough of Zouaves in New Orleans, but _dîs aliter visum_. - -They are overrunning society, and the streets here, and the dress -which becomes the broad-chested, stumpy, short-legged Celt, who seems -specially intended for it, is singularly unbecoming to the tall and -slightly-built American. Songs “On to glory,” “Our country,” new -versions of “Hail Columbia,” which certainly cannot be considered by -even American complacency a “happy land” when its inhabitants are -preparing to cut each other’s throats; of the “star-spangled banner,” -are displayed in booksellers’ and music-shop windows, and patriotic -sentences emblazoned on flags float from many houses. The ridiculous -habit of dressing up children and young people up to ten and twelve -years of age as Zouaves and vivandières has been caught up by the -old people, and Mars would die with laughter if he saw some of the -abdominous, be-spectacled light infantry men who are hobbling along -the pavement. - -There has been indeed a change in New York: externally it is most -remarkable, but I cannot at all admit that the abuse with which I -was assailed for describing the indifference which prevailed on -my arrival was in the least degree justified. I was desirous of -learning how far the tone of conversation “in the city” had altered, -and soon after breakfast I went down Broadway to Pine Street and -Wall Street. The street in all its length was almost draped with -flags--the warlike character of the shops was intensified. In front -of one shop window there was a large crowd gazing with interest at -some object which I at last succeeded in feasting my eyes upon. A -grey cap with a tinsel badge in front, and the cloth stained with -blood was displayed, with the words, “Cap of Secession officer killed -in action.” On my way I observed another crowd of women, some with -children in their arms standing in front of a large house and gazing -up earnestly and angrily at the windows. I found they were wives, -mothers, and sisters, and daughters of volunteers who had gone off -and left them destitute. - -The misery thus caused has been so great that the citizens of New -York have raised a fund to provide food, clothes, and a little -money--a poor relief, in fact, for them, and it was plain they were -much needed, though some of the applicants did not seem to belong to -a class accustomed to seek aid from the public. This already! But -Wall Street and Pine Street are bent on battle. And so this day, hot -from the South and impressed with the firm resolve of the people, and -finding that the North has been lashing itself into fury, I sit down -and write to England, on my return from the city. “At present dismiss -entirely the idea, no matter how it may originate, that there will -be, or can be, peace, compromise, union, or secession, till war has -determined the issue.” - -As long as there was a chance that the struggle might not take place, -the merchants of New York were silent, fearful of offending their -Southern friends and connections, but inflicting infinite damage on -their own government and misleading both sides. Their sentiments, -sympathies, and business bound them with the South; and, indeed, till -“the glorious uprising” the South believed New York was with them, -as might be credited from the tone of some organs in the press, and -I remember hearing it said by Southerners in Washington, that it was -very likely New York would go out of the Union! When the merchants, -however, saw that the South was determined to quit the Union, they -resolved to avert the permanent loss of the great profits derived -from their connection with the South by some present sacrifices. They -rushed to the platforms--the battle-cry was sounded from almost very -pulpit--flag raisings took place in every square, like the planting -of the tree of liberty in France in 1848, and the oath was taken to -trample Secession under foot, and to quench the fire of the Southern -heart for ever. - -The change in manner, in tone, in argument, is most remarkable. I met -men to-day who last March argued coolly and philosophically about -the right of Secession. They are now furious at the idea of such -wickedness--furious with England, because she does not deny their -own famous doctrine of the sacred right of insurrection. “We must -maintain our glorious Union, sir.” “We must have a country.” “We -cannot allow two nations to grow up on this Continent, sir.” “We -must possess the entire control of the Mississippi.” These “musts,” -and “can’ts,” and “won’ts,” are the angry utterances of a spirited -people who have had their will so long that they at last believe -it is omnipotent. Assuredly, they will not have it over the South -without a tremendous and long-sustained contest, in which they must -put forth every exertion, and use all the resources and superior -means they so abundantly possess. - -It is absurd to assert, as do the New York people, to give some -semblance of reason to their sudden outburst, that it was caused -by the insult to the flag at Sumter. Why, the flag had been fired -on long before Sumter was attacked by the Charleston batteries! It -had been torn down from United States’ arsenals and forts all over -the South; and but for the accident which placed Major Anderson in -a position from which he could not retire, there would have been no -bombardment of the fort, and it would, when evacuated, have shared -the fate of all the other Federal works on the Southern coast. Some -of the gentlemen who are now so patriotic and Unionistic, were -last March prepared to maintain that if the President attempted -to re-inforce Sumter or Pickens, he would be responsible for the -destruction of the Union. Many journals in New York and out of it -held the same doctrine. - -One word to these gentlemen. I am pretty well satisfied that if they -had always spoke, written, and acted as they do now, the people of -Charleston would not have attacked Sumter so readily. The abrupt -outburst of the North and the demonstration at New York filled the -South, first with astonishment, and then with something like fear, -which was rapidly fanned into anger by the press and the politicians, -as well as by the pride inherent in slaveholders. - -I wonder what Mr. Seward will say when I get back to Washington. -Before I left, he was of opinion--at all events, he stated--that all -the States would come back, at the rate of one a month. The nature of -the process was not stated; but we are told there are 250,000 Federal -troops now under arms, prepared to try a new one. - -Combined with the feeling of animosity to the rebels, there is, I -perceive, a good deal of ill-feeling towards Great Britain. The -Southern papers are so angry with us for the Order in Council -closing British ports against privateers and their prizes, that they -advise Mr. Rust and Mr. Yancey to leave Europe. We are in evil case -between North and South. I met a reverend doctor, who is most bitter -in his expressions towards us; and I dare say, Bishop and General -Leonidas Polk, down South, would not be much better disposed. The -clergy are active on both sides; and their flocks approve of their -holy violence. One journal tells with much gusto of a blasphemous -chaplain, a remarkably good rifle shot, who went into one of the -skirmishes lately, and killed a number of rebels--the joke being -in the fact, that each time he fired and brought down his man, he -exclaimed, piously, “May Heaven have mercy on your soul!” One Father -Mooney, who performed the novel act for a clergyman of “christening” -a big gun at Washington the other day, wound up the speech he made -on the occasion, by declaring “the echo of its voice would be _sweet -music_, inviting the children of Columbia to share the comforts of -his father’s home.” Can impiety and folly, and bad taste, go further? - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - - Departure for Washington--A “servant”--The American Press on - the War--Military aspect of the States--Philadelphia--Baltimore - --Washington--Lord Lyons--Mr. Sumner--Irritation against Great - Britain--“Independence” day--Meeting of Congress--General - state of affairs. - - -_July 3rd._--Up early, breakfasted at five a.m., and left my -hospitable host’s roof, on my way to Washington. The ferry-boat, -which is a long way off, starts for the train at seven o’clock; and -so bad are the roads, I nearly missed it. On hurrying to secure my -place in the train, I said to one of the railway officers, “If you -see a coloured man in a cloth cap and dark coat with metal buttons, -will you be good enough, sir, to tell him I’m in this carriage.” “Why -so, sir?” “He is my servant.” “Servant,” he repeated; “your servant! -I presume you’re a Britisher; and if he’s your servant, I think you -may as well let him find you.” And so he walked away, delighted with -his cleverness, his civility, and his rebuke of an aristocrat. - -Nearly four months since I went by this road to Washington. The -change which has since occurred is beyond belief. Men were then -speaking of place under Government, of compromises between North and -South, and of peace; now they only talk of war and battle. Ever since -I came out of the South, and could see the newspapers, I have been -struck by the easiness of the American people, by their excessive -credulity. Whether they wish it or not, they are certainly deceived. -Not a day has passed without the announcement that the Federal troops -were moving, and that “a great battle was expected” by somebody -unknown, at some place or other. - -I could not help observing the arrogant tone with which writers of -stupendous ignorance on military matters write of the operations -which they think the Generals should undertake. They demand that an -army, which has neither adequate transport, artillery, nor cavalry, -shall be pushed forward to Richmond to crush out Secession, and -at the same time their columns teem with accounts from the army, -which prove that it is not only ill-disciplined, but that it is -ill-provided. A general outcry has been raised against the war -department and the contractors, and it is openly stated that Mr. -Cameron, the Secretary, has not clean hands. One journal denounces -“the swindling and plunder” which prevail under his eyes. A minister -who is disposed to be corrupt can be so with facility under the -system of the United States, because he has absolute control over -the contracts, which are rising to an enormous magnitude, as the war -preparations assume more formidable dimensions. The greater part of -the military stores of the State are in the South--arms, ordnance, -clothing, ammunition, ships, machinery, and all kinds of _matériel_ -must be prepared in a hurry. - -The condition in which the States present themselves, particularly -at sea, is a curious commentary on the offensive and warlike tone -of their Statesmen in their dealings with the first maritime power -of the world. They cannot blockade a single port effectually. The -Confederate steamer Sumter has escaped to sea from New Orleans, and -ships run in and out of Charleston almost as they please. Coming -so recently from the South, I can see the great difference which -exists between the two races, as they may be called, exemplified in -the men I have seen, and those who are in the train going towards -Washington. These volunteers have none of the swash-buckler bravado, -gallant-swaggering air of the Southern men. They are staid, quiet -men, and the Pennsylvanians, who are on their way to join their -regiment in Baltimore, are very inferior in size and strength to the -Tennesseans and Carolinians. - -The train is full of men in uniform. When I last went over the line, -I do not believe there was a sign of soldiering, beyond perhaps -the “conductor,” who is always described in the papers as being -“gentlemantly,” wore his badge. And, _à propos_ of badges, I see that -civilians have taken to wearing shields of metal on their coats, -enamelled with the stars and stripes, and that men who are not in the -army try to make it seem they are soldiers by affecting military caps -and cloaks. - -The country between Washington and Philadelphia is destitute of -natural beauties, but it affords abundant evidence that it is -inhabited by a prosperous, comfortable, middle-class community. -From every village church, and from many houses, the Union flag -was displayed. Four months ago not one was to be seen. When we -were crossing in the steam ferry-boat at Philadelphia I saw some -volunteers looking up and smiling at a hatchet which was over the -cabin door, and it was not till I saw it had the words “States -Rights’ Fire Axe” painted along the handle I could account for -the attraction. It would fare ill with any vessel in Southern -waters which displayed an axe to the citizens inscribed with “Down -with States Rights” on it. There is certainly less vehemence and -bitterness among the Northerners; but it might be erroneous to -suppose there was less determination. - -Below Philadelphia, from Havre-de-Grâce all the way to Baltimore, -and thence on to Washington, the stations on the rail were guarded -by soldiers, as though an enemy were expected to destroy the bridges -and to tear up the rails. Wooden bridges and causeways, carried over -piles and embankments, are necessary, in consequence of the nature -of the country; and at each of these a small camp was formed for the -soldiers who have to guard the approaches. Sentinels are posted, -pickets thrown out, and in the open field by the way-side troops -are to be seen moving, as though a battle was close at hand. In one -word, we are in the State of Maryland. By these means alone are -communications maintained between the North and the capital. As we -approach Baltimore the number of sentinels and camps increase, and -earthworks have been thrown up on the high grounds commanding the -city. The display of Federal flags from the public buildings and some -shipping in the river was so limited as to contrast strongly with -those symbols of Union sentiments in the Northern cities. - -Since I last passed through this city the streets have been a scene -of bloodshed. The conductor of the car on which we travelled from -one terminus to the other, along the street railway, pointed out the -marks of the bullets on the walls and in the window frames. “That’s -the way to deal with the Plug Uglies,” exclaimed he; a name given -popularly to the lower classes called Rowdies in New York. “Yes,” -said a fellow-passenger quietly to me, “these are the sentiments -which are now uttered in the country which we call the land of -freedom, and men like that desire nothing better than brute force. -There is no city in Europe--Venice, Warsaw, or Rome--subject to such -tyranny as Baltimore at this moment. In this Pratt Street there have -been murders as foul as ever soldiery committed in the streets of -Paris.” Here was evidently the judicial blindness of a States Rights -fanatic, who considers the despatch of Federal soldiers through -the State of Maryland without the permission of the authorities an -outrage so flagrant as to justify the people in shooting them down, -whilst the soldiers become murderers if they resist. At the corners -of the streets strong guards of soldiers were posted, and patrols -moved up and down the thoroughfares. The inhabitants looked sullen -and sad. A small war is waged by the police recently appointed by the -Federal authorities against the women, who exhibit much ingenuity in -expressing their animosity to the stars and stripes--dressing the -children, and even dolls, in the Confederate colours, and wearing the -same in ribbons and bows. The negro population alone seemed just the -same as before. - -The Secession newspapers of Baltimore have been suppressed, but -the editors contrive nevertheless to show their sympathies in the -selection of their extracts. In to-day’s paper there is an account -of a skirmish in the West, given by one of the Confederates who took -part in it, in which it is stated that the officer commanding the -party “scalped” twenty-three Federals. For the first time since I -left the South I see those advertisements headed by the figure of -a negro running with a bundle, and containing descriptions of the -fugitive, and the reward offered for imprisoning him or her, so that -the owner may receive his property. Among the insignia enumerated are -scars on the back and over the loins. The whip is not only used by -the masters and drivers, but by the police; and in every report of -petty police cases sentences of so many lashes, and severe floggings -of women of colour are recorded. - -It is about forty miles from Baltimore to Washington, and at every -quarter of a mile for the whole distance a picket of soldiers guarded -the rails. Camps appeared on both sides, larger and more closely -packed together; and the rays of the setting sun fell on countless -lines of tents as we approached the unfinished dome of the Capitol. -On the Virginian side of the river, columns of smoke rising from the -forest marked the site of Federal encampments across the stream. The -fields around Washington resounded with the words of command and -tramp of men, and flashed with wheeling arms. Parks of artillery -studded the waste ground, and long trains of white-covered waggons -filled up the open spaces in the suburbs of Washington. - -To me all this was a wonderful sight. As I drove up Pennsylvania -Avenue I could scarce credit that the busy thoroughfare--all red, -white, and blue with flags, filled with dust from galloping chargers -and commissariat carts; the side-walks thronged with people, of whom -a large proportion carried sword or bayonet; shops full of life -and activity--was the same as that through which I had driven the -first morning of my arrival. Washington now, indeed, is the capital -of the United States; but it is no longer the scene of beneficent -legislation and of peaceful government. It is the representative of -armed force engaged in war--menaced whilst in the very act of raising -its arm by the enemy it seeks to strike. - -To avoid the tumult of Willard’s, I requested a friend to hire -apartments, and drove to a house in Pennsylvania Avenue, close to the -War Department, where he had succeeded in engaging a sitting-room -about twelve feet square, and a bed-room to correspond, in a very -small mansion, next door to a spirit merchant’s. At the Legation I -saw Lord Lyons, and gave him a brief account of what I had seen in -the South. I was sorry to observe he looked rather careworn and pale. - -The relations of the United States’ Government with Great Britain -have probably been considerably affected by Mr. Seward’s failure in -his prophecies. As the Southern Confederacy develops its power, the -Foreign Secretary assumes higher ground, and becomes more exacting, -and defiant. In these hot summer days, Lord Lyons and the members of -the Legation dine early, and enjoy the cool of the evening in the -garden; so after a while I took my leave, and proceeded to Gautier’s. -On my way I met Mr. Sumner, who asked me for Southern news very -anxiously, and in the course of conversation with him I was confirmed -in my impressions that the feeling between the two countries was -not as friendly as could be desired. Lord Lyons had better means -of knowing what is going on in the South, by communications from -the British Consuls; but even he seemed unaware of facts which -had occurred whilst I was there, and Mr. Sumner appeared to be as -ignorant of the whole condition of things below Mason and Dixon’s -line as he was of the politics of Timbuctoo. - -The importance of maintaining a friendly feeling with England -appeared to me very strongly impressed on the Senator’s mind. Mr. -Seward has been fretful, irritable, and acrimonious; and it is -not too much to suppose Mr. Sumner has been useful in allaying -irritation. A certain despatch was written last June, which amounted -to little less than a declaration of war against Great Britain. -Most fortunately the President was induced to exercise his power. -The despatch was modified, though not without opposition and was -forwarded to the English Minister with its teeth drawn. Lord Lyons, -who is one of the suavest and quietest of diplomatists, has found it -difficult, I fear, to maintain personal relations with Mr. Seward at -times. Two despatches have been prepared for Lord John Russell, which -could have had no result but to lead to a breach of the peace, had -not some friendly interpositor succeeded in averting the wrath of the -Foreign Minister. - -Mr. Sumner is more sanguine of immediate success than I am, from -the military operations which are to commence when General Scott -considers the army fit to take the field. At Gautier’s I met a number -of officers, who expressed a great diversity of views in reference -to those operations. General M‘Dowell is popular with them, but they -admit the great deficiencies of the subaltern and company officers. -General Scott is too infirm to take the field, and the burdens of -administration press the veteran to the earth. - -_July 4th._--“Independence Day.” Fortunate to escape this great -national festival in the large cities of the Union where it is -celebrated with many days before and after of surplus rejoicing, -by fireworks and an incessant fusillade in the streets, I was, -nevertheless, subjected to the small ebullition of the Washington -juveniles, to bell-ringing and discharges of cannon and musketry. -On this day Congress meets. Never before has any legislative body -assembled under circumstances so grave. By their action they will -decide whether the Union can ever be restored, and will determine -whether the States of the North are to commence an invasion for -the purpose of subjecting by force of arms, and depriving of their -freedom, the States of the South. - -Congress met to-day merely for the purpose of forming itself into -a regular body, and there was no debate or business of public -importance introduced. Mr. Wilson gave me to understand, however, -that some military movements of the utmost importance might be -expected in a few days, and that General M‘Dowell would positively -attack the rebels in front of Washington. The Confederates occupy -the whole of Northern Virginia, commencing from the peninsula -above Fortress Monroe on the right or east, and extending along -the Potomac, to the extreme verge of the State, by the Baltimore -and Ohio Railway. This immense line, however, is broken by great -intervals, and the army with which M‘Dowell will have to deal may be -considered as detached, covering the approaches to Richmond, whilst -its left flank is protected by a corps of observation, stationed near -Winchester, under General Jackson. A Federal corps is being prepared -to watch the corps and engage it, whilst M‘Dowell advances on the -main body. To the right of this again, or further west, another body -of Federals, under General M‘Clellan, is operating in the valleys -of the Shenandoah and in Western Virginia; but I did not hear any -of these things from Mr. Wilson, who was, I am sure, in perfect -ignorance of the plans, in a military sense, of the general. I sat -at Mr. Sumner’s desk, and wrote the final paragraphs of a letter -describing my impressions of the South in a place but little disposed -to give a favourable colour to them. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - - Interview with Mr. Seward--My passport--Mr. Seward’s views - as to the war--Illumination at Washington--My “servant” - absents himself--New York journalism--The Capitol--Interior of - Congress--The President’s Message--Speeches in Congress--Lord - Lyons--General M‘Dowell--Low standard in the army--Accident to - the “Stars and Stripes”--A street row--Mr. Bigelow--Mr. N.P. - Willis. - - -When the Senate had adjourned, I drove to the State Department and -saw Mr. Seward, who looked much more worn and haggard than when I saw -him last, three months ago. He congratulated me on my safe return -from the South in time to witness some stirring events. “Well, Mr. -Secretary, I am quite sure that, if all the South are of the same -mind as those I met in my travels, there will be many battles before -they submit to the Federal Government.” - -“It is not submission to the Government we want; it is to assent to -the principles of the Constitution. When you left Washington we had -a few hundred regulars and some hastily-levied militia to defend the -national capital, and a battery and a half of artillery under the -command of a traitor. The Navy-yard was in the hands of a disloyal -officer. We were surrounded by treason. Now we are supported by -the loyal States which have come forward in defence of the best -Government on the face of the earth, and the unfortunate and -desperate men who have commenced this struggle will have to yield or -experience the punishment due to their crimes.” - -“But, Mr. Seward, has not this great exhibition of strength been -attended by some circumstances calculated to inspire apprehension -that liberty in the free States may be impaired; for instance, I hear -that I must procure a passport in order to travel through the States -and go into the camps in front of Washington.” - -“Yes, sir; you must send your passport here from Lord Lyons, with his -signature. It will be no good till I have signed it, and then it must -be sent to General Scott, as Commander-in-Chief of the United States -army, who will subscribe it, after which it will be available for all -legitimate purposes. You are not in any way impaired in your liberty -by the process.” - -“Neither is, one may say, the man who is under surveillance of the -police in despotic countries in Europe; he has only to submit to a -certain formality, and he is all right; in fact, it is said by some -people, that the protection afforded by a passport is worth all the -trouble connected with having it in order.” - -Mr. Seward seemed to think it was quite likely. There were -corresponding measures taken in the Southern States by the rebels, -and it was necessary to have some control over traitors and disloyal -persons. “In this contest,” said he, “the Government will not shrink -from using all the means which they consider necessary to restore -the Union.” It was not my place to remark that such doctrines were -exactly identical with all that despotic governments in Europe have -advanced as the ground of action in cases of revolt, or with a view -to the maintenance of their strong Governments. “The Executive,” -said he, “has declared in the inaugural that the rights of the -Federal Government shall be fully vindicated. We are dealing with -an insurrection within our own country, of our own people, and the -Government of Great Britain have thought fit to recognise that -insurrection before we were able to bring the strength of the Union -to bear against it, by conceding to it the status of belligerent. -Although we might justly complain of such an unfriendly act in -a manner that might injure the friendly relations between the -two countries, we do not desire to give any excuse for foreign -interference; although we do not hesitate, in case of necessity, to -resist it to the uttermost, we have less to fear from a foreign war -than any country in the world. If any European Power provokes a war, -we shall not shrink from it. A contest between Great Britain and the -United States would wrap the world in fire, and at the end it would -not be the United States which would have to lament the results of -the conflict.” - -I could not but admire the confidence--may I say the coolness?--of -the statesman who sat in his modest little room within the sound of -the evening’s guns, in a capital menaced by their forces who spoke -so fearlessly of war with a Power which could have blotted out the -paper blockade of the Southern forts and coast in a few hours, and, -in conjunction with the Southern armies, have repeated the occupation -and destruction of the capital. - -The President sent for Mr. Seward whilst I was in the State -Department, and I walked up Pennsylvania Avenue to my lodgings, -through a crowd of men in uniform who were celebrating Independence -Day in their own fashion--some by the large internal use of -fire-water, others by an external display of fireworks. - -Directly opposite my lodgings are the head-quarters of General -Mansfield, commanding the district, which are marked by a guard -at the door and a couple of six-pounder guns pointing down the -street. I called upon the General, but he was busy examining certain -inhabitants of Alexandria and of Washington itself, who had been -brought before him on the charge of being Secessionists, and I left -my card, and proceeded to General Scott’s head-quarters, which I -found packed with officers. The General received me in a small room, -and expressed his gratification at my return, but I saw he was so -busy with reports, despatches, and maps, that I did not trespass on -his time. I dined with Lord Lyons, and afterwards went with some -members of the Legation to visit the camps, situated in the public -square. - -All the population of Washington had turned out in their best to -listen to the military bands, the music of which was rendered nearly -inaudible by the constant discharge of fireworks. The camp of the -12th New York presented a very pretty and animated scene. The men -liberated from duty were enjoying themselves out and inside their -tents, and the sutlers’ booths were driving a roaring trade. I was -introduced to Colonel Butterfield, commanding the regiment, who was -a merchant of New York; but notwithstanding the training of the -counting-house, he looked very much like a soldier, and had got -his regiment very fairly in hand. In compliance with a desire of -Professor Henry, the Colonel had prepared a number of statistical -tables in which the nationality, height, weight, breadth of chest, -age, and other particulars respecting the men under his command -were entered. I looked over the book, and as far as I could judge, -but two out of twelve of the soldiers were native-born Americans, -the rest being Irish, German, English, and European-born generally. -According to the commanding officer they were in the highest state -of discipline and obedience. He had given them leave to go out as -they pleased for the day, but at tattoo only 14 men out of 1000 were -absent, and some of those had been accounted for by reports that they -were incapable of locomotion owing to the hospitality of the citizens. - -When I returned to my lodgings, the coloured boy whom I had hired -at Niagara was absent, and I was told he had not come in since the -night before. “These free coloured boys,” said my landlord, “are a -bad set; now they are worse than ever; the officers of the army are -taking them all away from us; it’s just the life they like; they get -little work, have good pay; but what they like most is robbing and -plundering the farmers’ houses over in Virginia; what with Germans -Irish, and free niggers, Lord help the poor Virginians, I say; but -they’ll give them a turn yet.” - -The sounds in Washington to-night might have led one to believe the -city was carried by storm. Constant explosion of firearms, fireworks, -shouting, and cries in the streets, which combined, with the heat -and the abominable odours of the undrained houses and mosquitoes, to -drive sleep far away. - -_July 5th._--As the young gentleman of colour, to whom I had given -egregious ransom as well as an advance of wages, did not appear -this morning, I was, after an abortive attempt to boil water for -coffee and to get a piece of toast, compelled to go in next door, and -avail myself of the hospitality of Captain Cecil Johnson, who was -installed in the drawing-room of Madame Jost. In the forenoon, Mr. -John Bigelow, whose acquaintance I made, much to my gratification in -time gone by, on the margin of the Lake of Thun, found me out, and -proffered his services; which, as the whilom editor of the _Evening -Post_ and as a leading Republican, he was in a position to render -valuable and most effective; but he could not make a Bucephalus to -order, and I have been running through the stables of Washington -in vain, hoping to find something up to my weight--such flankless, -screwy, shoulderless, cat-like creatures were never seen--four of -them would scarcely furnish ribs and legs enough to carry a man, but -the owners thought that each of them was fit for Baron Rothschild; -and then there was saddlery and equipments of all sorts to be got, -which the influx of officers and the badness and dearness of the -material put quite beyond one’s reach. Mr. Bigelow was of opinion -that the army would move at once; “but,” said I, “where is the -transport--where the cavalry and guns?” “Oh,” replied he “I suppose -we have got everything that is required. I know nothing of these -things, but I am told cavalry are no use in the wooded country -towards Richmond.” I have not yet been able to go through the camps, -but I doubt very much whether the material or commissariat of the -grand army of the North is at all adequate to a campaign. - -The presumption and ignorance of the New York journals would be -ridiculous were they not so mischievous. They describe “this horde -of battalion companies--unofficered, clad in all kinds of different -uniform, diversely equipped, perfectly ignorant of the principles of -military obedience and concerted action,”--for so I hear it described -by United States officers themselves--as being “the greatest army the -world ever saw; perfect in officers and discipline; unsurpassed in -devotion and courage; furnished with every requisite; and destined on -its first march to sweep into Richmond, and to obliterate from the -Potomac to New Orleans every trace of rebellion.” - -The Congress met to-day to hear the President’s Message read. Somehow -or other there is not such anxiety and eagerness to hear what Mr. -Lincoln has to say as one could expect on such a momentous occasion. -It would seem as if the forthcoming appeal to arms had overshadowed -every other sentiment in the minds of the people. They are waiting -for deeds, and care not for words. The confidence of the New York -papers, and of the citizens, soldiers, and public speakers, contrast -with the dubious and gloomy views of the military men; but of this -Message itself there are some incidents independent of the occasion -to render it curious, if not interesting. The President has, it -is said, written much of it in his own fashion, which has been -revised and altered by his Ministers; but he has written it again -and repeated himself, and after many struggles a good deal of pure -Lincolnism goes down to Congress. - -At a little after half-past eleven I went down to the Capitol. -Pennsylvania Avenue was thronged as before, but on approaching -Capitol Hill, the crowd rather thinned away, as though they shunned, -or had no curiosity to hear, the President’s Message. One would -have thought that, where every one who could get in was at liberty -to attend the galleries in both Houses, there would have been an -immense pressure from the inhabitants and strangers in the city, as -well as from the citizen soldiers, of which such multitudes were in -the street; but when I looked up from the floor of the Senate, I was -astonished to see that the galleries were not more than three parts -filled. There is always a ruinous look about an unfinished building -when it is occupied and devoted to business. The Capitol is situated -on a hill, one face of which is scarped by the road, and has the -appearance of being formed of heaps of rubbish. Towards Pennsylvania -Avenue the long frontage abuts on a lawn shaded by trees, through -which walks and avenues lead to the many entrances under the -porticoes and colonnades; the face which corresponds on the other -side looks out on heaps of brick and mortar, cut stone, and a waste -of marble blocks lying half buried in the earth and cumbering the -ground, which, in the magnificent ideas of the founders and planners -of the city, was to be occupied by stately streets. The cleverness of -certain speculators in land prevented the execution of the original -idea, which was to radiate all the main avenues of the city from -the Capitol as a centre, the intermediate streets being formed by -circles drawn at regularly-increasing intervals from the Capitol, -and intersected by the radii. The speculators purchased up the land -on the side between the Navy-yard and the site of the Capitol; the -result--the land is unoccupied, except by paltry houses, and the -capitalists are ruined. - -The Capitol would be best described by a series of photographs. -Like the Great Republic itself, it is unfinished. It resembles it -in another respect: it looks best at a distance; and, again, it is -incongruous in its parts. The passages are so dark that artificial -light is often required to enable one to find his way. The offices -and bureaux of the committees are better than the chambers of the -Senate and the House of Representatives. All the encaustics and the -white marble and stone staircases suffer from tobacco juice, though -there is a liberal display of spittoons at every corner. The official -messengers, doorkeepers, and porters wear no distinctive badge or -dress. No policemen are on duty, as in our Houses of Parliament; no -soldiery, gendarmerie, or sergens-de-ville in the precincts; the -crowd wanders about the passages as it pleases, and shows the utmost -propriety, never going where it ought not to intrude. There is a -special gallery set apart for women; the reporters are commodiously -placed in an ample gallery, above the Speaker’s chair; the diplomatic -circle have their gallery facing the reporters, and they are placed -so low down in the somewhat depressed Chamber, that every word can -be heard from speakers in the remotest parts of the house very -distinctly. - -The seats of the members are disposed in a manner somewhat like -those in the French Chambers. Instead of being in parallel rows to -the walls, and at right angles to the Chairman’s seat, the separate -chairs and desks of the Senators are arranged in semicircular rows. -The space between the walls and the outer semicircle is called -the floor of the house, and it is a high compliment to a stranger -to introduce him within this privileged place. There are leather -cushioned seats and lounges put for the accommodation of those who -may be introduced by Senators, or to whom, as distinguished members -of Congress in former days, the permission is given to take their -seats. Senators Sumner and Wilson introduced me to a chair, and made -me acquainted with a number of Senators before the business of the -day began. - -Mr. Sumner, as the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, is -supposed to be viewed with some jealousy by Mr. Seward, on account -of the disposition attributed to him to interfere in diplomatic -questions; but if he does so, we shall have no reason to complain, -as the Senator is most desirous of keeping the peace between the two -countries, and of mollifying any little acerbities and irritations -which may at present exist between them. Senator Wilson is a man -who has risen from what would be considered in any country but a -republic the lowest ranks of the people. He apprenticed himself to -a poor shoemaker when he was twenty-two years of age, and when he -was twenty-four years old he began to go to school, and devoted all -his earnings to the improvement of education. He got on by degrees, -till he set up as a master shoe maker and manufacturer, became a -“major-general” of State militia; finally was made Senator of the -United States, and is now “Chairman of the Committee of the Senate on -Military Affairs.” He is a bluff man, of about fifty years of age, -with a peculiar eye and complexion, and seems honest and vigorous. -But is he not going ultra crepidam in such a post? At present he is -much perplexed by the drunkenness which prevails among the troops, -or rather by the desire of the men for spirits, as he has a New -England mania on that point. One of the most remarkable-looking men -in the House is Mr. Sumner. Mr. Breckinridge and he would probably -be the first persons to excite the curiosity of a stranger, so far -as to induce him to ask for their names. Save in height--and both -are a good deal over six feet--there is no resemblance between the -champion of States Rights and the orator of the Black Republicans. -The massive head, the great chin and jaw, and the penetrating eyes of -Mr. Breckinridge convey the idea of a man of immense determination, -courage, and sagacity. Mr. Sumner’s features are indicative of a -philosophical and poetical turn of thought, and one might easily -conceive that he would be a great advocate, but an indifferent leader -of a party. - -It was a hot day; but there was no excuse for the slop coats and -light-coloured clothing and felt wide-awakes worn by so many Senators -in such a place. They gave the meeting the aspect of a gathering -of bakers or millers; nor did the constant use of the spittoons -beside their desks, their reading of newspapers and writing letters -during the dispatch of business, or the hurrying to and fro of the -pages of the House between the seats, do anything but derogate from -the dignity of the assemblage, and, according to European notions, -violate the respect due to a Senate Chamber. The pages alluded to -are smart boys, from twelve to fifteen years of age, who stand below -the President’s table, and are employed to go on errands and carry -official messages by the members. They wear no particular uniform, -and are dressed as the taste or means of their parents dictate. - -The House of Representatives exaggerates all the peculiarities I have -observed in the Senate, but the debates are not regarded with so -much interest as those of the Upper House; indeed, they are of far -less importance. Strong-minded statesmen and officers--Presidents -or Ministers--do not care much for the House of Representatives, so -long as they are sure of the Senate; and, for the matter of that, -a President like Jackson does not care much for Senate and House -together. There are privileges attached to a seat in either branch -of the Legislature, independent of the great fact that they receive -mileage and are paid for their services, which may add some incentive -to ambition. Thus the members can order whole tons of stationery for -their use, not only when they are in session, but during the recess. -Their frank covers parcels by mail, and it is said that Senators -without a conscience have sent sewing-machines to their wives and -pianos to their daughters as little parcels by post. I had almost -forgotten that much the same abuses were in vogue in England some -century ago. - -The galleries were by no means full, and in that reserved for the -diplomatic body the most notable person was M. Mercier, the Minister -of France, who, fixing his intelligent and eager face between both -hands, watched with keen scrutiny the attitude and conduct of the -Senate. None of the members of the English Legation were present. -After the lapse of an hour, Mr. Hay, the President’s Secretary, made -his appearance on the floor, and sent in the Message to the Clerk of -the Senate, Mr. Forney, who proceeded to read it to the House. It -was listened to in silence, scarcely broken except when some Senator -murmured “Good, that is so;” but in fact the general purport of it -was already known to the supporters of the Ministry, and not a -sound came from the galleries. Soon after Mr. Forney had finished, -the galleries were cleared, and I returned up Pennsylvania Avenue, -in which the crowds of soldiers around bar-rooms, oyster shops, -and restaurants, the groups of men in officers’ uniform, and the -clattering of disorderly mounted cavaliers in the dust, increased my -apprehension that discipline was very little regarded, and that the -army over the Potomac had not a very strong hand to keep it within -bounds. - -As I was walking over with Captain Johnson to dine with Lord Lyons, -I met General Scott leaving his office and walking with great -difficulty between two aides-de-camp. He was dressed in a blue frock -with gold lace shoulder straps, fastened round the waist by a yellow -sash, and with large yellow lapels turned back over the chest in the -old style, and moved with great difficulty along the pavement. “You -see I am trying to hobble along, but it is hard for me to overcome my -many infirmities. I regret I could not have the pleasure of granting -you an interview to-day, but I shall cause it to be intimated to you -when I may have the pleasure of seeing you; meantime I shall provide -you with a pass and the necessary introductions to afford you all -facilities with the army.” - -After dinner I made a round of visits, and heard the diplomatists -speaking of the Message; few, if any of them, in its favour. With -the exception perhaps of Baron Gerolt, the Prussian Minister, -there is not one member of the Legations who justifies the attempt -of the Northern States to assert the supremacy of the Federal -Government by the force of arms. Lord Lyons, indeed, in maintaining -a judicious reticence whenever he does speak, gives utterance to -sentiments becoming the representative of Great Britain at the court -of a friendly Power, and the Minister of a people who have been -protagonists to slavery for many a long year. - -_July 6th._--I breakfasted with Mr. Bigelow this morning, to meet -General M‘Dowell, who commands the army of the Potomac, now so soon -to move. He came in without an aide-de-camp, and on foot, from his -quarters in the city. He is a man about forty years of age, square -and powerfully built, but with rather a stout and clumsy figure and -limbs, a good head covered with close-cut thick dark hair, small -light-blue eyes, short nose, large cheeks and jaw, relieved by an -iron-grey tuft somewhat of the French type, and affecting in dress -the style of our gallant allies. His manner is frank, simple, and -agreeable, and he did not hesitate to speak with great openness of -the difficulties he had to contend with, and the imperfection of all -the arrangements of the army. - -As an officer of the regular army he has a thorough contempt for what -he calls “political generals”--the men who use their influence with -President and Congress to obtain military rank, which in time of war -places them before the public in the front of events, and gives them -an appearance of leading in the greatest of all political movements. -Nor is General M‘Dowell enamoured of volunteers, for he served in -Mexico, and has from what he saw there formed rather an unfavourable -opinion of their capabilities in the field. He is inclined, however, -to hold the Southern troops in too little respect; and he told me -that the volunteers from the slave states, who entered the field -full of exultation and boastings, did not make good their words, -and that they suffered especially from sickness and disease, in -consequence of their disorderly habits and dissipation. His regard -for old associations was evinced in many questions he asked me about -Beauregard, with whom he had been a student at West Point, where the -Confederate commander was noted for his studious and reserved habits, -and his excellence in feats of strength and athletic exercises. - -As proof of the low standard established in his army, he mentioned -that some officers of considerable rank were more than suspected of -selling rations, and of illicit connections with sutlers for purposes -of pecuniary advantage. The General walked back with me as far as my -lodgings, and I observed that not one of the many soldiers he passed -in the streets saluted him, though his rank was indicated by his -velvet collar and cuffs, and a gold star on the shoulder strap. - -Having written some letters, I walked out with Captain Johnson and -one of the attachés of the British Legation, to the lawn at the -back of the White House, and listened to the excellent band of the -United States Marines, playing on a kind of dais under the large -flag recently hoisted by the President himself, in the garden. The -occasion was marked by rather an ominous event. As the President -pulled the halyards and the flag floated aloft, a branch of a tree -caught the bunting and tore it, so that a number of the stars and -stripes were detached and hung dangling beneath the rest of the flag, -half detached from the staff. - -I dined at Captain Johnson’s lodgings next door to mine. Beneath us -was a wine and spirit store, and crowds of officers and men flocked -indiscriminately to make their purchases, with a good deal of tumult, -which increased as the night came on. Later still, there was a -great disturbance in the city. A body of New York Zouaves wrecked -some houses of bad repute, in one of which a private of the regiment -was murdered early this morning. The cavalry patrols were called -out and charged the rioters, who were dispersed with difficulty -after resistance in which men on both sides were wounded. There is -no police, no provost guard. Soldiers wander about the streets, and -beg in the fashion of the mendicant in “Gil Blas” for money to get -whisky. My coloured gentleman has been led away by the Saturnalia and -has taken to gambling in the camps, which are surrounded by hordes of -rascally followers and sutlers’ servants, and I find myself on the -eve of a campaign, without servant, horse, equipment, or means of -transport. - -_July 7th._--Mr. Bigelow invited me to breakfast, to meet Mr. Senator -King, Mr. Olmsted, Mr. Thurlow Weed, a Senator from Missouri, a -West Point professor, and others. It was indicative of the serious -difficulties which embarrass the action of the Government to hear Mr. -Wilson, the Chairman of the Military Committee of the Senate, inveigh -against the officers of the regular army, and attack West Point -itself. Whilst the New York papers were lauding General Scott and his -plans to the skies, the Washington politicians were speaking of him -as obstructive, obstinate, and prejudiced--unfit for the times and -the occasion. - -General Scott refused to accept cavalry and artillery at the -beginning of the levy, and said that they were not required; now -he was calling for both arms most urgently. The officers of the -regular army had followed suit. Although they were urgently pressed -by the politicians to occupy Harper’s Ferry and Manassas, they -refused to do either, and the result is that the enemy have obtained -invaluable supplies from the first place, and are now assembled in -force in a most formidable position at the second. Everything as -yet accomplished has been done by political generals--not by the -officers of the regular army. Butler and Banks saved Baltimore in -spite of General Scott. There was an attempt made to cry up Lyon -in Missouri; but in fact it was Frank Blair, the brother of the -Postmaster-General, who had been the soul and body of all the actions -in that State. The first step taken by M‘Clellan in Western Virginia -was atrocious--he talked of slaves in a public document as property. -Butler, at Monroe, had dealt with them in a very different spirit, -and had used them for State purposes under the name of contraband. -One man alone displayed powers of administrative ability, and that -was Quartermaster Meigs; and unquestionably from all I heard, the -praise was well bestowed. It is plain enough that the political -leaders fear the consequences of delay, and that they are urging -the military authorities to action, which the latter have too much -professional knowledge to take with their present means. These -Northern men know nothing of the South, and with them it is _omne -ignotum pro minimo_. The West Point professor listened to them with a -quiet smile, and exchanged glances with me now and then, as much as -to say, “Did you ever hear such fools in your life?” - -But the conviction of ultimate success is not less strong here than -it is in the South. The difference between these gentlemen and -the Southerners is, that in the South the leaders of the people, -soldiers and civilians, are all actually under arms, and are ready to -make good their words by exposing their bodies in battle. - -I walked home with Mr. N.P. Willis, who is at Washington for the -purpose of writing sketches to the little family journal of which -he is editor, and giving war “anecdotes;” and with Mr. Olmsted, who -is acting as a member of the New York Sanitary Commission, here -authorised by the Government to take measures against the reign -of dirt and disease in the Federal camp. The Republicans are very -much afraid that there is, even at the present moment, a conspiracy -against the Union in Washington--nay, in Congress itself; and regard -Mr. Breckenridge, Mr. Bayard, Mr. Vallandigham, and others as most -dangerous enemies, who should not be permitted to remain in the -capital. I attended the Episcopal church and heard a very excellent -discourse, free from any political allusion. The service differs -little from our own, except that certain euphemisms are introduced in -the Litany and elsewhere, and the prayers for Queen and Parliament -are offered up _nomine mutato_ for President and Congress. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - - Arlington Heights and the Potomac--Washington--The Federal - camp--General M‘Dowell--Flying rumours--Newspaper correspondents - --General Fremont--Silencing the Press and Telegraph--A Loan - Bill--Interview with Mr. Cameron--Newspaper criticism on Lord - Lyons--Rumours about M‘Clellan--The Northern army as reported - and as it is--General M‘Clellan. - - -_July 8th._--I hired a horse at a livery stable, and rode out to -Arlington Heights, at the other side of the Potomac, where the -Federal army is encamped, if not on the sacred soil of Virginia, -certainly on the soil of the district of Columbia, ceded by that -State to Congress for the purposes of the Federal Government. The -Long Bridge which spans the river, here more than a mile broad, is an -ancient wooden and brick structure, partly of causeway, and partly of -platform, laid on piles and uprights, with drawbridges for vessels -to pass. The Potomac, which in peaceful times is covered with small -craft, now glides in a gentle current over the shallows unbroken by -a solitary sail. The “rebels” have established batteries below Mount -Vernon, which partially command the river, and place the city in a -state of blockade. - -As a consequence of the magnificent conceptions which were -entertained by the founders regarding the future dimensions of -their future city, Washington is all suburb and no city. The only -difference between the denser streets and the remoter village-like -environs, is that the houses are better and more frequent, and -the roads not quite so bad in the former. The road to the Long -Bridge passes by a four-sided shaft of blocks of white marble, -contributed, with appropriate mottoes, by the various States, as a -fitting monument to Washington. It is not yet completed, and the -materials lie in the field around, just as the Capitol and the -Treasury are surrounded by the materials for their future and final -development. Further on is the red, and rather fantastic, pile of the -Smithsonian Institute, and then the road makes a dip to the bridge, -past some squalid little cottages, and the eye reposes on the shore -of Virginia, rising in successive folds, and richly wooded, up to -a moderate height from the water. Through the green forest leaves -gleams the white canvas of the tents, and on the highest ridge -westward rises an imposing structure, with a portico and colonnade -in front, facing the river, which is called Arlington House, and -belongs, by descent, through Mr. Custis, from the wife of George -Washington, to General Lee, Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate -army. It is now occupied by General M‘Dowell as his head-quarters, -and a large United States’ flag floats from the roof, which shames -even the ample proportions of the many stars and stripes rising up -from the camps in the trees. - -At the bridge there was a post of volunteer soldiers. The sentry on -duty was sitting on a stump, with his firelock across his knees, -reading a newspaper. He held out his hand for my pass, which was in -the form of a letter, written by General Scott, and ordering all -officers and soldiers of the army of the Potomac to permit me to -pass freely without let or hindrance, and recommending me to the -attention of Brigadier-General M‘Dowell and all officers under his -orders. “That’ll do, you may go,” said the sentry. “What pass is -that, Abe?” inquired a non-commissioned officer. “It’s from General -Scott, and says he’s to go wherever he likes.” “I hope you’ll go -right away to Richmond, then, and get Jeff Davis’s scalp for us,” -said the patriotic sergeant. - -At the other end of the bridge a weak _tête de pont_, commanded by -a road-work further on, covered the approach, and turning to the -right I passed through a maze of camps, in front of which the various -regiments, much better than I expected to find them, broken up into -small detachments, were learning elementary drill. A considerable -number of the men were Germans, and the officers were for the most -part in a state of profound ignorance of company drill, as might -be seen by their confusion and inability to take their places when -the companies faced about, or moved from one flank to the other. -They were by no means equal in size or age, and, with some splendid -exceptions, were inferior to the Southern soldiers. The camps were -dirty, no latrines--the tents of various patterns--but on the whole -they were well castrametated. - -The road to Arlington House passed through some of the finest woods -I have yet seen in America, but the axe was already busy amongst -them, and the trunks of giant oaks were prostrate on the ground. The -tents of the General and his small staff were pitched on the little -plateau in which stood the house, and from it a very striking and -picturesque view of the city, with the White House, the Treasury, the -Post Office, Patent Office, and Capitol, was visible, and a wide -spread of country, studded with tents also as far as the eye could -reach, towards Maryland. There were only four small tents for the -whole of the head-quarters of the grand army of the Potomac, and in -front of one we found General M‘Dowell, seated in a chair, examining -some plans and maps. His personal staff, as far as I could judge, -consisted of Mr. Clarence Brown, who came over with me, and three -other officers, but there were a few connected with the departments -at work in the rooms of Arlington House. I made some remark on the -subject to the General, who replied that there was great jealousy on -the part of the civilians respecting the least appearance of display, -and that as he was only a brigadier, though he was in command of -such a large army, he was obliged to be content with a brigadier’s -staff. Two untidy-looking orderlies, with ill-groomed horses, near -the house, were poor substitutes for the force of troopers one would -see in attendance on a general in Europe but the use of the telegraph -obviates the necessity of employing couriers. I went over some of the -camps with the General. The artillery is the most efficient-looking -arm of the service, but the horses are too light, and the number of -the different calibres quite destructive to continuous efficiency in -action. Altogether I was not favourably impressed with what I saw, -for I had been led by reiterated statements to believe to some extent -the extravagant stories of the papers, and expected to find upwards -of 100,000 men in the highest state of efficiency, whereas there were -not more than a third of the number, and those in a very incomplete, -ill-disciplined state. Some of these regiments were called out -under the President’s proclamation for three months only, and will -soon have served their full time, and as it is very likely they will -go home, now the bubbles of national enthusiasm have all escaped, -General Scott is urged not to lose their services, but to get into -Richmond before they are disbanded. - -It would scarcely be credited, were I not told it by General -M‘Dowell, that there is no such thing procurable as a decent map of -Virginia. He knows little or nothing of the country before him, more -than the general direction of the main roads, which are bad at the -best; and he can obtain no information, inasmuch as the enemy are -in full force all along his front, and he has not a cavalry officer -capable of conducting a reconnaissance, which would be difficult -enough in the best hands, owing to the dense woods which rise up in -front of his lines, screening the enemy completely. The Confederates -have thrown up very heavy batteries at Manassas, about thirty miles -away, where the railway from the West crosses the line to Richmond, -and I do not think General M‘Dowell much likes the look of them, but -the cry for action is so strong the President cannot resist it. - -On my way back I rode through the woods of Arlington, and came out on -a quadrangular earthwork, called Fort Corcoran, which is garrisoned -by the 69th Irish, and commands the road leading to an aqueduct -and horse-bridge over the Potomac. The regiment is encamped inside -the fort, which would be a slaughter-pen if exposed to shell-fire. -The streets were neat, the tents protected from the sun by shades -of evergreens and pine boughs. One little door, like that of an -ice-house, half buried in the ground, was opened by one of the -soldiers, who was showing it to a friend, when my attention was -more particularly attracted by a sergeant, who ran forward in great -dudgeon, exclaiming “Dempsey! Is that you going into the ‘magazine’ -wid yer pipe lighted?” I rode away with alacrity. - -In the course of my ride I heard occasional dropping shots in the -camp. To my looks of inquiry, an engineer officer said quietly, “They -are volunteers shooting themselves.” The number of accidents from the -carelessness of the men is astonishing; in every day’s paper there is -an account of deaths and wounds caused by the discharge of firearms -in the tents. - -Whilst I was at Arlington House, walking through the camp attached -to head-quarters, I observed a tall red-bearded officer seated on a -chair in front of one of the tents, who bowed as I passed him, and as -I turned to salute him, my eye was caught by the apparition of a row -of Palmetto buttons down his coat. One of the officers standing by -said, “Let me introduce you to Captain Taylor, from the other side.” -It appears that he came in with a flag of truce, bearing a despatch -from Jefferson Davis to President Lincoln, countersigned by General -Beauregard at Manassas. Just as I left Arlington, a telegraph was -sent from General Scott to send Captain Taylor, who rejoices in the -name of Tom, over to his quarters. - -The most absurd rumours were flying about the staff, one of whom -declared very positively that there was going to be a compromise, and -that Jeff Davis had made an overture for peace. The papers are filled -with accounts of an action in Missouri, at a place called Carthage, -between the Federals commanded by Colonel Sigel, consisting for the -most part of Germans, and the Confederates under General Parsons, in -which the former were obliged to retreat, although it is admitted -the State troops were miserably armed, and had most ineffective -artillery, whilst their opponents had every advantage in both -respects, and were commanded by officers of European experience. -Captain Taylor had alluded to the news in a jocular way to me, and -said, “I hope you will tell the people in England we intend to whip -the Lincolnites in the same fashion wherever we meet them,” a remark -which did not lead me to believe there was any intention on the part -of the Confederates to surrender so easily. - -_July 9th._--Late last night the President told General Scott to send -Captain Taylor back to the Confederate lines, and he was accordingly -escorted to Arlington in a carriage, and thence returned without any -answer to Mr. Davis’s letter, the nature of which has not transpired. - -A swarm of newspaper correspondents has settled down upon Washington, -and great are the glorifications of the high-toned paymasters, -gallant doctors, and subalterns accomplished in the art of war, who -furnish minute items to my American brethren, and provide the yeast -which overflows in many columns; but the Government experience the -inconvenience of the smallest movements being chronicled for the use -of the enemy, who, by putting one thing and another together, are no -doubt enabled to collect much valuable information. Every preparation -is being made to put the army on a war footing, to provide them with -shoes, ammunition waggons, and horses. - -I had the honour of dining with General Scott, who has moved to -new quarters, near the War Department, and met General Fremont, who -is designated, according to rumour, to take command of an important -district in the West, and to clear the right bank of the Mississippi -and the course of the Missouri. “The Pathfinder” is a strong -Republican and Abolitionist, whom the Germans delight to honour--a -man with a dreamy, deep blue eye, a gentlemanly address, pleasant -features, and an active frame, but without the smallest external -indication of extraordinary vigour, intelligence, or ability; if he -has military genius, it must come by intuition, for assuredly he has -no professional acquirements or experience. Two or three members of -Congress, and the General’s staff, and Mr. Bigelow, completed the -company. The General has become visibly weaker since I first saw -him. He walks down to his office, close at hand, with difficulty; -returns a short time before dinner, and reposes; and when he has -dismissed his guests at an early hour, or even before he does so, -stretches himself on his bed, and then before midnight rouses himself -to look at despatches or to transact any necessary business. In -case of an action it is his intention to proceed to the field in a -light carriage, which is always ready for the purpose, with horses -and driver; nor is he unprepared with precedents of great military -commanders who have successfully conducted engagements under similar -circumstances. - -Although the discussion of military questions and of politics was -eschewed, incidental allusions were made to matters going on around -us, and I thought I could perceive that the General regarded the -situation with much more apprehension than the politicians, and that -his influence extended itself to the views of his staff. General -Fremont’s tone was much more confident. Nothing has become known -respecting the nature of Mr. Davis’s communication to President -Lincoln, but the fact of his sending it at all is looked upon as -a piece of monstrous impertinence. The General is annoyed and -distressed by the plundering propensities of the Federal troops, -who have been committing terrible depredations on the people of -Virginia. It is not to be supposed, however, that the Germans, who -have entered upon this campaign as mercenaries, will desist from -so profitable and interesting a pursuit as the detection of Secesh -sentiments, chickens, watches, horses, and dollars, I mentioned that -I had seen some farm-houses completely sacked close to the aqueduct. -The General merely said, “It is deplorable!” and raised up his hands -as if in disgust. General Fremont, however, said, “I suppose you -are familiar with similar scenes in Europe. I hear the allies were -not very particular with respect to private property in Russia”--a -remark which unfortunately could not be gainsaid. As I was leaving -the General’s quarters, Mr. Blair, accompanied by the President, -who was looking more anxious than I had yet seen him, drove up, and -passed through a crowd of soldiers, who had evidently been enjoying -themselves. One of them called out, “Three cheers for General Scott!” -and I am not quite sure the President did not join him. - -_July 10th._--To-day was spent in a lengthy excursion along the front -of the camp in Virginia, round by the chain bridge which crosses the -Potomac about four miles from Washington. - -The Government have been coerced, as they say, by the safety of the -Republic, to destroy the liberty of the press, which is guaranteed -by the Constitution, and this is not the first instance in which -the Constitution of the United States will be made _nominis umbra_. -The telegraph, according to General Scott’s order, confirmed by the -Minister of War, Simon Cameron, is to convey no despatches respecting -military movements not permitted by the General; and to-day the -newspaper correspondents have agreed to yield obedience to the order, -reserving to themselves a certain freedom of detail in writing their -despatches, and relying on the Government to publish the official -accounts of all battles very speedily. They will break this agreement -if they can, and the Government will not observe their part of the -bargain. The freedom of the press, as I take it, does not include the -right to publish news hostile to the cause of the country in which it -is published; neither can it involve any obligation on the part of -Government to publish despatches which may be injurious to the party -they represent. There is a wide distinction between the publication -of news which is known to the enemy as soon as to the friends of the -transmitters, and the utmost freedom of expression concerning the -acts of the Government or the conduct of past events; but it will be -difficult to establish any rule to limit or extend the boundaries -to which discussion can go without mischief, and in effect the only -solution of the difficulty in a free country seems to be to grant the -press free licence, in consideration of the enormous aid it affords -in warning the people of their danger, in animating them with the -news of their successes, and in sustaining the Government in their -efforts to conduct the war. - -The most important event to-day is the passage of the Loan Bill, -which authorises Mr. Chase to borrow, in the next year, a sum -of £50,000,000, on coupons, with interest at 7 per cent, and -irredeemable for twenty years--the interest being guaranteed on a -pledge of the Customs duties. I just got into the House in time to -hear Mr. Vallandigham, who is an ultra-democrat, and very nearly a -secessionist, conclude a well-delivered argumentative address. He is -a tall, slight man, of a bilious temperament, with light flashing -eyes, dark hair and complexion, and considerable oratorical power. -“Deem me ef I wouldn’t just ride that Vallandiggaim on a reay-al,” -quoth a citizen to his friend, as the speaker sat down, amid a -few feeble expressions of assent. Mr. Chase has also obtained the -consent of the Lower House to his bill for closing the Southern ports -by the decree of the President, but I hear some more substantial -measures are in contemplation for that purpose. Whilst the House is -finding the money the Government are preparing to spend it, and they -have obtained the approval of the Senate to the enrolment of half -a million of men, and the expenditure of one hundred millions of -dollars to carry on the war. - -I called on Mr. Cameron, the Secretary of War. The small brick house -of two stories, with long passages, in which the American Mars -prepares his bolts, was, no doubt, large enough for the 20,000 men -who constituted the armed force on land of the great Republic, but -it is not sufficient to contain a tithe of the contractors who haunt -its precincts, fill all the lobbies and crowd into every room. With -some risk to coat-tails, I squeezed through iron-masters, gun-makers, -clothiers, shoemakers, inventors, bakers, and all that genus which -fattens on the desolation caused by an army in the field, and was -introduced to Mr. Cameron’s room, where he was seated at a desk -surrounded by people, who were also grouped round two gentlemen as -clerks in the same small room. “I tell you, General Cameron, that -the way in which the loyal men of Missouri have been treated is a -disgrace to this Government,” shouted out a big, black, burly man--“I -tell you so, sir.” “Well, General,” responded Mr. Cameron, quietly, -“so you have several times. Will you, once for all, condescend to -particulars?” “Yes, sir; you and the Government have disregarded our -appeals. You have left us to fight our own battles. You have not sent -us a cent----” “There, General, I interrupt you. You say we have sent -you no money,” said Mr. Cameron, very quietly. “Mr. Jones will be -good enough to ask Mr. Smith to step in here.” Before Mr. Smith came -in, however, the General, possibly thinking some member of the press -was present, rolled his eyes in a Nicotian frenzy, and perorated: -“The people of the State of Missouri, sir, will power-out every drop -of the blood which only flows to warm patriotic hearts in defence of -the great Union, which offers freedom to the enslaved of mankind, and -a home to persecuted progress, and a few-ture to civil-zation. We -demand, General Cameron, in the neame of the great Western State----” -Here Mr. Smith came in, and Mr. Cameron said, “I want you to tell me -what disbursements, if any, have been sent by this department to the -State of Missouri.” Mr. Smith was quick at figures, and up in his -accounts, for he drew out a little memorandum book, and replied (of -course, I can’t tell the exact sum), “General, there has been sent, -as by vouchers, to Missouri, since the beginning of the levies, six -hundred and seventy thousand dollars and twenty-three cents.” The -General looked crestfallen, but he was equal to the occasion, “These -sums may have been sent, sir, but they have not been received. I -declare in the face of----” “Mr. Smith will show you the vouchers, -General, and you can then take any steps needful against the parties -who have misappropriated them.” - -“That is only a small specimen of what we have to go through with -our people,” said the Minister, as the General went off with a lofty -toss of his head, and then gave me a pleasant sketch of the nature of -the applications and interviews which take up the time and clog the -movements of an American statesman. “These State organisations give -us a great deal of trouble.” I could fully understand that they did -so. The immediate business that I had with Mr. Cameron--he is rarely -called General now that he is Minister of War--was to ask him to give -me authority to draw rations at cost price, in case the army took -the field before I could make arrangements, and he seemed very well -disposed to accede; “but I must think about it, for I shall have all -our papers down upon me if I grant you any facility which they do not -get themselves.” After I left the War Department, I took a walk to -Mr. Seward’s, who was out. In passing by President’s Square, I saw a -respectably-dressed man up in one of the trees, cutting-off pieces of -the bark, which his friends beneath caught up eagerly. I could not -help stopping to ask what was the object of the proceeding. “Why, -sir, this is the tree Dan Sickles shot Mr. ---- under. I think it’s -quite a remarkable spot.” - -_July 11th._--The diplomatic circle is so _totus teres atque -rotundas_, that few particles of dirt stick on its periphery from -the road over which it travels. The radii are worked from different -centres, often far apart, and the tires and naves often fly out in -wide divergence; but for all social purposes is a circle, and a very -pleasant one. When one sees M. de Stoeckle speaking to M. Mercier, -or joining in with Baron Gerolt and M. de Lisboa, it is safer to -infer that a little social re-union is at hand for a pleasant -civilised discussion of ordinary topics, some music, a rubber, and -a dinner, than to resolve with the _New York Correspondent_, “that -there is reason to believe that a diplomatic movement of no ordinary -significance is on foot, and that the ministers of Russia, France, -and Prussia have concerted a plan of action with the representative -of Brazil, which must lead to extraordinary complications, in view -of the temporary embarrassments which distract our beloved country. -The Minister of England has held aloof from these reunions for a -sinister purpose no doubt, and we have not failed to discover that -the emissary of Austria, and the representative of Guatemala have -abstained from taking part in these significant demonstrations. We -tell the haughty nobleman who represents Queen Victoria, on whose -son we so lately lavished the most liberal manifestations of our -good will, to beware. The motives of the Court of Vienna, and of the -republic of Guatemala, in ordering their representatives not to join -in the reunion which we observed at three o’clock to-day, at the -corner of Seventeenth Street and One, are perfectly transparent; but -we call on Mr. Seward instantly to demand of Lord Lyons a full and -ample explanation of his conduct on the occasion, or the transmission -of his papers. There is no harm in adding, that we have every -reason to think our good ally of Russia, and the minister of the -astute monarch, who is only watching an opportunity of leading a -Franco-American army to the Tower of London and Dublin Castle, have -already moved their respective Governments to act in the premises.” - -That paragraph, with a good heading, would sell several thousands of -the “New York Stabber” to-morrow. - -_July 12th._--There are rumours that the Federals, under Brigadier -M‘Clellan, who have advanced into Western Virginia, have gained some -successes; but so far it seems to have no larger dimensions than the -onward raid of one clan against another in the Highlands. And whence -do rumours come? From Government departments, which, like so many -Danaes in the clerks’ rooms, receive the visits of the auriferous -Jupiters of the press, who condense themselves into purveyors of -smashes, slings, baskets of champagne, and dinners. M‘Clellan is, -however, considered a very steady and respectable professional -soldier. A friend of his told me to-day one of the most serious -complaints the Central Illinois Company had against him was that, -during the Italian war, he seemed to forget their business; and that -he was busied with maps stretched out on the floor, whereupon he, -superincumbent, penned out the points of battle and strategy when -he ought to have been attending to passenger trains and traffic. -That which was flat blasphemy in a railway office may be amazingly -approved in the field. - -_July 13th._--I have had a long day’s ride through the camps of the -various regiments across the Potomac, and at this side of it, which -the weather did not render very agreeable to myself or the poor hack -that I had hired for the day, till my American Quartermaine gets me -a decent mount. I wished to see with my own eyes what is the real -condition of the army which the North have sent down to the Potomac, -to undertake such a vast task as the conquest of the South. The -Northern papers describe it as a magnificent force, complete in all -respects, well-disciplined, well-clad, provided with fine artillery, -and with every requirement to make it effective for all military -operations in the field. - -In one word, then, they are grossly and utterly ignorant of what an -army is or should be. In the first place, there are not, I should -think, 30,000 men of all sorts available for the campaign. The -papers estimate it at any number from 50,000 to 100,000, giving the -preference to 75,000. In the next place, their artillery is miserably -deficient; they have not, I should think, more than five complete -batteries, or six batteries, including scratch guns, and these are of -different calibres, badly horsed, miserably equipped, and provided -with the worst set of gunners and drivers which I, who have seen -the Turkish field-guns, ever beheld. They have no cavalry, only a -few scarecrow-men, who would dissolve partnership with their steeds -at the first serious combined movement, mounted in high saddles, on -wretched mouthless screws, and some few regulars from the frontiers, -who may be good for Indians, but who would go over like ninepins at -a charge from Punjaubee irregulars. Their transport is tolerably -good, but inadequate; they have no carriage for reserve ammunition; -the commissariat drivers are civilians, under little or no control; -the officers are unsoldierly-looking men; the camps are dirty to -excess; the men are dressed in all sorts of uniforms; and from what I -hear, I doubt if any of these regiments have ever performed a brigade -evolution together, or if any of the officers know what it is to -deploy a brigade from column into line. They are mostly three months’ -men, whose time is nearly up. They were rejoicing to-day over the -fact that it was so, and that they had kept the enemy from Washington -“without a fight.” And it is with this rabblement that the North -propose not only to subdue the South, but according to some of their -papers, to humiliate Great Britain, and conquer Canada afterwards. - -I am opposed to national boasting, but I do firmly believe -that 10,000 British regulars, or 12,000 French, with a proper -establishment of artillery and cavalry, would not only entirely -repulse this army with the greatest ease, under competent commanders, -but that they could attack them and march into Washington over them -or with them whenever they pleased. Not that Frenchman or Englishman -is perfection, but that the American of this army knows nothing of -discipline, and what is more, cares less for it. - -Major-General M‘Clellan--I beg his pardon for styling him -Brigadier--has really been successful. By a very well-conducted -and rather rapid march, he was enabled to bring superior forces to -bear on some raw levies under General Garnett (who came over with -me in the steamer), which fled after a few shots, and were utterly -routed, when their gallant commander fell, in an abortive attempt -to rally them by the banks of the Cheat river. In this “great -battle” M‘Clellan’s loss is less than 30 killed and wounded, and -the Confederates loss is less than 100. But the dispersion of such -guerilla bands has the most useful effect among the people of the -district; and M‘Clellan has done good service, especially as his -little victory will lead to the discomfiture of all the Secessionists -in the valley of the Keanawha, and in the valley of Western Virginia. -I left Washington this afternoon, with the Sanitary Commissioners, -for Baltimore, in order to visit the Federal camps at Fortress -Monroe, to which we proceeded down the Chesapeake the same night. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - - Fortress Monroe--General Butler--Hospital accommodation--Wounded - soldiers--Aristocratic pedigrees--A great gun--Newport - News--Fraudulent contractors--General Butler--Artillery - practice--Contraband negroes--Confederate lines--Tombs of - American loyalists--Troops and contractors--Durevy’s New York - Zouaves--Military calculations--A voyage by steamer to Annapolis. - - -_July 14th._--At six o’clock this morning the steamer arrived at the -wharf under the walls of Fortress Monroe, which presented a very -different appearance from the quiet of its aspect when first I saw -it, some months ago. Camps spread around it, the parapets lined with -sentries, guns looking out towards the land, lighters and steamers -alongside the wharf, a strong guard at the end of the pier, passes -to be scrutinised and permits to be given. I landed with the members -of the Sanitary Commission, and repaired to a very large pile of -buildings, called “The Hygeia Hotel,” for once on a time Fortress -Monroe was looked upon as the resort of the sickly, who required -bracing air and an abundance of oysters; it is now occupied by the -wounded in the several actions and skirmishes which have taken place, -particularly at Bethel; and it is so densely crowded that we had -difficulty in procuring the use of some small dirty rooms to dress -in. As the business of the Commission was principally directed to -ascertain the state of the hospitals, they considered it necessary -in the first instance to visit General Butler, the commander of the -post, who has been recommending himself to the Federal Government by -his activity ever since he came down to Baltimore, and the whole body -marched to the fort, crossing the drawbridge after some parley with -the guard, and received permission, on the production of passes, to -enter the court. - -The interior of the work covers a space of about seven or eight -acres, as far as I could judge, and is laid out with some degree -of taste; rows of fine trees border the walks through the grass -plots; the officers’ quarters, neat and snug, are surrounded with -little patches of flowers, and covered with creepers. All order and -neatness, however, were fast disappearing beneath the tramp of mailed -feet, for at least 1200 men had pitched their tents inside the place. -We sent in our names to the General, who lives in a detached house -close to the sea face of the fort, and sat down on a bench under -the shade of some trees, to avoid the excessive heat of the sun -until the commander of the place could receive the Commissioners. He -was evidently in no great hurry to do so. In about half an hour an -aide-de-camp came out to say that the General was getting up, and -that he would see us after breakfast. Some of the Commissioners, from -purely sanitary considerations, would have been much better pleased -to have seen him at breakfast, as they had only partaken of a very -light meal on board the steamer at five o’clock in the morning; but -we were interested meantime by the morning parade of a portion of -the garrison, consisting of 300 regulars, a Massachusetts’ volunteer -battalion, and the 2nd New York Regiment. - -It was quite refreshing to the eye to see the cleanliness of the -regulars--their white gloves and belts, and polished buttons, -contrasted with the slovenly aspect of the volunteers; but, as far -as the material went, the volunteers had by far the best of the -comparison. The civilians who were with me did not pay much attention -to the regulars, and evidently preferred the volunteers, although -they could not be insensible to the magnificent drum-major who led -the band of the regulars. Presently General Butler came out of his -quarters, and walked down the lines, followed by a few officers. He -is a stout, middle-aged man, strongly built, with coarse limbs, his -features indicative of great shrewdness and craft, his forehead high, -the elevation being in some degree due perhaps to the want of hair; -with a strong obliquity of vision, which may perhaps have been caused -by an injury, as the eyelid hangs with a peculiar droop over the -organ. - -The General, whose manner is quick, decided, and abrupt, but not at -all rude or unpleasant, at once acceded to the wishes of the Sanitary -Commissioners, and expressed his desire to make my stay at the -fort as agreeable and useful as he could. “You can first visit the -hospitals in company with these gentlemen, and then come over with -me to our camp, where I will show you everything that is to be seen. -I have ordered a steamer to be in readiness to take you to Newport -News.” He speaks rapidly, and either affects or possesses great -decision. The Commissioners accordingly proceeded to make the most -of their time in visiting the Hygeia Hotel, being accompanied by the -medical officers of the garrison. - -The rooms, but a short time ago occupied by the fair ladies of -Virginia, when they came down to enjoy the sea breezes, were now -crowded with Federal soldiers, many of them suffering from the -loss of limb or serious wounds, others from the worst form of camp -disease. I enjoyed a small national triumph over Dr. Bellows, the -chief of the Commissioners, who is of the “sangre azul” of Yankeeism, -by which I mean that he is a believer, not in the perfectibility, -but in the absolute perfection, of New England nature, which is the -only human nature that is not utterly lost and abandoned--Old England -nature, perhaps, being the worst of all. We had been speaking to the -wounded men in several rooms, and found most of them either in the -listless condition consequent upon exhaustion, or with that anxious -air which is often observable on the faces of the wounded when -strangers approach. At last we came into a room in which two soldiers -were sitting up, the first we had seen, reading the newspapers. Dr. -Bellows asked where they came from; one was from Concord, the other -from Newhaven. “You see, Mr. Russell,” said Dr. Bellows, “how our -Yankee soldiers spend their time. I knew at once they were Americans -when I saw them reading newspapers.” One of them had his hand -shattered by a bullet, the other was suffering from a gun-shot wound -through the body. “Where were you hit?” I inquired of the first. -“Well,” he said, “I guess my rifle went off when I was cleaning it -in camp.” “Were you wounded at Bethel?” I asked of the second. “No, -sir,” he replied; “I got this wound from a comrade, who discharged -his piece by accident in one of the tents as I was standing -outside.” “So,” said I, to Dr. Bellows, “whilst the Britishers and -Germans are engaged with the enemy, you Americans employ your time -shooting each other!” - -These men were true mercenaries, for they were fighting for money--I -mean the strangers. One poor fellow from Devonshire said, as he -pointed to his stump, “I wish I had lost it for the sake of the old -island, sir,” paraphrasing Sarsfield’s exclamation as he lay dying on -the field. The Americans were fighting for the combined excellences -and strength of the States of New England, and of the rest of the -Federal power over the Confederates, for they could not in their -heart of hearts believe the Old Union could be restored by force of -arms. Lovers may quarrel and may reunite, but if a blow is struck -there is no _redintegratio amoris_ possible again. The newspapers and -illustrated periodicals which they read were the pabulum that fed the -flames of patriotism incessantly. Such capacity for enormous lying, -both in creation and absorption, the world never heard. Sufficient -for the hour is the falsehood. - -There were lady nurses in attendance on the patients; who -followed--let us believe, as I do, out of some higher motive than -the mere desire of human praise--the example of Miss Nightingale. -I loitered behind in the rooms, asking many questions respecting -the nationality of the men, in which the members of the Sanitary -Commission took no interest, and I was just turning into one near the -corner of the passage when I was stopped by a loud smack. A young -Scotchman was dividing his attention between a basin of soup and a -demure young lady from Philadelphia, who was feeding him with a -spoon, his only arm being engaged in holding her round the waist, in -order to prevent her being tired, I presume. Miss Rachel, or Deborah, -had a pair of very pretty blue eyes, but they flashed very angrily -from under her trim little cap at the unwitting intruder, and then -she said, in severest tones, “Will you take your medicine, or not?” -Sandy smiled, and pretended to be very penitent. - -When we returned with the doctors from our inspection we walked round -the parapets of the fortress, why so called I know not, because it -is merely a fort. The guns and mortars are old-fashioned and heavy, -with the exception of some new-fashioned and very heavy Columbiads, -which are cast-iron 8-, 10-, and 12-inch guns, in which I have no -faith whatever. The armament is not sufficiently powerful to prevent -its interior being searched out by the long range fire of ships with -rifle guns, or mortar boats; but it would require closer and harder -work to breach the masses of brick and masonry which constitute the -parapets and casemates. The guns, carriages, rammers, shot, were -dirty, rusty, and neglected; but General Butler told me he was busy -polishing up things about the fortress as fast as he could. - -Whilst we were parading these hot walls in the sunshine, my -companions were discussing the question of ancestry. It appears your -New Englander is very proud of his English descent from good blood, -and it is one of their isms in the Yankee States that they are the -salt of the British people and the true aristocracy of blood and -family, whereas we in the isles retain but a paltry share of the -blue blood defiled by incessant infiltrations of the muddy fluid -of the outer world. This may be new to us Britishers, but is a Q. -E. D. If a gentleman left Europe 200 years ago, and settled with -his kin and kith, intermarrying his children with their equals, -and thus perpetuating an ancient family, it is evident he may be -regarded as the founder of a much more honourable dynasty than the -relative who remained behind him, and lost the old family place, -and sunk into obscurity. A singular illustration of the tendency to -make much of themselves may be found in the fact, that New England -swarms with genealogical societies and bodies of antiquaries, who -delight in reading papers about each other’s ancestors, and tracing -their descent from Norman or Saxon barons and earls. The Virginians -opposite, who are flouting us with their Confederate flag from -Sewall’s Point, are equally given to the “genus et proavos.” - -At the end of our promenade round the ramparts, Lieutenant Butler, -the General’s nephew and aide-de-camp, came to tell us the boat was -ready, and we met His Excellency in the court-yard, whence we walked -down to the wharf. On our way, General Butler called my attention -to an enormous heap of hollow iron lying on the sand, which was the -Union gun that is intended to throw a shot of some 350 lbs. weight or -more, to astonish the Confederates at Sewall’s Point opposite, when -it is mounted. This gun, if I mistake not, was made after the designs -of Captain Rodman, of the United States artillery, who in a series -of remarkable papers, the publication of which has cost the country -a large sum of money, has given us the results of long-continued -investigations and experiments on the best method of cooling masses -of iron for ordnance purposes, and of making powder for heavy shot. -The piece must weigh about 20 tons, but a similar gun, mounted on an -artificial island called the Rip Raps, in the Channel opposite the -fortress, is said to be worked with facility. The Confederates have -raised some of the vessels sunk by the United States officers when -the Navy Yard at Gosport was destroyed, and as some of these are to -be converted into rams, the Federals are preparing their heaviest -ordnance, to try the effect of crushing weights at low velocities -against their sides, should they attempt to play any pranks among -the transport vessels. The General said: “It is not by these great -masses of iron this contest is to be decided: we must bring sharp -points of steel, directed by superior intelligence.” Hitherto General -Butler’s attempts at Big Bethel have not been crowned with success -in employing such means, but it must be admitted that, according -to his own statement, his lieutenants were guilty of carelessness -and neglect of ordinary military precautions in the conduct of the -expedition he ordered. The march of different columns of troops by -night concentrating on a given point is always liable to serious -interruptions, and frequently gives rise to hostile encounters -between friends, in more disciplined armies than the raw levies of -United States volunteers. - -When the General, Commissioners, and Staff had embarked, the steamer -moved across the broad estuary to Newport News. Among our passengers -were several medical officers in attendance on the Sanitary -Commissioners, some belonging to the army, others who had volunteered -from civil life. Their discussion of professional questions and of -relative rank assumed such a personal character, that General Butler -had to interfere to quiet the disputants, but the exertion of -his authority was not altogether successful, and one of the angry -gentlemen said in my hearing, “I’m d--d if I submit to such treatment -if all the lawyers in Massachusetts with stars on their collars were -to order me to-morrow.” - -On arriving at the low shore of Newport News we landed at a wooden -jetty, and proceeded to visit the camp of the Federals, which was -surrounded by a strong entrenchment, mounted with guns on the water -face; and on the angles inland, a broad tract of cultivated country, -bounded by a belt of trees, extended from the river away from the -encampment; but the Confederates are so close at hand that frequent -skirmishes have occurred between the foraging parties of the garrison -and the enemy, who have on more than one occasion pursued the -Federals to the very verge of the woods. - -Whilst the Sanitary Commissioners were groaning over the heaps of -filth which abound in all camps where discipline is not most strictly -observed, I walked round amongst the tents, which, taken altogether, -were in good order. The day was excessively hot, and many of the -soldiers were laying down in the shade of arbours formed of branches -from the neighbouring pine wood, but most of them got up when they -heard the General was coming round. A sentry walked up and down at -the end of the street, and as the General came up to him he called -out “Halt.” The man stood still. “I just want to show you, sir, what -scoundrels our Government has to deal with. This man belongs to a -regiment which has had new clothing recently served out to it. Look -what it is made of.” So saying the General stuck his fore-finger into -the breast of the man’s coat, and with a rapid scratch of his nail -tore open the cloth as if it was of blotting paper. “Shoddy sir. -Nothing but shoddy. I wish I had these contractors in the trenches -here, and if hard work would not make honest men of them, they’d have -enough of it to be examples for the rest of their fellows.” - -A vivacious prying man, this Butler, full of bustling life, -self-esteem, revelling in the exercise of power. In the course of -our rounds we were joined by Colonel Phelps, who was formerly in the -United States army, and saw service in Mexico, but retired because -he did not approve of the manner in which promotions were made, and -who only took command of a Massachusetts regiment because he believed -he might be instrumental in striking a shrewd blow or two in this -great battle of Armageddon--a tall, saturnine, gloomy, angry-eyed, -sallow man, soldier-like too, and one who places old John Brown -on a level with the great martyrs of the Christian world. Indeed -one, not so fierce as he, is blasphemous enough to place images of -our Saviour and the hero of Harper’s Ferry on the mantelpiece, as -the two greatest beings the world has ever seen. “Yes, I know them -well. I’ve seen them in the field. I’ve sat with them at meals. I’ve -travelled through their country. These Southern slaveholders are a -false, licentious, godless people. Either we who obey the laws and -fear God, or they who know no God except their own will and pleasure, -and know no law except their passions, must rule on this continent, -and I believe that Heaven will help its own in the conflict they -have provoked. I grant you they are brave enough, and desperate too, -but surely justice, truth, and religion, will strengthen a man’s -arm to strike down those who have only brute force and a bad cause -to support them.” But Colonel Phelps was not quite indifferent to -material aid, and he made a pressing appeal to General Butler to -send him some more guns and harness for the field-pieces he had in -position, because, said he, “in case of attack, please God I’ll -follow them up sharp, and cover these fields with their bones.” The -General had a difficulty about the harness, which made Colonel Phelps -very grim, but General Butler had reason in saying he could not make -harness, and so the Colonel must be content with the results of a -good rattling fire of round, shell, grape, and cannister, if the -Confederates are foolish enough to attack his batteries. - -There was nothing to complain of in the camp, except the swarms -of flies, the very bad smells, and perhaps the shabby clothing of -the men. The tents were good enough. The rations were ample, but -nevertheless there was a want of order, discipline, and quiet in -the lines which did not augur well for the internal economy of -the regiments. When we returned to the river face, General Butler -ordered some practice to be made with a Sawyer rifle gun, which -appeared to be an ordinary cast-iron piece, bored with grooves, on -the shunt principle, the shot being covered with a composition of -a metallic amalgam like zinc and tin, and provided with flanges of -the same material to fit the grooves. The practice was irregular and -unsatisfactory. At an elevation of 24 degrees, the first shot struck -the water at a point about 2000 yards distant. The piece was then -further elevated, and the shot struck quite out of land, close to -the opposite bank, at a distance of nearly three miles. The third -shot rushed with a peculiar hurtling noise out of the piece, and -flew up in the air, falling with a splash into the water about 1500 -yards away. The next shot may have gone half across the continent, -for assuredly it never struck the water, and most probably ploughed -its way into the soft ground at the other side of the river. The -shell practice was still worse, and on the whole I wish our enemies -may always fight us with Sawyer guns, particularly as the shells cost -between £6 and £7 a-piece. - -From the fort the General proceeded to the house of one of the -officers, near the jetty, formerly the residence of a Virginian -farmer, who has now gone to Secessia, where we were most hospitably -treated at an excellent lunch, served by the slaves of the former -proprietor. Although we boast with some reason of the easy level -of our mess-rooms, the Americans certainly excel us in the art of -annihilating all military distinctions on such occasions as these; -and I am not sure the General would not have liked to place a young -Doctor in close arrest, who suddenly made a dash at the liver wing of -a fowl on which the General was bent with eye and fork, and carried -it off to his plate. But on the whole there was a good deal of -friendly feeling amongst all ranks of the volunteers, the regulars -being a little stiff and adherent to etiquette. - -In the afternoon the boat returned to Fortress Monroe, and the -general invited me to dinner, where I had the pleasure of meeting -Mrs. Butler, his staff, and a couple of regimental officers from the -neighbouring camp. As it was still early, General Butler proposed a -ride to visit the interesting village of Hampton, which lies some -six or seven miles outside the fort, and forms his advance post. A -powerful charger, with a tremendous Mexican saddle, fine housings, -blue and gold embroidered saddle-cloth, was brought to the door for -your humble servant, and the General mounted another, which did equal -credit to his taste in horseflesh; but I own I felt rather uneasy on -seeing that he wore a pair of large brass spurs, strapped over white -jean brodequins. He took with him his aide-de-camp and a couple of -orderlies. In the precincts of the fort outside, a population of -contraband negroes has been collected, whom the General employs in -various works about the place, military and civil; but I failed to -ascertain that the original scheme of a debit and credit account -between the value of their labour and the cost of their maintenance -had been successfully carried out. The General was proud of them, -and they seemed proud of themselves, saluting him with a ludicrous -mixture of awe and familiarity as he rode past. “How do, Massa -Butler? How do, General?” accompanied by absurd bows and scrapes. -“Just to think,” said the General, “that every one of these fellows -represents some 1000 dollars at least out of the pockets of the -chivalry yonder.” “Nasty, idle, dirty beasts,” says one of the staff, -_sotto voce_; “I wish to Heaven they were all at the bottom of the -Chesapeake. The General insists on it that they do work, but they are -far more trouble than they are worth.” - -The road towards Hampton traverses a sandy spit, which, however, is -more fertile than would be supposed from the soil under the horses’ -hoofs, though it is not in the least degree interesting. A broad -creek or river interposed between us and the town, the bridge over -which had been destroyed. Workmen were busy repairing it, but all the -planks had not yet been laid down or nailed, and in some places the -open space between the upright rafters allowed us to see the dark -waters flowing beneath. The Aide said, “I don’t think, General, it is -safe to cross;” but his chief did not mind him until his horse very -nearly crashed through a plank, and only regained its footing with -unbroken legs by marvellous dexterity; whereupon we dismounted, and, -leaving the horses to be carried over in the ferry-boat, completed -the rest of the transit, not without difficulty. At the other end of -the bridge a street lined with comfortable houses, and bordered with -trees, led us into the pleasant town or village of Hampton--pleasant -once, but now deserted by all the inhabitants except some pauperised -whites and a colony of negroes. It was in full occupation of the -Federal soldiers, and I observed that most of the men were Germans, -the garrison at Newport News being principally composed of Americans. -The old red brick houses, with cornices of white stone; the narrow -windows and high gables; gave an aspect of antiquity and European -comfort to the place, the like of which I have not yet seen in the -States. Most of the shops were closed; in some the shutters were -still down, and the goods remained displayed in the windows. “I have -allowed no plundering,” said the General; “and if I find a fellow -trying to do it, I will hang him as sure as my name is Butler. See -here,” and as he spoke he walked into a large woollen-draper’s shop, -where bales of cloth were still lying on the shelves, and many -articles such as are found in a large general store in a country -town were disposed on the floor or counters; “they shall not accuse -the men under my command of being robbers.” The boast, however, was -not so well justified in a visit to another house occupied by some -soldiers. “Well,” said the General, with a smile, “I daresay you -know enough of camps to have found out that chairs and tables are -irresistible; the men will take them off to their tents, though they -may have to leave them next morning.” - -The principal object of our visit was the fortified trench which -has been raised outside the town towards the Confederate lines. -The path lay through a churchyard filled with most interesting -monuments. The sacred edifice of red brick, with a square clock -tower rent by lightning, is rendered interesting by the fact that -it is almost the first church built by the English colonists of -Virginia. On the tombstones are recorded the names of many subjects -of his Majesty George III., and familiar names of persons born in -the early part of last century in English villages, who passed to -their rest before the great rebellion of the Colonies had disturbed -their notions of loyalty and respect to the Crown. Many a British -subject, too, lies there, whose latter days must have been troubled -by the strange scenes of the war of independence. With what doubt -and distrust must that one at whose tomb I stand have heard that -George Washington was making head against the troops of His Majesty -King George III.! How the hearts of the old men who had passed the -best years of their existence, as these stones tell us, fighting for -His Majesty against the French, must have beaten when once more they -heard the roar of the Frenchman’s ordnance uniting with the voices -of the rebellious guns of the colonists from the plains of Yorktown -against the entrenchments in which Cornwallis and his deserted band -stood at hopeless bay! But could these old eyes open again, and see -General Butler standing on the eastern rampart which bounds their -resting-place, and pointing to the spot whence the rebel cavalry -of Virginia issue night and day to charge the loyal pickets of His -Majesty The Union, they might take some comfort in the fulfilment of -the vaticinations which no doubt they uttered, “It cannot, and it -will not, come to good.” - -Having inspected the works--as far as I could judge, too extended, -and badly traced--which I say with all deference to the able young -engineer who accompanied us to point out the various objects of -interest--the General returned to the bridge, where we remounted, and -made a tour of the camps of the force intended to defend Hampton, -falling back on Fortress Monroe in case of necessity. Whilst he was -riding _ventre à terre_, which seems to be his favourite pace, his -horse stumbled in the dusty road, and in his effort to keep his -seat the General broke his stirrup leather, and the ponderous brass -stirrup fell to the ground; but, albeit a lawyer, he neither lost his -seat nor his _sang froid_, and calling out to his orderly “to pick -up his toe plate,” the jean slippers were closely pressed, spurs and -all, to the sides of his steed, and away we went once more through -dust and heat so great I was by no means sorry when he pulled up -outside a pretty villa, standing in a garden, which was occupied by -Colonel Max Webber, of the German Turner Regiment, once the property -of General Tyler. The camp of the Turners, who are members of various -gymnastic societies, was situated close at hand; but I had no -opportunity of seeing them at work, as the Colonel insisted on our -partaking of the hospitalities of his little mess, and produced some -bottles of sparkling hock and a block of ice, by no means unwelcome -after our fatiguing ride. His Major, whose name I have unfortunately -forgotten, and who spoke English better than his chief, had served -in some capacity or other in the Crimea, and made many inquiries -after the officers of the Guards whom he had known there. I took an -opportunity of asking him in what state the troops were. “The whole -thing is a robbery,” he exclaimed; “this war is for the contractors; -the men do not get a third of what the Government pay for them; as -for discipline, my God! it exists not. We Germans are well enough, of -course; we know our affair; but as for the Americans, what would you? -They make colonels out of doctors and lawyers, and captains out of -fellows who are not fit to brush a soldier’s shoe.” “But the men get -their pay?” “Yes; that is so. At the end of two months, they get it, -and by that time it is due to sutlers, who charge them 100 per cent.” - -It is easy to believe these old soldiers do not put much confidence -in General Butler, though they admit his energy. “Look you; one -good officer with 5000 steady troops, such as we have in Europe, -shall come down any night and walk over us all into Fortress Monroe -whenever he pleased, if he knew how these troops were placed.” - -On leaving the German Turners, the General visited the camp of -Duryea’s New York Zouaves, who were turned out at evening parade, -or more properly speaking, drill. But for the ridiculous effect of -their costume the regiment would have looked well enough; but riding -down on the rear of the ranks the discoloured napkins tied round -their heads, without any fez cap beneath, so that the hair sometimes -stuck up through the folds, the ill-made jackets, the loose bags -of red calico hanging from their loins, the long gaiters of white -cotton--instead of the real Zouave yellow and black greave, and smart -white gaiter--made them appear such military scarecrows, I could -scarcely refrain from laughing outright. Nevertheless the men were -respectably drilled, marched steadily in columns of company, wheeled -into line, and went past at quarter distance at the double much -better than could be expected from the short time they had been in -the field, and I could with all sincerity say to Col. Duryea, a smart -and not unpretentious gentleman, who asked my opinion so pointedly -that I could not refuse to give it, that I considered the appearance -of the regiment very creditable. The shades of evening were now -falling, and as I had been up before 5 o’clock in the morning, I was -not sorry when General Butler said, “Now we will go home to tea, or -you will detain the steamer.” He had arranged before I started that -the vessel, which in ordinary course would have returned to Baltimore -at 8 o’clock, should remain till he sent down word to the captain to -go. - -We scampered back to the fort, and judging from the challenges and -vigilance of the sentries, and inlying pickets, I am not quite so -satisfied as the Major that the enemy could have surprised the place. -At the tea-table there were no additions to the General’s family; he -therefore spoke without any reserve. Going over the map, he explained -his views in reference to future operations, and showed cause, with -more military acumen than I could have expected from a gentleman of -the long robe, why he believed Fortress Monroe was the true base of -operations against Richmond. - -I have been convinced for some time, that if a sufficient force -could be left to cover Washington, the Federals should move against -Richmond from the Peninsula, where they could form their depôts at -leisure, and advance, protected by their gunboats, on a very short -line which offers far greater facilities and advantages than the -inland route from Alexandria to Richmond, which, difficult in itself -from the nature of the country, is exposed to the action of a hostile -population, and, above all, to the danger of constant attacks by the -enemies’ cavalry, tending more or less to destroy all communication -with the base of the Federal operations. - -The threat of seizing Washington led to a concentration of the Union -troops in front of it, which caused in turn the collection of the -Confederates on the lines below to defend Richmond. It is plain that -if the Federals can cover Washington, and at the same time assemble a -force at Monroe strong enough to march on Richmond, as they desire, -the Confederates will be placed in an exceedingly hazardous position, -scarcely possible to escape from; and there is no reason why the -North, with their overwhelming preponderance, should not do so, -unless they be carried away by the fatal spirit of brag and bluster -which comes from their press to overrate their own strength and to -despise their enemy’s. The occupation of Suffolk will be seen, by any -one who studies the map, to afford a most powerful leverage to the -Federal forces from Monroe in their attempts to turn the enemy out of -their camps of communication, and to enable them to menace Richmond -as well as the Southern States most seriously. - -But whilst the General and I are engaged over our maps and mint -juleps, time flies, and at last I perceive by the clock that it is -time to go. An aide is sent to stop the boat, but he returns ere -I leave with the news that “She is gone.” Whereupon the General -sends for the Quartermaster Talmadge, who is out in the camps, and -only arrives in time to receive a severe “wigging.” It so happened -that I had important papers to send off by the next mail from New -York, and the only chance of being able to do so depended on my -being in Baltimore next day. General Butler acted with kindness and -promptitude in the matter. “I promised you should go by the steamer, -but the captain has gone off without orders or leave, for which he -shall answer when I see him. Meantime it is my business to keep my -promise. Captain Talmadge, you will at once go down and give orders -to the most suitable transport steamer or chartered vessel available, -to get up steam at once and come up to the wharf for Mr. Russell.” - -Whilst I was sitting in the parlour which served as the General’s -office, there came in a pale, bright-eyed, slim young man in a -subaltern’s uniform, who sought a private audience, and unfolded a -plan he had formed, on certain data gained by nocturnal expeditions, -to surprise a body of the enemy’s cavalry which was in the habit of -coming down every night and disturbing the pickets at Hampton. His -manner was so eager, his information so precise, that the General -could not refuse his sanction, but he gave it in a characteristic -manner. “Well, sir, I understand your proposition. You intend to go -out as a volunteer to effect this service. You ask my permission to -get men for it. I cannot grant you an order to any of the officers in -command of regiments to provide you with these; but if the Colonel of -your regiment wishes to give leave to his men to volunteer, and they -like to go with you, I give you leave to take them. I wash my hands -of all responsibility in the affair.” The officer bowed and retired, -saying, “That is quite enough, General.”[2] - -At 10 o’clock the Quartermaster came back to say that a screw -steamer called the Elizabeth was getting up steam for my reception, -and I bade good-by to the General, and walked down with his aide -and nephew, Lieutenant Butler, to the Hygeia Hotel to get my light -knapsack. It was a lovely moonlight night, and as I was passing down -an avenue of trees an officer stopped me, and exclaimed, “General -Butler, I hear you have given leave to Lieutenant Blank to take a -party of my regiment and go off scouting to-night after the enemy. -It is too hard that--” What more he was going to say I know not, for -I corrected the mistake, and the officer walked hastily on towards -the General’s quarters. On reaching the Hygeia Hotel I was met by the -correspondent of a New York paper, who as commissary-general, or, -as they are styled in the States, officer of subsistence, had been -charged to get the boat ready, and who explained to me it would be at -least an hour before the steam was up; and whilst I was waiting in -the porch I heard many Virginian, and old world stories as well, the -general upshot of which was that all the rest of the world could be -“done” at cards, in love, in drink, in horseflesh, and in fighting, -by the true-born American. Gen. Butler came down after a time, and -joined our little society, nor was he by any means the least shrewd -and humorous _raconteur_ of the party. At 11 o’clock the Elizabeth -uttered some piercing cries, which indicated she had her steam up; -and so I walked down to the jetty, accompanied by my host and his -friends, and wishing them good bye, stepped on board the little -vessel, and with the aid of the negro cook, steward, butler, boots, -and servant, roused out the captain from a small wooden trench which -he claimed as his berth, turned into it, and fell asleep just as the -first difficult convulsions of the screw aroused the steamer from her -coma, and forced her languidly against the tide in the direction of -Baltimore. - -_July 15th._--I need not speak much of the events of last night, -which were not unimportant, perhaps, to some of the insects which -played a leading part in them. The heat was literally overpowering; -for in addition to the hot night there was the full power of -most irritable boilers close at hand to aggravate the natural -_désagrémens_ of the situation. About an hour after dawn, when I -turned out on deck, there was nothing visible but a warm grey mist; -but a knotty old pilot on deck told me we were only going six knots -an hour against tide and wind, and that we were likely to make less -way as the day wore on. In fact, instead of being near Baltimore, -we were much nearer Fortress Monroe. Need I repeat the horrors of -this day? Stewed, boiled, baked, and grilled on board this miserable -Elizabeth, I wished M. Montalembert could have experienced with me -what such an impassive nature could inflict in misery on those around -it. The captain was a shy, silent man, much given to short naps in -my temporary berth, and the mate was so wild, he might have swam off -with perfect propriety to the woods on either side of us, and taken -to a tree as an aborigen or chimpanzee. Two men of most retiring -habits, the negro, a black boy, and a very fat negress who officiated -as cook, filled up the “balance” of the crew. - -I could not write, for the vibration of the deck of the little -craft gave a St. Vitus dance to pen and pencil; reading was out -of the question from the heat and flies; and below stairs the fat -cook banished repose by vapours from her dreadful caldrons, where, -Medea-like, she was boiling some death broth. Our breakfast was of -the simplest and--may I add?--the least enticing; and if the dinner -could have been worse it was so; though it was rendered attractive -by hunger, and by the kindness of the sailors who shared it with me. -The old pilot had a most wholesome hatred of the Britishers, and not -having the least idea till late in the day that I belonged to the old -country, favoured me with some very remarkable views respecting their -general mischievousness and inutility. As soon as he found out my -secret he became more reserved, and explained to me that he had some -reason for not liking us, because all he had in the world, as pretty -a schooner as ever floated and a fine cargo, had been taken and -burnt by the English when they sailed up the Potomac to Washington. -He served against us at Bladensburg. I did not ask him how fast he -ran; but he had a good rejoinder ready if I had done so, inasmuch as -he was up West under Commodore Perry on the lakes when we suffered -our most serious reverses. Six knots an hour! hour after hour! And -nothing to do but to listen to the pilot. - -On both sides a line of forest just visible above the low shores. -Small coasting craft, schooners, pungys, boats laden with wood -creeping along in the shallow water, or plying down empty before wind -and tide. - -“I doubt if we’ll be able to catch up them forts afore night,” said -the skipper. The pilot grunted, “I rather think yu’ll not.” “H---- -and thunder! Then we’ll have to lie off till daylight?” “They may let -you pass, Captain Squires, as you’ve this Europe-an on board, but -anyhow we can’t fetch Baltimore till late at night or early in the -morning.” - -I heard the dialogue, and decided very quickly that as Annapolis lay -somewhere ahead on our left, and was much nearer than Baltimore, it -would be best to run for it while there was daylight. The captain -demurred. He had been ordered to take his vessel to Baltimore, -and General Butler might come down on him for not doing so; but I -proposed to sign a letter stating he had gone to Annapolis at my -request, and the steamer was put a point or two to westward, much to -the pleasure of the Palinurus, whose “old woman” lived in the town. -I had an affection for this weather-beaten, watery-eyed, honest old -fellow, who hated us as cordially as Jack detested his Frenchman in -the old days before _ententes cordiales_ were known to the world. He -was thoroughly English in his belief that he belonged to the only -sailor race in the world, and that they could beat all mankind in -seamanship; and he spoke in the most unaffected way of the Britishers -as a survivor of the old war might do of Johnny Crapaud--“They were -brave enough no doubt, but, Lord bless you, see them in a gale of -wind! or look at them sending down top-gallant masts, or anything -sailor-like in a breeze. _You’d_ soon see the differ. And, besides, -they _never can_ stand again us at close quarters.” By-and-by the -houses of a considerable town, crowned by steeples, and a large -Corinthian-looking building, came in view. “That’s the State House. -That’s where George Washington--first in peace, first in war, and -first in the hearts of his countrymen--laid down his victorious sword -without any one asking him, and retired amid the applause of the -civilized world.” This flight I am sure was the old man’s treasured -relic of school-boy days, and I’m not sure he did not give it to me -three times over. Annapolis looks very well from the river side. The -approach is guarded by some very poor earthworks and one small fort. -A dismantled sloop of war lay off a sea wall, banking up a green lawn -covered with trees, in front of an old-fashioned pile of buildings, -which formerly, I think, and very recently indeed, was occupied by -the cadets of the United States Naval School. “There was a lot of -them Seceders. Lord bless you! these young ones is all took by these -States Rights’ doctrines--just as the ladies is caught by a new -fashion.” - -About seven o’clock the steamer hove alongside a wooden pier which -was quite deserted. Only some ten or twelve sailing boats, yachts, -and schooners lay at anchor in the placid waters of the port which -was once the capital of Maryland, and for which the early Republicans -prophesied a great future. But Baltimore has eclipsed Annapolis into -utter obscurity. I walked to the only hotel in the place, and found -that the train for the junction with Washington had started, and that -the next train left at some impossible hour in the morning. It is an -odd Rip Van Winkle sort of a place. Quaint-looking boarders came down -to the tea-table and talked Secession, and when I was detected, as -must ever soon be the case, owing to the hotel book, I was treated to -some ill-favoured glances, as my recent letters have been denounced -in the strongest way for their supposed hostility to States Rights -and the Domestic Institution. The spirit of the people has, however, -been broken by the Federal occupation, and by the decision with -which Butler acted when he came down here with the troops to open -communications with Washington after the Baltimoreans had attacked -the soldiery on their way through the city from the north. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - - The “State House” at Annapolis--Washington--General Scott’s - quarters--Want of a staff--Rival camps--Demand for horses--Popular - excitement--Lord Lyons--General M‘Dowell’s movements--Retreat - from Fairfax Court House--General Scott’s quarters--General - Mansfield--Battle of Bull’s Run. - - -_July 19th._--I baffled many curious and civil citizens by -breakfasting in my room, where I remained writing till late in the -day. In the afternoon I walked to the State House. The hall door was -open, but the rooms were closed; and I remained in the hall, which is -graced by two indifferent huge statues of Law and Justice holding gas -lamps, and by an old rusty cannon, dug out of the river, and supposed -to have belonged to the original British colonists, whilst an officer -whom I met in the portico went to look for the porter and the keys. -Whether he succeeded I cannot say, for after waiting some half hour I -was warned by my watch that it was time to get ready for the train, -which started at 4.15 p.m. The country through which the single line -of rail passes is very hilly, much wooded, little cultivated, cut up -by water-courses and ravines. At the junction with the Washington -line from Baltimore there is a strong guard thrown out from the camp -near at hand. The officers, who had a mess in a little wayside inn on -the line, invited me to rest till the train came up, and from them -I heard that an advance had been actually ordered, and that if the -“rebels” stood there would soon be a tall fight close to Washington. -They were very cheery, hospitable fellows, and enjoyed their new mode -of life amazingly. The men of the regiment to which they belonged -were Germans, almost to a man. When the train came in I found it was -full of soldiers, and I learned that three more heavy trains were -to follow, in addition to four which had already passed laden with -troops. - -On arriving at the Washington platform, the first person I saw was -General M‘Dowell alone, looking anxiously into the carriages. He -asked where I came from, and when he heard from Annapolis, inquired -eagerly if I had seen two batteries of artillery--Barry’s and -another--which he had ordered up, and was waiting for, but which -had “gone astray.” I was surprised to find the General engaged on -such duty, and took leave to say so. “Well, it is quite true, Mr. -Russell; but I am obliged to look after them myself, as I have so -small a staff, and they are all engaged out with my head-quarters. -You are aware I have advanced? No! Well, you have just come in -time, and I shall be happy, indeed, to take you with me. I have -made arrangements for the correspondents of our papers to take -the field under certain regulations, and I have suggested to them -they should wear a white uniform, to indicate the purity of their -character.” The General could hear nothing of his guns; his carriage -was waiting, and I accepted his offer of a seat to my lodgings. -Although he spoke confidently, he did not seem in good spirits. -There was the greatest difficulty in finding out anything about the -enemy. Beauregard was said to have advanced to Fairfax Court House, -but he could not get any certain knowledge of the fact. “Can you not -order a reconnaissance?” “Wait till you see the country. But even if -it were as flat as Flanders, I have not an officer on whom I could -depend for the work. They would fall into some trap, or bring on a -general engagement when I did not seek it or desire it. I have no -cavalry such as you work with in Europe.” I think he was not so much -disposed to undervalue the Confederates as before, for he said they -had selected a very strong position, and had made a regular _levée -en masse_ of the people of Virginia, as a proof of the energy and -determination with which they were entering on the campaign. - -As we parted the General gave me his photograph, and told me he -expected to see me in a few days at his quarters, but that I would -have plenty of time to get horses and servants, and such light -equipage as I wanted, as there would be no engagement for several -days. On arriving at my lodgings I sent to the livery stables to -inquire after horses. None fit for the saddle to be had at any price. -The sutlers, the cavalry, the mounted officers, had been purchasing -up all the droves of horses which came to the markets. M‘Dowell had -barely extra mounts for his own use. And yet horses must be had; -and, even provided with them, I must take the field without tent or -servant, canteen or food--a waif to fortune. - -_July 17th._--I went up to General Scott’s quarters, and saw some of -his staff--young men, some of whom knew nothing of soldiers, not even -the enforcing of drill--and found them reflecting, doubtless, the -shades which cross the mind of the old chief, who was now seeking -repose. M‘Dowell is to advance to-morrow from Fairfax Court House, -and will march some eight or ten miles to Centreville, directly in -front of which, at a place called Manassas, stands the army of the -Southern enemy. I look around me for a staff, and look in vain. There -are a few plodding old pedants, with map and rules and compasses, who -sit in small rooms and write memoranda; and there are some ignorant -and not very active young men, who loiter about the head-quarters’ -halls, and strut up the street with brass spurs on their heels and -kepis raked over their eyes as though they were soldiers, but I see -no system, no order, no knowledge, no dash! - -The worst-served English general has always a young fellow or two -about him who can fly across country, draw a rough sketch map, -ride like a foxhunter, and find something out about the enemy and -their position, understand and convey orders, and obey them. I look -about for the types of these in vain. M‘Dowell can find out nothing -about the enemy; he has not a trustworthy map of the country; no -knowledge of their position, force, or numbers. All the people, he -says, are against the Government. Fairfax Court House was abandoned -as he approached, the enemy in their retreat being followed by the -inhabitants. “Where were the Confederate entrenchments? Only in the -imagination of those New York newspapers; when they want to fill up -a column they write a full account of the enemy’s fortifications. -No one can contradict them at the time, and it’s a good joke when -it’s found out to be a lie.” Colonel Cullum went over the maps with -me at General Scott’s, and spoke with some greater confidence of -M‘Dowell’s prospects of success. There is a considerable force of -Confederates at a place called Winchester, which is connected with -Manassas by rail, and this force could be thrown on the right of the -Federals as they advanced, but that another corps, under Patterson, -is in observation, with orders to engage them if they attempt to move -eastwards. - -The batteries for which General M‘Dowell was looking last night have -arrived, and were sent on this morning. One is under Barry, of the -United States regular artillery, whom I met at Fort Pickens. The -other is a volunteer battery. The onward movement of the army has -been productive of a great improvement in the streets of Washington, -which are no longer crowded with turbulent and disorderly volunteers, -or by soldiers disgracing the name, who accost you in the by-ways for -money. There are comparatively few to-day; small shoals, which have -escaped the meshes of the net, are endeavouring to make the most of -their time before they cross the river to face the enemy. - -Still horse-hunting, but in vain--Gregson, Wroe--_et hoc genus omne_. -Nothing to sell except at unheard-of rates; tripeds, and the like, -much the worse for wear, and yet possessed of some occult virtues, -in right of which the owners demanded egregious sums. Everywhere I -am offered a gig or a vehicle of some kind or another, as if the -example of General Scott had rendered such a mode of campaigning -the correct thing. I saw many officers driving over the Log Bridge -with large stores of provisions, either unable to procure horses -or satisfied that a waggon was the chariot of Mars. It is not fair -to ridicule either officers or men of this army, and if they were -not so inflated by a pestilent vanity, no one would dream of doing -so; but the excessive bragging and boasting in which the volunteers -and the press indulge really provoke criticism and tax patience and -forbearance overmuch. Even the regular officers, who have some idea -of military efficiency, rather derived from education and foreign -travels than from actual experience, bristle up and talk proudly -of the patriotism of the army, and challenge the world to show -such another, although in their hearts, and more, with their lips, -they own they do not depend on them. The white heat of patriotism -has cooled down to a dull black; and I am told that the gallant -volunteers, who are to conquer the world when they “have got through -with their present little job,” are counting up the days to the -end of their service, and openly declare they will not stay a day -longer. This is pleasant, inasmuch as the end of the term of many -of M‘Dowell’s, and most of Patterson’s, three months men, is near -at hand. They have been faring luxuriously at the expense of the -Government--they have had nothing to do--they have had enormous -pay--they knew nothing, and were worthless as to soldiering when they -were enrolled. Now, having gained all these advantages, and being -likely to be of use for the first time, they very quietly declare -they are going to sit under their fig-trees, crowned with civic -laurels and myrtles, and all that sort of thing. But who dare say -they are not splendid fellows--full-blooded heroes, patriots, and -warriors--men before whose majestic presence all Europe pales and -faints away? - -In the evening I received a message to say that the advance of the -army would take place to-morrow as soon as General M‘Dowell had -satisfied himself by a reconnaissance that he could carry out his -plan of turning the right of the enemy by passing Occaguna Creek. -Along Pennsylvania Avenue, along the various shops, hotels, and -drinking-bars, groups of people were collected, listening to the -most exaggerated accounts of desperate fighting and of the utter -demoralisation of the rebels. I was rather amused by hearing the -florid accounts which were given in the hall of Willard’s by various -inebriated officers, who were drawing upon their imagination for -their facts, knowing, as I did, that the entrenchments at Fairfax -had been abandoned without a shot on the advance of the Federal -troops. The New York papers came in with glowing descriptions of -the magnificent march of the grand army of the Potomac, which was -stated to consist of upwards of 70,000 men; whereas I knew not half -that number were actually on the field. Multitudes of people believe -General Winfield Scott, who was now fast asleep in his modest bed -in Pennsylvania Avenue, is about to take the field in person. The -horse-dealers are still utterly impracticable. A citizen who owned a -dark bay, spavined and ringboned, asked me one thousand dollars for -the right of possession. I ventured to suggest that it was not worth -the money. “Well,” said he, “take it or leave it. If you want to see -this fight a thousand dollars is cheap. I guess there were chaps paid -more than that to see Jenny Lind on her first night; and this battle -is not going to be repeated, I can tell you. The price of horses will -rise when the chaps out there have had themselves pretty well used up -with bowie-knives and six-shooters.” - -_July 18th._--After breakfast. Leaving head-quarters, I went across -to General Mansfield’s, and was going up-stairs, when the General[3] -himself, a white-headed, grey-bearded, and rather soldierly-looking -man, dashed out of his room in some excitement, and exclaimed, -“Mr. Russell, I fear there is bad news from the front.” “Are they -fighting, General?” “Yes, sir. That fellow Tyler has been engaged, -and we are whipped.” Again I went off to the horse-dealer; but this -time the price of the steed had been raised to £220; “for,” says -he, “I don’t want my animals to be ripped up by them cannon and -them musketry, and those who wish to be guilty of such cruelty must -pay for it.” At the War Office, at the Department of State, at the -Senate, and at the White House, messengers and orderlies running in -and out, military aides, and civilians with anxious faces, betokened -the activity and perturbation which reigned within. I met Senator -Sumner radiant with joy. “We have obtained a great success; the -rebels are falling back in all directions. General Scott says we -ought to be in Richmond by Saturday night.” Soon afterwards a United -States officer, who had visited me in company with General Meigs, -riding rapidly past, called out, “You have heard we are whipped; -these confounded volunteers have run away.” I drove to the Capitol, -where people said one could actually see the smoke of the cannon; -but on arriving there it was evident that the fire from some burning -houses, and from wood cut down for cooking purposes had been mistaken -for tokens of the fight. - -It was strange to stand outside the walls of the Senate whilst -legislators were debating inside respecting the best means of -punishing the rebels and traitors, and to think that amidst the -dim horizon of woods which bounded the west towards the plains of -Manassas, the army of the United States was then contending, at -least with doubtful fortune, against the forces of the desperate and -hopeless outlaws whose fate these United States senators pretended to -hold in the hollow of their hands. Nor was it unworthy of note that -many of the tradespeople along Pennsylvania Avenue, and the ladies -whom one saw sauntering in the streets, were exchanging significant -nods and smiles, and rubbing their hands with satisfaction. I entered -one shop, where the proprietor and his wife ran forward to meet me. -“Have you heard the news? Beauregard has knocked them into a cocked -hat.” “Believe me,” said the good lady, “it is the finger of the -Almighty is in it. Didn’t he curse the niggers, and why should he -take their part now with these Yankee Abolitionists, against true -white men?” “But how do you know this?” said I. “Why, it’s all true -enough, depend upon it, no matter how we know it. We’ve got our -underground railway as well as the Abolitionists.” - -On my way to dinner at the Legation I met the President crossing -Pennsylvania Avenue, striding like a crane in a bulrush swamp among -the great blocks of marble, dressed in an oddly cut suit of grey, -with a felt hat on the back of his head, wiping his face with a red -pocket-handkerchief. He was evidently in a hurry, on his way to -the White House, where I believe a telegraph has been established -in communication with M‘Dowell’s head-quarters. I may mention, -by-the-bye, in illustration of the extreme ignorance and arrogance -which characterise the low Yankee, that a man in the uniform of a -Colonel said to me to-day, as I was leaving the War Department, -“They have just got a telegraph from M‘Dowell. Would it not astonish -you Britishers to hear that, as our General moves on towards the -enemy, he trails a telegraph wire behind him just to let them know -in Washington which foot he is putting first?” I was imprudent -enough to say, “I assure you the use of the telegraph is not such a -novelty in Europe or even in India. When Lord Clyde made his campaign -the telegraph was laid in his track as fast as he advanced,” “Oh, -well, come now,” quoth the Colonel, “that’s pretty good, that is; I -believe you’ll say next, your General Clyde and our Benjamin Franklin -discovered lightning simultaneously.” - -The calm of a Legation contrasts wonderfully in troubled times with -the excitement and storm of the world outside. M. Mercier perhaps -is moved to a vivacious interest in events. M. Stoeckl becomes more -animated as the time approaches when he sees the fulfilment of his -prophecies at hand. M. Tassara cannot be indifferent to occurrences -which bear so directly on the future of Spain in Western seas; but -all these diplomatists can discuss the most engrossing and portentous -incidents of political and military life, with a sense of calm and -indifference which was felt by the gentleman who resented being -called out of his sleep to get up out of a burning house because he -was only a lodger. - -There is no Minister of the European Powers in Washington who watches -with so much interest the march of events as Lord Lyons, or who feels -as much sympathy perhaps in the Federal Government as the constituted -Executive of the country to which he is accredited; but in virtue of -his position he knows little or nothing officially of what passes -around him, and may be regarded as a medium for the communication of -despatches to Mr. Seward, and for the discharge of a great deal of -most causeless and unmeaning vituperation from the conductors of the -New York press against England. - -On my return to Captain Johnson’s lodgings I received a note from -the head-quarters of the Federals, stating that the serious action -between the two armies would probably be postponed for some days. -M‘Dowell’s original idea was to avoid forcing the enemy’s position -directly in front, which was defended by movable batteries commanding -the fords over a stream called “Bull’s Run.” He therefore proposed -to make a demonstration on some point near the centre of their line, -and at the same time throw the mass of his force below their extreme -right, so as to turn it and get possession of the Manassas Railway -in their rear: a movement which would separate him, by-the-bye, from -his own communications, and enable any general worth his salt to make -a magnificent counter by marching on Washington, only 27 miles away, -which he could take with the greatest ease, and leave the enemy in -the rear to march 120 miles to Richmond, if they dared, or to make a -hasty retreat upon the higher Potomac, and to cross into the hostile -country of Maryland. - -M‘Dowell, however, has found the country on his left densely wooded -and difficult. It is as new to him as it was to Braddock, when he -cut his weary way through forest and swamp in this very district to -reach, hundreds of miles away, the scene of his fatal repulse at -Fort Du Quesne. And so, having moved his whole army, M‘Dowell finds -himself obliged to form a new plan of attack, and, prudently fearful -of pushing his under-done and over-praised levies into a river in -face of an enemy, is endeavouring to ascertain with what chance of -success he can attack and turn their left. - -Whilst he was engaged in a reconnaissance to-day, General Tyler -did one of those things which must be expected from ambitious -officers, without any fear of punishment, in countries where military -discipline is scarcely known. Ordered to reconnoitre the position -of the enemy on the left front, when the army moved from Fairfax to -Centreville this morning, General Tyler thrust forward some 3000 or -4000 men of his division down to the very banks of “Bull’s Run,” -which was said to be thickly wooded, and there brought up his men -under a heavy fire of artillery and musketry, from which they retired -in confusion. - -The papers from New York to-night are more than usually impudent and -amusing. The retreat of the Confederate outposts from Fairfax Court -House is represented as a most extraordinary success; at best it -was an affair of outposts; but one would really think that it was -a victory of no small magnitude. I learn that the Federal troops -behaved in a most ruffianly and lawless manner at Fairfax Court -House. It is but a bad beginning of a campaign for the restoration of -the Union, to rob, burn, and destroy the property and houses of the -people in the State of Virginia. The enemy are described as running -in all directions, but it is evident they did not intend to defend -the advanced works, which were merely constructed to prevent surprise -or cavalry inroads. - -I went to Willard’s, where the news of the battle, as it was called, -was eagerly discussed. One little man in front of the cigar-stand -declared it was all an affair of cavalry. “But how could that be -among the piney woods and with a river in front, major?” “Our boys, -sir, left their horses, crossed the water at a run, and went right -away through them with their swords and six-shooters.” “I tell you -what it is, Mr. Russell,” said a man who followed me out of the crowd -and placed his hand on my shoulder, “they were whipped like curs, -and they ran like curs, and I know it.” “How?” “Well, I’d rather be -excused telling you.” - -_July 19th._--I rose early this morning in order to prepare for -contingencies and to see off Captain Johnson, who was about to start -with despatches for New York, containing, no doubt, the intelligence -that the Federal troops had advanced against the enemy. Yesterday was -so hot that officers and men on the field suffered from something -like sun-stroke. To unaccustomed frames to-day the heat felt -unsupportable. A troop of regular cavalry, riding through the street -at an early hour, were so exhausted, horse and man, that a runaway -cab could have bowled them over like nine pins. - -I hastened to General Scott’s quarters, which were besieged by -civilians outside and full of orderlies and officers within. Mr. -Cobden would be delighted with the republican simplicity of the -Commander-in-Chief’s establishment, though it did not strike me as -being very cheap at the money on such an occasion. It consists, in -fact, of a small three-storied brick house, the parlours on the -ground floor being occupied by subordinates, the small front room -on the first floor being appropriated to General Scott himself, -the smaller back room being devoted to his staff, and two rooms -up-stairs most probably being in possession of waste papers and -the guardians of the mansion. The walls are covered with maps of -the coarsest description, and with rough plans and drawings, which -afford information and amusement to the orderlies and the stray -aides-de-camp. “Did you ever hear anything so disgraceful in your -life as the stories which are going about of the affair yesterday?” -said Colonel Cullum. “I assure you it was the smallest affair -possible, although the story goes that we have lost thousands of -men. Our total loss is under ninety--killed, wounded, and missing; -and I regret to say nearly one-third of the whole are under the -latter head.” “However that may be, Colonel,” said I, “it will be -difficult to believe your statement after the columns of type which -appear in the papers here.” “Oh! Who minds what they say?” “You will -admit, at any rate, that the retreat of these undisciplined troops -from an encounter with the enemy will have a bad effect.” “Well, I -suppose that’s likely enough, but it will soon be swept away in the -excitement of a general advance. General Scott, having determined to -attack the enemy, will not halt now, and I am going over to Brigadier -M‘Dowell to examine the ground and see what is best to be done.” On -leaving the room two officers came out of General Scott’s apartment; -one of them said, “Why, Colonel, he’s not half the man I thought him. -Well, any way he’ll be better there than M‘Dowell. If old Scott had -legs he’s good for a big thing yet.” - -For hours I went horse-hunting; but Rothschild himself, even the -hunting Baron, could not have got a steed. In Pennsylvania Avenue -the people were standing in the shade under the ælanthus trees, -speculating on the news brought by dusty orderlies, or on the ideas -of passing Congress men. A party of captured Confederates, on their -march to General Mansfield’s quarters, created intense interest, -and I followed them to the house, and went up to see the General, -whilst the prisoners sat down on the pavement and steps outside. -Notwithstanding his affectation of calm and self-possession, General -Mansfield, who was charged with the defence of the town, was visibly -perturbed. “These things, sir,” said he, “happen in Europe too. If -the capital should fall into the hands of the rebels the United -States will be no more destroyed than they were when you burned it.” -From an expression he let fall, I inferred he did not very well -know what to do with his prisoners. “Rebels taken in arms in Europe -are generally hung or blown away from guns, I believe; but we are -more merciful.” General Mansfield evidently wished to be spared the -embarrassment of dealing with prisoners. - -I dined at a restaurant kept by one Boulanger, a Frenchman, who -utilised the swarms of flies infesting his premises by combining -masses of them with his soup and made dishes. At an adjoining table -were a lanky boy in a lieutenant’s uniform, a private soldier, and -a man in plain clothes; and for the edification of the two latter -the warrior youth was detailing the most remarkable stories, in the -Munchausen style, ear ever heard. “Well, sir, I tell you, when his -head fell off on the ground, his eyes shut and opened twice, and his -tongue came out with an expression as if he wanted to say something.” -“There were seven balls through my coat, and it was all so spoiled -with blood and powder, I took it off and threw it in the road. When -the boys were burying the dead, I saw this coat on a chap who had -been just smothered by the weight of the killed and wounded on the -top of him, and I says, ‘Boys, give me that coat; it will just do for -me with the same rank; and there is no use in putting good cloth on -a dead body,’” “And how many do you suppose was killed, Lieutenant?” -“Well, sir! it’s my honest belief, I tell you, there was not less -than 5000 of our boys, and it may be twice as many of the enemy, or -more; they were all shot down just like pigeons; you might walk for -five rods by the side of the Run, and not be able to put your foot -on the ground.” “The dead was that thick?” “No, but the dead and the -wounded together.” No incredulity in the hearers--all swallowed: -possibly disgorged into the note-book of a Washington contributor. - -After dinner I walked over with Lieutenant H. Wise, inspected a model -of Steven’s ram, which appears to me an utter impossibility in face -of the iron-clad embrasured fleet now coming up to view, though it -is spoken of highly by some naval officers and by many politicians. -For years their papers have been indulging in mysterious volcanic -puffs from the great centre of nothingness as to this secret and -tremendous war-engine, which was surrounded by walls of all kinds, -and only to be let out on the world when the Great Republic in its -might had resolved to sweep everything off the seas. And lo! it is an -abortive ram! Los Gringos went home, and I paid a visit to a family -whose daughters--bright-eyed, pretty, and clever--were seated out on -the door-steps amid the lightning flashes, one of them, at least, -dreaming with open eyes of a young artillery officer then sleeping -among his guns, probably, in front of Fairfax Court House. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - - Skirmish at Bull’s Run--The crisis in Congress--Dearth of - horses--War prices at Washington--Estimate of the effects of - Bull’s Run--Password and countersign--Transatlantic view of - “The Times”--Difficulties of a newspaper correspondent in - the field. - - -_July 20th._--The great battle which is to arrest rebellion, or -to make it a power in the land, is no longer distant or doubtful. -M‘Dowell has completed his reconnaissance of the country in front -of the enemy, and General Scott anticipates that he will be in -possession of Manassas to-morrow night. All the statements of -officers concur in describing the Confederates as strongly entrenched -along the line of Bull’s Run covering the railroad. The New York -papers, indeed, audaciously declare that the enemy have fallen back -in disorder. In the main thoroughfares of the city there is still -a scattered army of idle soldiers moving through the civil crowd, -though how they come here no one knows. The officers clustering -round the hotels, and running in and out of the bar-rooms and -eating-houses, are still more numerous. When I inquired at the -head-quarters who these were, the answer was that the majority were -skulkers, but that there was no power at such a moment to send -them back to their regiments or punish them. In fact, deducting -the reserves, the rear-guards, and the scanty garrisons at the -earthworks, M‘Dowell will not have 25,000 men to undertake his seven -days’ march through a hostile country to the Confederate capital; and -yet, strange to say, in the pride and passion of the politicians, -no doubt is permitted to rise for a moment respecting his complete -success. - -I was desirous of seeing what impression was produced upon the -Congress of the United States by the crisis which was approaching, -and drove down to the Senate at noon. There was no appearance of -popular enthusiasm, excitement, or emotion among the people in the -passages. They drank their iced water, ate cakes or lozenges, chewed -and chatted, or dashed at their acquaintances amongst the members, -as though nothing more important than a railway bill or a postal -concession was being debated inside. I entered the Senate, and found -the House engaged in not listening to Mr. Latham, the Senator for -California, who was delivering an elaborate lecture on the aspect -of political affairs from a Republican point of view. The Senators -were, as usual, engaged in reading newspapers, writing letters, or -in whispered conversation, whilst the Senator received his applause -from the people in the galleries, who were scarcely restrained from -stamping their feet at the most highly-flown passages. Whilst I was -listening to what is by courtesy called the debate, a messenger from -Centreville, sent in a letter to me, stating that General M‘Dowell -would advance early in the morning, and expected to engage the enemy -before noon. At the same moment a Senator who had received a despatch -left his seat and read it to a brother legislator, and the news it -contained was speedily diffused from one seat to another, and groups -formed on the edge of the floor eagerly discussing the welcome -intelligence. - -The President’s hammer again and again called them to order; and from -out of this knot, Senator Sumner, his face lighted with pleasure, -came to tell me the good news. “M‘Dowell has carried Bull’s Run -without firing a shot. Seven regiments attacked it at the point of -the bayonet, and the enemy immediately fled. General Scott only gives -M‘Dowell till mid-day to-morrow to be in possession of Manassas.” -Soon afterwards, Mr. Hay, the President’s secretary, appeared on the -floor to communicate a message to the Senate. I asked him if the -news was true. “All I can tell you,” said he, “is that the President -has heard nothing at all about it, and that General Scott, from whom -we have just received a communication, is equally ignorant of the -reported success.” - -Some Senators and many Congress men have already gone to join -M‘Dowell’s army, or to follow in its wake, in the hope of seeing -the Lord deliver the Philistines into his hands. As I was leaving -the Chamber with Mr. Sumner, a dust-stained, toil-worn man, caught -the Senator by the arm, and said, “Senator, I am one of your -constituents. I come from ----town, in Massachusetts, and here are -letters from people you know, to certify who I am. My poor brother -was killed yesterday, and I want to go out and get his body to send -back to the old people; but they won’t let me pass without an order.” -And so Mr. Sumner wrote a note to General Scott, and another to -General Mansfield, recommending that poor Gordon Frazer should be -permitted to go through the Federal lines on his labour of love; and -the honest Scotchman seemed as grateful as if he had already found -his brother’s body. - -Every carriage, gig, waggon, and hack has been engaged by people -going out to see the fight. The price is enhanced by mysterious -communications respecting the horrible slaughter in the skirmishes -at Bull’s Run. The French cooks and hotel-keepers, by some occult -process of reasoning, have arrived at the conclusion that they must -treble the prices of their wines and of the hampers of provisions -which the Washington people are ordering to comfort themselves at -their bloody Derby. “There was not less than 18,000 men, sir, killed -and destroyed. I don’t care what General Scott says to the contrary, -he was not there. I saw a reliable gentleman, ten minutes ago, as cum -straight from the place, and he swore there was a string of waggons -three miles long with the wounded. While these Yankees lie so, I -should not be surprised to hear they said they did not lose 1000 men -in that big fight the day before yesterday.” - -When the newspapers came in from New York I read flaming accounts of -the ill-conducted reconnaissance against orders, which was terminated -by a most dastardly and ignominious retreat, “due,” say the New York -papers, “to the inefficiency and cowardice of some of the officers.” -Far different was the behaviour of the modest chroniclers of these -scenes, who, as they tell us, “stood their ground as well as any -of them, in spite of the shot, shell, and rifle-balls that whizzed -past them for many hours.” General Tyler alone, perhaps, did more, -for “he was exposed to the enemy’s fire for nearly four hours;” and -when we consider that this fire came from masked batteries, and -that the wind of round shot is unusually destructive (in America), -we can better appreciate the danger to which he was so gallantly -indifferent. It is obvious that in this first encounter the Federal -troops gained no advantage; and as they were the assailants, their -repulse, which cannot be kept secret from the rest of the army, will -have a very damaging effect on their _morale_. - -General Johnston, who has been for some days with a considerable -force in an entrenched position at Winchester, in the valley of the -Shenandoah, had occupied General Scott’s attention, in consequence -of the facility which he possessed to move into Maryland by Harper’s -Ferry, or to fall on the Federals by the Manassas Gap Railway, which -was available by a long march from the town he occupied. General -Patterson, with a Federal corps of equal strength, had accordingly -been despatched to attack him, or, at all events, to prevent his -leaving Winchester without an action; but the news to-night is -that Patterson, who was an officer of some reputation, has allowed -Johnston to evacuate Winchester, and has not pursued him; so that it -is impossible to predict where the latter will appear. - -Having failed utterly in my attempts to get a horse, I was obliged -to negotiate with a livery-stable keeper, who had a hooded gig, -or tilbury, left on his hands, to which he proposed to add a -splinter-bar and pole, so as to make it available for two horses, -on condition that I paid him the assessed value of the vehicle and -horses, in case they were destroyed by the enemy. Of what particular -value my executors might have regarded the guarantee in question, the -worthy man did not inquire, nor did he stipulate for any value to be -put upon the driver; but it struck me that, if these were in any way -seriously damaged, the occupants of the vehicle were not likely to -escape. The driver, indeed, seemed by no means willing to undertake -the job; and again and again it was proposed to me that I should -drive, but I persistently refused. - -On completing my bargain with the stable-keeper, in which it was -arranged with Mr. Wroe that I was to start on the following morning -early, and return at night before twelve o’clock, or pay a double -day, I went over to the Legation, and found Lord Lyons in the -garden. I went to request that he would permit Mr. Warre, one of the -_attachés_, to accompany me, as he had expressed a desire to that -effect. His Lordship hesitated at first, thinking perhaps that the -American papers would turn the circumstance to some base uses, if -they were made aware of it; but finally he consented, on the distinct -assurance that I was to be back the following night, and would not, -under any event, proceed onwards with General M‘Dowell’s army till -after I had returned to Washington. On talking the matter over the -matter with Mr. Warre, I resolved that the best plan would be to -start that night if possible, and proceed over the long bridge, so as -to overtake the army before it advanced in the early morning. - -It was a lovely moonlight night. As we walked through the street -to General Scott’s quarters, for the purpose of procuring a pass, -there was scarcely a soul abroad; and the silence which reigned -contrasted strongly with the tumult prevailing in the day-time. A -light glimmered in the General’s parlour; his aides were seated in -the verandah outside smoking in silence, and one of them handed us -the passes which he had promised to procure; but when I told them -that we intended to cross the long bridge that night, an unforeseen -obstacle arose. The guards had been specially ordered to permit no -person to cross between tattoo and daybreak who was not provided with -the countersign; and without the express order of the General, no -subordinate officer can communicate that countersign to a stranger. -“Can you not ask the General?” “He is lying down asleep, and I dare -not venture to disturb him.” - -As I had all along intended to start before daybreak, this -_contretemps_ promised to be very embarrassing, and I ventured to -suggest that General Scott would authorise the countersign to be -given when he awoke. But the _aide-de-camp_ shook his head, and I -began to suspect from his manner and from that of his comrades that -my visit to the army was not regarded with much favour--a view which -was confirmed by one of them, who, by the way, was a civilian, for -in a few minutes he said, “In fact, I would not advise Warre and you -to go out there at all; they are a lot of volunteers and recruits, -and we can’t say how they will behave. They may probably have to -retreat. If I were you I would not be near them.” Of the five or six -officers who sat in the verandah, not one spoke confidently or with -the briskness which is usual when there is a chance of a brush with -an enemy. - -As it was impossible to force the point, we had to retire, and I -went once more to the horse dealer’s, where I inspected the vehicle -and the quadrupeds destined to draw it. I had spied in a stall a -likely-looking Kentuckian nag, nearly black, light, but strong, and -full of fire, with an undertaker’s tail and something of a mane to -match, which the groom assured me I could not even look at, as it was -bespoke by an officer; but after a little strategy I prevailed on -the proprietor to hire it to me for the day, as well as a boy, who -was to ride it after the gig till we came to Centreville. My little -experience in such scenes decided me to secure a saddle horse. I knew -it would be impossible to see anything of the action from a gig; that -the roads would be blocked up by commissariat waggons, ammunition -reserves, and that in case of anything serious taking place, I should -be deprived of the chance of participating after the manner of my -vocation in the engagement, and of witnessing its incidents. As it -was not incumbent on my companion to approach so closely to the scene -of action, he could proceed in the vehicle to the most convenient -point, and then walk as far as he liked, and return when he pleased; -but from the injuries I had sustained in the Indian campaign, I could -not walk very far. It was finally settled that the gig, with two -horses and the saddle horse ridden by a negro boy, should be at my -door as soon after daybreak as we could pass the Long Bridge. - -I returned to my lodgings, laid out an old pair of Indian boots, -cords, a Himalayan suit, an old felt hat, a flask, revolver, and -belt. It was very late when I got in, and I relied on my German -landlady to procure some commissariat stores; but she declared the -whole extent of her means would only furnish some slices of bread, -with intercostal layers of stale ham and mouldy Bologna sausage. I -was forced to be content, and got to bed after midnight, and slept, -having first arranged that in case of my being very late next night -a trustworthy Englishman should be sent for, who would carry my -letters from Washington to Boston in time for the mail which leaves -on Wednesday. My mind had been so much occupied with the coming event -that I slept uneasily, and once or twice I started up, fancying I was -called. The moon shone in through the mosquito curtains of my bed, -and just ere daybreak I was aroused by some noise in the adjoining -room, and looking out, in a half dreamy state, imagined I saw General -M‘Dowell standing at the table, on which a candle was burning low, so -distinctly that I woke up with the words, “General, is that you?” Nor -did I convince myself it was a dream till I had walked into the room. - -_July 21st._--The calmness and silence of the streets of Washington -this lovely morning suggested thoughts of the very different scenes -which, in all probability, were taking place at a few miles’ -distance. One could fancy the hum and stir round the Federal -bivouacs, as the troops woke up and were formed into column of -march towards the enemy. I much regretted that I was hot enabled to -take the field with General M‘Dowell’s army, but my position was -surrounded with such difficulties that I could not pursue the course -open to the correspondents of the American newspapers. On my arrival -in Washington I addressed an application to Mr. Cameron, Secretary -at War, requesting him to sanction the issue of rations and forage -from the Commissariat to myself, a servant, and a couple of horses, -at the contract prices, or on whatever other terms he might think -fit, and I had several interviews with Mr. Leslie, the obliging and -indefatigable chief clerk of the War Department, in reference to the -matter; but as there was a want of precedents for such a course, -which was not at all to be wondered at, seeing that no representative -of an English newspaper had ever been sent to chronicle the progress -of an American army in the field, no satisfactory result could be -arrived at, though I had many fair words and promises. - -A great outcry had arisen in the North against the course and policy -of England, and the journal I represented was assailed on all sides -as a Secession organ, favourable to the rebels and exceedingly -hostile to the Federal government and the cause of the Union. Public -men in America are alive to the inconveniences of attacks by their -own press; and as it was quite impossible to grant to the swarms of -correspondents from all parts of the Union the permission to draw -supplies from the public stores, it would have afforded a handle to -turn the screw upon the War Department, already roundly abused in the -most influential papers, if Mr. Cameron acceded to me, not merely -a foreigner, but the correspondent of a foreign journal which was -considered the most powerful enemy of the policy of his government, -privileges which he denied to American citizens, representing -newspapers which were enthusiastically supporting the cause for which -the armies of the North were now in the field. - -To these gentlemen indeed, I must here remark, such privileges were -of little consequence. In every camp they had friends who were -willing to receive them in their quarters, and who earned a word of -praise in the local papers for the gratification of either their -vanity or their laudable ambition in their own neighbourhood, by the -ready service which they afforded to the correspondents. They rode -Government horses, had the use of Government waggons, and through -fear, favour, or affection, enjoyed facilities to which I had no -access. I could not expect persons with whom I was unacquainted to -be equally generous, least of all when by doing so they would have -incurred popular obloquy and censure; though many officers in the -army had expressed in very civil terms the pleasure it would give -them to see me at their quarters in the field. Some days ago I had -an interview with Mr. Cameron himself, who was profuse enough in -promising that he would do all in his power to further my wishes; -but he had, nevertheless, neglected sending me the authorisation -for which I had applied. I could scarcely stand a baggage train and -commissariat upon my own account, nor could I well participate in the -system of plunder and appropriation which has marked the course of -the Federal army so far, devastating and laying waste all the country -behind it. - -Hence, all I could do was to make a journey to see the army on the -field, and to return to Washington to write my report of its first -operation, knowing there would be plenty of time to overtake it -before it could reach Richmond, when, as I hoped, Mr. Cameron would -be prepared to accede to my request, or some plan had been devised -by myself to obviate the difficulties which lay in my path. There -was no _entente cordiale_ exhibited towards me by the members of the -American press; nor did they, any more than the generals, evince any -disposition to help the alien correspondent of the _Times_, and my -only connection with one of their body, the young designer, had not, -indeed, inspired me with any great desire to extend my acquaintance. -General M‘Dowell, on giving me the most hospitable invitation to -his quarters, refrained from offering the assistance which, perhaps, -it was not in his power to afford; and I confess, looking at the -matter calmly, I could scarcely expect that he would, particularly -as he said, half in jest, half seriously, “I declare I am not quite -easy at the idea of having your eye on me, for you have seen so much -of European armies, you will, very naturally, think little of us, -generals and all.” - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - - To the scene of action--The Confederate camp--Centreville-- - Action at Bull Run--Defeat of the Federals--Disorderly retreat - to Centreville--My ride back to Washington. - - -Punctual to time, our carriage appeared at the door, with a spare -horse, followed by the black quadruped on which the negro boy sat -with difficulty, in consequence of its high spirits and excessively -hard mouth. I swallowed a cup of tea and a morsel of bread, put the -remainder of the tea into a bottle, got a flask of light Bordeaux, -a bottle of water, a paper of sandwiches, and having replenished -my small flask with brandy, stowed them all away in the bottom of -the gig; but my friend, who is not accustomed to rise very early in -the morning, did not make his appearance, and I was obliged to send -several times to the legation to quicken his movements. Each time I -was assured he would be over presently; but it was not till two hours -had elapsed, and when I had just resolved to leave him behind, that -he appeared in person, quite unprovided with _viaticum_, so that my -slender store had now to meet the demands of two instead of one. We -are off at last. The amicus and self find contracted space behind the -driver. The negro boy, grinning half with pain and “the balance” with -pleasure, as the Americans say, held on his rampant charger, which -made continual efforts to leap into the gig, and thus through the -deserted city we proceeded towards the Long Bridge, where a sentry -examined our papers, and said with a grin, “You’ll find plenty of -Congressmen on before you.” And then our driver whipped his horses -through the embankment of Fort Runyon, and dashed off along a country -road, much cut up with gun and cart wheels, towards the main turnpike. - -The promise of a lovely day, given by the early dawn, was likely to -be realised to the fullest, and the placid beauty of the scenery as -we drove through the woods below Arlington, and beheld the white -buildings shining in the early sunlight, and the Potomac, like a -broad silver riband dividing the picture, breathed of peace. The -silence close to the city was unbroken. From the time we passed the -guard beyond the Long Bridge, for several miles we did not meet -a human being, except a few soldiers in the neighbourhood of the -deserted camps, and when we passed beyond the range of tents we drove -for nearly two hours through a densely-wooded, undulating country; -the houses, close to the road-side, shut up and deserted, window-high -in the crops of Indian corn, fast ripening for the sickle; alternate -field and forest, the latter generally still holding possession of -the hollows, and, except when the road, deep and filled with loose -stones, passed over the summit of the ridges, the eye caught on -either side little but fir-trees and maize, and the deserted wooden -houses, standing amidst the slave quarters. - -The residences close to the lines gave signs and tokens that the -Federals had recently visited them. But at the best of times the -inhabitants could not be very well off. Some of the farms were -small, the houses tumbling to decay, with unpainted roofs and side -walls, and windows where the want of glass was supplemented by -panes of wood. As we got further into the country the traces of -the debateable land between the two armies vanished, and negroes -looked out from their quarters, or sickly-looking women and children -were summoned forth by the rattle of the wheels to see who was -hurrying to the war. Now and then a white man looked out, with an -ugly scowl on his face, but the country seemed drained of the adult -male population, and such of the inhabitants as we saw were neither -as comfortably dressed nor as healthy looking as the shambling -slaves who shuffled about the plantations. The road was so cut up -by gun-wheels, ammunition and commissariat waggons, that our horses -made but slow way against the continual draft upon the collar; but -at last the driver, who had known the country in happier times, -announced that we had entered the high road for Fairfax Court-house. -Unfortunately my watch had gone down, but I guessed it was then a -little before nine o’clock. In a few minutes afterwards I thought I -heard, through the eternal clatter and jingle of the old gig, a sound -which made me call the driver to stop. He pulled up, and we listened. -In a minute or so, the well-known boom of a gun, followed by two or -three in rapid succession, but at a considerable distance, reached -my ear. “Did you hear that?” The driver heard nothing, nor did my -companion, but the black boy on the led horse, with eyes starting out -of his head, cried, “I hear them, massa; I hear them, sure enough, -like de gun in de navy yard;” and as he spoke the thudding noise, -like taps with a gentle hand upon a muffled drum, were repeated, -which were heard both by Mr. Warre and the driver. “They are at it! -We shall be late! Drive on as fast as you can!” We rattled on still -faster, and presently came up to a farm-house, where a man and woman, -with some negroes beside them, were standing out by the hedge-row -above us, looking up the road in the direction of a cloud of dust, -which we could see rising above the tops of the trees. We halted for -a moment. “How long have the guns been going, sir?” “Well, ever since -early this morning,” said he; “they’ve been having a fight. And I do -really believe some of our poor Union chaps have had enough of it -already. For here’s some of them darned Secessionists marching down -to go into Alexandry.” The driver did not seem altogether content -with this explanation of the dust in front of us, and presently, when -a turn of the road brought to view a body of armed men, stretching to -an interminable distance, with bayonets glittering in the sunlight -through the clouds of dust, seemed inclined to halt or turn back -again. A nearer approach satisfied me they were friends, and as soon -as we came up with the head of the column I saw that they could not -be engaged in the performance of any military duty. The men were -marching without any resemblance of order, in twos and threes or -larger troops. Some without arms, carrying great bundles on their -backs; others with their coats hung from their firelocks; many foot -sore. They were all talking, and in haste; many plodding along -laughing, so I concluded that they could not belong to a defeated -army, and imagined M‘Dowell was effecting some flank movement. “Where -are you going to, may I ask?” - -“If this is the road to Alexandria, we are going there.” - -“There is an action going on in front, is there not?” - -“Well, so we believe, but we have not been fighting.” - -Although they were in such good spirits, they were not communicative, -and we resumed our journey, impeded by the straggling troops and by -the country cars containing their baggage and chairs, and tables and -domestic furniture, which had never belonged to a regiment in the -field. Still they came pouring on. I ordered the driver to stop at -a rivulet, where a number of men were seated in the shade, drinking -the water and bathing their hands and feet. On getting out I asked -an officer, “May I beg to know, sir, where your regiment is going -to?” “Well, I reckon, sir, we are going home to Pennsylvania.” “This -is the 4th Pennsylvania Regiment, is it not, sir?” “It is so, sir; -that’s the fact.” “I should think there is severe fighting going on -behind you, judging from the firing” (for every moment the sound of -the cannon had been growing more distinct and more heavy). “Well, -I reckon, sir, there is.” I paused for a moment, not knowing what -to say, and yet anxious for an explanation; and the epauletted -gentleman, after a few seconds’ awkward hesitation, added, “We are -going home because, as you see, the men’s time’s up, sir. We have had -three months of this sort of work, and that’s quite enough of it.” -The men who were listening to the conversation expressed their assent -to the noble and patriotic utterances of the centurion, and, making -him a low bow, we resumed our journey. - -It was fully three and a half miles before the last of the regiment -passed, and then the road presented a more animated scene, for -white-covered commissariat waggons were visible, wending towards -the front, and one or two hack carriages, laden with civilians, -were hastening in the same direction. Before the doors of the wooden -farm-houses the coloured people were assembled, listening with -outstretched necks to the repeated reports of the guns. At one time, -as we were descending the wooded road, a huge blue dome, agitated -by some internal convulsion, appeared to bar our progress, and it -was only after infinite persuasion of rein and whip that the horses -approached the terrific object, which was an inflated balloon, -attached to a waggon, and defying the efforts of the men in charge to -jockey it safely through the trees. - -It must have been about eleven o’clock when we came to the first -traces of the Confederate camp, in front of Fairfax Court-house, -where they had cut a few trenches and levelled the trees across the -road, so as to form a rude abattis; but the works were of a most -superficial character, and would scarcely have given cover either to -the guns, for which embrasures were left at the flanks to sweep the -road, or to the infantry intended to defend them. - -The Confederate force stationed here must have consisted, to a -considerable extent, of cavalry. The bowers of branches, which they -had made to shelter their tents, camp tables, empty boxes, and -packing-cases, in the _débris_ one usually sees around an encampment, -showed they had not been destitute of creature comforts. - -Some time before noon the driver, urged continually by adjurations -to get on, whipped his horses into Fairfax Court-house, a village -which derives its name from a large brick building, in which the -sessions of the county are held. Some thirty or forty houses, for -the most part detached, with gardens or small strips of land about -them, form the main street. The inhabitants who remained had by no -means an agreeable expression of countenance, and did not seem on -very good terms with the Federal soldiers, who were lounging up and -down the streets, or standing in the shade of the trees and doorways. -I asked the sergeant of a picket in the street how long the firing -had been going on. He replied that it had commenced at half-past -seven or eight, and had been increasing ever since. “Some of them -will lose their eyes and back teeth,” he added, “before it is over.” -The driver, pulling up at a roadside inn in the town, here made -the startling announcement, that both he and his horses must have -something to eat, and although we would have been happy to join him, -seeing that we had no breakfast, we could not afford the time, and -were not displeased when a thin-faced, shrewish woman, in black, came -out into the verandah, and said she could not let us have anything -unless we liked to wait till the regular dinner hour of the house, -which was at one o’clock. The horses got a bucket of water, which -they needed in that broiling sun; and the cannonade, which by this -time had increased into a respectable tumult that gave evidence of -a well-sustained action, added vigour to the driver’s arm, and in -a mile or two more we dashed in to a village of burnt houses, the -charred brick chimney stacks standing amidst the blackened embers -being all that remained of what once was German Town. The firing of -this village was severely censured by General M‘Dowell, who probably -does not appreciate the value of such agencies employed “by our -glorious Union army to develop loyal sentiments among the people of -Virginia.” - -The driver, passing through the town, drove straight on, but after -some time I fancied the sound of the guns seemed dying away towards -our left. A big negro came shambling along the roadside--the driver -stopped and asked him, “is this the road to Centreville?” “Yes, sir; -right on, sir; good road to Centreville, massa,” and so we proceeded, -till I became satisfied from the appearance of the road that we -had altogether left the track of the army. At the first cottage we -halted, and inquired of a Virginian, who came out to look at us, -whether the road led to Centreville. “You’re going to Centreville, -are you?” “Yes, by the shortest road we can.” “Well, then--you’re -going wrong--right away! Some people say there’s a bend of road -leading through the wood a mile further on, but those who have tried -it lately have come back to German Town and don’t think it leads to -Centreville at all.” This was very provoking, as the horses were much -fatigued and we had driven several miles out of our way. The driver, -who was an Englishman, said, “I think it would be best for us to go -on and try the road anyhow. There’s not likely to be any Seceshers -about there, are there, sir?” - -“What did you say, sir,” inquired the Virginian, with a vacant stare -upon his face. - -“I merely asked whether you think we are likely to meet with any -Secessionists if we go along that road?” - -“Secessionists!” repeated the Virginian, slowly pronouncing each -syllable as if pondering on the meaning of the word--“Secessionists! -Oh no, _sir_; I don’t believe there’s such a thing as a Secessionist -in the whole of this country.” - -The boldness of this assertion, in the very hearing of Beauregard’s -cannon, completely shook the faith of our Jehu in any information -from that source, and we retraced our steps to German Town, and were -directed into the proper road by some negroes, who were engaged -exchanging Confederate money at very low rates for Federal copper -with a few straggling soldiers. The faithful Muley Moloch, who had -been capering in our rear so long, now complained that he was very -much burned, but on further inquiry it was ascertained he was merely -suffering from the abrading of his skin against an English saddle. - -In an hour more we had gained the high road to Centreville, on which -were many buggies, commissariat carts, and waggons full of civilians, -and a brisk canter brought us in sight of a rising ground, over -which the road led directly through a few houses on each side, and -dipped out of sight, the slopes of the hill being covered with men, -carts, and horses, and the summit crested with spectators, with their -backs turned towards us, and gazing on the valley beyond. “There’s -Centreville,” says the driver, and on our poor panting horses -were forced, passing directly through the Confederate bivouacs, -commissariat parks, folds of oxen, and two German regiments, with a -battery of artillery, halting on the rising-ground by the road-side. -The heat was intense. Our driver complained of hunger and thirst, to -which neither I nor my companion were insensible; and so pulling up -on the top of the hill, I sent the boy down to the village which we -had passed, to see if he could find shelter for the horses, and a -morsel for our breakfastless selves. - -It was a strange scene before us. From the hill a densely wooded -country, dotted at intervals with green fields and cleared lands, -spread five or six miles in front, bounded by a line of blue and -purple ridges, terminating abruptly in escarpments towards the left -front, and swelling gradually towards the right into the lower spines -of an offshoot from the Blue-Ridge Mountains. On our left the view -was circumscribed by a forest which clothed the side of the ridge on -which we stood, and covered its shoulder far down into the plain. A -gap in the nearest chain of the hills in our front was pointed out by -the bystanders as the Pass of Manassas, by which the railway from the -West is carried into the plain, and still nearer at hand, before us, -is the junction of that rail with the line from Alexandria, and with -the railway leading southwards to Richmond. The intervening space was -not a dead level; undulating lines of forest marked the course of the -streams which intersected it, and gave, by their variety of colour -and shading, an additional charm to the landscape which, enclosed in -a framework of blue and purple hills, softened into violet in the -extreme distance, presented one of the most agreeable displays of -simple pastoral woodland scenery that could be conceived. - -But the sounds which came upon the breeze, and the sights which met -our eyes, were in terrible variance with the tranquil character of -the landscape. The woods far and near echoed to the roar of cannon, -and thin frayed lines of blue smoke marked the spots whence came the -muttering sound of rolling musketry; the white puffs of smoke burst -high above the tree-tops, and the gunners’ rings from shell and -howitzer marked the fire of the artillery. - -Clouds of dust shifted and moved through the forest; and through the -wavering mists of light blue smoke, and the thicker masses which rose -commingling from the feet of men and the mouths of cannon, I could -see the gleam of arms and the twinkling of bayonets. - -On the hill beside me there was a crowd of civilians on horseback, -and in all sorts of vehicles, with a few of the fairer, if not -gentler sex. A few officers and some soldiers, who had straggled -from the regiments in reserve, moved about among the spectators, and -pretended to explain the movements of the troops below, of which they -were profoundly ignorant. - -The cannonade and musketry had been exaggerated by the distance -and by the rolling echoes of the hills; and sweeping the position -narrowly with my glass from point to point, I failed to discover any -traces of close encounter or very severe fighting. The spectators -were all excited, and a lady with an opera-glass who was near me -was quite beside herself when an unusually heavy discharge roused -the current of her blood--“That is splendid. Oh, my! Is not that -first-rate? I guess we will be in Richmond this time to-morrow.” -These, mingled with coarser exclamations, burst from the politicians -who had come out to see the triumph of the Union arms. I was -particularly irritated by constant applications for the loan of my -glass. One broken-down looking soldier observing my flask, asked me -for a drink, and took a startling pull, which left but little between -the bottom and utter vacuity. - -“Stranger, that’s good stuff and no mistake. I have not had such -a drink since I come South. I feel now as if I’d like to whip ten -Seceshers.” - -From the line of the smoke it appeared to me that the action was in -an oblique line from our left, extending farther outwards towards the -right, bisected by a road from Centreville, which descended the hill -close at hand and ran right across the undulating plain, its course -being marked by the white covers of the baggage and commissariat -waggons as far as a turn of the road, where the trees closed in upon -them. Beyond the right of the curling smoke clouds of dust appeared -from time to time in the distance, as if bodies of cavalry were -moving over a sandy plain. - -Notwithstanding all the exultation and boastings of the people at -Centreville, I was well convinced no advance of any importance or any -great success had been achieved, because the ammunition and baggage -waggons had never moved, nor had the reserves received any orders to -follow in the line of the army. - -The clouds of dust on the right were quite inexplicable. As we were -looking, my philosophic companion asked me in perfect seriousness, -“Are we really seeing a battle now? Are they supposed to be fighting -where all that smoke is going on? This is rather interesting, you -know.” - -Up came our black boy. “Not find a bit to eat, sir, in all the -place.” We had, however, my little paper of sandwiches, and descended -the hill to a bye lane off the village, where, seated in the shade -of the gig, Mr. Warre and myself, dividing our provision with the -driver, wound up a very scanty, but much relished, repast with -a bottle of tea and half the bottle of Bordeaux and water, the -remainder being prudently reserved at my request for contingent -remainders. Leaving orders for the saddle horse, which was eating his -first meal, to be brought up the moment he was ready--I went with -Mr. Warre to the hill once more and observed that the line had not -sensibly altered whilst we were away. - -An English gentleman, who came up flushed and heated from the plain, -told us that the Federals had been advancing steadily in spite of a -stubborn resistance and had behaved most gallantly. - -Loud cheers suddenly burst from the spectators, as a man dressed in -the uniform of an officer, whom I had seen riding violently across -the plain in an open space below, galloped along the front, waving -his cap and shouting at the top of his voice. He was brought up by -the press of people round his horse close to where I stood. “We’ve -whipped them on all points,” he cried. “We have taken all their -batteries. They are retreating as fast as they can, and we are after -them.” Such cheers as rent the welkin! The Congress men shook hands -with each other, and cried out, “Bully for us. Bravo, didn’t I tell -you so.” The Germans uttered their martial cheers and the Irish -hurrahed wildly. At this moment my horse was brought up the hill, and -I mounted and turned towards the road to the front, whilst Mr. Warre -and his companion proceeded straight down the hill. - -By the time I reached the lane, already mentioned, which was in a -few minutes, the string of commissariat waggons was moving onwards -pretty briskly, and I was detained until my friends appeared at the -roadside. I told Mr. Warre I was going forward to the front as fast -as I could, but that I would come back, under any circumstances, -about an hour before dusk, and would go straight to the spot where -we had put up the gig by the road-side, in order to return to -Washington. Then getting into the fields, I pressed my horse, which -was quite recovered from his twenty-seven mile’s ride and full of -spirit and mettle, as fast as I could, making detours here and there -to get through the ox fences, and by the small steams which cut up -the country. The firing did not increase but rather diminished in -volume, though it now sounded close at hand. - -I had ridden between three and a half and four miles, as well as I -could judge, when I was obliged to turn for the third and fourth -time into the road by a considerable stream, which was spanned by a -bridge, towards which I was threading my way, when my attention was -attracted by loud shouts in advance, and I perceived several waggons -coming from the direction of the battle-field, the drivers of which -were endeavouring to force their horses past the ammunition carts -going in the contrary direction near the bridge; a thick cloud of -dust rose behind them, and running by the side of the waggons, were -a number of men in uniform whom I supposed to be the guard. My first -impression was that the waggons were returning for fresh supplies of -ammunition. But every moment the crowd increased, drivers and men -cried out with the most vehement gestures, “Turn back! Turn back! We -are whipped.” They seized the heads of the horses and swore at the -opposing drivers. Emerging from the crowd a breathless man in the -uniform of an officer with an empty scabbard dangling by his side, -was cut off by getting between my horse and a cart for a moment. -“What is the matter, sir? What is all this about?” “Why it means we -are pretty badly whipped, that’s the truth,” he gasped, and continued. - -By this time the confusion had been communicating itself through the -line of waggons towards the rear, and the drivers endeavoured to -turn round their vehicles in the narrow road, which caused the usual -amount of imprecations from the men and plunging and kicking from -the horses. - -The crowd from the front continually increased, the heat, the uproar, -and the dust were beyond description, and these were augmented when -some cavalry soldiers, flourishing their sabres and preceded by an -officer, who cried out, “Make way there--make way there for the -General,” attempted to force a covered waggon in which was seated a -man with a bloody handkerchief round his head, through the press. - -I had succeeded in getting across the bridge with great difficulty -before the waggon came up, and I saw the crowd on the road was still -gathering thicker and thicker. Again I asked an officer, who was on -foot, with his sword under his arm, “What is all this for?” “We are -whipped, sir. We are all in retreat. You are all to go back.” “Can -you tell me where I can find General M‘Dowell?” “No! nor can any one -else.” - -A few shells could be heard bursting not very far off, but there was -nothing to account for such an extraordinary scene. A third officer, -however, confirmed the report that the whole army was in retreat, and -that the Federals were beaten on all points, but there was nothing in -this disorder to indicate a general rout. All these things took place -in a few seconds. I got up out of the road into a corn-field, through -which men were hastily walking or running, their faces streaming with -perspiration, and generally without arms, and worked my way for about -half a mile or so, as well as I could judge, against an increasing -stream of fugitives, the ground being strewed with coats, blankets, -firelocks, cooking tins, caps, belts, bayonets--asking in vain where -General M‘Dowell was. - -Again I was compelled by the condition of the fields to come into -the road; and having passed a piece of wood and a regiment which -seemed to be moving back in column of march in tolerably good -order, I turned once more into an opening close to a white house, -not far from the lane, beyond which there was a belt of forest. Two -field-pieces unlimbered near the house, with panting horses in the -rear, were pointed towards the front, and along the road beside them -there swept a tolerably steady column of men mingled with field -ambulances and light baggage carts, back to Centreville. I had just -stretched out my hand to get a cigar-light from a German gunner, -when the dropping shots which had been sounding through the woods -in front of us, suddenly swelled into an animated fire. In a few -seconds a crowd of men rushed out of the wood down towards the guns, -and the artillerymen near me seized the trail of a piece, and were -wheeling it round to fire, when an officer or sergeant called out, -“Stop! stop! They are our own men;” and in two or three minutes the -whole battalion came sweeping past the guns at the double, and in the -utmost disorder. Some of the artillerymen dragged the horses out of -the tumbrils; and for a moment the confusion was so great I could not -understand what had taken place; but a soldier whom I stopped, said, -“We are pursued by their cavalry; they have cut us all to pieces.” - -Murat himself would not have dared to move a squadron on such ground. -However, it could not be doubted that something serious was taking -place; and at that moment a shell burst in front of the house, -scattering the soldiers near it, which was followed by another that -bounded along the road; and in a few minutes more out came another -regiment from the wood, almost as broken as the first. The scene on -the road had now assumed an aspect which has not a parallel in any -description I have ever read. Infantry soldiers on mules and draught -horses, with the harness clinging to their heels, as much frightened -as their riders; negro servants on their masters’ chargers; -ambulances crowded with unwounded soldiers; waggons swarming with men -who threw out the contents in the road to make room, grinding through -a shouting, screaming mass of men on foot, who were literally yelling -with rage at every halt, and shrieking out, “Here are the cavalry! -Will you get on?” This portion of the force was evidently in discord. - -There was nothing left for it but to go with the current one could -not stem. I turned round my horse from the deserted guns, and -endeavoured to find out what had occurred as I rode quietly back on -the skirts of the crowd. I talked with those on all sides of me. Some -uttered prodigious nonsense, describing batteries tier over tier, -and ambuscades, and blood running knee deep. Others described how -their boys had carried whole lines of entrenchments, but were beaten -back for want of reinforcements. The names of many regiments were -mentioned as being utterly destroyed. Cavalry and bayonet charges -and masked batteries played prominent parts in all the narrations. -Some of the officers seemed to feel the disgrace of defeat; but the -strangest thing was the general indifference with which the event -seemed to be regarded by those who collected their senses as soon -as they got out of fire, and who said they were just going as far as -Centreville, and would have a big fight to-morrow. - -By this time I was unwillingly approaching Centreville in the midst -of heat, dust, confusions, imprecations inconceivable. On arriving -at the place where a small rivulet crossed the road, the throng -increased still more. The ground over which I had passed going out -was now covered with arms, clothing of all kinds, accoutrements -thrown off and left to be trampled in the dust under the hoofs of -men and horses. The runaways ran alongside the waggons, striving to -force themselves in among the occupants, who resisted tooth and nail. -The drivers spurred, and whipped, and urged the horses to the utmost -of their bent. I felt an inclination to laugh, which was overcome by -disgust, and by that vague sense of something extraordinary taking -place which is experienced when a man sees a number of people acting -as if driven by some unknown terror. As I rode in the crowd, with -men clinging to the stirrup-leathers, or holding on by anything they -could lay hands on, so that I had some apprehension of being pulled -off, I spoke to the men, and asked them over and over again not to be -in such a hurry. “There’s no enemy to pursue you. All the cavalry in -the world could not get at you.” But I might as well have talked to -the stones. - -For my own part, I wanted to get out of the ruck as fast as I could, -for the heat and dust were very distressing, particularly to a -half-starved man. Many of the fugitives were in the last stages of -exhaustion, and some actually sank down by the fences, at the risk -of being trampled to death. Above the roar of the flight, which was -like the rush of a great river, the guns burst forth from time to -time. - -The road at last became somewhat clearer; for I had got ahead of some -of the ammunition train and waggons, and the others were dashing up -the hill towards Centreville. The men’s great-coats and blankets had -been stowed in the trains; but the fugitives had apparently thrown -them out on the road, to make room for themselves. Just beyond the -stream I saw a heap of clothing tumble out of a large covered cart, -and cried out after the driver, “Stop! stop! All the things are -tumbling out of the cart.” But my zeal was checked by a scoundrel -putting his head out, and shouting with a curse, “If you try to stop -the team, I’ll blow your ---- brains out.” My brains advised me to -adopt the principle of non-intervention. - -It never occurred to me that this was a grand débâcle. All along I -believed the mass of the army was not broken, and that all I saw -around was the result of confusion created in a crude organisation -by a forced retreat; and knowing the reserves were at Centreville -and beyond, I said to myself, “Let us see how this will be when we -get to the hill.” I indulged in a quiet chuckle, too, at the idea of -my philosophical friend and his stout companion finding themselves -suddenly enveloped in the crowd of fugitives; but knew they could -easily have regained their original position on the hill. Trotting -along briskly through the fields, I arrived at the foot of the slope -on which Centreville stands, and met a German regiment just deploying -into line very well and steadily--the men in the rear companies -laughing, smoking, singing, and jesting with the fugitives, who were -filing past; but no thought of stopping the waggons, as the orders -repeated from mouth to mouth were that they were to fall back beyond -Centreville. - -The air of the men was good. The officers were cheerful, and one big -German with a great pipe in his bearded mouth, with spectacles on -nose, amused himself by pricking the horses with his sabre point, -as he passed, to the sore discomfiture of the riders. Behind the -regiment came a battery of brass field-pieces, and another regiment -in column of march was following the guns. They were going to form -line at the end of the slope, and no fairer position could well be -offered for a defensive attitude, although it might be turned. But it -was getting too late for the enemy wherever they were to attempt such -an extensive operation. Several times I had been asked by officers -and men, “Where do you think we will halt? Where are the rest of the -army?” I always replied “Centreville,” and I had heard hundreds of -the fugitives say they were going to Centreville. - -I rode up the road, turned into the little street which carries the -road on the right-hand side to Fairfax Court-house and the hill, -and went straight to the place where I had left the buggy in a lane -on the left of the road beside a small house and shed, expecting -to find Mr. Warre ready for a start, as I had faithfully promised -Lord Lyons he should be back that night in Washington. The buggy was -not there. I pulled open the door of the shed in which the horses -had been sheltered out of the sun. They were gone. “Oh,” said I, to -myself, “of course! What a stupid fellow I am. Warre has had the -horses put in and taken the gig to the top of the hill, in order to -see the last of it before we go.” And so I rode over to the ridge; -but arriving there, could see no sign of our vehicle far or near. -There were two carriages of some kind or other still remaining on the -hill, and a few spectators, civilians and military, gazing on the -scene below, which was softened in the golden rays of the declining -sun. The smoke wreaths had ceased to curl over the green sheets of -billowy forest as sea foam crisping in a gentle breeze breaks the -lines of the ocean. But far and near yellow and dun-coloured piles -of dust seamed the landscape, leaving behind them long trailing -clouds of lighter vapours which were dotted now and then by white -puff balls from the bursting of shell. On the right these clouds were -very heavy and seemed to approach rapidly, and it occurred to me they -might be caused by an advance of the much spoken-of and little seen -cavalry; and remembering the cross road from German Town, it seemed -a very fine and very feasible operation for the Confederates to cut -right in on the line of retreat and communication, in which case -the fate of the army and of Washington could not be dubious. There -were now few civilians on the hill, and these were thinning away. -Some were gesticulating and explaining to one another the causes -of the retreat, looking very hot and red. The confusion among the -last portion of the carriages and fugitives on the road, which I had -outstripped, had been renewed again, and the crowd there presented a -remarkable and ludicrous aspect through the glass; but there were two -strong battalions in good order near the foot of the hill, a battery -on the slope, another on the top, and a portion of a regiment in and -about the houses of the village. - -A farewell look at the scene presented no new features. Still the -clouds of dust moved onwards denser and higher; flashes of arms -lighted them up at times; the fields were dotted by fugitives, among -whom many mounted men were marked by their greater speed, and the -little flocks of dust rising from the horses’ feet. - -I put up my glass, and turning from the hill, with difficulty forced -my way through the crowd of vehicles which were making their way -towards the main road in the direction of the lane, hoping that by -some lucky accident I might find the gig in waiting for me. But I -sought in vain; a sick soldier who was on a stretcher in front of the -house near the corner of the lane, leaning on his elbow and looking -at the stream of men and carriages, asked me if I could tell him what -they were in such a hurry for, and I said they were merely getting -back to their bivouacs. A man dressed in civilian’s clothes grinned -as I spoke. “I think they’ll go farther than that,” said he; and then -added, “If you’re looking for the waggon you came in, it’s pretty -well back to Washington by this time. I think I saw you down there -with a nigger and two men.” “Yes. They’re all off, gone more than an -hour and a-half ago, I think, and a stout man--I thought was you at -first--along with them.” - -Nothing was left for it but to brace up the girths for a ride to -the Capitol, for which, hungry and fagged as I was, I felt very -little inclination. I was trotting quietly down the hill road beyond -Centreville, when suddenly the guns on the other side, or from a -battery very near, opened fire, and a fresh outburst of artillery -sounded through the woods. In an instant the mass of vehicles and -retreating soldiers, teamsters, and civilians, as if agonised by an -electric shock, quivered throughout the tortuous line. With dreadful -shouts and cursings, the drivers lashed their maddened horses, and -leaping from the carts, left them to their fate, and ran on foot. -Artillerymen and foot soldiers, and negroes mounted on gun horses, -with the chain traces and loose trappings trailing in the dust, -spurred and flogged their steeds down the road or by the side paths. -The firing continued and seemed to approach the hill, and at every -report the agitated body of horsemen and waggons was seized, as it -were, with a fresh convulsion. - -Once more the dreaded cry, “The cavalry! cavalry are coming!” rang -through the crowd, and looking back to Centreville I perceived coming -down the hill, between me and the sky, a number of mounted men, who -might at a hasty glance be taken for horsemen in the act of sabreing -the fugitives. In reality they were soldiers and civilians, with, -I regret to say, some officers among them, who were whipping and -striking their horses with sticks or whatever else they could lay -hands on. I called out to the men who were frantic with terror beside -me, “They are not cavalry at all; they’re your own men”--but they -did not heed me. A fellow who was shouting out, “Run! run!” as loud -as he could beside me, seemed to take delight in creating alarm; -and as he was perfectly collected as far as I could judge, I said, -“What on earth are you running for? What are you afraid of?” He was -in the roadside below me, and at once turning on me, and exclaiming, -“I’m not afraid of you,” presented his piece and pulled the trigger -so instantaneously, that had it gone off I could not have swerved -from the ball. As the scoundrel deliberately drew up to examine -the nipple, I judged it best not to give him another chance, and -spurred on through the crowd, where any man could have shot as many -as he pleased without interruption. The only conclusion I came to -was, that he was mad or drunken. When I was passing by the line of -the bivouacs a battalion of men came tumbling down the bank from the -field into the road, with fixed bayonets, and as some fell in the -road and others tumbled on top of them, there must have been a few -ingloriously wounded. - -I galloped on for a short distance to head the ruck, for I could -not tell whether this body of infantry intended moving back towards -Centreville or were coming down the road; but the mounted men -galloping furiously past me, with a cry of “Cavalry! cavalry!” -on their lips, swept on faster than I did, augmenting the alarm -and excitement. I came up with two officers who were riding more -leisurely; and touching my hat, said, “I venture to suggest that -these men should be stopped, sir. If not, they will alarm the whole -of the post and pickets on to Washington. They will fly next, and the -consequences will be most disastrous.” One of the two, looking at -me for a moment, nodded his head without saying a word, spurred his -horse to full speed, and dashed on in front along the road. Following -more leisurely I observed the fugitives in front were suddenly -checked in their speed; and as I turned my horse into the wood by the -road-side to get on so as to prevent the chance of another block-up, -I passed several private vehicles, in one of which Mr. Raymond, of -the _New York Times_, was seated with some friends, looking by no -means happy. He says in his report to his paper, “About a mile this -side of Centreville a stampedo took place amongst the teamsters -and others, which threw everything into the utmost confusion, and -inflicted very serious injuries. Mr. Eaton, of Michigan, in trying -to arrest the flight of some of these men, was shot by one of them, -the ball taking effect in his hand.” He asked me, in some anxiety, -what I thought would happen. I replied, “No doubt M‘Dowell will stand -fast at Centreville to-night. These are mere runaways, and unless the -enemy’s cavalry succeed in getting through at this road, there is -nothing to apprehend.” - -And I continued through the wood till I got a clear space in front on -the road, along which a regiment of infantry was advancing towards -me. They halted ere I came up, and with levelled firelocks arrested -the men on horses and the carts and waggons galloping towards them, -and blocked up the road to stop their progress. As I tried to edge -by on the right of the column by the left of the road, a soldier -presented his firelock at my head from the higher ground on which -he stood, for the road had a deep trench cut on the side by which I -was endeavouring to pass, and sung out, “Halt! Stop--or I fire!” The -officers in front were waving their swords and shouting out, “Don’t -let a soul pass! Keep back! keep back!” Bowing to the officer who -was near me, I said, “I beg to assure you, sir, I am not running -away. I am a civilian and a British subject. I have done my best -as I came along to stop this disgraceful rout. I am in no hurry; I -merely want to get back to Washington to-night. I have been telling -them all along there are no cavalry near us.” The officer to whom I -was speaking, young and somewhat excited kept repeating, “Keep back, -sir! keep back! you must keep back.” Again I said to him, “I assure -you I am not with this crowd; my pulse is as cool as your own.” But -as he paid no attention to what I said, I suddenly bethought me of -General Scott’s letter, and addressing another officer, said, “I am a -civilian going to Washington; will you be kind enough to look at this -pass, specially given to me by General Scott.” The officer looked at -it, and handed it to a mounted man, either adjutant or colonel, who, -having examined it, returned it to me, saying, “Oh, yes! certainly. -Pass that man!” And with a cry of “Pass that man!” along the line, I -rode down the trench very leisurely, and got out on the road, which -was now clear, though some fugitives had stolen through the woods on -the flanks of the column and were in front of me. - -A little further on there was a cart on the right hand side of the -road, surrounded by a group of soldiers. I was trotting past when a -respectable-looking man in a semi-military garb, coming out from the -group, said, in a tone of much doubt and distress--“Can you tell me, -sir, for God’s sake, where the 69th New York are? These men tell me -they are all cut to pieces.” “And so they are,” exclaimed one of the -fellows, who had the number of the regiment on his cap. - -“You hear what they say, sir?” exclaimed the man. - -“I do, but I really cannot tell you where the 69th are.” - -“I’m in charge of these mails, and I’ll deliver them if I die for it; -but is it safe for me to go on? You are a gentleman, and I can depend -on your word.” - -His assistant and himself were in the greatest perplexity of mind, -but all I could say was, “I really can’t tell you; I believe the army -will halt at Centreville to-night, and I think you may go on there -with the greatest safety, if you can get through the crowd.” “Faith, -then, he can’t,” exclaimed one of the soldiers. - -“Why not?” “Shure, arn’t we cut to pieces. Didn’t I hear the kurnel -himsilf saying we was all of us to cut and run, every man on his own -hook, as well as he could. Stop at Cinthreville, indeed!” - -I bade the mail agent[4] good evening and rode on, but even in this -short colloquy stragglers on foot and on horseback, who had turned -the flanks of the regiment by side paths or through the woods, came -pouring along the road once more. - -Somewhere about this I was accosted by a stout, elderly man, with the -air and appearance of a respectable mechanic, or small tavern-keeper, -who introduced himself as having met me at Cairo. He poured out -a flood of woes on me, how he had lost his friend and companion, -nearly lost his seat several times, was unaccustomed to riding, was -suffering much pain from the unusual position and exercise, did not -know the road, feared he would never be able to get on, dreaded he -might be captured and ill-treated if he was known, and such topics as -a selfish man in a good deal of pain or fear is likely to indulge in. -I calmed his apprehensions as well as I could, by saying, “I had no -doubt M‘Dowell would halt and show fight at Centreville, and be able -to advance from it in a day or two to renew the fight again; that he -couldn’t miss the road; whiskey and tallow were good for abrasions;” -and as I was riding very slowly, he jogged along, for he was a burr, -and would stick, with many “Oh dears! Oh! dear me!” for most part of -the way joining me at intervals till I reached Fairfax Court House. A -body of infantry were under arms in a grove near the Court House, on -the right hand side of the road. The door and windows of the houses -presented crowds of faces black and white; and men and women stood -out upon the porch, who asked me as I passed, “Have you been at the -fight?” “What are they all running for?” “Are the rest of them coming -on?” to which I gave the same replies as before. - -Arrived at the little inn where I had halted in the morning, I -perceived the sharp-faced woman in black, standing in the verandah -with an elderly man, a taller and younger one dressed in black, a -little girl, and a woman who stood in the passage of the door. I -asked if I could get anything to eat. “Not a morsel; there’s not a -bit left in the house, but you can get something, perhaps, if you -like to stay till supper time.” “Would you oblige me by telling me -where I can get some water for my horse?” “Oh, certainly,” said the -elder man, and calling to a negro he directed him to bring a bucket -from the well or pump, into which the thirsty brute buried its head -to the eyes. Whilst the horse was drinking the taller or younger man, -leaning over the verandah, asked me quietly “What are all the people -coming back for?--what’s set them a running towards Alexandria?” - -“Oh, it’s only a fright the drivers of the commissariat waggons have -had; they are afraid of the enemy’s cavalry.” - -“Ah,” said the man, and looking at me narrowly he inquired, after a -pause, “are you an American?” - -“No, I am not, thank God; I’m an Englishman.” - -“Well, then,” said he, nodding his head and speaking slowly through -his teeth, “There _will_ be cavalry after them soon enough; there is -20,000 of the best horsemen in the world in old Virginny.” - -Having received full directions from the people at the inn for the -road to the Long Bridge, which I was most anxious to reach instead -of going to Alexandria or to Georgetown, I bade the Virginian good -evening; and seeing that my stout friend, who had also watered -his horse by my advice at the inn, was still clinging alongside, -I excused myself by saying I must press on to Washington, and -galloped on for a mile, until I got into the cover of a wood, where -I dismounted to examine the horse’s hoofs and shift the saddle for -a moment, wipe the sweat off his back, and make him and myself as -comfortable as could be for our ride into Washington, which was still -seventeen or eighteen miles before me. I passed groups of men, some -on horseback, others on foot, going at a more leisurely rate towards -the capital; and as I was smoking my last cigar by the side of the -wood, I observed the number had rather increased, and that among the -retreating stragglers were some men who appeared to be wounded. - -The sun had set, but the rising moon was adding every moment to the -lightness of the road as I mounted once more and set out at a long -trot for the capital. Presently I was overtaken by a waggon with -a small escort of cavalry and an officer riding in front. I had -seen the same vehicle once or twice along the road, and observed an -officer seated in it with his head bound up with a handkerchief, -looking very pale and ghastly. The mounted officer leading the escort -asked me if I was going into Washington and knew the road. I told him -I had never been on it before, but thought I could find my way, “at -any rate we’ll find plenty to tell us.” “That’s Colonel Hunter inside -the carriage, he’s shot through the throat and jaw, and I want to get -him to the doctor’s in Washington as soon as I can. Have you been to -the fight?” - -“No, sir.” - -“A member of Congress, I suppose, sir?” - -“No, sir; I’m an Englishman.” - -“Oh indeed, sir, then I’m glad you did not see it, so mean a fight, -sir, I never saw; we whipped the cusses and drove them before us, -and took their batteries and spiked their guns, and got right up in -among all their dirt works and great batteries and forts, driving -them before us like sheep, when up more of them would get, as if out -of the ground, then our boys would drive them again till we were -fairly worn out; they had nothing to eat since last night and nothing -to drink. I myself have not tasted a morsel since two o’clock last -night. Well, there we were waiting for reinforcements and expecting -M‘Dowell and the rest of the army, when whish! they threw open a -whole lot of masked batteries on us, and then came down such swarms -of horsemen on black horses, all black as you never saw, and slashed -our boys over finely. The colonel was hit, and I thought it best to -get him off as well as I could, before it was too late; And, my God! -when they did take to running they did it first-rate, I can tell -you,” and so, the officer, who had evidently taken enough to affect -his empty stomach and head, chattering about the fight, we trotted -on in the moonlight: dipping down into the valleys on the road, -which seemed like inky lakes in the shadows of the black trees, then -mounting up again along the white road, which shone like a river in -the moonlight--the country silent as death, though once as we crossed -a small water-course and the noise of the carriage wheels ceased, I -called the attention of my companions to a distant sound, as of a -great multitude of people mingled with a faint report of cannon. “Do -you hear that?” “No, I don’t. But it’s our chaps, no doubt. They’re -coming along fine, I can promise you.” At last some miles further on -we came to a picket, or main guard, on the roadside, who ran forward, -crying out “What’s the news--anything fresh--are we whipped?--is it -a fact?” “Well, gentlemen,” exclaimed the Major, reining up for a -moment, “we are knocked into a cocked hat--licked to h----l.” “Oh, -pray don’t say that,” I exclaimed, “It’s not quite so bad, it’s only -a drawn battle, and the troops will occupy Centreville to-night, and -the posts they started from this morning.” - -A little further on we met a line of commissariat carts, and my -excited and rather injudicious military friend appeared to take the -greatest pleasure in replying to their anxious queries for news. “We -are whipped! Whipped like h----.” - -At the cross-roads now and then we were perplexed, for no one knew -the bearings of Washington, though the stars were bright enough; but -good fortune favoured us and kept us straight, and at a deserted -little village, with a solitary church on the road-side, I increased -my pace, bade good-night and good speed to the officer, and having -kept company with two men in a gig for some time, got at length on -the guarded road leading towards the capital, and was stopped by -the pickets, patrols, and grand rounds, making repeated demands for -the last accounts from the field. The houses by the road-side were -all closed up and in darkness, I knocked in vain at several for a -drink of water, but was answered only by the angry barkings of the -watch-dogs from the slave quarters. It was a peculiarity of the road -that the people, and soldiers I met, at points several miles apart, -always insisted that I was twelve miles from Washington. Up hills, -down valleys, with the silent, grim woods for ever by my side, the -white roads and the black shadows of men, still I was twelve miles -from the Long Bridge, but suddenly I came upon a grand guard under -arms, who had quite different ideas, and who said I was only about -four miles from the river; they crowded round me. “Well, man, and how -is the fight going?” I repeated my tale. “What does he say?” “Oh, -begorra, he says we’re not bet at all; it’s all lies they have been -telling us; we’re only going back to the ould lines for the greater -convaniency of fighting to-morrow again; that’s illigant, hooro!” - -All by the sides of the old camps the men were standing, lining -the road, and I was obliged to evade many a grasp at my bridle by -shouting out “Don’t stop me; I’ve important news; it’s all well!” -and still the good horse, refreshed by the cool night air, went -clattering on, till from the top of the road beyond Arlington I -caught a sight of the lights of Washington and the white buildings -of the Capitol, and of the Executive Mansion, glittering like snow -in the moonlight. At the entrance to the Long Bridge the sentry -challenged, and asked for the countersign. “I have not got it, but -I’ve a pass from General Scott.” An officer advanced from the guard, -and on reading the pass permitted me to go on without difficulty. -He said, “I have been obliged to let a good many go over to-night -before you, Congress men and others. I suppose you did not expect to -be coming back so soon. I fear it’s a bad business.” “Oh, not so bad -after all; I expected to have been back to-night before nine o’clock, -and crossed over this morning without the countersign.” “Well, I -guess,” said he, “we don’t do such quick fighting as that in this -country.” - -As I crossed the Long Bridge there was scarce a sound to dispute the -possession of its echoes with my horse’s hoofs. The poor beast had -carried me nobly and well, and I made up my mind to buy him, as I had -no doubt he would answer perfectly to carry me back in a day or two -to M‘Dowell’s army by the time he had organised it for a new attack -upon the enemy’s position. Little did I conceive the greatness of the -defeat, the magnitude of the disasters which it had entailed upon -the United States or the interval that would elapse before another -army set out from the banks of the Potomac onward to Richmond. Had I -sat down that night to write my letter, quite ignorant at the time of -the great calamity which had befallen his army, in all probability -I would have stated that M‘Dowell had received a severe repulse, -and had fallen back upon Centreville, that a disgraceful panic and -confusion had attended the retreat of a portion of his army, but -that the appearance of the reserves would probably prevent the enemy -taking any advantage of the disorder; and as I would have merely been -able to describe such incidents as fell under my own observation, and -would have left the American journals to narrate the actual details, -and the despatches of the American Generals the strategical events -of the day, I should have led the world at home to believe, as, in -fact, I believed myself, that M‘Dowell’s retrograde movement would be -arrested at some point between Centreville and Fairfax Court House. - -The letter that I was to write occupied my mind whilst I was crossing -the Long Bridge, gazing at the lights reflected in the Potomac from -the city. The night had become overcast, and heavy clouds rising up -rapidly obscured the moon, forming a most phantastic mass of shapes -in the sky. - -At the Washington end of the bridge I was challenged again by the -men of a whole regiment, who, with piled arms, were halted on the -chaussée, smoking, laughing, and singing. “Stranger, have you been -to the fight?” “I have been only a little beyond Centreville.” But -that was quite enough. Soldiers, civilians, and women, who seemed -to be out unusually late, crowded round the horse, and again I -told my stereotyped story of the unsuccessful attempt to carry the -Confederate position, and the retreat to Centreville to await better -luck next time. The soldiers alongside me cheered, and those next -them took it up till it ran through the whole line, and must have -awoke the night owls. - -As I passed Willard’s hotel a little further on, a clock--I think -the only public clock which strikes the hours in Washington--tolled -out the hour; and I supposed, from what the sentry told me, though I -did not count the strokes, that it was eleven o’clock. All the rooms -in the hotel were a blaze of light. The pavement before the door was -crowded, and some mounted men and the clattering of sabres on the -pavement led me to infer that the escort of the wounded officer had -arrived before me. I passed on to the livery-stables, where every one -was alive and stirring. - -“I’m sure,” said the man, “I thought I’d never see you nor the horse -back again. The gig and the other gentleman has been back a long -time. How did he carry you?” - -“Oh, pretty well; what’s his price?” - -“Well, now that I look at him, and to you, it will be 100 dollars -less than I said. I’m in good heart to-night.” - -“Why so? A number of your horses and carriages have not come back -yet, you tell me.” - -“Oh, well, I’ll get paid for them some time or another. Oh, such -news! such news!” said he, rubbing his hands. “Twenty thousand of -them killed and wounded! May-be they’re not having fits in the White -House to-night!” - -I walked to my lodgings, and just as I turned the key in the door a -flash of light made me pause for a moment, in expectation of the -report of a gun; for I could not help thinking it quite possible -that, somehow or another, the Confederate cavalry would try to beat -up the lines, but no sound followed. It must have been lightning. -I walked up-stairs, and saw a most welcome supper ready on the -table--an enormous piece of cheese, a sausage of unknown components, -a knuckle-bone of ham, and a bottle of a very light wine of France; -but I would not have exchanged that repast and have waited half an -hour for any banquet that Soyer or Careme could have prepared at -their best. Then, having pulled off my boots, bathed my head, trimmed -candles, and lighted a pipe, I sat down to write. I made some feeble -sentences, but the pen went flying about the paper as if the spirits -were playing tricks with it. When I screwed up my utmost resolution, -the “y’s” would still run into long streaks, and the letters combine -most curiously, and my eyes closed, and my pen slipped, and just as -I was aroused from a nap, and settled into a stern determination to -hold my pen straight, I was interrupted by a messenger from Lord -Lyons, to inquire whether I had returned, and if so, to ask me to go -up to the Legation, and get something to eat. I explained, with my -thanks, that I was quite safe, and had eaten supper, and learned from -the servant that Mr. Warre and his companion had arrived about two -hours previously. I resumed my seat once more, haunted by the memory -of the Boston mail, which would be closed in a few hours, and I had -much to tell, although I had not seen the battle. Again and again I -woke up, but at last the greatest conqueror but death overcame me, -and with my head on the blotted paper, I fell fast asleep. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - - A runaway crowd at Washington--The army of the Potomac in - retreat--Mail-day--Want of order and authority--Newspaper - lies--Alarm at Washington--Confederate prisoners--General - M‘Clellan--M. Mercier--Effects of the defeat on Mr. Seward and - the President--M‘Dowell--General Patterson. - - -_July 22nd._--I awoke from a deep sleep this morning, about six -o’clock. The rain was falling in torrents and beat with a dull, -thudding sound on the leads outside my window; but, louder than all, -came a strange sound, as if of the tread of men, a confused tramp -and splashing, and a murmuring of voices. I got up and ran to the -front room, the windows of which looked on the street, and there, to -my intense surprise, I saw a steady stream of men covered with mud, -soaked through with rain, who were pouring irregularly, without any -semblance of order, up Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol. A -dense stream of vapour rose from the multitude; but looking closely -at the men, I perceived they belonged to different regiments, -New Yorkers, Michiganders, Rhode Islanders, Massachusetters, -Minnesotians, mingled pellmell together. Many of them were without -knapsacks, crossbelts, and firelocks. Some had neither great-coats -nor shoes, others were covered with blankets. Hastily putting on my -clothes, I ran down stairs and asked an “officer,” who was passing -by, a pale young man, who looked exhausted to death, and who had lost -his sword, for the empty sheath dangled at his side, where the men -were coming from. “Where from? Well, sir, I guess we’re all coming -out of Verginny as far as we can, and pretty well whipped too.” -“What! the whole army, sir?” “That’s more than I know. They may stay -that like. I know I’m going home. I’ve had enough of fighting to last -my lifetime.” - -The news seemed incredible. But there, before my eyes, were the -jaded, dispirited, broken remnants of regiments passing onwards, -where and for what I knew not, and it was evident enough that the -mass of the grand army of the Potomac was placing that river between -it and the enemy as rapidly as possible. “Is there any pursuit?” I -asked of several men. Some were too surly to reply; others said, -“They’re coming as fast as they can after us.” Others, “I guess -they’ve stopped it now--the rain is too much for them.” A few said -they did not know, and looked as if they did not care. And here came -one of these small crises in which a special correspondent would -give a good deal for the least portion of duality in mind or body. A -few sheets of blotted paper and writing materials lying on the table -beside the burnt-out candles, reminded me that the imperious post-day -was running on. “The mail for Europe, _viâ_ Boston, closes at one -o’clock, Monday, July 22nd,” stuck up in large characters, warned me -I had not a moment to lose. I knew the event would be of the utmost -interest in England, and that it would be important to tell the truth -as far as I knew it, leaving the American papers to state their own -case, that the public might form their own conclusions. - -But then, I felt, how interesting it would be to ride out and watch -the evacuation of the sacred soil of Virginia, to see what the enemy -were doing, to examine the situation of affairs, to hear what the -men said, and, above all, find out the cause of this retreat and -headlong confusion, investigate the extent of the Federal losses and -the condition of the wounded; in fact, to find materials for a dozen -of letters. I would fain, too, have seen General Scott, and heard -his opinions, and have visited the leading senators, to get a notion -of the way in which they looked on this catastrophe.--“I do perceive -here a divided duty.”--But the more I reflected on the matter the -more strongly I became convinced that it would not be advisable to -postpone the letter, and that the events of the 21st ought to have -precedence of those of the 22nd, and so I stuck up my usual notice on -the door outside of “Mr. Russell is out,” and resumed my letter. - -Whilst the rain fell, the tramp of feet went steadily on. As I lifted -my eyes now and then from the paper, I saw the beaten, foot-sore, -spongy-looking soldiers, officers, and all the debris of the army -filing through mud and rain, and forming in crowds in front of the -spirit stores. Underneath my room is the magazine of Jost, negociant -en vins, and he drives a roaring trade this morning, interrupted -occasionally by loud disputes as to the score. When the lad came -in with my breakfast he seemed a degree or two lighter in colour -than usual. “What’s the matter with you?” “I ’spects, massa, the -Seceshers soon be in here. I’m a free nigger; I must go, sar, afore -de come cotch me.” It is rather pleasant to be neutral under such -circumstances. - -I speedily satisfied myself I could not finish my letter in time -for post, and I therefore sent for my respectable Englishman to go -direct to Boston by the train which leaves this at four o’clock -to-morrow morning, so as to catch the mail steamer on Wednesday, and -telegraphed to the agents there to inform them of my intention of -doing so. Visitors came knocking at the door, and insisted on getting -in--military friends who wanted to give me their versions of the -battle--the _attachés_ of legations and others who desired to hear -the news and have a little gossip; but I turned a deaf ear doorwards, -and they went off into the outer rain again. - -More draggled, more muddy, and down-hearted, and foot-weary and -vapid, the great army of the Potomac still straggled by. Towards -evening I seized my hat and made off to the stable to inquire how the -poor horse was. There he stood, nearly as fresh as ever, a little -tucked up in the ribs, but eating heartily, and perfectly sound. A -change had come over Mr. Wroe’s dream of horseflesh. “They’ll be -going cheap now,” thought he, and so he said aloud, “If you’d like -to buy that horse, I’d let you have him a little under what I said. -Dear! dear! it must a’ been a sight sure-ly to see them Yankees -running; you can scarce get through the Avenue with them.” - -And what Mr. W. says is quite true. The rain has abated a little, -and the pavements are densely packed with men in uniform, some -with, others without, arms, on whom the shopkeepers are looking -with evident alarm. They seem to be in possession of all the -spirit-houses. Now and then shots are heard down the street or in the -distance, and cries and shouting, as if a scuffle or a difficulty -were occurring. Willard’s is turned into a barrack for officers, -and presents such a scene in the hall as could only be witnessed in -a city occupied by a demoralised army. There is no provost guard, -no patrol, no authority visible in the streets. General Scott is -quite overwhelmed by the affair, and is unable to stir. General -M‘Dowell has not yet arrived. The Secretary of War knows not what -to do, Mr. Lincoln is equally helpless, and Mr. Seward, who retains -some calmness, is, notwithstanding his military rank and militia -experience, without resource or expedient. There are a good many -troops hanging on about the camps and forts on the other side of the -river, it is said; but they are thoroughly disorganised, and will run -away if the enemy comes in sight without a shot, and then the capital -must fall at once. Why Beauregard does not come I know not, nor can -I well guess. I have been expecting every hour since noon to hear -his cannon. Here is a golden opportunity. If the Confederates do not -grasp that which will never come again on such terms, it stamps them -with mediocrity. - -The morning papers are quite ignorant of the defeat, or affect to -be unaware of it, and declare yesterday’s battle to have been in -favour of the Federals generally, the least arrogant stating that -M‘Dowell will resume his march from Centreville immediately. The -evening papers, however, seem to be more sensible of the real nature -of the crisis: it is scarcely within the reach of any amount of -impertinence or audacious assertion to deny what is passing before -their very eyes. The grand army of the Potomac is in the streets -of Washington, instead of being on its way to Richmond. One paper -contains a statement which would make me uneasy about myself if I had -any confidence in these stories, for it is asserted “that Mr. Russell -was last seen in the thick of the fight, and has not yet returned. -Fears are entertained for his safety.” - -Towards dark the rain moderated and the noise in the streets waxed -louder; all kinds of rumours respecting the advance of the enemy, -the annihilation of Federal regiments, the tremendous losses on both -sides, charges of cavalry, stormings of great intrenchments and -stupendous masked batteries, and elaborate reports of unparalleled -feats of personal valour, were circulated under the genial influence -of excitement, and by the quantities of alcohol necessary to keep out -the influence of the external moisture. I did not hear one expression -of confidence, or see one cheerful face in all that vast crowd which -but a few days before constituted an army, and was now nothing better -than a semi-armed mob. I could see no cannon returning, and to my -inquiries after them, I got generally the answer, “I suppose the -Seceshers have got hold of them.” - -Whilst I was at table several gentlemen who have _entrée_ called on -me, who confirmed my impressions respecting the magnitude of the -disaster that is so rapidly developing its proportions. They agree in -describing the army as disorganised. Washington is rendered almost -untenable, in consequence of the conduct of the army, which was not -only to have defended it, but to have captured the rival capital. -Some of my visitors declared it was dangerous to move abroad in the -streets. Many think the contest is now over; but the gentlemen of -Washington have Southern sympathies, and I, on the contrary, am -persuaded this prick in the great Northern balloon will let out a -quantity of poisonous gas, and rouse the people to a sense of the -nature of the conflict on which they have entered. The inmates of -the White House are in a state of the utmost trepidation, and Mr. -Lincoln, who sat in the telegraph operator’s room with General Scott -and Mr. Seward, listening to the dispatches as they arrived from the -scene of action, left it in despair when the fatal words tripped from -the needle and the defeat was clearly revealed to him. - -Having finally cleared my room of visitors and locked the door, I -sat down once more to my desk, and continued my narrative. The night -wore on, and the tumult still reigned in the city. Once, indeed, if -not twice, my attention was aroused by sounds like distant cannon -and outbursts of musketry, but on reflection I was satisfied the -Confederate general would never be rash enough to attack the place -by night, and that, after all the rain which had fallen, he in all -probability would give horses and men a day’s rest, marching them -through the night, so as to appear before the city in the course of -to-morrow. Again and again I was interrupted by soldiers clamouring -for drink and for money, attracted by the light in my windows; one -or two irrepressible and irresistible friends actually succeeded -in making their way into my room--just as on the night when I was -engaged in writing an account of the last attack on the Redan my hut -was stormed by visitors, and much of my letter was penned under the -apprehension of a sharp pair of spurs fixed in the heels of a jolly -little adjutant, who, overcome by fatigue and rum-and-water, fell -asleep in my chair, with his legs cocked up on my writing-table--but -I saw the last of them about midnight, and so continued writing till -the morning light began to steal through the casement. Then came the -trusty messenger, and, at 3 a.m., when I had handed him the parcel -and looked round to see all my things were in readiness, lest a rapid -toilet might be necessary in the morning, with a sigh of relief I -plunged into bed, and slept. - -_July 23rd._--The morning was far advanced when I awoke, and hearing -the roll of waggons in the street, I at first imagined the Federals -were actually about to abandon Washington itself; but on going to the -window, I perceived it arose from an irregular train of commissariat -carts, country waggons, ambulances, and sutlers’ vans, in the centre -of the street, the paths being crowded as before with soldiers, or -rather with men in uniform, many of whom seemed as if they had been -rolling in the mud. Poor General Mansfield was running back and -forwards between his quarters and the War Department, and in the -afternoon some efforts were made to restore order, by appointing -rendezvous to which the fragment of regiments should repair, and -by organising mounted patrols to clear the streets. In the middle -of the day I went out through the streets, and walked down to the -long bridge with the intention of crossing, but it was literally -blocked up from end to end with a mass of waggons and ambulances -full of wounded men, whose cries of pain echoed above the shouts of -the drivers, so that I abandoned the attempt to get across, which, -indeed, would not have been easy with any comfort, owing to the depth -of mud in the roads. To-day the aspect of Washington is more unseemly -and disgraceful, if that were possible, than yesterday afternoon. - -As I returned towards my lodgings a scene of greater disorder and -violence than usual attracted my attention. A body of Confederate -prisoners, marching two and two, were with difficulty saved by their -guard from the murderous assaults of a hooting rabble, composed of -civilians and men dressed like soldiers, who hurled all kinds of -missiles they could lay their hands upon over the heads of the guard -at their victims, spattering them with mud and filthy language. -It was very gratifying to see the way in which the dastardly mob -dispersed at the appearance of a squad of mounted men, who charged -them boldly, and escorted the prisoners to General Mansfield. They -consisted of a picket or grand guard, which, unaware of the retreat -of their regiment from Fairfax, marched into the Federal lines before -the battle. Their just indignation was audible enough. One of them, -afterwards, told General M‘Dowell, who hurried over as soon as he -was made aware of the disgraceful outrages to which they had been -exposed, “I would have died a hundred deaths before I fell into these -wretches’ hands, if I had known this. Set me free for five minutes, -and let any two, or four, of them insult me when my hands are loose.” - -Soon afterwards a report flew about that a crowd of soldiers were -hanging a Secessionist. A senator rushed to General M‘Dowell, and -told him that he had seen the man swinging with his own eyes. Off -went the General, _ventre à terre_, and was considerably relieved -by finding that they were hanging merely a dummy or effigy of Jeff. -Davis, not having succeeded in getting at the original yesterday. - -Poor M‘Dowell has been swiftly punished for his defeat, or rather -for the unhappy termination to his advance. As soon as the disaster -was ascertained beyond doubt, the President telegraphed to General -M‘Clellan to come and take command of his army. It is a commentary -full of instruction on the military system of the Americans, that -they have not a soldier who has ever handled a brigade in the field -fit for service in the North. - -The new commander-in-chief is a brevet-major who has been in civil -employ on a railway for several years. He went once, with two other -West Point officers, commissioned by Mr. Jefferson Davis, then -Secretary of War, to examine and report on the operations in the -Crimea, who were judiciously despatched when the war was over, and -I used to see him and his companions poking about the ruins of the -deserted trenches and batteries, mounted on horses furnished by -the courtesy of British officers, just as they lived in English -quarters, when they were snubbed and refused an audience by the Duke -of Malakhoff in the French camp. Major M‘Clellan forgot the affront, -did not even mention it, and showed his Christian spirit by praising -the allies, and damning John Bull with very faint applause, seasoned -with lofty censure. He was very young, however, at the time, and is -so well spoken of that his appointment will be popular; but all that -he has done to gain such reputation and to earn the confidence of the -government, is to have had some skirmishes with bands of Confederates -in Western Virginia, in which the leader, Garnett, was killed, his -“forces” routed, and finally, to the number of a thousand, obliged to -surrender as prisoners of war. That success, however, at such a time -is quite enough to elevate any man to the highest command. M‘Clellan -is about thirty-six years of age, was educated at West Point, where -he was junior to M‘Dowell, and a class-fellow of Beauregard. - -I dined with M. Mercier, the French minister, who has a prettily -situated house on the heights of Georgetown, about a mile and a-half -from the city. Lord Lyons, Mr. Monson, his private secretary, M. -Baroche, son of the French minister, who has been exploiting the -Southern states, were the only additions to the family circle. -The minister is a man in the prime of life, of more than moderate -ability, with a rapid manner and quickness of apprehension. Ever -since I first met M. Mercier he has expressed his conviction that the -North never can succeed in conquering the South, or even restoring -the Union, and that an attempt to do either by armed force must end -in disaster. He is the more confirmed in his opinions by the result -of Sunday’s battle, but the inactivity of the Confederates gives -rise to the belief that they suffered seriously in the affair. M. -Baroche has arrived at the conviction, without reference to the fate -of the Federals in their march to Richmond, that the Union is utterly -gone--as dead as the Achaian league. - -Whilst Madame Mercier and her friends are conversing on much more -agreeable subjects, the men hold a tobacco council under the shade -of the magnificent trees, and France, Russia, and minor powers talk -politics, Lord Lyons alone not joining in the nicotian controversy. -Beneath us flowed the Potomac, and on the wooded heights at the -other side, the Federal flag rose over Fort Corcoran and Arlington -House, from which the grand army had set forth a few days ago to -crush rebellion and destroy its chiefs. There, sad, anxious, and -despairing, Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward were at that very moment -passing through the wreck of the army, which, silent as ruin itself, -took no notice of their presence. - -It had been rumoured that the Confederates were advancing, and the -President and the Foreign Minister set out in a carriage to see with -their own eyes the state of the troops. What they beheld filled them -with despair. The plateau was covered with the men of different -regiments, driven by the patrols out of the city, or arrested in -their flight at the bridges. In Fort Corcoran the men were in utter -disorder, threatening to murder the officer of regulars who was -essaying to get them into some state of efficiency to meet the -advancing enemy. He had menaced one of the officers of the 69th with -death for flat disobedience to orders; the men had taken the part of -their captain; and the President drove into the work just in time to -witness the confusion. The soldiers with loud cries demanded that the -officer should be punished, and the President asked him why he had -used such violent language towards his subordinate. “I told him, Mr. -President, that if he refused to obey my orders I would shoot him -on the spot; and I here repeat it, sir, that if I remain in command -here, and he or any other man refuses to obey my orders, I’ll shoot -him on the spot.” - -The firmness of Sherman’s language and demeanour in presence of the -chief of the State overawed the mutineers, and they proceeded to put -the work in some kind of order to resist the enemy. - -Mr. Seward was deeply impressed by the scene, and retired with -the President to consult as to the best course to pursue, in some -dejection, but they were rather comforted by the telegrams from -all parts of the North, which proved that, though disappointed and -surprised, the people were not disheartened or ready to relinquish -the contest. - -The accounts of the battle in the principal journals are curiously -inaccurate and absurd. The writers have now recovered themselves. -At first they yielded to the pressure of facts and to the accounts -of their correspondents. They admitted the repulse, the losses, the -disastrous retreat, the loss of guns, in strange contrast to their -prophecies and wondrous hyperboles about the hyperbolic grand army. -Now they set themselves to stem the current they have made. Let any -one read the New York journals for the last week, if he wishes to -frame an indictment against such journalism as the people delight to -honour in America. - -_July 24th._--I rode out before breakfast in company with Mr. Monson -across the Long Bridge over to Arlington House. General M‘Dowell was -seated at a table under a tree in front of his tent, and got out his -plans and maps to explain the scheme of battle. - -Cast down from his high estate, placed as a subordinate to his -junior, covered with obloquy and abuse, the American General -displayed a calm self-possession and perfect amiability which could -only proceed from a philosophic temperament and a consciousness that -he would outlive the calumnies of his countrymen. He accused nobody; -but it was not difficult to perceive he had been sacrificed to the -vanity, self-seeking, and disobedience of some of his officers, and -to radical vices in the composition of his army. - -When M‘Dowell found he could not turn the enemy’s right as he -intended, because the country by the Occoquan was unfit for the -movements of artillery, or even infantry, he reconnoitred the ground -towards their left, and formed the project of turning it by a -movement which would bring the weight of his columns on their extreme -left, and at the same time overlap it, whilst a strong demonstration -was made on the ford at Bull’s Run, where General Tyler brought on -the serious skirmish of the 18th. In order to carry out this plan, -he had to debouch his columns from a narrow point at Centreville, -and march them round by various roads to points on the upper part of -the Run, where it was fordable in all directions, intending to turn -the enemy’s batteries on the lower roads and bridges. But although -he started them at an early hour, the troops moved so slowly the -Confederates became aware of their design, and were enabled to -concentrate considerable masses of troops on their left. - -The Federals were not only slow, but disorderly. The regiments in -advance stopped at streams to drink and fill their canteens, delaying -the regiments in the rear. They wasted their provisions, so that -many of them were without food at noon, when they were exhausted by -the heat of the sun and by the stifling vapours of their own dense -columns. When they at last came into action some divisions were not -in their places, so that the line of battle was broken; and those -which were in their proper position were exposed, without support, -to the enemy’s fire. A delusion of masked batteries pressed on -their brain. To this was soon added a hallucination about cavalry, -which might have been cured had the Federals possessed a few steady -squadrons to manœuvre on their flanks and in the intervals of their -line. Nevertheless, they advanced and encountered the enemy’s fire -with some spirit; but the Confederates were enabled to move up -fresh battalions, and to a certain extent to establish an equality -between the numbers of their own troops and the assailants, whilst -they had the advantages of better cover and ground. An apparition -of a disorderly crowd of horsemen in front of the much-boasting -Fire Zouaves of New York threw them into confusion and flight, and -a battery which they ought to have protected was taken. Another -battery was captured by the mistake of an officer, who allowed a -Confederate regiment to approach the guns, thinking they were Federal -troops, till their first volley destroyed both horses and gunners. -At the critical moment, General Johnston, who had escaped from the -feeble observation and untenacious grip of General Patterson and his -time-expired volunteers, and had been hurrying down his troops from -Winchester by train, threw his fresh battalions on the flank and rear -of the Federal right. When the General ordered a retreat, rendered -necessary by the failure of the attack--disorder spread, which -increased--the retreat became a flight which degenerated--if a flight -can degenerate--into a panic, the moment the Confederates pressed -them with a few cavalry and horse artillery. The efforts of the -Generals to restore order and confidence were futile. Fortunately a -weak reserve was posted at Centreville, and these were formed in line -on the slope of the hill, whilst M‘Dowell and his officers exerted -themselves with indifferent success to arrest the mass of the army, -and make them draw up behind the reserve, telling the men a bold -front was their sole chance of safety. At midnight it became evident -the _morale_ of the army was destroyed, and nothing was left but a -speedy retrograde movement, with the few regiments and guns which -were in a condition approaching to efficiency, upon the defensive -works of Washington. - -Notwithstanding the reverse of fortune, M‘Dowell did not appear -willing to admit his estimate of the Southern troops was erroneous, -or to say “Change armies, and I’ll fight the battle over again.” He -still held Mississippians, Alabamians, Louisianians, very cheap, and -did not see, or would not confess, the full extent of the calamity -which had fallen so heavily on him personally. The fact of the -evening’s inactivity was conclusive in his mind that they had a -dearly bought success, and he looked forward, though in a subordinate -capacity, to a speedy and glorious revenge. - -_July 25th._--The unfortunate General Patterson, who could not keep -Johnston from getting away from Winchester, is to be dismissed the -service--honourably, of course--that is, he is to be punished because -his men would insist on going home in face of the enemy, as soon as -their three months were up, and that time happened to arrive just as -it would be desirable to operate against the Confederates. The latter -have lost their chance. The Senate, the House of Representatives, the -Cabinet, the President, are all at their ease once more, and feel -secure in Washington. Up to this moment the Confederates could have -taken it with very little trouble. Maryland could have been roused -to arms, and Baltimore would have declared for them. The triumph -of the non-aggressionists, at the head of whom is Mr. Davis, in -resisting the demands of the party which urges an actual invasion of -the North as the best way of obtaining peace, may prove to be very -disastrous. Final material results must have justified the occupation -of Washington. - -I dined at the Legation, where were Mr. Sumner and some English -visitors desirous of going South. Lord Lyons gives no encouragement -to these adventurous persons. - -_July 26th._--Whether it is from curiosity to hear what I have to -say or not, the number of my visitors is augmenting. Among them was -a man in soldier’s uniform, who sauntered into my room to borrow -“five or ten dollars,” on the ground that he was a waiter at the -Clarendon Hotel when I was stopping there, and wanted to go North, -as his time was up. His anecdotes were stupendous. General Meigs and -Captain Macomb, of the United States Engineers, paid me a visit, -and talked of the disaster very sensibly. The former is an able -officer, and an accomplished man--the latter, son, I believe, of the -American general of that name, distinguished in the war with Great -Britain. I had a long conversation with General M‘Dowell, who bears -his supercession with admirable fortitude, and complains of nothing, -except the failure of his officers to obey orders, and the hard fate -which condemned him to lead an army of volunteers--Captain Wright, -aide-de-camp to General Scott, Lieutenant Wise, of the Navy, and many -others. The communications received from the Northern States have -restored the spirits of all Union men, and not a few declare they are -glad of the reverse, as the North will now be obliged to put forth -all its strength. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - - Attack of illness--General M‘Clellan--Reception at the White - House--Drunkenness among the Volunteers--Visit from Mr. - Olmsted--Georgetown--Intense heat--M‘Clellan and the Newspapers - --Reception at Mr. Seward’s--Alexandria--A storm--Sudden death - of an English officer--The Maryland Club--A Prayer and Fast - Day--Financial difficulties. - - -_July 27th._--So ill to-day from heat, bad smells in the house, -and fatigue, that I sent for Dr. Miller, a great, fine Virginian -practitioner, who ordered me powders to be taken in “mint juleps.” -Now mint juleps are made of whiskey, sugar, ice, very little water, -and sprigs of fresh mint, to be sucked up after the manner of sherry -cobblers, if so it be pleased, with a straw. - -“A powder every two hours, with a mint julep. Why, that’s six a day, -Doctor. Won’t that be--eh?--won’t that be rather intoxicating?” - -“Well, sir, that depends on the constitution. You’ll find they will -do you no harm, even if the worst takes place.” - -Day after day, till the month was over and August had come, I -passed in a state of powder and julep, which the Virginian doctor -declared saved my life. The first time I stirred out the change -which had taken place in the streets was at once apparent: no -drunken rabblement of armed men, no begging soldiers--instead -of these were patrols in the streets, guards at the corners, -and a rigid system of passes. The North begin to perceive their -magnificent armies are mythical, but knowing they have the elements -of making one, they are setting about the manufacture. Numbers of -tapsters and serving men, and _canaille_ from the cities, who now -disgrace swords and shoulder-straps, are to be dismissed. Round -the corner, with a kind of staff at his heels and an escort, comes -Major General George B. M‘Clellan, the young Napoleon (of Western -Virginia), the conqueror of Garnet, the captor of Peagrim, the -commander-in-chief, under the President, of the army of the United -States. He is a very squarely-built, thick-throated, broad-chested -man, under the middle height, with slightly bowed legs, a tendency -to _embonpoint_. His head, covered with a closely cut crop of dark -auburn hair, is well set on his shoulders. His features are regular -and prepossessing--the brow small, contracted, and furrowed; the -eyes deep and anxious-looking. A short, thick, reddish moustache -conceals his mouth; the rest of his face is clean shaven. He has -made his father-in-law, Major Marcy, chief of his staff, and is a -good deal influenced by his opinions, which are entitled to some -weight, as Major Marcy is a soldier, and has seen frontier wars, and -is a great traveller. The task of licking this army into shape is -of Herculean magnitude. Every one, however, is willing to do as he -bids: the President confides in him, and “Georges” him; the press -fawn upon him, the people trust him; he is “the little corporal” of -unfought fields--_omnis ignotus pro mirifico_, here. He looks like -a stout little captain of dragoons, but for his American seat and -saddle. The latter is adapted to a man who cannot ride: if a squadron -so mounted were to attempt a fence or ditch half of them would be -ruptured or spilled. The seat is a marvel to any European. But -M‘Clellan is nevertheless “the man on horseback” just now, and the -Americans must ride in his saddle, or in anything he likes. - -In the evening of my first day’s release from juleps the President -held a reception or levée, and I went to the White House about nine -o’clock, when the rooms were at their fullest. The company were -arriving on foot, or crammed in hackney coaches, and did not affect -any neatness of attire or evening dress. The doors were open: any -one could walk in who chose. Private soldiers, in hodden grey and -hob-nailed shoes, stood timorously chewing on the threshold of the -state apartments, alarmed at the lights and gilding, or, haply, by -the marabout feathers and finery of a few ladies who were in ball -costume, till, assured by fellow-citizens there was nothing to fear, -they plunged into the dreadful revelry. Faces familiar to me in -the magazines of the town were visible in the crowd which filled -the reception-rooms and the ballroom, in a small room off which a -military band was stationed. - -The President, in a suit of black, stood near the door of one of the -rooms near the hall, and shook hands with every one of the crowd, -who was then “passed” on by his secretary, if the President didn’t -wish to speak to him. Mr. Lincoln has recovered his spirits, and -seemed in good humour. Mrs. Lincoln, who did the honours in another -room, surrounded by a few ladies, did not appear to be quite so -contented. All the ministers are present except Mr. Seward, who has -gone to his own state to ascertain the frame of mind of the people, -and to judge for himself of the sentiments they entertain respecting -the war. After walking up and down the hot and crowded rooms for an -hour, and seeing and speaking to all the celebrities, I withdrew. -Colonel Richardson in his official report states Colonel Miles lost -the battle of Bull Run by being drunk and disorderly at a critical -moment. Colonel Miles, who commanded a division of three brigades, -writes to say he was not in any such state, and has demanded a -court of inquiry. In a Philadelphia paper it is stated M‘Dowell was -helplessly drunk during the action, and sat up all the night before -drinking, smoking, and playing cards. M‘Dowell never drinks, and -never has drunk, wine, spirits, malt, tea, or coffee, or smoked or -used tobacco in any form, nor does he play cards; and that remark -does not apply to many other Federal officers. - -Drunkenness is only too common among the American volunteers, and -General Butler has put it officially in orders, that “the use of -intoxicating liquors prevails to an alarming extent among the -officers of his command,” and has ordered the seizure of their grog, -which will only be allowed on medical certificate. He announces, too, -that he will not use wine or spirits, or give any to his friends, or -allow any in his own quarters in future--a quaint, vigorous creature, -this Massachusetts lawyer. - -The outcry against Patterson has not yet subsided, though he states -that, out of twenty-three regiments composing his force, nineteen -refused to stay an hour over their time, which would have been up in -a week, so that he would have been left in an enemy’s country with -four regiments. He wisely led his patriot band back, and let them -disband themselves in their own borders. Verily, these are not the -men to conquer the South. - -Fresh volunteers are pouring in by tens of thousands to take their -places from all parts of the Union, and in three days after the -battle, 80,000 men were accepted. Strange people! The regiments which -have returned to New York after disgraceful conduct at Bull Run, with -the stigmata of cowardice impressed by their commanding officers on -the colours and souls of their corps, are actually welcomed with the -utmost enthusiasm, and receive popular ovations! It becomes obvious -every day that M‘Clellan does not intend to advance till he has got -some semblance of an army: that will be a long time to come; but -he can get a good deal of fighting out of them in a few months. -Meantime the whole of the Northern states are waiting anxiously for -the advance which is to take place at once, according to promises -from New York. As Washington is the principal scene of interest, the -South being tabooed to me, I have resolved to stay here till the army -is fit to move, making little excursions to points of interest. The -details in my diary are not very interesting, and I shall make but -brief extracts. - -_August 2nd._--Mr. Olmsted visited me, in company with a young -gentleman named Ritchie, son-in-law of James Wadsworth, who has been -serving as honorary aide-de-camp on M‘Dowell’s staff, but is now -called to higher functions. They dined at my lodgings, and we talked -over Bull Run again. Mr. Ritchie did not leave Centreville till late -in the evening, and slept at Fairfax Court House, where he remained -till 8.30 a.m. on the morning of July 22nd, Wadsworth not stirring -for two hours later. He said the panic was “horrible, disgusting, -sickening,” and spoke in the harshest terms of the officers, to whom -he applied a variety of epithets. Prince Napoleon has arrived. - -_August 3rd._--M‘Clellan orders regular parades and drills in every -regiment, and insists on all orders being given by bugle note. I -had a long ride through the camps, and saw some improvement in the -look of the men. Coming home by Georgetown, met the Prince driving -with M. Mercier, to pay a visit to the President. I am sure that the -politicians are not quite well pleased with this arrival, because -they do not understand it, and cannot imagine a man would come so far -without a purpose. The drunken soldiers now resort to quiet lanes -and courts in the suburbs. Georgetown was full of them. It is a much -more respectable and old-world looking place than its vulgar, empty, -overgrown, mushroom neighbour, Washington. An officer who had fallen -in his men to go on duty was walking down the line this evening -when his eye rested on the neck of a bottle sticking out of a man’s -coat. “Thunder,” quoth he, “James, what have you got there?” “Well, -I guess, captain, it’s a drop of real good Bourbon.” “Then let us -have a drink,” said the captain; and thereupon proceeded to take a -long pull and a strong pull, till the man cried out, “That is not -fair, Captain. You won’t leave me a drop”--a remonstrance which had a -proper effect, and the captain marched down his company to the bridge. - -It was extremely hot when I returned, late in the evening. I asked -the boy for a glass of iced water. “Dere is no ice, massa,” he -said. “No ice? What’s the reason of that?” “De Sechessers, massa, -block up de river, and touch off deir guns at de ice-boats.” The -Confederates on the right bank of the Potomac have now established a -close blockade of the river. Lieutenant Wise, of the Navy Department, -admitted the fact, but said that the United States gunboats would -soon sweep the rebels from the shore. - -_August 4th._--I had no idea that the sun could be powerful in -Washington; even in India the heat is not much more oppressive -than it was here to-day. There is this extenuating circumstance, -however, that after some hours of such very high temperature, -thunder-storms and tornadoes cool the air. I received a message -from General M‘Clellan, that he was about to ride along the lines -of the army across the river, and would be happy if I accompanied -him; but as I had many letters to write for the next mail, I was -unwillingly obliged to abandon the chance of seeing the army under -such favourable circumstances. There are daily arrivals at Washington -of military adventurers from all parts of the world, some of them -with many extraordinary certificates and qualifications; but, as Mr. -Seward says, “It is best to detain them with the hope of employment -on the Northern side, lest some really good man should get among the -rebels.” Garibaldians, Hungarians, Poles, officers of Turkish and -other contingents, the executory devises and remainders of European -revolutions and wars, surround the State department, and infest -unsuspecting politicians with illegible testimonials in unknown -tongues. - -_August 5th._--The roads from the station are crowded with troops, -coming from the North as fast as the railway can carry them. It is -evident, as the war fever spreads, that such politicians as Mr. -Crittenden, who resist the extreme violence of the Republican party, -will be stricken down. The Confiscation Bill, for the emancipation -of slaves and the absorption of property belonging to rebels, has, -indeed, been boldly resisted in the House of Representatives; but it -passed with some trifling amendments. The journals are still busy -with the affair of Bull Run, and each seems anxious to eclipse the -other in the absurdity of its statements. A Philadelphia journal, -for instance, states to-day that the real cause of the disaster was -not a desire to retreat, but a mania to advance. In its own words, -“the only drawback was the impetuous feeling to go a-head and fight.” -Because one officer is accused of drunkenness a great movement is on -foot to prevent the army getting any drink at all. - -General M‘Clellan invited the newspaper correspondents in Washington -to meet him to-day, and with their assent drew up a treaty of peace -and amity, which is a curiosity in its way. In the first place, the -editors are to abstain from printing anything which can give aid -or comfort to the enemy, and their correspondents are to observe -equal caution; in return for which complaisance, Government is to be -asked to give the press opportunities for obtaining and transmitting -intelligence suitable for publication, particularly touching -engagements with the enemy. The Confederate privateer Sumter has -forced the blockade at New Orleans, and has already been heard of -destroying a number of Union vessels. - -_August 6th._--Prince Napoleon, anxious to visit the battle-field at -Bull Run, has, to Mr. Seward’s discomfiture, applied for passes, and -arrangements are being made to escort him as far as the Confederate -lines. This is a recognition of the Confederates, as a belligerent -power, which is by no means agreeable to the authorities. I drove -down to the Senate, where the proceedings were very uninteresting, -although Congress was on the eve of adjournment, and returning -visited Mr. Seward, Mr. Bates, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Blair, and left cards -for Mr. Brekinridge. The old woman who opened the door at the house -where the latter lodged said, “Massa Brekinridge pack up all his -boxes; I s’pose he not cum back here again.” - -_August 7th._--In the evening I went to Mr. Seward’s, who gave a -reception in honour of Prince Napoleon. The Minister’s rooms were -crowded and intensely hot. Lord Lyons and most of the diplomatic -circle were present. The Prince wore his Order of the Bath, and -bore the onslaughts of politicians, male and female, with much good -humour. The contrast between the uniforms of the officers of the -United States army and navy and those of the French in the Prince’s -suit, by no means redounded to the credit of the military tailoring -of the Americans. The Prince, to whom I was presented by Mr. Seward, -asked me particularly about the roads from Alexandria to Fairfax -Court-house, and from there to Centreville and Manassas. I told him -I had not got quite as far as the latter place, at which he laughed. -He inquired with much interest about General Beauregard, whether -he spoke good French, if he seemed a man of capacity, or was the -creation of an accident and of circumstances. He has been to Mount -Vernon, and is struck with the air of neglect around the place. Two -of his horses dropped dead from the heat on the journey, and the -Prince, who was perspiring profusely in the crowded room, asked me -whether the climate was not as bad as midsummer in India. His manner -was perfectly easy, but he gave no encouragement to bores, nor did -he court popularity by unusual affability, and he moved off long -before the guests were tired of looking at him. On returning to my -rooms a German gentleman named Bing--who went out with the Federal -army from Washington, was taken prisoner at Bull’s Run, and carried -to Richmond--came to visit me, but his account of what he saw in the -dark and mysterious South was not lucid or interesting. - -_August 8th._--I had arranged to go with Mr. Olmsted and Mr. Ritchie -to visit the hospitals, but the heat was so intolerable, we abandoned -the idea till the afternoon, when we drove across the long bridge -and proceeded to Alexandria. The town, which is now fully occupied -by military, and is abandoned by the respectable inhabitants, has -an air, owing to the absence of women and children, which tells the -tale of a hostile occupation. In a large building, which had once -been a school, the wounded of Bull Run were lying, not uncomfortably -packed, nor unskilfully cared for, and the arrangements were, taken -altogether, creditable to the skill and humanity of the surgeons. -Close at hand was the church in which George Washington was wont in -latter days to pray, when he drove over from Mount Vernon--further -on, Marshal House, where Ellsworth was shot by the Virginian -landlord, and was so speedily avenged. A strange strain of thought -was suggested, by the rapid grouping of incongruous ideas, arising -out of the proximity of these scenes. As one of my friends said, -“I wonder what Washington would do if he were here now--and how he -would act if he were summoned from that church to Marshall House or -to this hospital?” The man who uttered these words was not either -of my companions, but wore the shoulder-straps of a Union officer. -“Stranger still,” said I, “would it be to speculate on the thoughts -and actions of Napoleon in this crisis, if he were to wake up and -see a Prince of his blood escorted by Federal soldiers to the spot -where the troops of the Southern States had inflicted on them a -signal defeat, in a land where the nephew who now sits on the -throne of France has been an exile.” It is not quite certain that -many Americans understand who Prince Napoleon is, for one of the -troopers belonging to the escort which took him out from Alexandria -declared positively he had ridden with the Emperor. The excursion -is swallowed, but not well-digested. In Washington the only news -to-night is, that a small privateer from Charleston, mistaking -the St. Lawrence for a merchant vessel, fired into her and was -at once sent to Mr. Davy Jones by a rattling broadside. Congress -having adjourned, there is but little to render Washington less -uninteresting than it must be in its normal state. - -The truculent and overbearing spirit which arises from the -uncontroverted action of democratic majorities develops itself in -the North, where they have taken to burning newspaper offices and -destroying all the property belonging to the proprietors and editors. -These actions are a strange commentary on Mr. Seward’s declaration -“that no volunteers are to be refused because they do not speak -English, inasmuch as the contest for the Union is a battle of the -free men of the world for the institutions of self-government.” - -_August 11th._--On the old Indian principle, I rode out this morning -very early, and was rewarded by a breath of cold, fresh air, and by -the sight, of some very disorderly regiments just turning out to -parade in the camps; but I was not particularly gratified by being -mistaken for Prince Napoleon by some Irish recruits, who shouted -out, “Bonaparte for ever,” and gradually subsided into requests -for “something to drink your Royal Highness’s health with.” As I -returned I saw on the steps of General Mansfield’s quarters, a -tall, soldierly-looking young man, whose breast was covered with -Crimean ribbons and medals, and I recognised him as one who had -called upon me a few days before, renewing our slight acquaintance -before Sebastopol, where his courage was conspicuous, to ask me for -information respecting the mode of obtaining a commission in the -Federal army. - -Towards mid-day an ebony sheet of clouds swept over the city. I went -out, regardless of the threatening storm, to avail myself of the -coolness to make a few visits; but soon a violent wind arose bearing -clouds like those of an Indian dust-storm down the streets. The black -sheet overhead became agitated like the sea, and tossed about grey -clouds, which careered against each other and burst into lightning; -then suddenly, without other warning, down came the rain--a perfect -tornado; sheets of water flooding the streets in a moment, turning -the bed into water-courses and the channels into deep rivers. I waded -up the centre of Pennsylvania Avenue, past the President’s house, -in a current which would have made a respectable trout stream; and -on getting opposite my own door, made a rush for the porch, but -forgetting the deep channel at the side, stepped into a rivulet which -was literally above my hips, and I was carried off my legs, till I -succeeded in catching the kerbstone, and escaped into the hall as if -I had just swum across the Potomac. - -On returning from my ride next morning, I took up the Baltimore -paper, and saw a paragraph announcing the death of an English officer -at the station; it was the poor fellow whom I saw sitting at General -Mansfield’s steps yesterday. The consul was absent on a short tour -rendered necessary by the failure of his health consequent on the -discharge of his duties. Finding the Legation were anxious to see -due care taken of the poor fellow’s remains, I left for Baltimore -at a quarter to three o’clock, and proceeded to inquire into the -circumstances connected with his death. He had been struck down at -the station by some cerebral attack, brought on by the heat and -excitement; had been carried to the police station and placed upon -a bench, from which he had fallen with his head downwards, and was -found in that position, with life quite extinct, by a casual visitor. -My astonishment may be conceived when I learned that not only had the -Coroner’s inquest sat and returned its verdict, but that the man had -absolutely been buried the same morning, and so my mission was over, -and I could only report what had occurred to Washington. Little value -indeed has human life in this new world, to which the old gives vital -power so lavishly, that it is regarded as almost worthless. I have -seen more “fuss” made over an old woman killed by a cab in London -than there is over half a dozen deaths with suspicion of murder -attached in New Orleans or New York. - -I remained in Baltimore a few days, and had an opportunity of -knowing the feelings of some of the leading men in the place. It may -be described in one word--intense hatred of New England and black -republicans, which has been increased to mania by the stringent -measures of the military dictator of the American Warsaw, the -searches of private houses, domiciliary visits, arbitrary arrests, -the suppression of adverse journals, the overthrow of the corporate -body--all the acts, in fact, which constitute the machinery and the -grievances of a tyranny. When I spoke of the brutal indifference -of the police to the poor officer previously mentioned, the -Baltimoreans told me the constables appointed by the Federal general -were scoundrels who led the Plug Uglies in former days--the worst -characters in a city not sweet or savoury in repute--but that the old -police were men of very different description. The Maryland Club, -where I had spent some pleasant hours, was now like a secret tribunal -or the haunt of conspirators. The police entered it a few days ago, -searched every room, took up the flooring, and even turned up the -coals in the kitchen and the wine in the cellar. Such indignities -fired the blood of the members, who are, with one exception, opposed -to the attempt to coerce the South by the sword. Not one of them but -could tell of some outrage perpetrated on himself or on some members -of his family by the police and Federal authority. Many a _delator -amici_ was suspected but not convicted. Men sat moodily reading the -papers with knitted brows, or whispering in corners, taking each -other apart, and glancing suspiciously at their fellows. - -There is a peculiar stamp about the Baltimore men which distinguishes -them from most Americans--a style of dress, frankness of manner, -and a general appearance assimilating them closely to the upper -classes of Englishmen. They are fond of sport and travel, exclusive -and high-spirited, and the iron rule of the Yankee is the more -intolerable because they dare not resent it, and are unable to shake -it off. - -I returned to Washington on 15th August. Nothing changed; skirmishes -along the front; M‘Clellan reviewing. The loss of General Lyon, who -was killed in an action with the Confederates under Ben McCullough, -at Wilson’s Creek, Springfield, Missouri, in which the Unionists were -with difficulty extricated by General Sigel from a very dangerous -position, after the death of their leader, is severely felt. He was -one of the very few officers who combined military skill and personal -bravery with political sagacity and moral firmness. The President -has issued his proclamation for a day of fast and prayer, which, -say the Baltimoreans, is a sign that the Yankees are in a bad way, -as they would never think of praying or fasting if their cause was -prospering. The stories which have been so sedulously spread, and -which never will be quite discredited, of the barbarity and cruelty -of the Confederates to all the wounded, ought to be set at rest by -the printed statement of the eleven Union surgeons just released, -who have come back from Richmond, where they were sent after their -capture on the field of Bull Run, with the most distinct testimony -that the Confederates treated their prisoners with humanity. Who -are the miscreants who tried to make the evil feeling, quite strong -enough as it is, perfectly fiendish, by asserting the rebels burned -the wounded in hospitals, and bayoneted them as they lay helpless on -the field? - -The pecuniary difficulties of the Government have been alleviated by -the bankers of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, who have agreed -to lend them fifty millions of dollars, on condition that they -receive the Treasury notes which Mr. Chase is about to issue. As we -read the papers and hear the news, it is difficult to believe that -the foundations of society are not melting away in the heat of this -conflict. Thus, a Federal judge, named Garrison, who has issued his -writ of habeas corpus for certain prisoners in Fort Lafayette, being -quietly snuffed out by the commandant, Colonel Burke, desires to -lead an army against the fort and have a little civil war of his own -in New York. He applies to the commander of the county militia, who -informs Garrison he can’t get into the fort as there was no artillery -strong enough to breach the walls, and that it would require 10,000 -men to invest it, whereas only 1400 militiamen were available. What -a farceur Judge Garrison must be! In addition to the gutting and -burning of newspaper offices, and the exercitation of the editors -on rails, the republican grand juries have taken to indicting the -democratic journals, and Fremont’s provost marshal in St. Louis has, -_proprio motu_, suppressed those which he considers disaffected. -A mutiny which broke out in the Scotch Regiment 79th N. Y. has -been followed by another in the 2nd Maine Regiment, and a display -of cannon and of cavalry was required to induce them to allow the -ringleaders to be arrested. The President was greatly alarmed, but -M‘Clellan acted with some vigour, and the refractory volunteers are -to be sent off to a pleasant station called the “Dry Tortugas” to -work on the fortifications. - -Mr. Seward, with whom I dined and spent the evening on 16th August, -has been much reassured and comforted by the demonstrations of -readiness on the part of the people to continue the contest, and of -confidence in the cause among the moneyed men of the great cities. -“All we want is time to develop our strength. We have been blamed for -not making greater use of our navy and extending it at once. It was -our first duty to provide for the safety of our capital. Besides, -a man will generally pay little attention to agencies he does not -understand. None of us knew anything about a navy. I doubt if the -President ever saw anything more formidable than a river steamboat, -and I don’t think Mr. Welles, the Secretary of the Navy, knew the -stem from the stern of a ship. Of the whole Cabinet, I am the only -member who ever was _fairly_ at sea or crossed the Atlantic. Some of -us never even saw it. No wonder we did not understand the necessity -for creating a navy at once. Soon, however, our Government will be -able to dispose of a respectable marine, and when our army is ready -to move, co-operating with the fleet, the days of the rebellion are -numbered.” - -“When will that be, Mr. Secretary?” - -“Soon; very soon, I hope. We can, however, bear delays. The rebels -will be ruined by it.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - - Return to Baltimore--Colonel Carroll--A Priest’s view of the - Abolition of Slavery--Slavery in Maryland--Harper’s Ferry--John - Brown--Back by train to Washington--Further accounts of Bull - Run--American Vanity--My own unpopularity for speaking the - truth--Killing a “Nigger” no murder--Navy Department. - - -On the 17th August I returned to Baltimore on my way to Drohoregan -Manor, the seat of Colonel Carroll, in Maryland, where I had been -invited to spend a few days by his son-in-law, an English gentleman -of my acquaintance. Leaving Baltimore at 5.40 p.m., in company -with Mr. Tucker Carroll, I proceeded by train to Ellicott’s Mills, -a station fourteen miles on the Ohio and Baltimore railroad, from -which our host’s residence is distant more than an hour’s drive. The -country through which the line passes is picturesque and undulating, -with hills and valleys and brawling streams, spreading in woodland -and glade, ravine, and high uplands on either side, haunted by cotton -factories, poisoning air and water; but it has been a formidable -district for the engineers to get through, and the line abounds -in those triumphs of engineering which are generally the ruin of -shareholders. - -All these lines are now in the hands of the military. At the -Washington terminus there is a guard placed to see that no -unauthorised person or unwilling volunteer is going north; the -line is watched by patrols and sentries; troops are encamped along -its course. The factory chimneys are smokeless; half the pleasant -villas which cover the hills or dot the openings in the forest have -a deserted look and closed windows. And so these great works, the -Carrolton viaduct, the Thomas viaduct, and the high embankments and -great cuttings in the ravine by the river side, over which the line -passes, have almost a depressing effect, as if the people for whose -use they were intended had all become extinct. At Ellicott’s Mills, -which is a considerable manufacturing town, more soldiers and Union -flags. The people are Unionists, but the neighbouring gentry and -country people are Seceshers. - -This is the case wherever there is a manufacturing population in -Maryland, because the workmen are generally foreigners, or have -come from the Northern States, and feel little sympathy with States -rights’ doctrines, and the tendencies of the landed gentry to a -Conservative action on the slave question. There was no good-will -in the eyes of the mechanicals as they stared at our vehicle; for -the political bias of Colonel Carroll was well known, as well as the -general sentiments of his family. It was dark when we reached the -manor, which is approached by an avenue of fine trees. The house is -old-fashioned, and has received additions from time to time. But for -the black faces of the domestics, one might easily fancy he was in -some old country house in Ireland. The family have adhered to their -ancient faith. The founder of the Carrolls in Maryland came over with -the Catholic colonists led by Lord Baltimore, or by his brother, -Leonard Calvert, and the colonel possesses some interesting deeds of -grant and conveyance of the vast estates, which have been diminished -by large sales year after year, but still spread over a considerable -part of several counties in the State. - -Colonel Carroll is an immediate descendant of one of the leaders in -the revolution of 1776, and he pointed out to me the room in which -Carroll, of Carrolton, and George Washington, were wont to meet when -they were concocting their splendid treason. One of his connections -married the late Marquis Wellesley, and the colonel takes pleasure -in setting forth how the daughter of the Irish recusant, who fled -from his native country all but an outlaw, sat on the throne of the -Queen of Ireland, or, in other words, held court in Dublin Castle -as wife of the Viceroy. Drohoregan is supposed to mean “Hall of the -Kings,” and is called after an old place belonging, some time or -other, to the family, the early history of which, as set forth in -the Celtic authorities and Irish antiquarian works, possesses great -attractions for the kindly, genial old man--kindly and genial to all -but the Abolitionists and black republicans; nor is he indifferent -to the reputation of the State in the Revolutionary War, where the -“Maryland line” seems to have differed from many of the contingents -of the other States in not running away so often at critical moments -in the serious actions. Colonel Carroll has sound arguments to prove -the sovereign independence and right of every State in the Union, -derived from family teaching and the lessons of those who founded the -Constitution itself. - -On the day after my arrival the rain fell in torrents. The weather -is as uncertain as that of our own isle. The torrid heats at -Washington, the other day, were succeeded by bitter cold days; now -there is a dense mist, chilly and cheerless, seeming as a sort of -strainer for the even down pour that falls through it continuously. -The family after breakfast slipped round to the little chapel which -forms the extremity of one wing of the house. The coloured people on -the estate were already trooping across the lawn and up the avenue -from the slave quarters, decently dressed for the most part, having -due allowance for the extraordinary choice of colours in their gowns, -bonnets, and ribbons, and for the unhappy imitations, on the part -of the men, of the attire of their masters. They walked demurely -and quietly past the house, and presently the priest, dressed like -a French curé, trotted up, and service began. The negro houses were -of a much better and more substantial character than those one -sees in the south, though not remarkable for cleanliness and good -order. Truth to say, they were palaces compared to the huts of Irish -labourers, such as might be found, perhaps, on the estates of the -colonel’s kinsmen at home. The negroes are far more independent -than they are in the south. They are less civil, less obliging, -and, although they do not come cringing to shake hands as the field -hands on a Louisianian plantation, less servile. They inhabit a -small village of brick and wood houses, across the road at the end -of the avenue, and in sight of the house. The usual swarms of little -children, poultry, pigs, enlivened by goats, embarrassed the steps of -the visitor, and the old people, or those who were not finely dressed -enough for mass, peered out at the strangers from the glassless -windows. - -When chapel was over, the boys and girls came up for catechism, and -passed in review before the ladies of the house, with whom they -were on very good terms. The priest joined us in the verandah when -his labours were over, and talked with intelligence of the terrible -war which has burst over the land. He has just returned from a tour -in the Northern States, and it is his belief the native Americans -there will not enlist, but that they will get foreigners to fight -their battles. He admitted that slavery was in itself an evil, nay, -more, that it was not profitable in Maryland. But what are the -landed proprietors to do? The slaves have been bequeathed to them as -property by their fathers, with certain obligations to be respected, -and duties to be fulfilled. It is impossible to free them, because, -at the moment of emancipation, nothing short of the confiscation -of all the labour and property of the whites would be required to -maintain the negroes, who would certainly refuse to work unless they -had their masters’ land as their own. Where is white labour to be -found? Its introduction must be the work of years, and meantime many -thousands of slaves, who have a right to protection, would canker the -land. - -In Maryland they do not breed slaves for the purpose of selling -them as they do in Virginia, and yet Colonel Carroll and other -gentlemen who regarded the slaves they inherited almost as members -of their families, have been stigmatised by abolition orators as -slave-breeders and slave-dealers. It was these insults which stung -the gentlemen of Maryland and of the other Slave States to the quick, -and made them resolve never to yield to the domination of a party -which had never ceased to wage war against their institutions and -their reputation and honour. - -A little knot of friends and relations joined Colonel Carroll at -dinner. There are few families in this part of Maryland which have -not representatives in the other army across the Potomac; and if -Beauregard could but make his appearance, the women alone would give -him welcome such as no conqueror ever received in liberated city. - -Next day the rain fell incessantly. The mail was brought in by a -little negro boy on horseback, and I was warned by my letters that -an immediate advance of M‘Clellan’s troops was probable. This is an -old story. “Battle expected to-morrow” has been a heading in the -papers for the last fortnight. In the afternoon I was driven over -a part of the estate in a close carriage, through the windows of -which, however, I caught glimpses of a beautiful country, wooded -gloriously, and soft, sylvan, and well-cultivated as the best parts -of Hampshire and Gloucestershire, the rolling lands of which latter -county, indeed, it much resembled in its large fields, heavy with -crops of tobacco and corn. The weather was too unfavourable to admit -of a close inspection of the fields; but I visited one or two tobacco -houses, where the fragrant Maryland was lying in masses on the -ground, or hanging from the rafters, or filled the heavy hogsheads -with compressed smoke. - -Next day I took the train, at Ellicott’s Mills, and went to Harper’s -Ferry. There is no one spot, in the history of this extraordinary -war, which can be well more conspicuous. Had it nothing more to -recommend it than the scenery, it might well command a visit from the -tourist; but as the scene of old John Brown’s raid upon the Federal -arsenal, of that first passage of arms between the abolitionists -and the slave conservatives, which has developed this great contest; -above all, as the spot where important military demonstrations have -been made on both sides, and will necessarily occur hereafter, -this place, which probably derives its name from some wretched old -boatman, will be renowned for ever in the annals of the civil war of -1861. The Patapsco, by the bank of which the rail is carried for some -miles, has all the character of a mountain torrent, rushing through -gorges or carving out its way at the base of granite hills, or -boldly cutting a path for itself through the softer slate. Bridges, -viaducts, remarkable archways, and great spans of timber trestle -work leaping from hill to hill, enable the rail to creep onwards -and upwards by the mountain side to the Potomac at Point of Rocks, -whence it winds its way over undulating ground, by stations with -eccentric names to the river’s bank once more. We were carried on -to the station next to Harper’s Ferry on a ledge of the precipitous -mountain range which almost overhangs the stream. But few civilians -were in the train. The greater number of passengers consisted of -soldiers and sutlers, proceeding to their encampments along the -river. A strict watch was kept over the passengers, whose passes were -examined by officers at the various stations. At one place an officer -who really looked like a soldier entered the train, and on seeing -my pass told me in broken English that he had served in the Crimea, -and was acquainted with me and many of my friends. The gentleman who -accompanied me observed, “I do not know whether he was in the Crimea -or not, but I do know that till very lately your friend the Major was -a dancing master in New York.” A person of a very different type -made his offers of service, Colonel Gordon of the 2nd Massachusetts -Regiment, who caused the train to run on as far as Harper’s Ferry, -in order to give me a sight of the place, although in consequence of -the evil habit of firing on the carriages in which the Confederates -across the river have been indulging, the locomotive generally halts -at some distance below the bend of the river. - -Harper’s Ferry lies in a gorge formed by a rush of the Potomac -through the mountain ridges, which it cuts at right angles to its -course at its junction with the river Shenandoah. So trenchant and -abrupt is the division that little land is on the divided ridge to -build upon. The precipitous hills on both sides are covered with -forest, which has been cleared in patches here and there on the -Maryland shore, to permit of the erection of batteries. On the -Virginian side there lies a mass of blackened and ruined buildings, -from which a street lined with good houses stretches up the hill. -Just above the junction of the Shenandoah with the Potomac, an -elevated bridge or viaduct 300 yards long leaps from hill side to -hill side. The arches had been broken--the rails which ran along the -top torn up, and there is now a deep gulf fixed between the shores -of Maryland and Virginia. The rail to Winchester from this point has -been destroyed, and the line along the Potomac has also been ruined. - -But for the batteries which cover the shoal water at the junction -of the two rivers below the bridge, there would be no difficulty in -crossing to the Maryland shore, and from that side the whole of the -ground around Harper’s Ferry is completely commanded. The gorge is -almost as deep as the pass of Killiecranckie, which it resembles in -most respects except in breadth and the size of the river between, -and if ever a railroad finds its way to Blair Athol, the passengers -will find something to look at very like the scenery on the route to -Harper’s Ferry. The vigilance required to guard the pass of the river -above and below this point is incessant, but the Federals possess -the advantage on their side of a deep canal parallel to the railway -and running above the level of the river, which would be a more -formidable obstacle than the Potomac to infantry or guns. There is -reason to believe that the Secessionists in Maryland cross backwards -and forwards whenever they please, and the Virginians coming down at -their leisure to the opposite shore, inflict serious annoyance on the -Federal troops by constant rifle practice. - -Looking up and down the river the scenery is picturesque, though it -is by no means entitled to the extraordinary praises which American -tourists lavish upon it. Probably old John Brown cared little for the -wild magic of streamlet or rill, or for the blended charm of vale and -woodland. When he made his attack on the arsenal now in ruins, he -probably thought a valley was as high as a hill, and that there was -no necessity for water running downwards--assuredly he saw as little -of the actual heights and depths around him when he ran across the -Potomac to revolutionize Virginia. He has left behind him millions -either as clear-sighted or as blind as himself. In New England -parlours a statuette of John Brown may be found as a pendant to the -likeness of our Saviour. In Virginia his name is the synonym of all -that is base, bloody, and cruel. - -Harper’s Ferry at present, for all practical purposes, may be -considered as Confederate property. The few Union inhabitants remain -in their houses, but many of the Government workmen and most of -the inhabitants have gone off South. For strategical purposes its -possession would be most important to a force desiring to operate -on Maryland from Virginia. The Blue Ridge range running up to the -Shenandoah divides the country so as to permit a force debouching -from Harper’s Ferry to advance down the valley of the Shenandoah on -the right, or to move to the left between the Blue Ridge and the -Katoctin mountains towards the Manassas railway at its discretion. -After a false alarm that some Secesh cavalry were coming down to -renew the skirmishing of the day before, I returned, and travelling -to Relay House just saved the train to Washington, where I arrived -after sunset. A large number of Federal troops are employed along -these lines, which they occupy as if they were in a hostile country. -An imperfectly formed regiment broken up into these detachments and -placed in isolated posts, under ignorant officers, may be regarded as -almost worthless for military operations. Hence the constant night -alarms--the mistakes--the skirmishes and instances of misbehaviour -which arise along these extended lines. - -On the journey from Harper’s Ferry, the concentration of masses of -troops along the road, and the march of heavy artillery trains, -caused me to think a renewal of the offensive movement against -Richmond was immediate, but at Washington I heard that all M‘Clellan -wanted or hoped for at present, was to make Maryland safe and to gain -time for the formation of his army. The Confederates appear to be -moving towards their left, and M‘Clellan is very uneasy lest they -should make a vigorous attack before he is prepared to receive them. - -In the evening the New York papers came in with the extracts from -the London papers containing my account of the battle of Bull’s Run. -Utterly forgetting their own versions of the engagement, the New -York editors now find it convenient to divert attention from the -bitter truth that was in them, to the letter of the foreign newspaper -correspondent, who, because he is a British subject, will prove not -only useful as a conductor to carry off the popular wrath from the -American journalists themselves, but as a means by induction of -charging the vials afresh against the British people, inasmuch as -they have not condoled with the North on the defeat of armies which -they were assured would, if successful, be immediately led to effect -the disruption of the British empire. At the outset I had foreseen -this would be the case, and deliberately accepted the issue; but when -I found the Northern journals far exceeding in severity anything I -could have said, and indulging in general invective against whole -classes of American soldiery, officers, and statesmen, I was foolish -enough to expect a little justice, not to say a word of the smallest -generosity. - -_August 21st._--The echoes of Bull Run are coming back with a -vengeance. This day a month ago the miserable fragments of a beaten, -washed out, demoralised army, were flooding in disorder and dismay -the streets of the capital from which they had issued forth to -repel the tide of invasion. This day month and all the editors and -journalists in the States, weeping, wailing, and gnashing their -teeth, infused extra gall into their ink, and poured out invective, -abuse, and obloquy on their defeated general and their broken hosts. -The President and his ministers, stunned by the tremendous calamity, -sat listening in fear and trembling for the sound of the enemy’s -cannon. The veteran soldier, on whom the boasted hopes of the nation -rested, heart-sick and beaten down, had neither counsel to give -nor action to offer. At any moment the Confederate columns might -be expected in Pennsylvania Avenue to receive the welcome of their -friends and the submission of their helpless and disheartened enemies. - -All this is forgotten--and much more, which need not now be repeated. -Saved from a great peril, even the bitterness of death, they forget -the danger that has passed, deny that they uttered cries of distress -and appeals for help, and swagger in all the insolence of recovered -strength. Not only that, but they turn and rend those whose writing -has been dug up after thirty days, and comes back as a rebuke to -their pride. - -Conscious that they have insulted and irritated their own army, that -they have earned the bitter hostility of men in power, and have -for once inflicted a wound on the vanity to which they have given -such offensive dimensions, if not life itself, they now seek to run -a drag scent between the public nose and their own unpopularity, -and to create such an amount of indignation and to cast so much -odium upon one who has had greater facilities to know, and is more -willing to tell the truth, than any of their organs, that he will -be unable henceforth to perform his duties in a country where -unpopularity means simply a political and moral atrophy or death. In -the telegraphic summary some days ago a few phrases were picked out -of my letters, which were but very faint paraphrases of some of the -sentences which might be culled from Northern newspapers, but the -storm has been gathering ever since, and I am no doubt to experience -the truth of De Tocqueville’s remark, “that a stranger who injures -American vanity, no matter how justly, may make up his mind to be a -martyr.” - -_August 22nd._-- - - “The little dogs and all, - Tray, Blanche, and Sweetheart, - See they bark at me.” - -The North have recovered their wind, and their pipers are blowing -with might and main. The time given them to breathe after Bull Run -has certainly been accompanied with a greater development of lung -and power of blowing than could have been expected. The volunteer -army which dispersed and returned home to receive the _Io Pæans_ of -the North, has been replaced by better and more numerous levies, -which have the strong finger and thumb of General M‘Clellan on their -windpipe, and find it is not quite so easy as it was to do as they -pleased. The North, besides, has received supplies of money, and is -using its great resources, by land and sea, to some purpose, and as -they wax fat they kick. - -A general officer said to me, “Of course you will never remain, when -once all the press are down upon you. I would not take a million -dollars and be in your place.” “But is what I’ve written untrue?” -“God bless you! do you know in this country if you can get enough -of people to start a lie about any man, he would be ruined, if the -Evangelists came forward to swear the story was false. There are -thousands of people who this moment believe that M‘Dowell, who never -tasted anything stronger than a water melon in all his life, was -helplessly drunk at Bull’s Run. Mind what I say; they’ll run you -into a mud hole as sure as you live.” I was not much impressed with -the danger of my position further than that I knew there would be -a certain amount of risk from the rowdyism and vanity of what even -the Americans admit to be the lower orders, for which I had been -prepared from the moment I had despatched my letter; but I confess -I was not by any means disposed to think that the leaders of public -opinion would seek the small gratification of revenge, and the petty -popularity of pandering to the passions of the mob, by creating -a popular cry against me. I am not aware that any foreigner ever -visited the United States who was injudicious enough to write one -single word derogatory to their claims to be the first of created -beings, who was not assailed with the most viperous malignity and -rancour. The man who says he has detected a single spot on the face -of their sun should prepare his winding sheet. - -The _New York Times_, I find, states “that the terrible epistle -has been read with quite as much avidity as an average President’s -message. We scarcely exaggerate the fact when we say, the first and -foremost thought on the minds of a very large portion of our people -after the repulse at Bull’s Run was, what will Russell say?” and then -they repeat some of the absurd sayings attributed to me, who declared -openly from the very first that I had not seen the battle at all, to -the effect “that I had never seen such fighting in all my life, and -that nothing at Alma or Inkerman was equal to it.” An analysis of the -letter follows, in which it is admitted that “with perfect candour -I purported to give an account of what I saw, and not of the action -which I did not see,” and the writer, who is, if I mistake not, the -Hon. Mr. Raymond, of the _New York Times_, like myself a witness -of the facts I describe, quotes a passage in which I say, “There -was no flight of troops, no retreat of an army, no reason for all -this precipitation,” and then declares “that my letter gives a very -spirited and perfectly just description of the panic which impelled -and accompanied the troops from Centreville to Washington. He does -not, for he cannot, in the least exaggerate its horrible disorder, -or the disgraceful behaviour of the incompetent officers by whom it -was aided, instead of being checked. He saw nothing whatever of the -fighting, and therefore says nothing whatever of its quality. He -gives a clear, fair, perfectly just and accurate, as it is a spirited -and graphic account of the extraordinary scenes which passed under -his observation. Discreditable as those scenes were to our army, we -have nothing in connection with them whereof to accuse the reporter; -he has done justice alike to himself, his subject, and the country.” - -_Ne nobis blandiar_, I may add, that at least I desired to do -so, and I can prove from Northern papers that if their accounts -were true, I certainly much “extenuated and nought set down in -malice”--nevertheless, Philip drunk is very different from Philip -sober, frightened, and running away, and the man who attempts to -justify his version to the inebriated polycephalous monarch is sure -to meet such treatment as inebriated despots generally award to their -censors. - -_August 23rd._--The torrent is swollen to-day by anonymous letters -threatening me with bowie knife and revolver, or simply abusive, -frantic with hate, and full of obscure warnings. Some bear the -Washington post-mark, others came from New York, the greater -number--for I have had nine--are from Philadelphia. Perhaps they may -come from the members of that “gallant” 4th Pennsylvania Regiment. - -_August 24th._--My servant came in this morning, to announce a -trifling accident--he was exercising my horse, and at the corner of -one of those charming street crossings, the animal fell and broke -its leg. A “vet” was sent for. I was sure that such a portent had -never been born in those Daunian woods. A man about twenty-seven -or twenty-eight stone weight, middle-aged and active, with a fine -professional feeling for distressed horseflesh; and I was right -in my conjectures that he was a Briton, though the vet had become -Americanised, and was full of enthusiasm about “our war for the -Union,” which was yielding him a fine harvest. He complained there -were a good many bad characters about Washington. The matter is -proved beyond doubt by what we see, hear, and read. To-day there -is an account in the papers of a brute shooting a negro boy dead, -because he asked him for a chew of tobacco. Will he be hanged? Not -the smallest chance of it. The idea of hanging a white man for -killing a nigger! It is more preposterous here than it is in India, -where our authorities have actually executed whites for the murder of -natives. - -Before dinner I walked down to the Washington navy yard. Captain -Dahlgren was sorely perplexed with an intoxicated Senator, whose name -it is not necessary to mention, and who seemed to think he paid -me a great compliment by expressing his repeated desire “to have a -good look at” me. “I guess you’re quite notorious now. You’ll excuse -me because I’ve dined, now--and so you are the Mr. &c., &c., &c.” -The Senator informed me that he was “none of your d----d blackfaced -republicans. He didn’t care a d---- about niggers--his business -was to do good to his fellow white men, to hold our glorious Union -together, and let the niggers take care of themselves.” - -I was glad when a diversion was effected by the arrival of Mr. Fox, -Assistant-Secretary of the Navy, and Mr. Blair, Postmaster-General, -to consult with the Captain, who is greatly looked up to by all -the members of the Cabinet--in fact he is rather inconvenienced by -the perpetual visits of the President, who is animated by a most -extraordinary curiosity about naval matters and machinery, and is -attracted by the novelty of the whole department, so that he is -continually running down “to have a talk with Dahlgren” when he is -not engaged in “a chat with George.” The Senator opened such a smart -fire on the Minister that the latter retired, and I mounted and -rode back to town. In the evening Major Clarence Brown, Lieutenant -Wise, a lively, pleasant, and amusing little sailor, well-known in -the States as the author of “Los Gringos,” who is now employed in -the Navy Department, and a few of the gentlemen connected with the -Foreign Legations came in, and we had a great international reunion -and discussion till a late hour. There is a good deal of agreeable -banter reserved for myself, as to the exact form of death which I am -most likely to meet. I was seriously advised by a friend not to stir -out unarmed. The great use of a revolver is that it will prevent the -indignity of tarring and feathering, now pretty rife, by provoking -greater violence. I also received a letter from London, advising -me to apply to Lord Lyons for protection, but that could only be -extended to me within the walls of the Legation. - -_August 25th._--I visited the Navy Department, which is a small -red-brick building two storeys high, very plain and even humble. -The subordinate departments are conducted in rooms below stairs. -The executive are lodged in the rooms which line both sides of the -corridor above. The walls of the passage are lined with paintings in -oil and water colours, engravings and paintings in the worst style -of art. To the latter considerable interest attaches, as they are -authentic likenesses of naval officers who gained celebrity in the -wars with Great Britain--men like Perry, M‘Donough, Decatur, and -Hull, who, as the Americans boast, was “the first man who compelled a -British frigate of greater force than his own to strike her colours -in fair fight.” Paul Jones was not to be seen, but a drawing is -proudly pointed to of the attack of the American fleet on Algiers -as a proof of hatred to piracy, and of the prominent part taken by -the young States in putting an end to it in Europe. In one room are -several swords, surrendered by English officers in the single frigate -engagements, and the duplicates of medals, in gold and silver, voted -by Congress to the victors. In Lieutenant Wise’s room, there are -models of the projectiles, and a series of shot and shell used in -the navy, or deposited by inventors. Among other relics was the flag -of Captain Ward’s boat just brought in which was completely riddled -by the bullet marks received in the ambuscade in which that officer -was killed, with nearly all of his boat’s crew, as they incautiously -approached the shore of the Potomac, to take off a small craft placed -there to decoy them by the Confederates. My business was to pave the -way for a passage on board a steamer, in case of any naval expedition -starting before the army was ready to move, but all difficulties -were at once removed by the promptitude and courtesy of Mr. Fox, the -Assistant-Secretary, who promised to give me an order for a passage -whenever I required it. The extreme civility and readiness to oblige -of all American officials, high and low, from the gate-keepers and -door porters up to the heads of departments, cannot be too highly -praised, and it is ungenerous to accept the explanation offered by an -English officer to whom I remarked the circumstance, that it is due -to the fact that each man is liable to be turned out at the end of -four years, and therefore makes all the friends he can. - -In the afternoon I rode out with Captain Johnson, through some -charming woodland scenery on the outskirts of Washington, by a -brawling stream, in a shady little ravine, that put me in mind of -the Dargle. Our ride led us into the camps, formed on the west of -Georgetown, to cover the city from the attacks of an enemy advancing -along the left bank of the Potomac, and in support of several strong -forts and earthworks placed on the heights. One regiment consists -altogether of Frenchmen--another is of Germans--in a third I saw an -officer with a Crimean and Indian medal on his breast, and several -privates with similar decorations. Some of the regiments were on -parade, and crowds of civilians from Washington were enjoying the -novel scene, and partaking of the hospitality of their friends. One -old lady, whom I have always seen about the camps, and who is a sort -of ancient heroine of Saragossa, had an opportunity of being useful. -The 15th Massachusetts, a fine-looking body of men, had broken up -camp, and were marching off to the sound of their own voices chanting -“Old John Brown,” when one of the enormous trains of baggage waggons -attached to them was carried off by the frightened mules, which -probably had belonged to Virginian farmers, and one of the soldiers, -in trying to stop it, was dashed to the ground and severely injured. -The old lady was by his side in a moment, and out came her flask of -strong waters, bandages, and medical comforts and apparatus. “It’s -well I’m here for this poor Union soldier; I’m sure I always have -something to do in these camps.” On my return late, there was a -letter on my table requesting me to visit General M‘Clellan, but it -was then too far advanced to avail myself of the invitation, which -was only delivered after I left my lodgings. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - - A tour of inspection round the camp--A troublesome - horse--M‘Dowell and the President--My description of Bull’s Run - endorsed by American officers--Influence of the Press--Newspaper - correspondents--Dr. Bray--My letters--Capt. Meagher--Military - adventurers--Probable duration of the war--Lord A. Vane - Tempest--The American journalist--Threats of assassination. - - -_August 26th._--General Van Vliet called from General M‘Clellan to -say that the Commander-in-Chief would be happy to go round the camps -with me when he next made an inspection, and would send round an -orderly and charger in time to get ready before he started. These -little excursions are not the most agreeable affairs in the world; -for M‘Clellan delights in working down staff and escort, dashing from -the Chain Bridge to Alexandria, and visiting all the posts, riding -as hard as he can, and not returning till past midnight, so that -if one has a regard for his cuticle, or his mail days, he will not -rashly venture on such excursions. To-day he is to inspect M‘Dowell’s -division. - -I set out accordingly with Captain Johnson over the Long Bridge, -which is now very strictly guarded. On exhibiting my pass to the -sentry at the entrance, he called across to the sergeant and spoke to -him aside, showing him the pass at the same time. “Are you Russell, -of the London _Times_?” said the sergeant. I replied, “If you look -at the pass, you will see who I am.” He turned it over, examined -it most narrowly, and at last, with an expression of infinite -dissatisfaction and anger upon his face, handed it back, saying to -the sentry, “I suppose you must let him go.” - -Meantime Captain Johnson was witching the world with feats of noble -horsemanship, for I had lent him my celebrated horse Walker, so -called because no earthly equestrian can induce him to do anything -but trot violently, gallop at full speed, or stand on his hind legs. -Captain Johnson laid the whole fault of the animal’s conduct to my -mismanagement, affirming that all it required was a light hand and -gentleness, and so, as he could display both, I promised to let him -have a trial to-day. Walker on starting, however, insisted on having -a dance to himself, which my friend attributed to the excitement -produced by the presence of the other horse, and I rode quietly along -whilst the captain proceeded to establish an acquaintance with his -steed in some quiet bye-street. As I was crossing the Long Bridge, -the forbidden clatter of a horse’s hoofs on the planks caused me to -look round, and on, in a cloud of dust, through the midst of shouting -sentries, came my friend of the gentle hand and unruffled temper, -with his hat thumped down on the back of his head, his eyes gleaming, -his teeth clenched, his fine features slightly flushed, to say the -least of it, sawing violently at Walker’s head, and exclaiming, “You -brute, I’ll teach you to walk,” till he brought up by the barrier -midway on the bridge. The guard, _en masse_, called the captain’s -attention to the order, “all horses to walk over the bridge.” “Why, -that’s what I want him to do. I’ll give any man among you one hundred -dollars who can make him walk along this bridge or anywhere else.” -The redoubtable steed, being permitted to proceed upon its way, -dashed swiftly through the _tête de pont_, or stood on his hind legs -when imperatively arrested by a barrier or _abattis_, and on these -occasions my excellent friend, as he displayed his pass in one hand -and restrained Bucephalus with the other, reminded me of nothing so -much as the statue of Peter the Great, in the square on the banks of -the Neva, or the noble equestrian monument of General Jackson, which -decorates the city of Washington. The troops of M‘Dowell’s division -were already drawn up on a rugged plain, close to the river’s margin, -in happier days the scene of the city races. A pestilential odour -rose from the slaughter-houses close at hand, but regardless of odour -or marsh, Walker continued his violent exercise, evidently under the -idea that he was assisting at a retreat of the grand army as before. - -Presently General M‘Dowell and one of his aides cantered over, -and whilst waiting for General M‘Clellan, he talked of the fierce -outburst directed against me in the press. “I must confess,” he said -laughingly, “I am much rejoiced to find you are as much abused as -I have been. I hope you mind it as little as I did. Bull’s Run was -an unfortunate affair for both of us, for had I won it, you would -have had to describe the pursuit of the flying enemy, and then you -would have been the most popular writer in America, and I would -have been lauded as the greatest of generals. See what measure has -been meted to us now. I’m accused of drunkenness and gambling, and -you Mr. Russell--well!--I really do hope you are not so black as -you are painted.” Presently a cloud of dust on the road announced -the arrival of the President, who came upon the ground in an open -carriage, with Mr. Seward by his side, accompanied by General -M‘Clellan and his staff in undress uniform, and an escort of the very -dirtiest and most unsoldierly dragoons, with filthy accoutrements -and ungroomed horses, I ever saw. The troops dressed into line and -presented arms, whilst the band struck up the “Star-spangled Banner,” -as the Americans have got no air which corresponds with our National -Anthem, or is in any way complimentary to the quadrennial despot who -fills the President’s chair. - -General M‘Dowell seems on most excellent terms with the present -Commander-in-Chief, as he is with the President. Immediately after -Bull’s Bun, when the President first saw M‘Dowell, he said to him, “I -have not lost a particle of confidence in you,” to which the General -replied, “I don’t see why you should, Mr. President.” But there was -a curious commentary, either on the sincerity of Mr. Lincoln, or in -his utter subserviency to mob opinion, in the fact that he who can -overrule Congress and act pretty much as he pleases in time of war, -had, without opportunity for explanation or demand for it, at once -displaced the man in whom he still retained the fullest confidence, -degraded him to command of a division of the army of which he had -been General-in-Chief, and placed a junior officer over his head. - -After some ordinary movements, the march past took place, which -satisfied me that the new levies were very superior to the three -months’ men, though far, indeed, from being soldiers. Finer material -could not be found in physique. With the exception of an assemblage -of miserable scarecrows in rags and tatters, swept up in New York and -commanded by a Mr. Kerrigan, no division of the ordinary line, in any -army, could show a greater number of tall, robust men in the prime -of life. A soldier standing near me, pointing out Kerrigan’s corps, -said, “The boy who commands that pretty lot recruited them first for -the Seceshes in New York, but finding he could not get them away he -handed them over to Uncle Sam.” The men were silent as they marched -past, and did not cheer for President or Union. - -I returned from the field to Arlington House, having been invited -with my friend to share the general’s camp dinner. On our way along -the road, I asked Major Brown why he rode over to us before the -review commenced. “Well,” said he, “my attention was called to you by -one of our staff saying ‘there are two Englishmen,’ and the general -sent me over to invite them, and followed when he saw who it was.” -“But how could you tell we were English?” “I don’t know,” said he, -“there were other civilians about, but there was something about the -look of you two which marked you immediately as John Bull.” - -At the general’s tent we found General Sherman, General Keyes, -Wadsworth, and some others. Dinner was spread on a table covered by -the flap of the tent, and consisted of good plain fare, and a dessert -of prodigious water-melons. I was exceedingly gratified to hear -every officer present declare in the presence of the general who had -commanded the army, and who himself said no words could exaggerate -the disorder of the route, that my narrative of Bull’s Run was not -only true but moderate. - -General Sherman, whom I met for the first time, said, “Mr. Russell, -I can indorse every word that you wrote; your statements about the -battle, which you say you did not witness, are equally correct. All -the stories about charging batteries and attacks with the bayonet are -simply falsehoods, so far as my command is concerned, though some of -the troops did fight well. As to cavalry charges, I wish we had had -a few cavalry to have tried one; those Black Horse fellows seemed as -if their horses ran away with them.” General Keyes said, “I don’t -think you made it half bad enough. I could not get the men to stand -after they had received the first severe check. The enemy swept the -open with a tremendous musketry fire. Some of our men and portions -of regiments behaved admirably--we drove them easily at first; the -cavalry did very little indeed; but when they did come on I could not -get the infantry to stand, and after a harmless volley they broke.” -These officers were brigadiers of Tyler’s division. - -The conversation turned upon the influence of the press in America, -and I observed that every soldier at table spoke with the utmost -dislike and antipathy of the New York journals, to which they gave -a metropolitan position, although each man had some favourite paper -of his own which he excepted from the charge made against the whole -body. The principal accusations made against the press were that -the conductors are not gentlemen, that they are calumnious and -corrupt, regardless of truth, honour, anything but circulation and -advertisements. “It is the first time we have had a chance of dealing -with these fellows, and we shall not lose it.” - -I returned to Washington at dusk over the aqueduct bridge. A -gentleman, who introduced himself to me as correspondent of one -of the cheap London papers, sent out specially on account of his -great experience to write from the States, under the auspices of -the leaders of the advanced liberal party, came to ask if I had -seen an article in the _Chicago Tribune_, purporting to be written -by a gentleman who says he was in my company during the retreat, -contradicting what I report. I was advised by several officers--whose -opinion I took--that it would be derogatory to me if I noticed the -writer. I read it over carefully, and must say I am surprised--if -anything could surprise me in American journalism--at the impudence -and mendacity of the man. Having first stated that he rode along -with me from point to point at a certain portion of the road, he -states that he did not hear or see certain things which I say that -I saw and heard, or deliberately falsifies what passed, for the -sake of a little ephemeral applause, quotations in the papers, -increased importance to himself, and some more abuse of the English -correspondent. - -This statement made me recall the circumstance alluded to more -particularly. I remembered well the flurried, plethoric, elderly -man, mounted on a broken-down horse, who rode up to me in great -trepidation, with sweat streaming over his face, and asked me if I -was going into Washington. “You may not recollect me, sir; I was -introduced to you at Cay-roe, in the hall of the hotel. I’m Dr. Bray, -of the _Chicago Tribune_.” I certainly did not remember him, but -I did recollect that a dispatch from Cairo appeared in the paper, -announcing my arrival from the South, and stating I complained on -landing that my letters had been opened in the States, which was -quite untrue and which I felt called on to deny, and supposing -Dr. Bray to be the author I was not at all inclined to cement our -acquaintance, and continued my course with a bow. - -But the Doctor whipped his steed up alongside mine, and went on to -tell me that he was in the most terrible bodily pain and mental -anxiety. The first on account of desuetude of equestrian exercise; -the other on account of the defeat of the Federals and the probable -pursuit of the Confederates. “Oh! it’s dreadful to think of! They -know me well, and would show me no mercy. Every step the horse takes -I’m in agony. I’ll never get to Washington. Could you stay with -me, sir? as you know the road.” I was moved to internal chuckling, -at any rate, by the very prostrate condition--for he bent well -over the saddle--of poor Dr. Bray, and so I said to him, “Don’t -be uneasy, sir. There is no fear of your being taken. The army is -not defeated, in spite of what you see; for there will be always -runaways and skulkers when a retreat is ordered. I have not the least -doubt M‘Dowell will stand fast at Centreville, and rally his troops -to-night on the reserve, so as to be in a good position to resist the -enemy to-morrow. I’ll have to push on to Washington, as I must write -my letters, and I fear they will stop me on the bridge without the -countersign, particularly if these runaways should outstrip us. As -to your skin, pour a little whiskey on some melted tallow and rub it -well in, and you’ll be all right to-morrow or next day as far as that -is concerned.” - -I actually, out of compassion to his sufferings--for he uttered cries -now and then as though Lucina were in request--reined up, and walked -my horse, though most anxious to get out of the dust and confusion -of the runaways, and comforted him about a friend whom he missed, and -for whose fate he was as uneasy as the concern he felt for his own -woes permitted him to be; suggested various modes to him of easing -the jolt and of quickening the pace of his steed, and at last really -bored excessively by an uninteresting and self-absorbed companion, -who was besides detaining me needlessly on the road, I turned on some -pretence into a wood by the side and continued my way as well as I -could, till I got off the track, and being guided to the road by the -dust and shouting, I came out on it somewhere near Fairfax Court, and -there, to my surprise, dropped on the Doctor, who, animated by some -agency more powerful than the pangs of an abraded cuticle and taking -advantage of the road, had got thus far a-head. We entered the place -together, halted at the same inn to water our horses, and then seeing -that it was getting on towards dusk and that the wave of the retreat -was rolling onward in increased volume, I pushed on and saw no more -of him. Ungrateful Bray! Perfidious Bray! Some day, when I have time, -I must tell the people of Chicago how Bray got into Washington, and -how he left his horse and what he did with it, and how Bray behaved -on the road. I dare say they who know him can guess. - -The most significant article I have seen for some time as a test -of the taste, tone, and temper of the New York public, judging by -their most widely read journal, is contained in it to-night. It -appears that a gentleman named Muir, who is described as a relative -of Mr. Mure the consul at New Orleans, was seized on the point of -starting for Europe, and that among his papers, many of which were -of a “disloyal character,” which is not astonishing seeing that he -came from Charlestown, was a letter written by a foreign resident -in that city, in which he stated he had seen a letter from me to -Mr. Bunch describing the flight at Bull’s Run, and adding that Lord -Lyons remarked, when he heard of it, he would ask Mr. Seward whether -he would not now admit the Confederates were a belligerent power, -whereupon Maudit calls on Mr. Seward to demand explanations from Lord -Lyons and to turn me out of the country, because in my letter to the -“Times” I made the remark that the United States would probably now -admit the South were a belligerent power. - -Such an original observation could never have occurred to two -people--genius concerting with genius could alone have hammered it -out. But Maudit is not satisfied with the humiliation of Lord Lyons -and the expulsion of myself--he absolutely insists upon a miracle, -and his moral vision being as perverted as his physical, he declares -that I must have sent to the British Consul at Charleston a duplicate -copy of the letter which I furnished with so much labour and -difficulty just in time to catch the mail by special messenger from -Boston. ‘These be thy Gods, O Israel!’ - -My attention was also directed to a letter from certain officers -of the disbanded 69th Regiment, who had permitted their Colonel to -be dragged away a prisoner from the field of Bull’s Run. Without -having read my letter, these gentlemen assumed that I had stigmatised -Captain T. F. Meagher as one who had misconducted himself during -the battle, whereas all I had said on the evidence of eye-witnesses -was “that in the rout he appeared at Centreville running across -country and uttering exclamations in the hearing of my informant, -which indicated that he at least was perfectly satisfied that -the Confederates had established their claims to be considered a -belligerent power.” These officers state that Captain Meagher behaved -extremely well up to a certain point in the engagement when they lost -sight of him, and from which period they could say nothing about him. -It was subsequent to that very time he appeared at Centreville, and -long before my letter returned to America giving credit to Captain -Meagher for natural gallantry in the field. I remarked that he would -no doubt feel as much pained as any of his friends, at the ridicule -cast upon him by the statement that he, the Captain of a company, -“Went into action mounted on a magnificent charger and waving a green -silk flag embroidered with a golden harp in the face of the enemy.” - -A young man wearing the Indian war medal with two clasps, who said -his name was Mac Ivor Hilstock, came in to inquire after some unknown -friend of his. He told me he had been in Tomb’s troop of Artillery -during the Indian mutiny, and had afterwards served with the French -volunteers during the siege of Caprera. The news of the Civil War -has produced such an immigration of military adventurers from -Europe that the streets of Washington are quite filled with medals -and ribands. The regular officers of the American Army regard them -with considerable dislike, the greater inasmuch as Mr. Seward and -the politicians encourage them. In alluding to the circumstance to -General M‘Dowell, who came in to see me at a late dinner, I said, “A -great many Garibaldians are in Washington just now.” “Oh,” said he in -his quiet way, “it will be quite enough for a man to prove that he -once saw Garibaldi to satisfy us in Washington that he is quite fit -for the command of a regiment. I have recommended a man because he -sailed in the ship which Garibaldi came in over here, and I’m sure it -will be attended to.” - -_August 27th._--Fever and ague, which Gen. M‘Dowell attributes to -water-melons, of which he, however, had eaten three times as much -as I had. Swallowed many grains of quinine, and lay panting in the -heat in-doors. Two English visitors, Mr. Lamy and a Captain of the -17th, called on me; and, afterwards, I had a conversation with M. -Mercier and M. Stoeckl on the aspect of affairs. They are inclined -to look forward to a more speedy solution than I think the North -is weak enough to accept. I believe that peace is possible in two -years or so, but only by the concession to the South of a qualified -independence. The naval operations of the Federals will test the -Southern mettle to the utmost. Having a sincere regard and liking for -many of the Southerners whom I have met, I cannot say their cause, or -its origin, or its aim, recommends itself to my sympathies; and yet -I am accused of aiding it by every means in my power, because I do -not re-echo the arrogant and empty boasting and insolent outbursts of -the people in the North, who threaten, as the first-fruits of their -success, to invade the territories subject to the British crown, and -to outrage and humiliate our flag. - -It is melancholy enough to see this great republic tumbling to -pieces; one would regret it all the more but for the fact that it -re-echoed the voices of the obscene and filthy creatures which have -been driven before the lash of the lictor from all the cities -of Europe. Assuredly it was a great work, but all its greatness -and the idea of its life was of man, not of God. The principle of -veneration, of obedience, of subordination, and self-control did not -exist within. Washington-worship could not save it. The elements of -destruction lay equally sized, smooth, and black at its foundations, -and a spark suffices to blow the structure into the air. - -_August 28th._--Raining. Sundry officers turned in to inquire of me, -who was quietly in bed at Washington, concerning certain skirmishes -reported to have taken place last night. Sold one horse and bought -another; that is, I paid ready money in the latter transaction, and -in the former, received an order from an officer on the paymaster of -his regiment, on a certain day not yet arrived. - -To-day, Lord A. V. Tempest is added to the number of English -arrivals; he amused me by narrating his reception at Willard’s -on the night of his arrival. When he came in with the usual ruck -of passengers, he took his turn at the book, and wrote down Lord -Adolphus Vane Tempest, with possibly M.P. after it. The clerk, who -was busily engaged in showing that he was perfectly indifferent -to the claims of the crowd who were waiting at the counter for -their rooms, when the book was finished, commenced looking over -the names of the various persons, such as Leonidas Buggs, Rome, N. -Y.; Doctor Onesiphorous Bowells, D.D., Syracuse; Olynthus Craggs, -Palmyra, Mo.; Washington Whilkes, Indianopolis, writing down the -numbers of the rooms, and handing over the keys to the waiters at -the same time. When he came to the name of the English nobleman, -he said, “Vane Tempest, No. 125.” “But stop,” cried Lord Adolphus. -“Lycurgus Siccles,” continued the clerk, “No. 23.” “I insist upon it, -sir,”--broke in Lord Adolphus,--“you really must hear me. I protest -against being put in 125. I can’t go up so high.” “Why,” said the -clerk, with infinite contempt, “I can put you at twice as high--I’ll -give you No. 250 if I like.” This was rather too much, and Lord -Adolphus put his things into a cab, and drove about Washington until -he got to earth in the two-pair back of a dentist’s, for which no -doubt, _tout vu_, he paid as much as for an apartment at the Hotel -Bristol. - -A gathering of American officers and others, amongst whom was Mr. -Olmsted, enabled him to form some idea of the young men’s society -of Washington, which is a strange mixture of politics and fighting, -gossip, gaiety, and a certain apprehension of a wrath to come for -their dear republic. Here is Olmsted prepared to lay down his life -for free speech over a united republic, in one part of which his -freedom of speech would lead to irretrievable confusion and ruin; -whilst Wise, on the other hand, seeks only to establish a union which -shall have a large fleet, be powerful at sea, and be able to smash up -abolitionists, newspaper people, and political agitators at home. - -_August 29th._--It is hard to bear such a fate as befalls an -unpopular man in the United States, because in no other country, -as De Tocqueville[5] remarks, is the press so powerful when it is -unanimous. And yet he says, too, “The journalist of the United States -is usually placed in a very humble position, with a scanty education -and a vulgar turn of mind. His characteristics consist of an open -and coarse appeal to the passions of the populace, and he habitually -abandons the principles of political science to assail the characters -of individuals, to track them into private life, and disclose all -their weaknesses and errors. The individuals who are already in -possession of a high station in the esteem of their fellow-citizens -are afraid to write in the newspapers, and they are thus deprived -of the most powerful instrument which they can use to excite the -passions of the multitude to their advantage. The personal opinions -of the editors have no kind of weight in the eyes of the public. The -only use of a journal is, that it imparts the knowledge of certain -facts; and it is only by altering and distorting those facts that -a journalist can contribute to the support of his own views.” When -the whole of the press, without any exception in so far as I am -aware, sets deliberately to work, in order to calumniate, vilify, -insult, and abuse a man who is at once a stranger, a rival, and an -Englishman, he may expect but one result, according to De Tocqueville. - -The teeming anonymous letters I receive are filled with threats of -assassination, tarring, feathering, and the like; and one of the most -conspicuous of literary sbirri is in perfect rapture at the notion of -a new “sensation” heading, for which he is working as hard as he can. -I have no intention to add to the number of his castigations. - -In the afternoon I drove to the waste grounds beyond the Capitol, -in company with Mr. Olmsted and Captain Haworth, to see the 18th -Massachusetts Regiment, who had just marched in, and were pitching -their tents very probably for the first time. They arrived from -their state with camp equipments, waggons, horses, harness, -commissariat stores complete, and were clad in the blue uniform of -the United States; for the volunteer fancies in greys and greens are -dying out. The men were uncommonly stout young fellows, with an odd, -slouching, lounging air about some of them, however, which I could -not quite understand till I heard one sing out, “Hallo, sergeant, -where am I to sling my hammock in this tent?” Many of them, in fact, -are fishermen and sailors from Cape Cod, New Haven, and similar -maritime places. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - - Personal unpopularity--American naval officers--A gun levelled - at me in fun--Increase of odium against me--Success of the - Hatteras expedition--General Scott and M‘Clellan--M‘Clellan - on his camp-bed--General Scott’s pass refused--Prospect of an - attack on Washington--Skirmishing--Anonymous letters--General - Halleck--General M‘Clellan and the Sabbath--Rumoured death of - Jefferson Davis--Spread of my unpopularity--An offer for my - horse--Dinner at the Legation--Discussion on Slavery. - - -_August 31st._--A month during which I have been exposed to more -calumny, falsehood, not to speak of danger, than I ever passed -through, has been brought to a close. I have all the pains and -penalties attached to the _digito monstrari et dicier hic est_, in -the most hostile sense. On going into Willard’s the other day, I said -to the clerk behind the bar, “Why I heard, Mr. So-and-so, you were -gone?” “Well, sir, I’m not. If I was, you would have lost the last -man who is ready to say a word for you in this house, I can tell -you.” Scowling faces on every side--women turning up their pretty -little noses--people turning round in the streets, or stopping to -stare in front of me--the proprietors of the shops where I am known -pointing me out to others; the words uttered, in various tones, “So, -that’s Bull-Run Russell!”--for, oddly enough, the Americans seem to -think that a disgrace to their arms becomes diminished by fixing the -name of the scene as a _sobriquet_ on one who described it--these, -with caricatures, endless falsehoods, rumours of duels, and the like, -form some of the little _désagrémens_ of one who was so unfortunate -as to assist at the retreat, the first he had ever seen, of an army -which it would in all respects have suited him much better to have -seen victorious. - -I dined with Lieutenant Wise, and met Captain Dahlgren, Captain -Davis, U.S.N., Captain Foote, U.S.N., and Colonel Fletcher -Webster[6], son of the great American statesman, now commanding -a regiment of volunteers. The latter has a fine head and face; a -full, deep eye; is quaint and dry in his conversation, and a poet, -I should think, in heart and soul, if outward and visible signs may -be relied on. The naval captains were excellent specimens of the -accomplished and able men who belong to the United States Navy. -Foote, who is designated to the command of the flotilla which is -to clear the Mississippi downwards, will, I am certain, do good -service--a calm, energetic, skilful officer. Dahlgren, who, like all -men with a system, very properly watches everything which bears upon -it, took occasion to call for Captain Foote’s testimony to the fact, -that he battered down a six-foot granite wall in China with Dahlgren -shells. It will run hard against the Confederates when they get such -men at work on the rivers and coasts, for they seem to understand -their business thoroughly, and all they are not quite sure of is the -readiness of the land forces to co-operate with their expeditionary -movements. Incidentally I learned from the conversation--and it -is a curious illustration of the power of the President--that it -was he who ordered the attack on Charleston harbour, or, to speak -with more accuracy, the movement of the armed squadron to relieve -Sumter by force, if necessary; and that he came to the conclusion -it was feasible principally from reading the account of the attack -on Kinburn by the allied fleets. There was certainly an immense -disproportion between the relative means of attack and defence in -the two cases; but, at all events, the action of the Confederates -prevented the attempt. - -_September 1st._--Took a ride early this morning over the Long -Bridge. As I was passing out of the earthwork called a fort on the -hill, a dirty German soldier called out from the parapet, “Pull-Run -Russell! you shall never write Pulls’ Runs again,” and at the same -time cocked his piece, and levelled it at me. I immediately rode -round into the fort, the fellow still presenting his firelock, and -asked him what he meant, at the same time calling for the sergeant of -the guard, who came at once, and, at my request, arrested the man, -who recovered arms, and said, “It was a choake--I vant to freeken -Pull-Run Russell.” However, as his rifle was capped and loaded, and -on full cock, with his finger on the trigger, I did not quite see -the fun of it, and I accordingly had the man marched to the tent of -the officer, who promised to investigate the case, and make a formal -report of it to the brigadier, on my return to lay the circumstances -before him. On reflection I resolved that it was best to let the -matter drop; the joke might spread, and it was quite unpleasant -enough as it was to bear the insolent looks and scowling faces of -the guards at the posts, to whom I was obliged to exhibit my pass -whenever I went out to ride. - -On my return I heard of the complete success of the Hatteras -expedition, which shelled out and destroyed some sand batteries -guarding the entrance to the great inland sea and navigation called -Pamlico Sound, in North Carolina, furnishing access to coasters for -many miles into the Confederate States, and most useful to them in -forwarding supplies and keeping up communications throughout. The -force was commanded by General Butler, who has come to Washington -with the news, and has already made his speech to the mob outside -Willard’s. I called down to see him, but he had gone over to call on -the President. The people were jubilant, and one might have supposed -Hatteras was the key to Richmond or Charleston, from the way they -spoke of this unparalleled exploit. - -There is a little French gentleman here against whom the fates bear -heavily. I have given him employment as an amanuensis and secretary -for some time back, and he tells me many things concerning the talk -in the city which I do not hear myself, from which it would seem -that there is an increase of ill feeling towards me every day, and -that I am a convenient channel for concentrating all the abuse and -hatred so long cherished against England. I was a little tickled by -an account he gave me of a distinguished lady, who sent for him to -give French lessons, in order that she might become equal to her high -position in mastering the difficulties of the courtly tongue. I may -mention the fact, as it was radiated by the press through all the -land, that Mrs. M. N., having once on a time “been proficient in the -language, has forgotten it in the lapse of years, but has resolved to -renew her studies, that she may better discharge the duties of her -elevated station.” The master went to the house and stated his terms -to a lady whom he saw there; but as she marchandéd a good deal over -small matters of cents, he never supposed he was dealing with the -great lady, and therefore made a small reduction in his terms, which -encouraged the enemy to renew the assault till he stood firmly on -three shillings a lesson, at which point the lady left him, with the -intimation that she would consider the matter and let him know. And -now, the licentiate tells me, it has become known he is my private -secretary, he is not considered eligible to do _avoir_ and _être_ for -the satisfaction of the good lady, who really is far better than her -friends describe her to be. - -_September 2nd._--It would seem as if the North were perfectly -destitute of common sense. Here they are as rampant because they have -succeeded with an overwhelming fleet in shelling out the defenders -of some poor unfinished earthworks, on a spit of sand on the coast -of North Carolina, as if they had already crushed the Southern -rebellion. They affect to consider this achievement a counterpoise to -Bull Bun. - -Surely the press cannot represent the feelings of the staid and -thinking masses of the Northern States! The success is unquestionably -useful to the Federalists, but it no more adds to their chances of -crushing the Confederacy, than shooting off the end of an elephant’s -tail contributes to the hunter’s capture of the animal. - -An officious little person, who was buzzing about here as -correspondent of a London newspaper, made himself agreeable by coming -with a caricature of my humble self at the battle of Bull Bun, in a -laborious and most unsuccessful imitation of _Punch_, in which I am -represented with rather a flattering face and figure, seated before a -huge telescope, surrounded by bottles of London stout, and looking -at the fight. This is supposed to be very humorous and amusing, -and my good-natured friend was rather astonished when I cut it out -and inserted it carefully in a scrap-book, opposite a sketch from -fancy of the New York Fire Zouaves charging a battery and routing -a regiment of cavalry, which appeared last week in a much more -imaginative and amusing periodical, which aspires to describe with -pen and pencil the actual current events of the war. - -Going out for my usual ride to-day, I saw General Scott, between two -aides-de-camp, slowly pacing homewards from the War Office. He is -still Commander-in-Chief of the army, and affects to direct movements -and to control the disposition of the troops, but a power greater -than his increases steadily at General M‘Clellan’s head-quarters. For -my own part I confess that General M‘Clellan does not appear to me -a man of action, or, at least, a man who intends to act as speedily -as the crisis demands. He should be out with his army across the -Potomac, living among his generals, studying the composition of his -army, investigating its defects, and, above all, showing himself to -the men as soon afterwards as possible, if he cannot be with them -at the time, in the small affairs which constantly occur along the -front, and never permitting them to receive a blow without taking -care that they give at least two in return. General Scott, _jam -fracta membra labore_, would do all the work of departments and -superintendence admirably well; but, as Montesquieu taught long ago, -faction and intrigue are the cancers which peculiarly eat into the -body politic of republics, and M‘Clellan fears, no doubt, that his -absence from the capital, even though he went but across the river, -would animate his enemies to undermine and supplant him. - -I have heard several people say lately, “I wish old Scott would go -away,” by which they mean that they would be happy to strike him -down when his back was turned, but feared his personal influence -with the President and his Cabinet. Two months ago and his was the -most honoured name in the States: one was sickened by the constant -repetition of elaborate plans, in which the General was represented -playing the part of an Indian juggler, and holding an enormous boa -constrictor of a Federal army in his hands, which he was preparing to -let go as soon as he had coiled it completely round the frightened -Secessionist rabbit; “now none so poor to do him reverence.” Hard is -the fate of those who serve republics. The officers who met the old -man in the street to-day passed him by without a salute or mark of -recognition, although he wore his uniform coat, with yellow lapels -and yellow sash; and one of a group which came out of a _restaurant_ -close to the General’s house, exclaimed, almost in his hearing, “Old -fuss-and-feathers don’t look first-rate to-day.” - -In the evening I went with a Scotch gentleman, who was formerly -acquainted with General M‘Clellan when he was superintendent of the -Central Illinois Railway, to his head-quarters, which are in the -house of Captain Wilkes at the corner of President Square, near -Mr. Seward’s, and not far from the spot where General Sickles shot -down the unhappy man who had temporarily disturbed the peace of his -domestic relations. The parlours were full of officers smoking, -reading the papers, and writing, and after a short conversation -with General Marcy, Chief of the Staff, Van Vliet, aide-de-camp of -the Commander-in-Chief, led the way up-stairs to the top of the -house, where we found General M‘Clellan, just returned from a long -ride, and seated in his shirt sleeves on the side of his camp-bed. -He looked better than I have yet seen him, for his dress showed to -advantage the powerful, compact formation of his figure, massive -throat, well-set head, and muscular energy of his frame. Nothing -could be more agreeable or easy than his manner. In his clear, -dark-blue eye was no trace of uneasiness or hidden purpose; but his -mouth, covered by a short, thick moustache, rarely joins in the smile -that overspreads his face when he is animated by telling or hearing -some matter of interest. Telegraph wires ran all about the house, -and as we sat round the General’s table, despatches were repeatedly -brought in from the Generals in the front. Sometimes M‘Clellan laid -down his cigar and went off to study a large map of the position, -which was fixed to the wall close to the head of his bed; but more -frequently the contents of the despatches caused him to smile or to -utter some exclamation, which gave one an idea that he did not attach -much importance to the news, and had not great faith in the reports -received from his subordinate officers, who are always under the -impression that the enemy are coming on in force. - -It is plain the General has got no high opinion of volunteer officers -and soldiers. In addition to unsteadiness in action, which arises -from want of confidence in the officers as much as from any other -cause, the men labour under the great defect of exceeding rashness, -a contempt for the most ordinary precautions and a liability to -unaccountable alarms and credulousness of false report; but, -admitting all these circumstances, M‘Clellan has a soldier’s faith -in _gros bataillons_ and sees no doubt of ultimate success in a -military point of view, provided the politicians keep quiet, and, -charming men as they are, cease to meddle with things they don’t -understand. Although some very good officers have deserted the United -States army and are now with the Confederates, a very considerable -majority of West Point officers have adhered to the Federals. I am -satisfied, by an actual inspection of the lists, that the Northerners -retain the same preponderance in officers who have received a -military education, as they possess in wealth and other means, and -resources for carrying on the war. - -The General consumes tobacco largely, and not only smokes cigars, -but indulges in the more naked beauties of a quid. From tobacco we -wandered to the Crimea, and thence went half round the world, till we -halted before the Virginian watch-fires, which these good volunteers -will insist on lighting under the very noses of the enemy’s pickets; -nor was it till late we retired, leaving the General to his -well-earned repose. - -General M‘Clellan took the situation of affairs in a very easy and -philosophical spirit. According to his own map and showing, the -enemy not only overlapped his lines from the batteries by which they -blockaded the Potomac on the right, to their extreme left on the -river above Washington, but have established themselves in a kind of -salient angle on his front, at a place called Munson’s Hill, where -their flag waved from entrenchments within sight of the Capitol. -However, from an observation he made, I imagined that the General -would make an effort to recover his lost ground; at any rate, beat -up the enemy’s quarters, in order to see what they were doing; and -he promised to send an orderly round and let me know; so, before I -retired, I gave orders to my groom to have “Walker” in readiness. - -_September 3rd._--Notwithstanding the extreme heat, I went out early -this morning to the Chain Bridge, from which the reconnaissance -hinted at last night would necessarily start. This bridge is about -four and a half or five miles above Washington, and crosses the -river at a picturesque spot almost deserving the name of a gorge, -with high banks on both sides. It is a light aërial structure, and -spans the river by broad arches, from which the view reminds one of -Highland or Tyrolean scenery. The road from the city passes through a -squalid settlement of European squatters, who in habitation, dress, -appearance, and possibly civilisation, are quite as bad as any -negroes on any Southern plantation I have visited. The camps of a -division lie just beyond, and a gawky sentry from New England, with -whom I had some conversation, amused me by saying that the Colonel -“was a darned deal more affeerd of the Irish squatters taking off his -poultry at night than he was of the Secessioners; anyways, he puts -out more sentries to guard them than he has to look after the others.” - -From the Chain Bridge I went some distance towards Falls Church, -until I was stopped by a picket, the officer of which refused to -recognise General Scott’s pass. “I guess the General’s a dead man, -sir.” “Is he not Commander-in-Chief of the United States army?” -“Well, I believe that’s a fact, sir; but you had better argue that -point with M‘Clellan. He is our boy, and I do believe he’d like to -let the London _Times_ know how we Green Mountain boys can fight, if -they don’t know already. But all passes are stopped anyhow, and I -had to turn back a Congress-man this very morning, and lucky for him -it was, because the Sechessers are just half a mile in front of us.” -On my way back by the upper road I passed a farmer’s house, which was -occupied by some Federal officers, and there, seated in the verandah, -with his legs cocked over the railings, was Mr. Lincoln, in a felt -hat, and a loose grey shooting coat and long vest, “letting off,” -as the papers say, one of his jokes, to judge by his attitude and -the laughter of the officers around him, utterly indifferent to the -Confederate flag floating from Munson’s Hill. - -Just before midnight a considerable movement of troops took place -through the streets, and I was about starting off to ascertain the -cause, when I received information that General M‘Clellan was only -sending off two brigades and four batteries to the Chain Bridge to -strengthen his right, which was menaced by the enemy. I retired to -bed, in order to be ready for any battle which might take place -to-morrow, but was roused up by voices beneath my window, and going -out on the verandah, could not help chuckling at the appearance -of three foreign ministers and a banker, in the street below, who -had come round to inquire, in some perturbation, the cause of the -nocturnal movement of men and guns, and seemed little inclined to -credit my assurances that nothing more serious than a reconnaissance -was contemplated. The ministers were in high spirits at the prospect -of an attack on Washington. Such agreeable people are the governing -party of the United States at present, that there is only one -representative of a foreign power here who would not like to see -them flying before Southern bayonets. The banker, perhaps, would -have liked a little time to set his affairs in order. “When will the -sacking begin?” cried the ministers. “We must hoist our flags.” “The -Confederates respect private property, I suppose?” As to flags, be it -remarked that Lord Lyons has none to display, having lent his to Mr. -Seward, who required it for some festive demonstration. - -_September 4th._--I rode over to the Chain Bridge again with Captain -Haworth this morning at seven o’clock, on the chance of there being -a big fight, as the Americans say; but there was only some slight -skirmishing going on; dropping shots now and then. Walker, excited -by the reminiscences of Bull Run noises, performed most remarkable -feats, one of the most frequent of which was turning right round when -at full trot or canter and then kicking violently. He also galloped -in a most lively way down a road which in winter is the bed of a -torrent, and jumped along among the boulders and stones in an agile, -cat-like manner, to the great delectation of my companion. - -The morning was intensely hot, so I was by no means indisposed to -get back to cover again. Nothing would persuade people there was -not serious fighting somewhere or other. I went down to the Long -Bridge, and was stopped by the sentry, so I produced General Scott’s -pass, which I kept always as a _dernier ressort_, but the officer on -duty here also refused it, as passes were suspended. I returned and -referred the matter to Colonel Cullum, who consulted General Scott, -and informed me that the pass must be considered as perfectly valid, -not having been revoked by the General, who, as Lieutenant-General -commanding the United States army, was senior to every other -officer, and could only have his pass revoked by the President -himself. Now it was quite plain that it would do me no good to have -an altercation with the sentries at every post in order to have the -satisfaction of reporting the matter to General Scott. I, therefore, -procured a letter from Colonel Cullum stating, in writing, what he -said in words, and with that and the pass went to General M‘Clellan’s -head-quarters, where I was told by his aides the General was engaged -in a kind of council of war. I sent up my papers, and Major Hudson, -of his staff, came down after a short time and said, that “General -M‘Clellan thought it would be much better if General Scott had given -me a new special pass, but as General Scott had thought fit to take -the present course on his own responsibility, General M‘Clellan could -not interfere in the matter,” whence it may be inferred there is -no very pleasant feeling between head-quarters of the army of the -Potomac and head-quarters of the army of the United States. - -I went on to the Navy yard, where a look-out man, who can command -the whole of the country to Munson’s Hill, is stationed, and I -heard from Captain Dahlgren that there was no fighting whatever. -There were columns of smoke visible from Capitol Hill, which the -excited spectators declared were caused by artillery and musketry, -but my glass resolved them into emanations from a vast extent of -hanging wood and brush which the Federals were burning in order -to clear their front. However, people were so positive as to -hearing cannonades and volleys of musketry that we went out to the -reservoir hill at Georgetown, and gazing over the debatable land -of Virginia--which, by the way, is very beautiful these summer -sunsets--became thoroughly satisfied of the delusion. Met Van Vliet -as I was returning, who had just seen the reports at head-quarters, -and averred there was no fighting whatever. My landlord had a very -different story. His friend, an hospital steward, “had seen ninety -wounded men carried into one ward from over the river, and believed -the Federals had lost 1000 killed and wounded and twenty-five guns.” - -_Sept. 5th._--Raining all day. M‘Clellan abandoned his intention -of inspecting the lines, and I remained in, writing. The anonymous -letters still continue. Received one from an unmistakable Thug -to-day, with the death’s-head, cross-bones, and coffin, in the most -orthodox style of national-school drawing. - -The event of the day was the appearance of the President in the -Avenue in a suit of black, and a parcel in his hand, walking -umbrella-less in the rain. Mrs. Lincoln has returned, and the worthy -“Executive” will no longer be obliged to go “browsing round,” as he -says, among his friends at dinner-time. He is working away at money -matters with energy, but has been much disturbed in his course of -studies by General Fremont’s sudden outburst in the West, which -proclaims emancipation, and draws out the arrow which the President -intended to discharge from his own bow. - -_Sept. 6th._--At 3.30 p.m. General M‘Clellan sent over an orderly to -say he was going across the river, and would be glad of my company; -but I was just finishing my letters for England, and had to excuse -myself for the moment; and when I was ready, the General and staff -had gone _ventre à terre_ into Virginia. After post, paid my -respects to General Scott, who is about to retire from the command -on his full-pay of about £3500 per annum, which is awarded to him on -account of his long services. - -A new Major-General--Halleck--has been picked up in California, and -is highly praised by General Scott and by Colonel Cullum, with whom I -had a long talk about the generals on both sides. Halleck is a West -Point officer, and has published some works on military science which -are highly esteemed in the States. Before California became a State, -he was secretary to the governor or officer commanding the territory, -and eventually left the service and became a lawyer in the district, -where he has amassed a large fortune. He is a man of great ability, -very calm, practical, earnest, and cold, devoted to the Union--a -soldier, and something more. Lee is considered the ablest man on -the Federal side, but he is slow and timid. “Joe” Johnson is their -best strategist. Beauregard is nobody and nothing--so think they at -head-quarters. All of them together are not equal to Halleck, who is -to be employed in the West. - -I dined at the Legation, where were the Russian Minister, the -Secretary of the French Legation, the representative of New Granada, -and others. As I was anxious to explain to General M‘Clellan the -reason of my inability to go out with him, I called at his quarters -about eleven o’clock, and found he had just returned from his ride. -He received me in his shirt, in his bed-room at the top of the house, -introduced me to General Burnside--a soldierly, intelligent-looking -man, with a very lofty forehead, and uncommonly bright dark eyes; and -we had some conversation about matters of ordinary interest for some -time, till General M‘Clellan called me into an antechamber, where an -officer was writing a despatch, which he handed to the General. “I -wish to ask your opinion as to the wording of this order. It is a -matter of importance. I see that the men of this army, Mr. Russell, -disregard the Sabbath, and neglect the worship of God; and I am -resolved to put an end to such neglect, as far as I can. I have, -therefore, directed the following order to be drawn up, which will -be promulgated to-morrow.” The General spoke with much earnestness, -and with an air which satisfied me of his sincerity. The officer -in waiting read the order, in which, at the General’s request, I -suggested a few alterations. The General told me he had received -“sure information that Beauregard has packed up all his baggage, -struck his tents, and is evidently preparing for a movement, so you -may be wanted at a moment’s notice.” General Burnside returned to my -rooms, in company with Mr. Lamy, and we sat up, discoursing of Bull’s -Run, in which his brigade was the first engaged in front. He spoke -like a man of sense and a soldier of the action, and stood up for the -conduct of some regiments, though he could not palliate the final -disorder. The papers circulate rumours of “Jeff. Davis’s death;” nay, -accounts of his burial. The public does not believe, but buys all the -same. - -_Sept. 7th._--Yes; “Jeff. Davis must be dead.” There are some -touching lamentations in the obituary notices over his fate in the -other world. Meanwhile, however, his spirit seems quite alive; for -there is an absolute certainty that the Confederates are coming to -attack the Capitol. Lieut. Wise and Lord A. Vane Tempest argued -the question whether the assault would be made by a flank movement -above or direct in front; and Wise maintained the latter thesis with -vigour not disproportioned to the energy with which his opponent -demonstrated that the Confederates could not be such madmen as to -march up to the Federal batteries. There is actually “a battle” -raging (in the front of the Philadelphia newspaper offices) this -instant--_Populus vult decipi--decipiatur_. - -_Sept. 8th._--Rode over to Arlington House. Went round by Aqueduct -Bridge, Georgetown, and out across Chain Bridge to Brigadier Smith’s -head-quarters, which are established in a comfortable house belonging -to a Secessionist farmer. The General belongs to the regular army, -and, if one can judge from externals, is a good officer. A libation -of Bourbon and water was poured out to friendship, and we rode out -with Captain Poe, of the Topographical Engineers, a hard-working, -eager fellow, to examine the trench which the men were engaged in -throwing up to defend the position they have just occupied on some -high knolls, now cleared of wood, and overlooking ravines which -stretch towards Falls Church and Vienna. Everything about the camp -looked like fighting: Napoleon guns planted on the road; Griffin’s -battery in a field near at hand; mountain howitzers unlimbered; -strong pickets and main-guards; the five thousand men all kept close -to their camps, and two regiments, in spite of M‘Clellan’s order, -engaged on the trenches, which were already mounted with field-guns. -General Smith, like most officers, is a Democrat and strong -anti-Abolitionist, and it is not too much to suppose he would fight -any rather than Virginians. As we were riding about, it got out -among the men that I was present, and I was regarded with no small -curiosity, staring, and some angry looks. The men do not know what to -make of it when they see their officers in the company of one whom -they are reading about in the papers as the most &c., &c., the world -ever saw. And, indeed, I know well enough, so great is their passion -and so easily are they misled, that without such safeguard the men -would in all probability carry out the suggestions of one of their -particular guides, who has undergone so many cuffings that he rather -likes them. Am I not the cause of the disaster at Bull’s Run? - -Going home, I met Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln in their new open carriage. -The President was not so good-humoured, nor Mrs. Lincoln so affable, -in their return to my salutation as usual. My unpopularity is -certainly spreading upwards and downwards at the same time, and all -because I could not turn the battle of Bull’s Run into a Federal -victory, because I would not pander to the vanity of the people, -and, least of all, because I will not bow my knee to the degraded -creatures who have made the very name of a free press odious to -honourable men. Many of the most foul-mouthed and rabid of the men -who revile me because I have said the Union as it was never can be -restored, are as fully satisfied of the truth of that statement as I -am. They have written far severer things of their army than I have -ever done. They have slandered their soldiers and their officers -as I have never done. They have fed the worst passions of a morbid -democracy, till it can neither see nor hear; but they shall never -have the satisfaction of either driving me from my post or inducing -me to deviate a hair’s-breadth from the course I have resolved to -pursue, as I have done before in other cases--greater and graver, as -far as I was concerned, than this. - -_Sept. 9th._--This morning, as I was making the most of my toilet -after a ride, a gentleman in the uniform of a United States officer -came up-stairs, and marched into my sitting-room, saying he wished -to see me on business. I thought it was one of my numerous friends -coming with a message from some one who was going to avenge Bull’s -Run on me. So, going out as speedily as I could, I bowed to the -officer, and asked his business. “I’ve come here because I’d like -to trade with you about that chestnut horse of yours.” I replied -that I could only state what price I had given for him, and say that -I would take the same, and no less. “What may you have given for -him?” I discovered that my friend had been already to the stable and -ascertained the price from the groom, who considered himself bound -in duty to name a few dollars beyond the actual sum I had given, for -when I mentioned the price, the countenance of the man of war relaxed -into a grim smile. “Well, I reckon that help of yours is a pretty -smart chap, though he does come from your side of the world.” When -the preliminaries had been arranged, the officer announced that he -had come on behalf of another officer to offer me an order on his -paymaster, payable at some future date, for the animal, which he -desired, however, to take away upon the spot. The transaction was -rather amusing, but I consented to let the horse go, much to the -indignation and uneasiness of the Scotch servant, who regarded it as -contrary to all the principles of morality in horseflesh. - -Lord A. V. Tempest and another British subject, who applied to -Mr. Seward to-day for leave to go South, were curtly refused. The -Foreign Secretary is not very well pleased with us all just now, and -there has been some little uneasiness between him and Lord Lyons, -in consequence of representations respecting an improper excess in -the United States marine on the lakes, contrary to treaty. The real -cause, perhaps, of Mr. Seward’s annoyance is to be found in the -exaggerated statements of the American papers respecting British -reinforcements for Canada, which, in truth, are the ordinary reliefs. -These small questions in the present condition of affairs cause -irritation; but if the United States were not distracted by civil -war, they would be seized eagerly as pretexts to excite the popular -mind against Great Britain. - -The great difficulty of all, which must be settled some day, relates -to San Juan; and every American I have met is persuaded Great Britain -is in the wrong, and must consent to a compromise or incur the risk -of war. The few English in Washington, I think, were all present at -dinner at the Legation to-day. - -_September 10th._--A party of American officers passed the evening -where I dined--all, of course, Federals, but holding very different -views. A Massachusetts Colonel, named Gordon, asserted that slavery -was at the root of every evil which afflicted the Republic; that -it was not necessary in the South or anywhere else, and that the -South maintained the institution for political as well as private -ends. A Virginian Captain, on the contrary, declared that slavery -was in itself good; that it could not be dangerous, as it was -essentially conservative, and desired nothing better than to be left -alone; but that the Northern fanatics, jealous of the superior -political influence and ability of Southern statesmen, and sordid -Protectionists who wished to bind the South to take their goods -exclusively, perpetrated all the mischief. An officer of the district -of Columbia assigned all the misfortunes of the country to universal -suffrage, to foreign immigration, and to these alone. Mob-law revolts -well-educated men, and people who pride themselves because their -fathers lived in the country before them, will not be content to see -a foreigner who has been but a short time on the soil exercising as -great influence over the fate of the country as himself. A contest -will, therefore, always be going on between those representing the -oligarchical principle and the pollarchy; and the result must be -disruption, sooner or later, because there is no power in a republic -to restrain the struggling factions which the weight of the crown -compresses in monarchical countries. - -I dined with a namesake--a major in the United States Marines--with -whom I had become accidentally acquainted, in consequence of our -letters frequently changing hands, and spent an agreeable evening in -company with naval and military officers; not the less so because our -host had some marvellous Madeira, dating back from the Conquest--I -mean of Washington. Several of the officers spoke in the highest -terms of General Banks, whom they call a most remarkable man; but so -jealous are the politicians that he will never be permitted, they -think, to get a fair chance of distinguishing himself. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - - A Crimean acquaintance--Personal abuse of myself--Close - firing--A reconnaissance--Major-General Bell--The Prince de - Joinville and his nephews--American estimate of Louis Napoleon - --Arrest of members of the Maryland Legislature--Life at - Washington--War cries--News from the Far West--Journey to the - Western States--Along the Susquehannah and Juniata--Chicago-- - Sport in the prairie--Arrested for shooting on Sunday--The - town of Dwight--Return to Washington--Mr. Seward and myself. - - -_September 11th._--A soft-voiced, round-faced, rather good-looking -young man, with downy moustache, came to my room, and introduced -himself this morning as Mr. H. H. Scott, formerly of Her Majesty’s -57th Regiment. “Don’t you remember me? I often met you at Cathcart’s -Hill. I had a big dog, if you remember, which used to be about the -store belonging to our camp.” And so he rattled on, talking of old -Street and young Jones with immense volubility, and telling me how -he had gone out to India with his regiment, had married, lost his -wife, and was now travelling for the benefit of his health and to see -the country. All the time I was trying to remember his face, but in -vain. At last came the purport of his visit. He had been taken ill at -Baltimore, and was obliged to stop at an hotel, which had cost him -more than he had anticipated; he had just received a letter from his -father, which required his immediate return, and he had telegraphed -to New York to secure his place in the next steamer. Meantime, he was -out of money, and required a small loan to enable him to go back and -prepare for his journey, and of course he would send me the money -the moment he arrived in New York. I wrote a cheque for the amount -he named, with which Lieutenant or Captain Scott departed; and my -suspicions were rather aroused by seeing him beckon a remarkably -ill-favoured person at the other side of the way, who crossed over -and inspected the little slip of paper held out for his approbation, -and then, taking his friend under the arm, walked off rapidly towards -the bank. - -The papers still continue to abuse me _faute de mieux_; there are -essays written about me; I am threatened with several farces; I have -been lectured upon at Willard’s by a professor of rhetoric; and I am -a stock subject with the leaden penny funny journals, for articles -and caricatures. Yesterday I was abused on the ground that I spoke -badly of those who treated me hospitably. The man who wrote the -words knew they were false, because I have been most careful in my -correspondence to avoid anything of the kind. A favourite accusation, -indeed, which Americans make against foreigners is, “that they have -abused our hospitality,” which oftentimes consists in permitting them -to live in the country at all at their own expense, paying their way -at hotels and elsewhere, without the smallest suspicion that they -were receiving any hospitality whatever. - -To-day, for instance, there comes a lively corporal of artillery, -John Robinson, who quotes Sismondi, Guizot, and others, to prove that -I am the worst man in the world; but his fiercest invectives are -directed against me on the ground that I speak well of those people -who give me dinners; the fact being, since I came to America, that I -have given at least as many dinners to Americans as I have received -from them. - -Just as I was sitting down to my desk for the remainder of the day, -a sound caught my ear which, repeated again and again, could not -be mistaken by accustomed organs, and placing my face close to the -windows, I perceived the glass vibrate to the distant discharge of -cannon, which, evidently, did not proceed from a review or a salute. -Unhappy man that I am! here is Walker lame, and my other horse -carried off by the West-country captain. However, the sounds were -so close that in a few moments I was driving off towards the Chain -Bridge, taking the upper road, as that by the canal has become a sea -of mud filled with deep holes. - -In the windows, on the house-tops, even to the ridges partially -overlooking Virginia, people were standing in high excitement, -watching the faint puffs of smoke which rose at intervals above the -tree-tops, and at every report a murmur--exclamations of “There, -do you hear that?”--ran through the crowd. The driver, as excited -as any one else, urged his horses at full speed, and we arrived at -the Chain Bridge just as General M‘Call--a white haired, rather -military-looking old man--appeared at the head of his column, -hurrying down to the Chain Bridge from the Maryland side, to -re-inforce Smith, who was said to be heavily engaged with the enemy. -But by this time the firing had ceased, and just as the artillery -of the General’s column commenced defiling through the mud, into -which the guns sank to the naves of the wheels, the head of another -column appeared, entering the bridge from the Virginia side with -loud cheers, which were taken up again and again. The carriage was -halted to allow the 2nd Wisconsin to pass; and a more broken-down, -white-faced, sick, and weakly set of poor wretches I never beheld. -The heavy rains had washed the very life out of them; their clothing -was in rags, their shoes were broken, and multitudes were foot-sore. -They cheered, nevertheless, or whooped, and there was a tremendous -clatter of tongues in the ranks concerning their victory; but, as the -men’s faces and hands were not blackened by powder, they could have -seen little of the engagement. Captain Poe came along with dispatches -for General M‘Clellan, and gave me a correct account of the affair. - -All this noise and firing and excitement, I found, simply arose out -of a reconnaissance made towards Lewinsville, by Smith and a part -of his brigade, to beat up the enemy’s position, and enable the -topographical engineers to procure some information respecting the -country. The Confederates worked down upon their left flank with -artillery, which they got into position at an easy range without -being observed, intending, no doubt, to cut off their retreat -and capture or destroy the whole force; but, fortunately for the -reconnoitring party, the impatience of their enemies led them to open -fire too soon. The Federals got their guns into position also, and -covered their retreat, whilst reinforcements poured out of camp to -their assistance, “and I doubt not,” said Poe, “but that they will -have an encounter of a tremendous scalping match in all the papers -to-morrow, although we have only six or seven men killed, and twelve -wounded.” As we approached Washington the citizens, as they are -called, were waving Federal banners out of the windows and rejoicing -in a great victory; at least, the inhabitants of the inferior sort of -houses. Respectability in Washington means Secession. - -Mr. Monson told me that my distressed young British subject, Captain -Scott, had called on him at the Legation early this morning for the -little pecuniary help which had been, I fear, wisely refused there, -and which was granted by me. The States have become, indeed, more -than ever the _cloacina gentium_, and Great Britain contributes its -full quota to the stream. - -Thus time passes away in expectation of some onward movement, or -desperate attack, or important strategical movements; and night comes -to reassemble a few friends, Americans and English, at my rooms -or elsewhere, to talk over the disappointed hopes of the day, to -speculate on the future, to chide each dull delay, and to part with a -hope that to-morrow would be more lively than to-day. Major-General -Bell, who commanded the Royals in the Crimea, and who has passed some -half century in active service, turned up in Washington, and has been -courteously received by the American authorities. He joined to-night -one of our small reunions, and was infinitely puzzled to detect the -lines which separated one man’s country and opinions from those of -the other. - -_September 11th._--Captain Johnson, Queen’s messenger, started with -despatches for England from the Legation to-day, to the regret of -our little party. I observe by the papers certain wiseacres in -Philadelphia have got up a petition against me to Mr. Seward, on -the ground that I have been guilty of treasonable practices and -misrepresentations in my letter dated August 10th. There is also -to be a lecture on the 17th at Willard’s, by the Professor of -Rhetoric, to a volunteer regiment, which the President is invited to -attend--the subject being myself. - -There is an absolute nullity of events, out of which the New York -papers endeavour, in vain, to extract a _caput mortuum_ of sensation -headings. The Prince of Joinville and his two nephews, the Count of -Paris and the Duke of Chartres, have been here for some days, and -have been received with marked attention by the President, Cabinet, -politicians and military. The Prince has come with the intention of -placing his son at the United States Naval Academy, and his nephews -with the head-quarters of the Federal army. The _empressement_ -exhibited at the White House towards the French princes is attributed -by ill-natured rumours and persons to a little pique on the part -of Mrs. Lincoln, because the Princess Clothilde did not receive -her at New York, but considerable doubts are entertained of the -Emperor’s “loyalty” towards the Union. Under the wild extravagance -of professions of attachment to France are hidden suspicions -that Louis Napoleon may be capable of treasonable practices and -misrepresentations, which, in time, may lead the Philadelphians to -get up a petition against M. Mercier. - -The news that twenty-two members of the Maryland Legislature have -been seized by the Federal authorities has not produced the smallest -effect here: so easily do men in the midst of political troubles -bend to arbitrary power, and so rapidly do all guarantees disappear -in a revolution. I was speaking to one of General M‘Clellan’s -aides-de-camp this evening respecting these things, when he -said--“If I thought he would use his power a day longer than was -necessary, I would resign this moment. I believe him incapable of any -selfish or unconstitutional views, or unlawful ambition, and you will -see that he will not disappoint our expectations.” - -It is now quite plain M‘Clellan has no intention of making a general -defensive movement against Richmond. He is aware his army is not -equal to the task--commissariat deficient, artillery wanting, no -cavalry; above all, ill-officered, incoherent battalions. He hopes, -no doubt, by constant reviewing and inspection, and by weeding out -the preposterous fellows who render epaulettes ridiculous, to create -an infantry which shall be able for a short campaign in the fine -autumn weather; but I am quite satisfied he does not intend to move -now, and possibly will not do so till next year. I have arranged -therefore to pay a short visit to the West, penetrating as far as I -can, without leaving telegraphs and railways behind, so that if an -advance takes place, I shall be back in time at Washington to assist -at the earliest battle. These Federal armies do not move like the -corps of the French republic, or Crawford’s Light Division. - -In truth, Washington life is becoming exceedingly monotonous and -uninteresting. The pleasant little evening parties or tertulias which -once relieved the dulness of this dullest of capitals, take place no -longer. Very wrong indeed would it be that rejoicings and festivities -should occur in the capital of a country menaced with destruction, -where many anxious hearts are grieving over the lost, or tortured -with fears for the living. - -But for the hospitality of Lord Lyons to the English residents, the -place would be nearly insufferable, for at his house one met other -friendly ministers who extended the circle of invitations, and two -or three American families completed the list which one could reckon -on his fingers. Then at night, there were assemblages of the same -men, who uttered the same opinions, told the same stories, sang the -same songs, varied seldom by strange faces or novel accomplishments, -but always friendly and social enough--not conducive perhaps to -very early rising, but innocent of gambling, or other excess. A -flask of Bordeaux, a wicker-covered demi-john of Bourbon, a jug -of iced water and a bundle of cigars, with the latest arrival of -newspapers, furnished the _matériel_ of these small symposiums, in -which Americans and Englishmen and a few of the members of foreign -Legations, mingled in a friendly cosmopolitan manner. Now and then a -star of greater magnitude came down upon us: a senator or an “earnest -man,” or a “live man,” or a constitutional lawyer, or a remarkable -statesman, coruscated, and rushing off into the outer world left -us befogged, with our glimmering lights half extinguished with -tobacco-smoke. - -Out of doors excessive heat alternating with thunder-storms and -tropical showers--dust beaten into mud, or mud sublimated into -dust--eternal reviews, each like the other--visits to camp, where we -saw the same men and heard the same stories of perpetual abortive -skirmishes--rides confined to the same roads and paths by lines of -sentries, offered no greater attraction than the city, where one’s -bones were racked with fever and ague, and where every evening the -pestilential vapours of the Potomac rose higher and spread further. -No wonder that I was glad to get away to the Far West, particularly -as I entertained hopes of witnessing some of the operations down the -Mississippi, before I was summoned back to Washington, by the news -that the grand army had actually broken up camp, and was about once -more to march against Richmond. - -_September 12th._--The day passed quietly, in spite of rumours of -another battle; the band played in the President’s garden, and -citizens and citizenesses strolled about the grounds as if Secession -had been annihilated. The President made a fitful appearance, in a -grey shooting suit, with a number of despatches in his hand, and -walked off towards the State Department quite unnoticed by the -crowd. I am sure not half a dozen persons saluted him--not one of -the men I saw even touched his hat. General Bell went round the -works with M‘Clellan, and expressed his opinion that it would be -impossible to fight a great battle in the country which lay between -the two armies--in fact, as he said, “a general could no more handle -his troops among the woods, than he could regulate the movements -of rabbits in a cover. You ought just to make a proposition to -Beauregard to come out on some plain and fight the battle fairly out -where you can see each other.” - -_September 16th._--It is most agreeable to be removed from all the -circumstance without any of the pomp and glory of war. Although there -is a tendency in the North, and, for aught I know, in the South, to -consider the contest in the same light as one with a foreign enemy, -the very battle-cries on both sides indicate a civil war. “The Union -for ever”--“States rights”--and “Down with the Abolitionists,” -cannot be considered national. M‘Clellan takes no note of time even -by its loss, which is all the more strange because he sets great -store upon it in his report on the conduct of the war in the Crimea. -However, he knows an army cannot be made in two months, and that -the larger it is, the more time there is required to harmonize its -components. The news from the Far West indicated a probability of -some important operations taking place, although my first love--the -army of the Potomac--must be returned to. Any way there was the -great Western Prairie to be seen, and the people who have been -pouring from their plains so many thousands upon the Southern States -to assert the liberties of those coloured races whom they will not -permit to cross their borders as freemen. Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Blair, -and other Abolitionists, are actuated by similar sentiments, and -seek to emancipate the slave, and remove from him the protection -of his master, in order that they may drive him from the continent -altogether, or force him to seek refuge in emigration. - -On the 18th of September, I left Baltimore in company with -Major-General Bell, C.B., and Mr. Lamy, who was well acquainted with -the Western States: stopping one night at Altoona, in order that we -might cross by daylight the fine passes of the Alleganies, which are -traversed by bold gradients, and remarkable cuttings, second only in -difficulty and extent to those of the railroad across the Sömmering. - -So far as my observation extends, no route in the United States can -give a stranger a better notion of the variety of scenery and of -resources, the vast extent of territory, the difference in races, the -prosperity of the present, and the probable greatness of the future, -than the line from Baltimore by Harrisburg and Pittsburg to Chicago, -traversing the great States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. Plain -and mountain, hill and valley, river and meadow, forest and rock, -wild tracts through which the Indian roamed but a few years ago, -lands covered with the richest crops; rugged passes, which Salvator -would have peopled with shadowy groups of bandits; gentle sylvan -glades, such as Gainsborough would have covered with waving corn; -the hum of mills, the silence of the desert and waste, sea-like -lakes whitened by innumerable sails, mighty rivers carving their way -through continents, sparkling rivulets that lose their lives amongst -giant wheels: seams and lodes of coal, iron, and mineral wealth, -cropping out of desolate mountain sides; busy, restless manufacturers -and traders alternating with stolid rustics, hedges clustering with -grapes, mountains whitening with snow; and beyond, the great Prairie -stretching away to the backbone of inhospitable rock, which, rising -from the foundations of the world, bar the access of the white man -and civilisation to the bleak inhospitable regions beyond, which both -are fain as yet to leave to the savage and wild beast. - -Travelling along the banks of the Susquehannah, the visitor, however, -is neither permitted to admire the works of nature in silence, or -to express his admiration of the energy of man in his own way. The -tyranny of public opinion is upon him. He must admit that he never -saw anything so wonderful in his life; that there is nothing so -beautiful anywhere else; no fields so green, no rivers so wide and -deep, no bridges so lofty and long; and at last he is inclined to -shut himself up, either in absolute grumpy negation, or to indulge -in hopeless controversy. An American gentleman is as little likely -as any other well-bred man to force the opinions or interrupt the -reveries of a stranger; but if third-class Esquimaux are allowed to -travel in first-class carriages, the hospitable creatures will be -quite likely to insist on your swallowing train oil, eating blubber, -or admiring snow drifts, as the finest things in the world. It is -infinitely to the credit of the American people that actual offence -is so seldom given and is still more rarely intended--always save and -except in the one particular, of chewing tobacco. Having seen most -things that can irritate one’s stomach, and being in company with -an old soldier, I little expected that any excess of the sort could -produce disagreeable effects; but on returning from this excursion, -Mr. Lamy and myself were fairly driven out of a carriage, on the -Pittsburg line, in utter loathing and disgust, by the condition -of the floor. The conductor, passing through, said, “You must not -stand out there, it is against the rules; you can go in and smoke,” -pointing to the carriage. “In there!” exclaimed my friend, “why, it -is too filthy to put a wild beast into.” The conductor looked in for -a moment, nodded his head, and said, “Well, I concede it is right -bad; the citizens _are_ going it pretty strong,” and so left us. - -The scenery along the Juniata is still more picturesque than that of -the valley of the Susquehannah. The borders of the route across the -Alleganies have been described by many a writer; but notwithstanding -the good fortune which favoured us, and swept away the dense veil -of vapours on the lower ranges of the hills, the landscape scarcely -produced the effect of scenery on a less extended scale, just as -the scenery of the Himalayas is not so striking as that of the Alps, -because it is on too vast a scale to be readily grasped. - -Pittsburg, where we halted next night, on the Ohio, is certainly, -with the exception of Birmingham, the most intensely sooty, busy, -squalid, foul-housed, and vile-suburbed city I have ever seen. Under -its perpetual canopy of smoke, pierced by a forest of blackened -chimneys, the ill-paved streets, swarm with a streaky population -whose white faces are smutched with soot streaks--the noise of -vans and drays which shake the houses as they pass, the turbulent -life in the thoroughfares, the wretched brick tenements,--built in -waste places on squalid mounds, surrounded by heaps of slag and -broken brick--all these gave the stranger the idea of some vast -manufacturing city of the Inferno; and yet a few miles beyond, the -country is studded with beautiful villas, and the great river, -bearing innumerable barges and steamers on its broad bosom, rolls its -turbid waters between banks rich with cultivated crops. - -The policeman at Pittsburg station--a burly Englishman--told me that -the war had been of the greatest service to the city. He spoke not -only from a policeman’s point of view, when he said that all the -rowdies, Irish, Germans, and others had gone off to the war, but from -the manufacturing stand-point, as he added that wages were high, and -that the orders from contractors were keeping all the manufacturers -going. “It is wonderful,” said he, “what a number of the citizens -come back from the South, by rail, in these new metallic coffins.” - -A long, long day, traversing the State of Indiana by the Fort Wayne -route, followed by a longer night, just sufficed to carry us to -Chicago. The railway passes through a most uninteresting country, -which in part is scarcely rescued from a state of nature by the hand -of man; but it is wonderful to see so much done, when one hears that -the Miami Indians and other tribes were driven out, or, as the phrase -is, “removed,” only twenty years ago--“conveyed, the wise called -it”--to the reserves. - -From Chicago, where we descended at a hotel which fairly deserves -to be styled magnificent, for comfort and completeness, Mr. Lamy -and myself proceeded to Racine, on the shores of Lake Michigan, -and thence took the rail for Freeport, where I remained for some -days, going out in the surrounding prairie to shoot in the morning, -and returning at nightfall. The prairie chickens were rather wild. -The delight of these days, notwithstanding bad sport, cannot be -described, nor was it the least ingredient in it to mix with the -fresh and vigorous race who are raising up cities on these fertile -wastes. Fortunately for the patience of my readers, perhaps, I did -not fill my diary with the records of each day’s events, or of the -contents of our bags; and the note-book in which I jotted down some -little matters which struck me to be of interest has been mislaid; -but in my letters to England I gave a description of the general -aspect of the country, and of the feelings of the people, and -arrived at the conclusion that the tax-gatherer will have little -chance of returning with full note-books from his tour in these -districts. The dogs which were lent to us were generally abominable; -but every evening we returned in company with great leather-greaved -and jerkined-men, hung round with belts and hooks, from which were -suspended strings of defunct prairie chickens. The farmers were -hospitable, but were suffering from a morbid longing for a failure of -crops in Europe, in order to give some value to their corn and wheat, -which literally cumbered the earth. - -Freeport! Who ever heard of it? And yet it has its newspapers, -more than I dare mention, and its big hotel lighted with gas, its -billiard-rooms and saloons, magazines, railway stations, and all the -proper paraphernalia of local self-government, with all their fierce -intrigues and giddy factions. - -From Freeport our party returned to Chicago, taking leave of our -excellent friend and companion Mr. George Thompson, of Racine. The -authorities of the Central Illinois Railway, to whose courtesy and -consideration I was infinitely indebted, placed at our disposal a -magnificent sleeping carriage; and on the morning after our arrival, -having laid in a good stock of supplies, and engaged an excellent -sporting guide and dogs, we started, attached to the regular train -from Chicago, until the train stopped at a shunting place near the -station of Dwight, in the very centre of the prairie. We reached -our halting-place, were detached, and were shot up a siding in the -solitude, with no habitation in view, except the wood shanty, in -which lived the family of the Irish overseer of this portion of the -road--a man happy in the possession of a piece of gold which he -received from the Prince of Wales, and for which, he declared, he -would not take the amount of the National Debt. - -The sleeping carriage proved most comfortable quarters. After -breakfast in the morning, Mr. Lamy, Col. Foster, Mr. ----, of the -Central Illinois rail, the keeper, and myself, descending the steps -of our moveable house, walked in a few strides to the shooting -grounds, which abounded with quail, but were not so well peopled by -the chickens. The quail were weak on the wing, owing to the lateness -of the season, and my companions grumbled at their hard luck, though -I was well content with fresh air, my small share of birds, and a -few American hares. Night and morning the train rushed by, and when -darkness settled down upon the prairie, our lamps were lighted, -dinner was served in the carriage, set forth with inimitable potatoes -cooked by the old Irishwoman. From the dinner-table it was but a step -to go to bed. When storm or rain rushed over the sea-like plain, I -remained in the carriage writing, and after a long spell of work, it -was inexpressibly pleasant to take a ramble through the flowering -grass and the sweet-scented broom, and to go beating through the -stunted under-cover, careless of rattlesnakes, whose tiny prattling -music I heard often enough without a sight of the tails that made it. - -One rainy morning, the 29th September, I think, as the sun began to -break through drifting rain clouds, I saw my companions preparing -their guns, the sporting chaperon Walker filling the shot flasks, and -making all the usual arrangements for a day’s shooting. “You don’t -mean to say you are going out shooting on a Sunday!” I said. “What, -on the prairies!” exclaimed Colonel Foster. “Why, of course we are; -there’s nothing wrong in it here. What nobler temple can we find -to worship in than lies around us? It is the custom of the people -hereabouts to shoot on Sundays, and it is a work of necessity with -us; for our larder is very low.” - -And so, after breakfast, we set out, but the rain came down so -densely that we were driven to the house of a farmer, and finally we -returned to our sleeping carriage for the day. I never fired a shot -nor put a gun to my shoulder, nor am I sure that any of my companions -killed a bird. - -The rain fell with violence all day, and at night the gusts of wind -shook the carriage like a ship at sea. We were sitting at table after -dinner, when the door at the end of the carriage opened, and a man, -in a mackintosh dripping wet, advanced with unsteady steps along -the centre of the carriage, between the beds, and taking off his -hat, in the top of which he searched diligently, stood staring with -lack-lustre eyes from one to the other of the party, till Colonel -Foster exclaimed, “Well, sir, what do you want?” - -“What do I want,” he replied, with a slight thickness of speech, -“which of you is the Honourable Lord William Russell, correspondent -of the London _Times_? That’s what I want.” - -I certified to my identity; whereupon, drawing a piece of paper out -of his hat, he continued, “Then I arrest you, Honourable Lord William -Russell, in the name of the people of the Commonwealth of Illinois,” -and thereupon handed me a document, declaring that one, Morgan, of -Dwight, having come before him that day and sworn that I, with a -company of men and dogs, had unlawfully assembled, and by firing -shots, and by barking and noise, had disturbed the peace of the State -of Illinois, he, the subscriber or justice of the peace, as named and -described, commanded the constable Podgers, or whatever his name -was, to bring my body before him to answer to the charge. - -Now this town of Dwight was a good many miles away, the road was -declared by those who knew it to be very bad, the night was pitch -dark, the rain falling in torrents, and as the constable, drawing -out of his hat paper after paper with the names of impossible -persons upon them, served subpœnas on all the rest of the party to -appear next morning, the anger of Colonel Foster could scarcely be -restrained, by kicks under the table and nods and becks and wreathed -smiles from the rest of the party. “This is infamous! It is a -political persecution!” he exclaimed, whilst the keeper joined in -chorus, declaring he never heard of such a proceeding before in all -his long experience of the prairie, and never knew there was such an -act in existence. The Irishmen in the hut added that the informer -himself generally went out shooting every Sunday. However, I could -not but regret I had given the fellow an opportunity of striking -at me, and though I was the only one of the party who raised an -objection to our going out at all, I was deservedly suffering for the -impropriety--to call it here by no harsher name. - -The constable, a man of a liquid eye and a cheerful countenance, -paid particular attention meantime to a large bottle upon the -table, and as I professed my readiness to go the moment he had some -refreshment that very wet night, the stern severity becoming a -minister of justice, which marked his first utterances, was sensibly -mollified; and when Mr. ---- proposed that he should drive back with -him and see the prosecutor, he was good enough to accept my written -acknowledgment of the service of the writ, and promise to appear the -following morning, as an adequate discharge of his duty--combined -with the absorption of some Bourbon whisky--and so retired. - -Mr. ---- returned late at night, and very angry. It appears that the -prosecutor--who is not a man of very good reputation, and whom his -neighbours were as much astonished to find the champion of religious -observances as they would have been if he was to come forward to -insist on the respect due to the seventh commandment--with the -insatiable passion for notoriety, which is one of the worst results -of American institutions, thought he would gain himself some little -reputation by causing annoyance to a man so unpopular as myself. He -and a companion having come from Dwight for the purpose, and hiding -in the neighbourhood, had, therefore, devoted their day to lying in -wait and watching our party; and as they were aware in the railway -carriage I was with Colonel Foster, they had no difficulty in finding -out the names of the rest of the party. The magistrate being his -relative, granted the warrant at once; and the prosecutor, who was in -waiting for the constable, was exceedingly disappointed when he found -that I had not been dragged through the rain. - -Next morning, a special engine which had been ordered up by telegraph -appeared alongside the car; and a short run through a beautiful -country brought us to the prairie town of Dwight. The citizens were -astir--it was a great day--and as I walked with Colonel Forster, all -the good people seemed to be enjoying an unexampled treat in gazing -at the stupendous criminal. The court-house, or magistrate’s office, -was suitable to the republican simplicity of the people of Dwight; -for the chamber of justice was on the first floor of a house over a -store, and access was obtained to it by a ladder from the street to -a platform, at the top of which I was ushered into the presence of -the court--a plain white-washed room. I am not sure there was even -an engraving of George Washington on the walls. The magistrate in a -full suit of black, with his hat on, was seated at a small table; -behind him a few books, on plain deal shelves, provided his fund -of legal learning. The constable, with a severer visage than that -of last night, stood upon the right hand; three sides of the room -were surrounded by a wall of stout honest Dwightians, among whom -I produced a profound sensation, by the simple ceremony of taking -off my hat, which they no doubt considered a token of the degraded -nature of the Britisher, but which moved the magistrate to take off -his head-covering; whereupon some of the nearest removed theirs, -some putting them on again, and some remaining uncovered; and then -the informations were read, and on being asked what I had to say, -I merely bowed, and said I had no remarks to offer. But my friend, -Colonel Foster, who had been churning up his wrath and forensic lore -for some time, putting one hand under his coat tail, and elevating -the other in the air, with modulated cadences, poured out a fine -oratorical flow which completely astonished me, and whipped the -audience morally off their legs completely. In touching terms he -described the mission of an illustrious stranger, who had wandered -over thousands of miles of land and sea to gaze upon the beauties of -those prairies which the Great Maker of the Universe had expanded as -the banqueting tables for the famishing millions of pauperised and -despotic Europe. As the representative of an influence which the -people of the great State of Illinois should wish to see developed, -instead of contracted, honoured instead of being insulted, he had -come among them to admire the grandeur of nature, and to behold -with wonder the magnificent progress of human happiness and free -institutions. (Some thumping of sticks, and cries of “Bravo, that’s -so,” which warmed the Colonel into still higher flights). I began -to feel if he was as great in invective as he was in eulogy, it was -well he had not lived to throw a smooth pebble from his sling at -Warren Hastings. As great indeed! Why, when the Colonel had drawn -a beautiful picture of me examining coal deposits--investigating -strata--breathing autumnal airs, and culling flowers in unsuspecting -innocence, and then suddenly denounced the serpent who had dogged -my steps, in order to strike me down with a justice’s warrant, I -protest it is doubtful, if he did not reach to the most elevated -stage of vituperative oratory, the progression of which was marked -by increasing thumps of sticks, and louder murmurs of applause, to -the discomfiture of the wretched prosecutor. But the magistrate was -not a man of imagination; he felt he was but elective after all; and -so, with his eye fixed upon his book, he pronounced his decision, -which was that I be amerced in something more than half the maximum -fine fixed by the statute, some five-and-twenty shillings or so, the -greater part to be spent in the education of the people, by transfer -to the school fund of the State. - -As I was handing the notes to the magistrate, several respectable men -coming forward exclaimed, “Pray oblige us, Mr. Russell, by letting us -pay the amount for you; this is a shameful proceeding.” But thanking -them heartily for their proffered kindness, I completed the little -pecuniary transaction and wished the magistrate good morning, with -the remark that I hoped the people of the State of Illinois would -always find such worthy defenders of the statutes as the prosecutor, -and never have offenders against their peace and morals more culpable -than myself. Having undergone a severe scolding from an old woman at -the top of the ladder, I walked to the train, followed by a number of -the audience, who repeatedly expressed their extreme regret at the -little persecution to which I had been subjected. The prosecutor had -already made arrangements to send the news over the whole breadth -of the Union, which was his only reward; as I must do the American -papers the justice to say that, with a few natural exceptions, those -which noticed the occurrence unequivocally condemned his conduct. - -That evening, as we were planning an extension of our sporting tour, -the mail rattling by deposited our letters and papers, and we saw at -the top of many columns the startling words, “Grand Advance Of The -Union Army.” “M‘Clellan Marching On Richmond.” “Capture Of Munson’s -Hill.” “Retreat of the Enemy--30,000 men Seize Their Fortifications.” -Not a moment was to be lost; if I was too late, I never would -forgive myself. Our carriage was hooked on to the return train, and -at 8 o’clock p.m. I started on my return to Washington, by way of -Cleveland. - -At half-past 3 on the 1st October the train reached Pittsburg, just -too late to catch the train for Baltimore; but I continued my journey -at night, arriving at Baltimore after noon, and reaching Washington -at 6 p.m. on the 2nd of October. - -_October 3rd._--In Washington once more--all the world laughing -at the pump and the wooden guns at Munson’s Hill, but angry withal -because M‘Clellan should be so befooled as they considered it, by -the Confederates. The fact is M‘Clellan was not prepared to move, -and therefore not disposed to hazard a general engagement, which -he might have brought on had the enemy been in force; perhaps he -knew they were not, but found it convenient nevertheless to act as -though he believed they had established themselves strongly in his -front, as half the world will give him credit for knowing more than -the civilian strategists who have already got into disgrace for -urging M‘Dowell on to Richmond. The federal armies are not handled -easily. They are luxurious in the matter of baggage, and canteens, -and private stores; and this is just the sort of war in which the -general who moves lightly and rapidly, striking blows unexpectedly -and deranging communications, will obtain great results. - -Although Beauregard’s name is constantly mentioned, I fancy that, -crafty and reticent as he is, the operations in front of us have -been directed by an officer of larger capacity. As yet M‘Clellan has -certainly done nothing in the field to show he is like Napoleon. The -value of his labours in camp has yet to be tested. I dined at the -Legation, and afterwards there was a meeting at my rooms, where I -heard of all that had passed during my absence. - -_October 4th._--The new expedition, of which I have been hearing for -some time past, is about to sail to Port Royal, under the command -of General Burnside, in order to reduce the works erected at the -entrance of the Sound, to secure a base of operations against -Charleston, and to cut in upon the communication between that -place and Savannah. Alas, for poor Trescot! his plantations, his -secluded home! What will the good lady think of the Yankee invasion, -which surely must succeed, as the naval force will be overwhelming? -I visited the division of General Egbert Viele, encamped near -the Navy-yard, which is bound to Annapolis, as a part of General -Burnside’s expedition. When first I saw him, the general was an -emeritus captain, attached to the 7th New York Militia; now he is -a Brigadier-General, if not something more, commanding a corps of -nearly 5000 men, with pay and allowances to match. His good lady -wife, who accompanied him in the Mexican campaign,--whereof came -a book, lively and light, as a lady’s should be,--was about to -accompany her husband in his assault on the Carolinians, and prepared -for action, by opening a small broadside on my unhappy self, whom -she regarded as an enemy of our glorious Union; and therefore an -ally of the Evil Powers on both sides of the grave. The women, North -and South, are equally pitiless to their enemies; and it was but the -other day, a man with whom I am on very good terms in Washington, -made an apology for not asking me to his house, because his wife was -a strong Union woman. - -A gentleman who had been dining with Mr. Seward to-night told me the -Minister had complained that I had not been near him for nearly two -months; the fact was, however, that I had called twice immediately -after the appearance in America of my letter dated July 22nd, and had -met Mr. Seward afterwards, when his manner was, or appeared to me to -be, cold and distant, and I had therefore abstained from intruding -myself upon his notice; nor did his answer to the Philadelphian -petition--in which Mr. Seward appeared to admit the allegations made -against me were true, and to consider I had violated the hospitality -accorded me--induce me to think that he did not entertain the opinion -which these journals which set themselves up to be his organs had so -repeatedly expressed. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - - Another Crimean acquaintance--Summary dismissal of a newspaper - correspondent--Dinner at Lord Lyons’--Review of artillery-- - “Habeas Corpus”--The President’s duties--M‘Clellan’s policy--The - Union army--Soldiers and the patrol--Public men in America--Mr. - Seward and Lord Lyons--A judge placed under arrest--Death and - funeral of Senator Baker--Disorderly troops and officers-- - Official fibs--Duck-shooting at Baltimore. - - -_October 5th._--A day of heat extreme. Tumbled in upon me an old -familiar face and voice, once Forster of a hospitable Crimean hut -behind Mother Seacole’s, commanding a battalion of Land Transport -Corps, to which he had descended or sublimated from his position as -ex-Austrian dragoon and _beau sabreur_ under old Radetzsky in Italian -wars; now a colonel of distant volunteers, and a member of the -Parliament of British Columbia. He was on his way home to Europe, and -had travelled thus far out of his way to see his friend. - -After him came in a gentleman, heated, wild-eyed, and excited, who -had been in the South, where he was acting as correspondent to a -London newspaper, and on his return to Washington had obtained a -pass from General Scott. According to his own story, he had been -indulging in a habit which free-born Englishmen may occasionally -find to be inconvenient in foreign countries in times of high -excitement, and had been expressing his opinion pretty freely in -favour of the Southern cause in the bar-rooms of Pennsylvania Avenue. -Imagine a Frenchman going about the taverns of Dublin during an -Irish rebellion, expressing his sympathy with the rebels, and you -may suppose he would meet with treatment at least as peremptory -as that which the Federal authorities gave Mr. D----. In fine, -that morning early, he had been waited upon by an officer, who -requested his attendance at the Provost Marshal’s office; arrived -there, a functionary, after a few queries, asked him to give up -General Scott’s pass, and when Mr. D---- refused to do so, proceeded -to execute a terrible sort of proces verbal on a large sheet of -foolscap, the initiatory flourishes and prolegomena of which so -intimidated Mr. D----, that he gave up his pass and was permitted to -depart, in order that he might start for England by the next steamer. - -A wonderful Frenchman, who lives up a back street, prepared a curious -banquet, at which Mr. Irvine, Mr. Warre, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Lamy, and -Colonel Foster assisted; and in the evening Mr. Lincoln’s private -secretary, a witty, shrewd, and pleasant young fellow, who looks -little more than eighteen years of age, came in with a friend, whose -name I forget; and by degrees the circle expanded, till the walls -seemed to have become elastic, so great was the concourse of guests. - -_October 6th._--A day of wandering around, and visiting, and -listening to rumours all unfounded. I have applied for permission -to accompany the Burnside expedition, but I am advised not to leave -Washington, as M‘Clellan will certainly advance as soon as the -diversion has been made down South. - -_October 7th._--The heat to-day was literally intolerable, and wound -up at last in a tremendous thunderstorm with violent gusts of rain. -At the Legation, where Lord Lyons entertained the English visitors -at dinner, the rooms were shaken by thunder claps, and the blinding -lightning seemed at times to turn the well-illuminated rooms into -caves of darkness. - -_October 8th._--A review of the artillery at this side of the -river took place to-day, which has been described in very inflated -language by the American papers, the writers on which--never having -seen a decently-equipped force of the kind--pronounce the sight to -have been of unequalled splendour; whereas the appearance of horses -and men was very far from respectable in all matters relating to -grooming, cleanliness, and neatness. General Barry has done wonders -in simplifying the force and reducing the number of calibres, which -varied according to the fancy of each State, or men of each officer -who raised a battery; but there are still field-guns of three inches -and of three inches and a-half, Napoleon guns, rifled 10 lb. Parrots, -ordinary 9-pounders, a variety of howitzers, 20-lb. Parrot rifled -guns, and a variety of different projectiles in the caissons. As the -men rode past, the eye was distressed by discrepancies in dress. -Many wore red or white worsted comforters round their necks, few had -straps to their trousers; some had new coats, others old; some wore -boots, others shoes; not one had clean spurs, bits, curb-chains, or -buttons. The officers cannot get the men to do what the latter regard -as works of supererogation. - -There were 72 guns in all; and if the horses were not so light, there -would be quite enough to do for the Confederates to reduce their -fire, as the pieces are easily handled, and the men like artillery -and take to it naturally, being in that respect something like the -natives of India. - -Whilst I was standing in the crowd, I heard a woman say, “I doubt if -that Russell is riding about here. I should just like to see him to -give him a piece of my mind. They say he’s honest, but I call him -a poor pre-jewdiced Britisher. This sight’ll give him fits.” I was -quite delighted at my incognito. If the caricatures were at all like -me, I should have what the Americans call a bad time of it. - -On the return of the batteries a shell exploded in a caisson just -in front of the President’s house, and, miraculous to state, did -not fire the other projectiles. Had it done so, the destruction of -life in the crowded street--blocked up with artillery, men, and -horses, and crowds of men, women, and children--would have been -truly frightful. Such accidents are not uncommon--a waggon blew up -the other day “out West,” and killed and wounded several people; and -though the accidents in camp from firearms are not so numerous as -they were, there are still enough to present a heavy casualty list. - -Whilst the artillery were delighting the citizens, a much more -important matter was taking place in an obscure little court -house--much more destructive to their freedom, happiness, and -greatness than all the Confederate guns which can ever be ranged -against them. A brave, upright, and honest judge, as in duty bound, -issued a writ of _habeas corpus_, sued out by the friends of a minor, -who, contrary to the laws of the United States, had been enlisted by -an American general, and was detained by him in the ranks of his -regiment. The officer refused to obey the writ, whereupon the judge -issued an attachment against him, and the Federal brigadier came into -court and pleaded that he took that course by order of the President. -The court adjourned, to consider the steps it should take. - -I have just seen a paragraph in the local paper, copied from a west -country journal, headed “Good for Russell,” which may explain the -unusually favourable impression expressed by the women this morning. -It is an account of the interview I had with the officer who came “to -trade” for my horse, written by the latter to a Green Bay newspaper, -in which, having duly censured my “John Bullism” in not receiving -with the utmost courtesy a stranger, who walked into his room before -breakfast on business unknown, he relates as a proof of honesty (in -such a rare field as trading in horseflesh) that, though my groom had -sought to put ten dollars in my pocket by a mild exaggeration of the -amount paid for the animal, which was the price I said I would take, -I would not have it. - -_October 9th._--A cold, gloomy day. I am laid up with the fever and -ague, which visit the banks of the Potomac in autumn. It annoyed -me the more because General M‘Clellan is making a reconnaissance -to-day towards Lewinsville, with 10,000 men. A gentleman from the War -Department visited me to-day, and gave me scanty hopes of procuring -any assistance from the authorities in taking the field. Civility -costs nothing, and certainly if it did United States officials would -require high salaries, but they often content themselves with fair -words. - -There are some things about our neighbours which we may never hope -to understand. To-day, for instance, a respectable person, high in -office, having been good enough to invite me to his house, added, -“You shall see Mrs. A., sir. She is a very pretty and agreeable young -lady, and will prove nice society for you,” meaning his wife. - -Mr. N. P. Willis was good enough to call on me, and in the course -of conversation said, “I hear M‘Clellan tells you everything. When -you went away West I was very near going after you, as I suspected -you heard something.” Mr. Willis could have had no grounds for this -remark, for very certainly it has no foundation in fact. Truth to -tell, General M‘Clellan seemed, the last time I saw him, a little -alarmed by a paragraph in a New York paper, from the Washington -correspondent, in which it was invidiously stated, “General -M‘Clellan, attended by Mr. Russell, correspondent of the London -_Times_, visited the camps to-day. All passes to civilians and others -were revoked.” There was not the smallest ground for the statement -on the day in question, but I am resolved not to contradict anything -which is said about me, but the General could not well do so; and -one of the favourite devices of the Washington correspondent to fill -up his columns, is to write something about me, to state I have been -refused passes, or have got them, or whatever else he likes to say. - -Calling on the General the other night at his usual time of return, -I was told by the orderly, who was closing the door, “The General’s -gone to bed tired, and can see no one. He sent the same message to -the President, who came inquiring after him ten minutes ago.” - -This poor President! He is to be pitied; surrounded by such scenes, -and trying with all his might to understand strategy, naval warfare, -big guns, the movements of troops, military maps, reconnaissances, -occupations, interior and exterior lines, and all the technical -details of the art of slaying. He runs from one house to another, -armed with plans, papers, reports, recommendations, sometimes -good humoured, never angry, occasionally dejected, and always a -little fussy. The other night, as I was sitting in the parlour at -head-quarters, with an English friend who had come to see his old -acquaintance the General, walked in a tall man with a navvy’s cap, -and an ill-made shooting suit, from the pockets of which protruded -paper and bundles. “Well,” said he to Brigadier Van Vliet, who rose -to receive him, “is George in?” - -“Yes, sir. He’s come back, but is lying down, very much fatigued. -I’ll send up, sir, and inform him you wish to see him.” - -“Oh, no; I can wait. I think I’ll take supper with him. Well, and -what are you now,--I forget your name--are you a major, or a colonel, -or a general?” “Whatever you like to make me, sir.” - -Seeing that General M‘Clellan would be occupied, I walked out with my -friend, who asked me when I got into the street why I stood up when -that tall fellow came into the room. “Because it was the President.” -“The President of what?” “Of the United States.” “Oh! come, now -you’re humbugging me. Let me have another look at him.” He came -back more incredulous than ever, but when I assured him I was quite -serious, he exclaimed, “I give up the United States after this.” - -But for all that, there have been many more courtly presidents who, -in a similar crisis, would have displayed less capacity, honesty, and -plain dealing than Abraham Lincoln. - -_October 10th._--I got hold of M‘Clellan’s report on the Crimean war, -and made a few candid remarks on the performance, which does not -evince any capacity beyond the reports of our itinerant artillery -officers who are sent from Woolwich abroad for their country’s good. -I like the man, but I do not think he is equal to his occasion or his -place. There is one little piece of policy which shows he is looking -ahead--either to gain the good will of the army, or for some larger -object. All his present purpose is to make himself known to the men -personally, to familiarize them with his appearance, to gain the -acquaintance of the officers; and with this object he spends nearly -every day in the camps riding out at nine o’clock, and not returning -till long after nightfall, examining the various regiments as he goes -along, and having incessant inspections and reviews. He is the first -Republican general who could attempt to do all this without incurring -censure and suspicion. Unfortunate M‘Dowell could not inspect his -small army without receiving a hint that he must not assume such -airs, as they were more becoming a military despot than a simple -lieutenant of the great democracy. - -_October 11th._--Mr. Mure, who has arrived here in wretched health -from New Orleans, after a protracted and very unpleasant journey -through country swarming with troops mixed with guerillas, tells me -that I am more detested in New Orleans than I am in New York. This -is ever the fate of the neutral, if the belligerents can get him -between them. The Girondins and men of the _juste milieu_ are ever -fated to be ground to powder. The charges against me were disposed of -by Mr. Mure, who says that what I wrote of in New Orleans was true, -and has shown it to be so in his correspondence with the Governor, -but, over and beyond that, I am disliked, because I do not praise -the peculiar institution. He amused me by adding that the mayor of -Jackson, with whom I sojourned, had published “a card,” denying -point blank that he had ever breathed a word to indicate that the -good citizens around him were not famous for the love of law, order, -and life, and a scrupulous regard to personal liberty. I can easily -fancy Jackson is not a place where a mayor suspected by the citizens -would be exempted from difficulties now and then; and if this -disclaimer does my friend any good, he is very heartily welcome to -it and more. I have received several letters lately from the parents -of minors, asking me to assist them in getting back their sons, who -have enlisted illegally in the Federal army. My writ does not run any -further than a Federal judge’s. - -_October 12th._--The good people of New York and of the other -Northern cities, excited by the constant reports in the papers of -magnificent reviews and unsurpassed military spectacles, begin to -flock towards Washington in hundreds, where formerly they came in -tens. The woman-kind are particularly anxious to feast their eyes -on our glorious Union army. It is natural enough that Americans -should feel pride and take pleasure in the spectacle; but the love of -economy, the hatred of military despotism, and the frugal virtues of -republican government, long since placed aside by the exigencies of -the Administration, promise to vanish for ever. - -The feeling is well expressed in the remark of a gentleman to whom I -was lamenting the civil war: “Well, for my part, I am glad of it. Why -should you in Europe have all the fighting to yourself? Why should we -not have our bloody battles, and our big generals, and all the rest -of it? This will stir up the spirits of our people, do us all a power -of good, and end by proving to all of you in Europe, that we are just -as good and first-rate in fighting as we are in ships, manufactures, -and commerce.” - -But the wealthy classes are beginning to feel rather anxious about -the disposal of their money: they are paying a large insurance on the -Union, and they do not see that anything has been done to stop the -leak or to prevent it foundering. Mr. Duncan has arrived; to-day I -drove with him to Alexandria, and I think he has been made happy by -what he saw, and has no doubt “the Union is all right.” Nothing looks -so irresistible as your bayonet till another is seen opposed to it. - -_October 13th._--Mr. Duncan, attended by myself and other Britishers, -made an extensive excursion through the camps on horseback, and I led -him from Arlington to Upton’s House, up by Munson’s Hill, to General -Wadsworth’s quarters, where we lunched on camp fare and, from the -observatory erected at the rear of the house in which he lives, had -a fine view this bright, cold, clear autumn day, of the wonderful -expanse of undulating forest lands, streaked by rows of tents, which -at last concentrated into vast white patches in the distance, towards -Alexandria. The country is desolate, but the camps are flourishing, -and that is enough to satisfy most patriots bent upon the subjugation -of their enemies. - -_October 14th._--I was somewhat distraught, like a small Hercules -twixt Vice and Virtue, or Garrick between Comedy and Tragedy, by -my desire to tell Duncan the truth, and at the same time respect -the feelings of a friend. There was a rabbledom of drunken men in -uniforms under our windows, who resisted the patrol clearing the -streets, and one fellow drew his bayonet, and, with the support of -some of the citizens, said that he would not allow any regular to put -a finger on him. D---- said he had witnessed scenes just as bad, and -talked of lanes in garrison towns in England, and street rows between -soldiers and civilians; and I did not venture to tell him the scene -we witnessed was the sign of a radical vice in the system of the -American army, which is, I believe, incurable in these large masses. -Few soldiers would venture to draw their bayonets on a patrol. If -they did, their punishment would be tolerably sure and swift, but for -all I knew this man would be permitted to go on his way rejoicing. -There is news of two Federal reverses to-day. A descent was made on -Santa Rosa Island, and Mr. Billy Wilson’s Zouaves were driven under -the guns of Pickens, losing in the scurry of the night attack--as -prisoner only I am glad to say--poor Major Vogdes, of inquiring -memory. Rosecrans, who utterly ignores the advantages of Shaksperian -spelling, has been defeated in the West; but D---- is quite happy, -and goes off to New York contented. - -_October 15th._--Sir James Ferguson and Mr. R. Bourke, who have been -travelling in the South and have seen something of the Confederate -government and armies, visited us this evening after dinner. They -do not seem at all desirous of testing by comparison the relative -efficiency of the two armies, which Sir James, at all events, is -competent to do. They are impressed by the energy and animosity of -the South, which no doubt will have their effect on England also; but -it will be difficult to popularize a Slave Republic as a new allied -power in England. Two of General M‘Clellan’s aides dropped in, and -the meeting abstained from general politics. - -_October 16th._--Day follows day and resembles its predecessor. -M‘Clellan is still reviewing, and the North are still waiting for -victories and paying money, and the orators are still wrangling -over the best way of cooking the hares which they have not yet -caught. I visited General M‘Dowell to-day at his tent in Arlington, -and found him in a state of divine calm with his wife and _parvus -Iulus_. A public man in the United States is very much like a great -firework--he commences with some small scintillations which attract -the eye of the public, and then he blazes up and flares out in blue, -purple, and orange fires, to the intense admiration of the multitude, -and dying out suddenly is thought of no more, his place being taken -by a fresh roman candle or catherine wheel which is thought to be -far finer than those which have just dazzled the eyes of the fickle -spectators. Human nature is thus severely taxed. The Cabinet of State -is like the museum of some cruel naturalist, who seizes his specimens -whilst they are alive, bottles them up, forbids them to make as much -as a contortion, labelling them “My last President,” “My latest -Commander-in-chief,” or “My defeated General,” regarding the smallest -signs of life very much as did the French _petit maître_ who rebuked -the contortions and screams of the poor wretch who was broken on the -wheel, as contrary to _bienséance_. I am glad that Sir James Ferguson -and Mr. Bourke did not leave without making a tour of inspection -through the Federal camp, which they did to-day. - -_October 17th._--_Dies non._ - -_October 18th._--To-day Lord Lyons drove out with Mr. Seward to -inspect the Federal camps, which are now in such order as to be -worthy of a visit. It is reported in all the papers that I am going -to England, but I have not the smallest intention of giving my -enemies here such a treat at present. As Monsieur de Beaumont of -the French Legation said, “I presume you are going to remain in -Washington for the rest of your life, because I see it stated in the -New York journals that you are leaving us in a day or two.” - -_October 19th._--Lord Lyons and Mr. Seward were driving and -dining together yesterday _en ami_. To-day, Mr. Seward is engaged -demolishing Lord Lyons, or at all events the British Government, in a -despatch, wherein he vindicates the proceedings of the United States -Government in certain arrests of British subjects which had been -complained of, and repudiates the doctrine that the United States -Government can be bound by the opinion of the law officers of the -Crown respecting the spirit and letter of the American constitution. -This is published as a set-off to Mr. Seward’s circular on the -seacoast defences which created so much depression and alarm in the -Northern States, where it was at the time considered as a warning -that a foreign war was imminent, and which has since been generally -condemned as feeble and injudicious. - -_October 20th._--I saw General M‘Clellan to-day, who gave me to -understand that some small movement might take place on the right. -I rode up to the Chain Bridge and across it for some miles into -Virginia, but all was quiet. The sergeant at the post on the south -side of the bridge had some doubts of the genuineness of my pass, or -rather of its bearer. - -“I heard you were gone back to London, where I am coming to see you -some fine day with the boys here.” - -“No, sergeant, I am not gone yet, but when will your visit take -place?” - -“Oh, as soon as we have finished with the gentlemen across there.” - -“Have you any notion when that will be?” - -“Just as soon as they tell us to go on and prevent the blackguard -Germans running away.” - -“But the Germans did not run away at Bull Bun?” - -“Faith, because they did not get a chance--sure they put them in the -rear, away out of the fighting.” - -“And why do you not go on now?” - -“Well, that’s the question we are asking every day.” - -“And can any-one answer it?” - -“Not one of us can tell; but my belief is if we had one of the old -50th among us at the head of affairs we would soon be at them. -I belonged to the old regiment once, but I got off and took up -with shoe-making again, and faith if I sted in it I might have -been sergeant-major by this time, only they hated the poor Roman -Catholics.” - -“And do you think, sergeant, you would get many of your countrymen -who had served in the old army to fight the old familiar red -jackets?” “Well, sir, I tell you I hope my arm would rot before I -would pull a trigger against the old 50th; but we would wear the red -jacket too--we have as good a right to it as the others, and then it -would be man against man, you know; but if I saw any of them cursed -Germans interfering I’d soon let daylight into them.” The hazy dreams -of this poor man’s mind would form an excellent article for a New -York newspaper, which on matters relating to England are rarely so -lucid and logical. Next day was devoted to writing and heavy rain, -through both of which, notwithstanding, I was assailed by many -visitors and some scurrilous letters, and in the evening there was a -Washington gathering of Englishry, Irishry, Scotchry, Yankees, and -Canadians. - -_October 22nd._--Rain falling in torrents. As I write, in come -reports of a battle last night, some forty miles up the river, -which by signs and tokens I am led to believe was unfavourable -to the Federals. They crossed the river intending to move upon -Leesburg--were attacked by overwhelming forces and repulsed, but -maintained themselves on the right bank till General Banks reinforced -them and enabled them to hold their own. M‘Clellan has gone or is -going at once to the scene of action. It was three o’clock before I -heard the news, the road and country were alike unknown, nor had I -friend or acquaintance in the army of the Upper Potomac. My horse was -brought round however, and in company with Mr. Anderson, I rode out -of Washington along the river till the falling evening warned us to -retrace our steps, and we returned in pelting rain as we set out, -and in pitchy darkness, without meeting any messenger or person with -news from the battle-field. Late at night the White House was placed -in deep grief by the intelligence that in addition to other losses, -Brigadier and Senator Baker of California was killed. The President -was inconsolable, and walked up and down his room for hours lamenting -the loss of his friend. Mrs. Lincoln’s grief was equally poignant. -Before bed-time I told the German landlord to tell my servant I -wanted my horse round at seven o’clock. - -_October 23rd._--Up at six, waiting for horse and man. At eight -walked down to stables. No one there. At nine became very angry--sent -messengers in all directions. At ten was nearly furious, when, at the -last stroke of the clock, James, with his inexpressive countenance, -perfectly calm nevertheless, and betraying no symptom of solicitude, -appeared at the door leading my charger. “And may I ask you where you -have been till this time?” “Wasn’t I dressing the horse, taking him -out to water, and exercising him.” “Good heavens! did I not tell you -to be here at seven o’clock?” “No, sir; Carl told me you wanted me at -ten o’clock, and here I am.” “Carl, did I not tell you to ask James -to be round here at seven o’clock.” “Not zeven clock, sere, but zehn -clock. I tell him, you come at zehn clock.” Thus at one blow was I -stricken down by Gaul and Teuton, each of whom retired with the air -of a man who had baffled an intended indignity, and had achieved a -triumph over a wrong-doer. - -The roads were in a frightful state outside Washington--literally -nothing but canals, in which earth and water were mixed together -for depths varying from six inches to three feet above the surface; -but late as it was I pushed on, and had got as far as the turn of -the road to Rockville, near the great falls, some twelve miles -beyond Washington, when I met an officer with a couple of orderlies, -hurrying back from General Banks’s head-quarters, who told me the -whole affair was over, and that I could not possibly get to the scene -of action on one horse till next morning, even supposing that I -pressed on all through the night, the roads being utterly villainous, -and the country at night as black as ink; and so I returned to -Washington, and was stopped by citizens, who, seeing the streaming -horse and splashed rider, imagined he was reeking from the fray. “As -you were not there,” says one, “I’ll tell you what I know to be the -case. Stone and Baker are killed; Banks and all the other generals -are prisoners; the Rhode Island and two other batteries are taken, -and 5000 Yankees have been sent to H---- to help old John Brown to -roast niggers.” - -_October 24th._--The heaviest blow which has yet been inflicted on -the administration of justice in the United States, and that is -saying a good deal at present, has been given to it in Washington. -The judge of whom I wrote a few days ago in the _habeas corpus_ -case, has been placed under military arrest and surveillance by -the Provost-Marshal of the city, a very fit man for such work, one -Colonel Andrew Porter. The Provost-Marshal imprisoned the attorney -who served the writ, and then sent a guard to Mr. Merrick’s house, -who thereupon sent a minute to his brother judges the day before -yesterday stating the circumstances, in order to show why he did -not appear in his place on the bench. The Chief Judge Dunlop and -Judge Morsell thereupon issued their writ to Andrew Porter greeting, -to show cause why an attachment for contempt should not be issued -against him for his treatment of Judge Merrick. As the sharp tongues -of women are very troublesome, the United States officers have quite -little harems of captives, and Mrs. Merrick has just been added -to the number. She is a Wickliffe of Kentucky, and has a right to -martyrdom. The inconsistencies of the Northern people multiply _ad -infinitum_ as they go on. Thus at Hatteras they enter into terms of -capitulation with officers signing themselves of the Confederate -States Army and Confederate States Navy; elsewhere they exchange -prisoners; at New York they are going through the farce of trying -the crew of a C.S. privateer, as pirates engaged in robbing on the -high seas, on “the authority of a pretended letter of marque from one -Jefferson Davis.” One Jeff Davis is certainly quite enough for them -at present. - -Colonel and Senator Baker was honoured by a ceremonial which was -intended to be a public funeral, rather out of compliment to Mr. -Lincoln’s feelings, perhaps, than to any great attachment for the -man himself, who fell gallantly fighting near Leesburg. There is -need for a republic to contain some elements of an aristocracy if it -would make that display of pomp and ceremony which a public funeral -should have to produce effect. At all events there should be some -principle of reverence in the heads and hearts of the people, to -make up for other deficiencies in it as a show, or a ceremony. The -procession down Pennsylvania Avenue was a tawdry, shabby string -of hack carriages, men in light coats and white hats following -the hearse, and three regiments of foot soldiers, of which one was -simply an uncleanly, unwholesome-looking rabble. The President, -in his carriage, and many of the ministers and senators, attended -also, and passed through unsympathetic lines of people on the -kerbstones, not one of whom raised his hat to the bier as it passed, -or to the President, except a couple of Englishmen and myself who -stood in the crowd, and that proceeding on our part gave rise to -a variety of remarks among the bystanders. But as the band turned -into Pennsylvania Avenue, playing something like the _minuet de la -cour_ in Don Giovanni, two officers in uniform came riding up in the -contrary direction; they were smoking cigars; one of them let his -fall on the ground, the other smoked lustily as the hearse passed, -and reining up his horse, continued to puff his weed under the nose -of President, ministers, and senators, with the air of a man who was -doing a very soldierly correct sort of thing. - -Whether the President is angry as well as grieved at the loss of his -favourite or not, I cannot affirm, but he is assuredly doing that -terrible thing which is called putting his foot down on the judges; -and he has instructed Andrew Porter not to mind the writ issued -yesterday, and has further instructed the United States Marshal, who -has the writ in his hands to serve on the said Andrew, to return it -to the court with the information that Abraham Lincoln had suspended -the writ of _habeas corpus_ in cases relating to the military. - -_October 26th._--More reviews. To-day rather a pretty sight--12 -regiments, 16 guns, and a few squads of men with swords and pistols -on horseback, called cavalry, comprising Fitz-John Porter’s -division. M‘Clellan seemed to my eyes crestfallen and moody to-day. -Bright eyes looked on him; he is getting up something like a staff, -among which are the young French princes, under the tutelage of their -uncle, the Prince of Joinville. Whilst M‘Clellan is reviewing, our -Romans in Washington are shivering; for the blockade of the Potomac -by the Confederate batteries stops the fuel boats. Little care these -enthusiastic young American patriots in crinoline, who have come to -see M‘Clellan and the soldiers, what a cord of wood costs. The lower -orders are very angry about it however. The nuisance and disorder -arising from soldiers, drunk and sober, riding full gallop down -the streets, and as fast as they can round the corners, has been -stopped, by placing mounted sentries at the principal points in all -the thoroughfares. The “officers” were worse than the men; the papers -this week contain the account of two accidents, in one of which a -colonel, in another a major, was killed by falls from horseback, in -furious riding in the city. - -Forgetting all about this fact, and spurring home pretty fast along -an unfrequented road, leading from the ferry at Georgetown into the -city, I was nearly spitted by a “dragoon,” who rode at me from under -cover of a house, and shouted “stop” just as his sabre was within -a foot of my head. Fortunately his horse, being aware that if it -ran against mine it might be injured, shied, and over went dragoon, -sabre and all, and off went his horse, but as the trooper was able to -run after it, I presume he was not the worse; and I went on my way -rejoicing. - -M‘Clellan has fallen very much in my opinion since the Leesburg -disaster. He went to the spot, and with a little--nay, the -least--promptitude and ability could have turned the check into -a successful advance, in the blaze of which the earlier repulse -would have been forgotten. It is whispered that General Stone, who -ordered the movement, is guilty of treason--a common crime of unlucky -generals--at all events he is to be displaced, and will be put under -surveillance. The orders he gave are certainly very strange. - -The official right to fib, I presume, is very much the same all over -the world, but still there is more dash about it in the States, -I think, than elsewhere. “Blockade of the Potomac!” exclaims -an official of the Navy Department. “What are you talking of? -The Department has just heard that a few Confederates have been -practising with a few light field-pieces from the banks, and has -issued orders to prevent it in future.” “Defeat at Leesburg!” cries -little K----, of M‘Clellan’s staff, “nothing of the kind. We drove -the Confederates at all points, retained our position on the right -bank, and only left it when we pleased, having whipped the enemy -so severely they never showed since.” “Any news, Mr. Cash, in the -Treasury to-day?” “Nothing, sir, except that Mr. Chase is highly -pleased with everything; he’s only afraid of having too much money, -and being troubled with his balances.” “The State Department all -right, Mr. Protocol?” “My dear sir! delightful! with everybody, best -terms. Mr. Seward and the Count are managing delightfully; most -friendly assurances; Guatemala particularly; yes, and France too. -Yes, I may say France too; not the smallest difficulty at Honduras; -altogether, with the assurances of support we are getting, the -Minister thinks the whole affair will be settled in thirty days; -no joking, I assure you; thirty days this time positively. Say for -exactness on or about December 5th.” The canvas-backs are coming in, -and I am off for a day or two to escape reviews and abuse, and to see -something of the famous wild-fowl shooting on the Chesapeake. - -_October 27th._--After church, I took a long walk round by the -commissariat waggons, where there is, I think, as much dirt, bad -language, cruelty to animals, and waste of public money, as can be -conceived. Let me at once declare my opinion that the Americans, -generally, are exceedingly kind to their cattle; but there is a -hybrid race of ruffianly waggoners here, subject to no law or -discipline, and the barbarous treatment inflicted on the transport -animals is too bad even for the most unruly of mules. I mentioned the -circumstance to General M‘Dowell, who told me that by the laws of the -United States there was no power to enlist a man for commissariat or -transport duty. - -_October 28th._--Telegraphed to my friend at Baltimore that I was -ready for the ducks. The Legation going to Mr. Kortwright’s marriage -at Philadelphia. Started with Lamy at 6 o’clock for Baltimore; to -Gilmore House; thence to club. Every person present said that in -my letter on Maryland I had understated the question, as far as -Southern sentiments were concerned. In the club, for example, there -are not six Union men at the outside. General Dix has fortified -Federal Hill very efficiently, and the heights over Fort McHenry are -bristling with cannons, and display formidable earthworks; it seems -to be admitted that, but for the action of the Washington Government -the Legislature would pass an ordinance of Secession. Gilmore -House--old-fashioned, good bed-rooms. Scarcely had I arrived in the -passage, than a man ran off with a paragraph to the papers that Dr. -Russell had come for the purpose of duck-shooting; and, hearing that -I was going with Taylor, put in that I was going to Taylor’s Ducking -Shore. It appears that there are considerable numbers of these duck -clubs in the neighbourhood of Baltimore. The canvas-back ducks -have come in, but they will not be in perfection until the 10th of -November; their peculiar flavour is derived from a water-plant called -wild celery. This lies at the depth of several feet, sometimes nine -or ten, and the birds dive for it. - -_October 29th._--At ten started for the shooting ground, Carroll’s -Island; my companion, Mr. Pennington, drove me in a light trap, and -Mr. Taylor and Lamy came with Mr. Tucker Carroll[7], along with guns, -&c. Passed out towards the sea, a long height commanding a fine view -of the river; near this was fought the battle with the English, at -which the “Baltimore defenders” admit they ran away. Mr. Pennington’s -father says he can answer for the speed of himself and his -companions, but still the battle was thought to be glorious. Along -the posting road to Philadelphia, passed the Blue Ball Tavern; on all -sides except the left, great wooded lagoons visible, swarming with -ducks; boats are forbidden to fire upon the birds, which are allured -by wooden decoys. Crossed the Philadelphia Railway three times; land -poor, covered with undergrowths and small trees, given up to Dutch -and Irish and free niggers. Reached the duck-club-house in two hours -and a half; substantial farm-house, with out-offices, on a strip of -land surrounded by water; Gunpowder River, Saltpetre River, facing -Chesapeake; on either side lakes and tidal water; the owner, Slater, -an Irishman, reputed very rich, self-made. Dinner at one o’clock; any -number of canvas-back ducks, plentiful joints; drink whisky; company, -Swan, Howard, Duval, Morris, and others, also extraordinary specimen -named Smith, believed never to wash except in rain or by accidental -sousing in the river. Went out for afternoon shooting; birds wide and -high; killed seventeen; back to supper at dusk. M‘Donald and a guitar -came over; had a negro dance; and so to bed about twelve. Lamy got -single bed; I turned in with Taylor, as single beds are not permitted -when the house is full. - -_October 30th._--A light, a grim man, and a voice in the room at 4 -a.m. awaken me; I am up first; breakfast; more duck, eggs, meat, -mighty cakes, milk; to the gun-house, already hung with ducks, and -then tramp to the “blinds” with Smith, who talked of the Ingines and -wild sports in far Minnesota. As morning breaks, very red and lovely, -dark visions and long streaky clouds appear, skimming along from -bay or river. The men in the blinds, which are square enclosures of -reeds about 4½ feet high, call out “Bay,” “River,” according to the -direction from which the ducks are coming. Down we go in blinds; they -come; puffs of smoke, a bang, a volley; one bird falls with flop; -another by degrees drops, and at last smites the sea; there are five -down; in go the dogs. “Who shot that?” “I did.” “Who killed this?” -“That’s Tucker’s!” “A good shot.” “I don’t know how I missed mine.” -Same thing again. The ducks fly prodigious heights--out of all range -one would think. It is exciting when the cloud does rise at first. -Day voted very bad. Thence I move homeward; talk with Mr. Slater till -the trap is ready; and at twelve or so, drive over to Mr. M‘Donald; -find Lamy and Swan there; miserable shed of two-roomed shanty in a -marsh; rough deal presses; white-washed walls; fiddler in attendance; -dinner of ducks and steak; whisky, and thence proceed to a blind or -marsh, amid wooden decoys; but there is no use; no birds; high tide -flooding everything; examined M‘Donald’s stud; knocked to pieces -trotting on hard ground. Rowed back to house with Mr. Pennington, -and returned to the mansion; all the party had but poor sport; but -every one had killed something. Drew lots for bed, and won this time; -Lamy, however, would not sleep double, and reposed on a hard sofa in -the parlour; indications favourable for ducks. It was curious, in -the early morning, to hear the incessant booming of duck-guns, along -all the creeks and coves of the indented bays and saltwater marshes; -and one could tell when they were fired at decoys, or were directed -against birds in the air; heard a salute fired at Baltimore very -distinctly. Lamy and Mr. M‘Donald met in their voyage up the Nile, to -kill _ennui_ and spend money. - -_October 31st._--No, no, Mr. Smith; it an’t of no use. At four a.m. -we were invited, as usual, to rise, but Taylor and I reasoned from -under our respective quilts, that it would be quite as good shooting -if we got up at six, and I acted in accordance with that view. -Breakfasted as the sun was shining above the tree-tops, and to my -blind--found there was no shooting at all--got one shot only, and -killed a splendid canvas-back--on returning to home, found nearly -all the party on the move--140 ducks hanging round the house, the -reward of our toils, and of these I received egregious share. Drove -back with Pennington, very sleepy, followed by Mr. Taylor and Lamy. I -would have stayed longer if sport were better. Birds don’t fly when -the wind is in certain points, but lie out in great “ricks,” as they -are called, blackening the waters, drifting in the wind, or with -wings covering their heads--poor defenceless things! The red-head -waits alongside the canvas-back till he comes up from the depths -with mouth or bill full of parsley and wild celery, when he makes at -him and forces him to disgorge. At Baltimore at 1.30--dined--Lamy -resolved to stay--bade good-bye to Swan and Morris. The man at -first would not take my ducks and boots to register or check -them--twenty-five cents did it. I arrived at Washington late, because -of detention of train by enormous transport; labelled and sent out -game to the houses till James’s fingers ached again. Nothing doing, -except that General Scott has at last sent in resignation. M‘Clellan -is now indeed master of the situation. And so to bed, rather tired. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - - General Scott’s resignation--Mrs. A. Lincoln--Unofficial mission - to Europe--Uneasy feeling with regard to France--Ball given - by the United States cavalry--The United States army--Success - at Beaufort--Arrests--Dinner at Mr. Seward’s--News of Captain - Wilkes and the Trent--Messrs. Mason and Slidell--Discussion - as to Wilkes--Prince de Joinville--The American press on the - Trent affair--Absence of thieves in Washington--“Thanksgiving - Day”--Success thus far in favour of the North. - - -_November 1st._--Again stagnation; not the smallest intention of -moving; General Scott’s resignation, of which I was aware long -ago, is publicly known, and he is about to go to Europe, and end -his days probably in France. M‘Clellan takes his place, minus the -large salary. Riding back from camp, where I had some trouble with -a drunken soldier, my horse came down in a dark hole, and threw me -heavily, so that my hat was crushed in on my head, and my right thumb -sprained, but I managed to get up and ride home; for the brute had -fallen right on his own head, cut a piece out of his forehead between -the eyes, and was stunned too much to run away. I found letters -waiting from Mr. Seward and others, thanking me for the game, if -canvas-backs come under the title. - -_November 2nd._--A tremendous gale of wind and rain blew all day, and -caused much uneasiness, at the Navy Department and elsewhere, for the -safety of the Burnside expedition. The Secessionists are delighted, -and those who can, say “Afflavit Deus et hostes dissipantur.” There -is a project to send secret non-official commissioners to Europe, to -counteract the machinations of the Confederates. Mr. Everett, Mr. R. -Kennedy, Bishop Hughes, and Bishop M‘Ilwaine are designated for the -office; much is expected from the expedition, not only at home but -abroad. - -_November 3rd._--For some reason or another, a certain set of papers -have lately taken to flatter Mrs. Lincoln in the most noisome -manner, whilst others deal in dark insinuations against her loyalty, -Union principles, and honesty. The poor lady is loyal as steel to -her family and to Lincoln the first; but she is accessible to the -influence of flattery, and has permitted her society to be infested -by men who would not be received in any respectable private house -in New York. The gentleman who furnishes fashionable paragraphs for -the Washington paper has some charming little pieces of gossip about -“the first Lady in the Land” this week; he is doubtless the same -who, some weeks back, chronicled the details of a raid on the pigs -in the streets by the police, and who concluded thus: “We cannot but -congratulate Officer Smith on the very gentlemanly manner in which -he performed his disagreeable but arduous duties; nor did it escape -our notice, that Officer Washington Jones was likewise active and -energetic in the discharge of his functions.” - -The ladies in Washington delight to hear or to invent small scandals -connected with the White House; thus it is reported that the Scotch -gardener left by Mr. Buchanan has been made a lieutenant in the -United States Army, and has been specially detached to do duty at -the White House, where he superintends the cooking. Another person -connected with the establishment was made Commissioner of Public -Buildings, but was dismissed because he would not put down the -expense of a certain state dinner to the public account, and charge -it under the head of “Improvement to the Grounds.” But many more -better tales than these go round, and it is not surprising if a woman -is now and then put under close arrest, or sent off to Fort M‘Henry -for too much _esprit_ and inventiveness. - -_November 4th._--General Fremont will certainly be recalled. There is -not the smallest incident to note. - -_November 5th._--Small banquets, very simple and tolerably social, -are the order of the day as winter closes around us; the country -has become too deep in mud for pleasant excursions, and at times -the weather is raw and cold. General M‘Dowell, who dined with us -to-day, maintains there will be no difficulty in advancing during bad -weather, because the men are so expert in felling trees, they can -make corduroy roads wherever they like. I own the arguments surprised -but did not convince me, and I think the General will find out his -mistake when the time comes. Mr. Everett, whom I had expected, was -summoned away by the unexpected intelligence of his son’s death, so I -missed the opportunity of seeing one whom I much desired to have met, -as the great Apostle of Washington worship, in addition to his claims -to higher distinction. He has admitted that the only bond which can -hold the Union together is the common belief in the greatness of the -departed general. - -_November 6th._--Instead of Mr. Everett and Mr. Johnson, Mr. Thurlow -Weed and Bishop Hughes will pay a visit to Europe in the Federal -interests. Notwithstanding the adulation of everything French, -from the Emperor down to a Zouave’s gaiter, in the New York press -there is an uneasy feeling respecting the intentions of France, -founded on the notion that the Emperor is not very friendly to the -Federalists, and would be little disposed to expose his subjects to -privation and suffering from the scarcity of cotton and tobacco if, -by intervention, he could avert such misfortunes. The inactivity -of M‘Clellan, which is not understood by the people, has created -an under-current of unpopularity, to which his enemies are giving -every possible strength, and some people are beginning to think the -youthful Napoleon is only a Brummagem Bonaparte. - -_November 7th._--After such bad weather, the Indian summer, _l’été -de St. Martin_, is coming gradually, lighting up the ruins of the -autumn’s foliage still clinging to the trees, giving us pure, bright, -warm days, and sunsets of extraordinary loveliness. Drove out to -Bladensburgh with Captain Haworth, and discovered that my waggon was -intended to go on to Richmond and never to turn back or round, for no -roads in this part of the country are wide enough for the purpose. -Dined at the Legation, and in the evening went to a grand ball, given -by the 6th United States Cavalry in the Poor House near their camp, -about two miles outside the city. - -The ball took place in a series of small white-washed rooms off long -passages and corridors; many supper tables were spread; whisky, -champagne, hot terrapin soup, and many luxuries graced the board; -and although but two or three couple could dance in each room at a -time, by judicious arrangement of the music several rooms were served -at once. The Duke of Chartres, in the uniform of a United States -Captain of Staff, was among the guests, and had to share the ordeal -to which strangers were exposed by the hospitable entertainers, of -drinking with them all. Some called him “Chatters”--others, “Captain -Chatters;” but these were of the outside polloi, who cannot be kept -out on such occasions, and who shake hands and are familiar with -everybody. - -The Duke took it all exceedingly well, and laughed with the loudest -in the company. Altogether the ball was a great success--somewhat -marred indeed in my own case by the bad taste of one of the officers -of the regiment which had invited me, in adopting an offensive manner -when about to be introduced to me by one of his brother officers. -Colonel Emory, the officer in command of the regiment, interfered, -and, finding that Captain A---- was not sober, ordered him to retire. -Another small _contretemps_ was caused by the master of the Work -House, who had been indulging at least as freely as the captain, and -at last began to fancy that the paupers had broken loose and were -dancing about after hours below stairs. In vain he was led away and -incarcerated in one room after another; his intimate knowledge of the -architectural difficulties of the building enabled him to set all -precautions at defiance, and he might be seen at intervals flying -along the passages towards the music, pursued by the officers, until -he was finally secured in a dungeon without a window, and with a -bolted and locked door between him and the ball-rooms. - -_November 8th._--Colonel Emory made us laugh this morning by an -account of our Amphytrion of the night before, who came to him with -a very red eye and curious expression of face to congratulate the -regiment on the success of the ball. “The most beautiful thing of -all was,” said he, “Colonel, I did not see one gentleman or lady who -had taken too much liquor; there was not a drunken man in the whole -company.” I consulted my friends at the Legation with respect to our -inebriated officer, on whose behalf Colonel Emory tendered his own -apologies; but they were of opinion I had done all that was right and -becoming in the matter, and that I must take no more notice of it. - -_November 9th._--Colonel Wilmot, R. A., who has come down from -Canada to see the army, spent the day with Captain Dahlgren at the -Navy Yard, and returned with impressions favourable to the system. -He agrees with Dahlgren, who is dead against breach-loading, but -admits Armstrong has done the most that can be effected with the -system. Colonel Wilmot avers the English press are responsible for -the Armstrong guns. He has been much struck by the excellence of the -great iron-works he has visited in the States, particularly that of -Mr. Sellers, in Philadelphia. - -_November 10th._--Visiting Mr. Mure the other day, who was still an -invalid at Washington, I met a gentleman named Maury, who had come -to Washington to see after a portmanteau which had been taken from -him on the Canadian frontier by the police. He was told to go to the -State Department and claim his property, and on arriving there was -arrested and confined with a number of prisoners, my horse-dealing -friend, Sammy Wroe, among them. We walked down to inquire how he -was; the soldier who was on duty gave a flourishing account of -him--he had plenty of whisky and food, and, said the man, “I quite -feel for Maury, because he does business in my State.” These State -influences must be overcome, or no Union will ever hold together. - -Sir James Ferguson and Mr. Bourke were rather shocked when Mr. -Seward opened the letters from persons in the South to friends -in Europe, of which they had taken charge, and cut some passages -out with a scissors; but a Minister who combines the functions of -Chief-of-Police with those of Secretary of State must do such things -now and then. - -_November 11th._--The United States have now, according to the -returns, 600,000 infantry, 600 pieces of artillery, 61,000 -cavalry in the field, and yet they are not only unable to crush -the Confederates, but they cannot conquer the Secession ladies -in their capital. The Southern people here trust in a break-down -in the North before the screw can be turned to the utmost; and -assert that the South does not want corn, wheat, leather, or food. -Georgia makes cloth enough for all--the only deficiency will be in -metal and _matériel_ of war. When the North comes to discuss the -question whether the war is to be against slavery or for the Union -leaving slavery to take care of itself, they think a split will be -inevitable. Then the pressure of taxes will force on a solution, for -the State taxes already amount to 2 to 3 per cent., and the people -will not bear the addition. The North has set out with the principle -of paying for everything, the South with the principle of paying for -nothing; but this will be reversed in time. All the diplomatists, -with one exception, are of opinion the Union is broken for ever, and -the independence of the South virtually established. - -_November 12th._--An irruption of dirty little boys in the streets -shouting out, “Glorious Union victory! Charleston taken!” The story -is that Burnside has landed and reduced the forts defending Port -Royal. I met Mr. Fox, Assistant-Secretary to the Navy, and Mr. -Hay, Secretary to Mr. Lincoln, in the Avenue. The former showed me -Burnside’s despatches from Beaufort, announcing reduction of the -Confederate batteries by the ships and the establishment of the -Federals on the skirts of Port Royal. Dined at Lord Lyons’, where -were Mr. Chase, Major Palmer, U.S.E., and his wife, Colonel and -Mrs. Emory, Professor Henry and his daughter, Mr. Kennedy and his -daughter, Colonel Wilmot and the Englishry of Washington. I had a -long conversation with Mr. Chase, who is still sanguine that the -war must speedily terminate. The success at Beaufort has made him -radiant, and he told me that the Federal General Nelson[8]--who is no -other than the enormous blustering, boasting lieutenant in the navy -whom I met at Washington on my first arrival--has gained an immense -victory in Kentucky, killing and capturing a whole army and its -generals. - -A strong Government will be the end of the struggle, but before they -come to it there must be a complete change of administration and -internal economy. Indeed, the Secretary of the Treasury candidly -admitted that the expenses of the war were enormous, and could not go -on at the present rate very long. The men are paid too highly; every -one is paid too much. The scale is adapted to a small army not very -popular, in a country where labour is very well paid, and competition -is necessary to obtain recruits at all. He has never disguised -his belief the South might have been left to go at first, with a -certainty of their return to the Union. - -_November 13th._--Mr. Charles Green, who was my host at Savannah, -and Mr. Low, of the same city, have been arrested and sent to Fort -Warren. Dining with Mr. Seward, I heard accidentally that Mrs. Low -had also been arrested, but was now liberated. The sentiment of -dislike towards England is increasing, because English subjects -have assisted the South by smuggling and running the blockade. “It -is strange,” said Mr. Seward the other day, “that this great free -and civilized Union should be supported by Germans, coming here -semi-civilized or half-savage, who plunder and destroy as if they -were living in the days of Agricola, whilst the English are the great -smugglers who support our enemies in their rebellion.” I reminded him -that the United States flag had covered the smugglers who carried -guns and _matériel_ of war to Russia, although they were at peace -with France and England. “Yes, but then,” said he, “that was a -legitimate contest between great established powers, and I admit, -though I lament the fact, that the public sympathy in this country -ran with Russia during that war.” The British public have a right -to their sympathies too, and the Government can scarcely help it if -private individuals aid the South on their own responsibility. In -future, British subjects will be indicted instead of being sent to -Fort La Fayette. Mr. Seward feels keenly the attacks in the _New York -Tribune_ on him for arbitrary arrests, and representations have been -made to Mr. Greeley privately on the subject; nor is he indifferent -to similar English criticisms. - -General M‘Dowell asserts there is no nation in the world whose -censure or praise the people of the United States care about except -England, and with respect to her there is a morbid sensitiveness -which can neither be explained nor justified. - -It is admitted, indeed, by Americans whose opinions are valuable, -that the popular feeling was in favour of Russia during the Crimean -war. Mr. Raymond attributes the circumstance to the influence of the -large Irish element; but I am inclined to believe it is partly due -at least to the feeling of rivalry and dislike to Great Britain, in -which the mass of the American people are trained by their early -education, and also in some measure to the notion that Russia was -unequally matched in the contest. - -_November 14th._--Rode to cavalry camp, and sat in front of Colonel -Emory’s tent with General Stoneman, who is chief of the cavalry, and -Captain Pleasanton; heard interesting anecdotes of the wild life -on the frontiers, and of bushranging in California, of lassoing -bulls and wild horses and buffaloes, and encounters with grizzly -bears--interrupted by a one-armed man, who came to the Colonel for -“leave to take away George.” He spoke of his brother who had died in -camp, and for whose body he had come, metallic coffin and all, to -carry it back to his parents in Pennsylvania. - -I dined with Mr. Seward--Mr. Raymond, of New York, and two or three -gentlemen, being the only guests. Mr. Lincoln came in whilst we were -playing a rubber, and told some excellent West-country stories. -“Here, Mr. President, we have got the two _Times_--of New York and -of London--if they would only do what is right and what we want, -all will go well.” “Yes,” said Mr. Lincoln, “if the bad Times would -go where we want them, good Times would be sure to follow.” Talking -over Bull’s Run, Mr. Seward remarked “that civilians sometimes -displayed more courage than soldiers, but perhaps the courage was -unprofessional. When we were cut off from Baltimore, and the United -States troops at Annapolis were separated by a country swarming with -malcontents, not a soldier could be found to undertake the journey -and communicate with them. At last a civilian”--(I think he mentioned -the name of Mr. Cassius Clay)--“volunteered, and executed the -business. So, after Bull’s Run, there was only one officer, General -Sherman, who was doing anything to get the troops into order when -the President and myself drove over to see what we could do on that -terrible Tuesday evening.” Mr. Teakle Wallis and others, after the -Baltimore business, told him the people would carry his head on their -pikes; and so he went to Auburn to see how matters stood, and a few -words from his old friends there made him feel his head was quite -right on his shoulders. - -_November 15th._--Horse-dealers are the same all the world over. -To-day comes one with a beast for which he asked £50. “There was a -Government agent looking after this horse for one of them French -princes, I believe, just as I was talking to the Kentuck chap that -had him. ‘John,’ says he, ‘that’s the best-looking horse I’ve seen in -Washington this many a day.’ ‘Yes,’ says I, ‘and you need not look at -him any more.’ ‘Why?’ says he. ‘Because,’ says I, ‘it’s one that I -want for Lord John Russell, of the London _Times_,’ says I, ‘and if -ever there was a man suited for a horse, or a horse that was suited -for a man, they’re the pair, and I’ll give every cent I can raise to -buy my friend, Lord Russell, that horse.’” I could not do less than -purchase, at a small reduction, a very good animal thus recommended. - -_November 16th._--A cold, raw day. As I was writing, a small friend -of mine, who appears like a stormy petrel in moments of great storm, -fluttered into my room, and having chirped out something about a -“Jolly row”--“Seizure of Mason and Slidell”--“British flag insulted,” -and the like, vanished. Somewhat later, going down 17th Street, I -met the French Minister, M. Mercier, wrapped in his cloak, coming -from the British Legation. “Vous avez entendu quelque chose de -nouveau?” “Mais non, excellence.” And then, indeed, I learned there -was no doubt about the fact that Captain Wilkes, of the U.S. steamer -San Jacinto, had forcibly boarded the Trent, British mail steamer, -off the Bahamas, and had taken Messrs. Mason, Slidell, Eustis, and -M‘Clernand from on board by armed force, in defiance of the protests -of the captain and naval officer in charge of the mails. This was -indeed grave intelligence, and the French Minister considered the act -a flagrant outrage, which could not for a moment be justified. - -I went to the Legation, and found the young diplomatists in the -“Chancellerie” as demure and innocent as if nothing had happened, -though perhaps they were a trifle more lively than usual. An hour -later, and the whole affair was published in full in the evening -papers. Extraordinary exultation prevailed in the hotels and -bar-rooms. The State Department has made of course no communication -respecting the matter. All the English are satisfied that Mason and -his friends must be put on board an English mail packet from the San -Jacinto under a salute. - -An officer of the United States navy--whose name I shall not -mention here--came in to see the buccaneers, as the knot of English -bachelors of Washington are termed, and talk over the matter. “Of -course” he said, “we shall apologise and give up poor Wilkes to -vengeance by dismissing him, but under no circumstances shall we -ever give up Mason and Slidell. No, sir; not a man dare propose -such a humiliation to our flag.” He says that Wilkes acted on his -own responsibility, and that the San Jacinto was coming home from -the African station when she encountered the Trent. Wilkes knew the -rebel emissaries were on board, and thought he would cut a dash and -get up a little sensation, being a bold and daring sort of a fellow -with a quarrelsome disposition and a great love of notoriety, but an -excellent officer. - -_November 17th._--For my sins I went to see a dress parade of the 6th -Regular Cavalry early this morning, and underwent a small purgatory -from the cold, on a bare plain, whilst the men and officers, with red -cheeks and blue noses, mounted on horses with staring coats, marched, -trotted, and cantered past. The papers contain joyous articles on the -Trent affair, and some have got up an immense amount of learning at -a short notice; but I am glad to say we had no discussion in camp. -There is scarcely more than one opinion among thinking people in -Washington respecting the legality of the act, and the course Great -Britain must pursue. All the Foreign Ministers, without exception, -have called on Lord Lyons--Russia, France, Italy, Prussia, Denmark. -All are of accord. I am not sure whether the important diplomatist -who represents the mighty interests of the Hanse Towns has not -condescended to admit England has right on her side. - -_November 18th._--There is a storm of exultation sweeping over the -land. Wilkes is the hero of the hour. I saw Mr. F. Seward at the -State Department at ten o’clock; but as at the British Legation -the orders are not to speak of the transaction, so at the State -Department a judicious reticence is equally observed. The lawyers are -busy furnishing arguments to the newspapers. The officers who held -their tongues at first, astonished at the audacity of the act, are -delighted to find any arguments in its favour. - -I called at General M‘Clellan’s new head-quarters to get a pass, and -on my way met the Duke of Chartres, who shook his young head very -gravely, and regarded the occurrence with sorrow and apprehension. -M‘Clellan, I understand, advised the immediate surrender of the -prisoners; but the authorities, supported by the sudden outburst of -public approval, refused to take that step. I saw Lord Lyons, who -appeared very much impressed by the magnitude of the crisis. Thence -I visited the Navy Department, where Captain Dahlgren and Lieutenant -Wise discussed the affair. The former, usually so calm, has too -much sense not to perceive the course England must take, and as an -American officer naturally feels regret at what appears to be the -humiliation of his flag; but he speaks with passion, and vows that -if England avails herself of the temporary weakness of the United -States to get back the rebel commissioners by threats of force, -every American should make his sons swear eternal hostility to Great -Britain. Having done wrong, stick to it! Thus men’s anger blinds -them, and thus come wars. - -It is obvious that no Power could permit political offenders sailing -as passengers in a mail-boat under its flag, from one neutral port -to another, to be taken by a belligerent, though the recognition of -such a right would be, perhaps, more advantageous to England than to -any other Power. But, notwithstanding these discussions, our naval -friends dined and spent the evening with us, in company with some -other officers. - -I paid my respects to the Prince of Joinville, with whom I had a -long and interesting conversation, in the course of which he gave -me to understand he thought the seizure an untoward and unhappy -event, which could not be justified on any grounds whatever, and -that he had so expressed himself in the highest quarters. There are, -comparatively, many English here at present; Mr. Chaplin, Sir F. -Johnstone, Mr. Weldon, Mr. Browne, and others, and it may be readily -imagined this affair creates deep feeling and much discussion. - -_November 19th._--I rarely sat down to write under a sense of greater -responsibility, for it is just possible my letter may contain the -first account of the seizure of the Southern Commissioners which -will reach England; and, having heard all opinions and looked at -authorities, as far as I could, it appears to me that the conduct of -the American officer, now sustained by his Government, is without -excuse. I dined at Mr. Corcoran’s, where the Ministers of Prussia, -Brazil, and Chili, and the Secretary of the French Legation, were -present; and, although we did not talk politics, enough was said to -show there was no dissent from the opinion expressed by intelligent -and uninterested foreigners. - -_November 20th._--To-day a grand review, the most remarkable feature -of which was the able disposition made by General M‘Dowell to march -seventy infantry regiments, seventeen batteries, and seven cavalry -regiments, into a very contracted space, from the adjoining camps. -Of the display itself I wrote a long account, which is not worth -repeating here. Among the 55,000 men present there were at least -20,000 Germans and 12,000 Irish. - -_November 22nd._--All the American papers have agreed that the Trent -business is quite according to law, custom, and international comity, -and that England can do nothing. They cry out so loudly in this -one key there is reason to suspect they have some inward doubts. -General M‘Clellan invited all the world, including myself, to see a -performance given by Hermann, the conjuror, at his quarters, which -will be aggravating news to the bloody-minded, serious people in New -England. - -Day after day passes on, and finds our Micawbers in Washington -waiting for something to turn up. The Trent affair, having been -proved to be legal and right beyond yea or nay, has dropped out of -the minds of all save those who are waiting for news from England; -and on looking over my diary I can see nothing but memoranda relating -to quiet rides, visits to camps, conversations with this one or the -other, a fresh outburst of anonymous threatening letters, as if I -had anything to do with the Trent affair, and notes of small social -reunions at our own rooms and the Washington houses which were open -to us. - -_November 25th._--I remarked the other evening that, with all the -disorder in Washington, there are no thieves. Next night, as we were -sitting in our little symposium, a thirsty soldier knocked at the -door for a glass of water. He was brought in and civilly treated. -Under the date of the 27th, accordingly, I find it duly entered that -“the vagabond who came in for water must have had a confederate, -who got into the hall whilst we were attending to his comrade, for -yesterday there was a great lamentation over cloaks and great-coats -missing from the hall, and as the day wore on the area of plunder was -extended. Carl discovers he has been robbed of his best clothes, and -Caroline has lost her watch and many petticoats.” - -Thanksgiving Day on the 28th was celebrated by enormous drunkenness -in the army. The weather varied between days of delicious -summer--soft, bright, balmy, and beautiful beyond expression--and -days of wintry storm, with torrents of rain. - -Some excitement was caused at the end of the month by the report I -had received information from England that the law officers of the -Crown had given it as their opinion that a United States man-of-war -would be justified by Lord Stowell’s decisions in taking Mason and -Slidell even in the British Channel, if the Nashville transferred -them to a British mail steamer. This opinion was called for in -consequence of the Tuscarora appearing in Southampton Water; and, -having heard of it, I repeated it in strict confidence to some one -else, till at last Baron de Stoeckl came to ask me if it was true. -Receiving passengers from the Nashville, however, would have been an -act of direct intercourse with an enemy’s ship. In the case of the -Trent the persons seized had come on board as lawful passengers at a -neutral port. - -The tide of success runs strongly in favour of the North at present, -although they generally get the worst of it in the small affairs in -the front of Washington. The entrance to Savannah has been occupied, -and by degrees the fleets are biting into the Confederate lines along -the coast, and establishing positions which will afford bases of -operations to the Federals hereafter. The President and Cabinet seem -in better spirits, and the former indulges in quaint speculations, -which he transfers even to State papers. He calculates, for instance, -there are human beings now alive who may ere they die behold the -United States peopled by 250 millions of souls. Talking of a high -mound on the prairie, in Illinois, he remarked, “that if all the -nations of the earth were assembled there, a man standing on its top -would see them all, for that the whole human race would fit on a -space twelve miles square, which was about the extent of the plain.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - - A Captain under arrest--Opening of Congress--Colonel Dutassy--An - ex-pugilist turned Senator--Mr. Cameron--Ball in the officers’ - huts--Presentation of standards at Arlington--Dinner at - Lord Lyons’--Paper currency--A polyglot dinner--Visit to - Washington’s Tomb--Mr. Chase’s Report--Colonel Seaton--Unanimity - of the South--The Potomac blockade--A Dutch-American Crimean - acquaintance--The American Lawyers on the Trent affair--Mr. - Sumner--M‘Clellan’s Army--Impressions produced in America by - the English Press on the affair of the Trent--Mr. Sumner on the - crisis--Mutual feelings of the two nations--Rumours of war with - Great Britain. - - -_December 1st._--A mixed party of American officers and English went -to-day to the post at Great Falls, about sixteen or seventeen miles -up the Potomac, and were well repaid by the charming scenery, and by -a visit to an American military station in a state of nature. The -captain in command told us over a drink that he was under arrest, -because he had refused to do duty as lieutenant of the guard, he -being a captain. “But I have written to M‘Clellan about it,” said he, -“and I’m d--d if I stay under arrest more than three days longer.” -He was not aware that the General’s brother, who is a captain on his -staff, was sitting beside him at the time. This worthy centurion -further informed us he had shot a man dead a short time before for -disobeying his orders. “That he did,” said his sympathising and -enthusiastic orderly, “and there’s the weapon that done it.” The -captain was a boot and shoe maker by trade, and had travelled across -the isthmus before the railway was made to get orders for his boots. -A hard, determined, fierce “sutor,” as near a savage as might be. - -“And what will you do, captain,” asked I, “if they keep you in -arrest?” - -“Fight for it, sir. I’ll go straight away into Pennsylvania with my -company, and we’ll whip any two companies they can send to stop us.” - -Mr. Sumner paid me a visit on my return from our excursion, and seems -to think everything is in the best possible state. - -_December 2nd._--Congress opened to-day. The Senate did nothing. In -the House of Representatives some Buncombe resolutions were passed -about Captain Wilkes, who has become a hero--“a great interpreter -of international law,” and also recommending that Messrs. Mason and -Slidell be confined in felons’ cells, in retaliation for Colonel -Corcoran’s treatment by the Confederates. M. Blondel, the Belgian -minister, who was at the court of Greece during the Russian war, -told me that when the French and English fleets lay in the Piræus, -a United States vessel, commanded, he thinks, by Captain Stringham, -publicly received M. Persani, the Russian ambassador, on board, -hoisted and saluted the Russian flag in the harbour, whereupon the -French Admiral, Barbier de Tinan, proposed to the English Admiral to -go on board the United States vessel and seize the ambassador, which -the British officer refused to do. - -_December 3rd._--Drove down to the Capitol, and was introduced to -the floor of the Senate by Senator Wilson, and arrived just as -Mr. Forney commenced reading the President’s message, which was -listened to with considerable interest. At dinner, Colonel D’Utassy, -of the Garibaldi legion, who gives a curious account of his career. -A Hungarian by birth, he went over from the Austrian service, and -served under Bem; was wounded and taken prisoner at Temesvar, and -escaped from Spielberg, through the kindness of Count Bennigsen, -making his way to Semlin, in the disguise of a servant, where Mr. -Fonblanque, the British consul, protected him. Thence he went to -Kossuth at Shumla, finally proceeded to Constantinople, where he was -engaged to instruct the Turkish cavalry; turned up in the Ionian -Islands, where he was engaged by the late Sir H. Ward, as a sort of -secretary and interpreter, in which capacity he also served Sir G. -Le Marchant. In the United States he was earning his livelihood as -a fencing, dancing, and language master; and when the war broke out -he exerted himself to raise a regiment, and succeeded in completing -his number in seventeen days, being all the time obliged to support -himself by his lessons. I tell his tale as he told it to me. - -One of our friends, of a sporting turn, dropped in to-night, followed -by a gentleman dressed in immaculate black, and of staid deportment, -whose name I did not exactly catch, but fancied it was that of a -senator of some reputation. As the stranger sat next me, and was -rubbing his knees nervously, I thought I would commence conversation. - -“It appears, sir, that affairs in the south-west are not so -promising. May I ask you what is your opinion of the present -prospects of the Federals in Missouri?” - -I was somewhat disconcerted by his reply, for rubbing his knees -harder than ever, and imprecating his organs of vision in a very -sanguinary manner, he said-- - -“Well, d---- if I know what to think of them. They’re a b---- rum -lot, and they’re going on in a d---- rum way. That’s what I think.” - -The supposed legislator, in fact, was distinguished in another -arena, and was no other than a celebrated pugilist, who served his -apprenticeship in the English ring, and has since graduated in -honours in America. - -I dined with Mr. Cameron, Secretary of War, where I met Mr. Forney, -Secretary of the Senate; Mr. House, Mr. Wilkeson, and others, and was -exceedingly interested by the shrewd conversation and candid manner -of our host. He told me he once worked as a printer in the city of -Washington, at ten dollars a week, and twenty cents an hour for extra -work at the case on Sundays. Since that time he has worked onwards -and upwards, and amassed a large fortune by contracts for railways -and similar great undertakings. He says the press rules America, and -that no one can face it and live; which is about the worst account -of the chances of an honest longevity I can well conceive. His -memory is exact, and his anecdotes, albeit he has never seen any -but Americans, or stirred out of the States, very agreeable. Once -there lived at Washington a publican’s daughter, named Mary O’Neil, -beautiful, bold, and witty. She captivated a member of Congress, who -failed to make her less than his wife; and by degrees Mrs. Eaton--who -may now be seen in the streets of Washington, an old woman, still -bright-eyed and, alas! bright-cheeked, retaining traces of her great -beauty--became a leading personage in the State, and ruled the -imperious, rugged, old Andrew Jackson so completely, that he broke -up his Cabinet and dismissed his ministers on her account. In the -days of her power she had done some trifling service to Mr. Cameron, -and he has just repaired it by conferring some military appointment -on her grandchild. - -The dinner, which was preceded by deputations, was finished by one -which came from the Far West, and was introduced by Mr. Hannibal -Hamlin, the Vice-President; Mr. Owen Lovejoy, Mr. Bingham, and other -ultra-Abolitionist members of Congress; and then speeches were made, -and healths were drunk, and toasts were pledged, till it was time for -me to drive to a ball given by the officers of the 5th United States -Cavalry, which was exceedingly pretty, and admirably arranged in -wooden huts, specially erected and decorated for the occasion. A huge -bonfire in the centre of the camp, surrounded by soldiers, by the -carriage drivers, and by negro servants, afforded the most striking -play of colour and variety of light and shade I ever beheld. - -_December 4th._--To Arlington, where Senator Ira Harris presented -flags--that is, standards--to a cavalry regiment called after his -name; the President, Mrs. Lincoln, ministers, generals, and a large -gathering present. Mr. Harris made a very long and a very fierce -speech; it could not be said _Ira furor brevis est_; and Colonel -Davies, in taking the standard, was earnest and lengthy in reply. -Then a barrister presented colour No. 2 in a speech full of poetical -quotations, to which Major Kilpatrick made an excellent answer. -Though it was strange enough to hear a political disquisition on -the causes of the rebellion from a soldier in full uniform, the -proceedings were highly theatrical and very effective. “Take, then, -this flag,” &c.--“Defend it with your,” &c.--“Yes, sir, we will -guard this sacred emblem with--,” &c. The regiment then went through -some evolutions, which were brought to an untimely end by a _feu de -joie_ from the infantry in the rear, which instantly broke up the -squadrons, and sent them kicking, plunging, and falling over the -field, to the great amusement of the crowd. - -Dined with Lord Lyons, where was Mr. Galt, Financial Minister of -Canada; Mr. Stewart, who has arrived to replace Mr. Irvine, and -others. In our rooms, a grand financial discussion took place in -honour of Mr. Galt, between Mr. Butler Duncan and others, the former -maintaining that a general issue of national paper was inevitable. -A very clever American maintained that the North will be split into -two great parties by the result of the victory which they are certain -to gain over the South--that the Democrats will offer the South -concessions more liberal than they could ever dream of, and that both -will unite against the Abolitionists and Black Republicans. - -_December 6th._--Mr. Riggs says the paper currency scheme will -produce money, and make every man richer. He is a banker, and ought -to know; but to my ignorant eye it seems likely to prove most -destructive, and I confess, that whatever be the result of this -war, I have no desire for the ruin of so many happy communities as -have sprung up in the United States. Had it been possible for human -beings to employ popular institutions without intrigue and miserable -self-seeking, and to be superior to faction and party passion, the -condition of parts of the United States must cause regret that an -exemption from the usual laws which regulate human nature was not -made in America; but the strength of the United States--directed by -violent passions, by party interest, and by selfish intrigues--was -becoming dangerous to the peace of other nations, and therefore there -is an utter want of sympathy with them in their time of trouble. - -I dined with Mr. Galt, at Willard’s, where we had a very pleasant -party, in spite of financial dangers. - -_December 7th._--A visit to the Garibaldi Guard with some of the -Englishry, and an excellent dinner at the mess, which presented -a curious scene, and was graced by sketches from a wonderful -polyglot chaplain. What a company!--the officers present were -composed as follows:--Five Spaniards, six Poles and Hungarians, two -Frenchmen--the most soldierly-looking men at table--one American, -four Italians, and nine Teutons of various States in Germany. - -_December 8th._--A certain excellent Colonel who commands a French -regiment visited us to-day. When he came to Washington, one of the -Foreign Ministers who had been well acquainted with him said, “My -dear Colonel, what a pity we can be no longer friends.” “Why so, -Baron?” “Ah, we can never dine together again.” “Why not? Do you -forbid me your table?” “No, Colonel, but how can I invite a man who -can command the services of at least 200 cooks in his own regiment?” -“Well then, Baron, you can come and dine with me.” “What! how do -you think I could show myself in your camp--how could I get my hair -dressed to sit at the table of a man who commands 300 coiffeurs?” I -rode out to overtake a party who had started in carriages for Mount -Vernon to visit Washington’s tomb, but missed them in the wonderfully -wooded country which borders the Potomac, and returned alone. - -_December 9th._--Spent the day over Mr. Chase’s report, a copy of -which he was good enough to send me with a kind note, and went out -in the evening with my head in a state of wild financial confusion, -and a general impression that the financial system of England is very -unsound. - -_December 10th._--Paid a visit to Colonel Seaton, of the _National -Intelligencer_, a man deservedly respected and esteemed for his -private character, which has given its impress to the journal he -has so long conducted. The New York papers ridicule the Washington -organ, because it does not spread false reports daily in the form -of telegraphic “sensation” news, and indeed one may be pretty sure -that a fact is a fact when it is found in the _Intelligencer_; but -the man, nevertheless, who is content with the information he gets -from it, will have no reason to regret, in the accuracy of his -knowledge or the soundness of his views, that he has not gone to its -noisy and mendacious rivals. In the minds of all the very old men -in the States, there is a feeling of great sadness and despondency -respecting the present troubles, and though they cling to the idea -of a restoration of the glorious Union of their youth, it is hoping -against hope. “Our game is played out. It was the most wonderful and -magnificent career of success the world ever saw, but rogues and -gamblers took up the cards at last; they quarrelled, and are found -out.” - -In the evening, supped at Mr. Forney’s, where there was a very -large gathering of gentlemen connected with the press; Mr. Cameron, -Secretary of War; Colonel Mulligan, a tall young man, with dark hair -falling on his shoulders, round a Celtic impulsive face, and a hazy -enthusiastic-looking eye; and other celebrities. Terrapin soup -and canvas-backs, speeches, orations, music, and song, carried the -company onwards among the small hours. - -_December 11th._--The unanimity of the people in the South is forced -on the conviction of the statesmen and people of the North, by -the very success of their expeditions in Secession. They find the -planters at Beaufort and elsewhere burning their cotton and crops, -villages and towns deserted at their approach, hatred in every eye, -and curses on women’s tongues. They meet this by a corresponding -change in their own programme. The war which was made to develop and -maintain Union sentiment in the South, and to enable the people to -rise against a desperate faction which had enthralled them, is now to -be made a crusade against slaveholders, and a war of subjugation--if -need be, of extermination--against the whole of the Southern States. -The Democrats will, of course, resist this barbarous and hopeless -policy. There is a deputation of Irish Democrats here now, to effect -a general exchange of prisoners, which is an operation calculated -to give a legitimate character to the war, and is _pro tanto_ a -recognition of the Confederacy as a belligerent power. - -_December 12th._--The navy are writhing under the disgrace of the -Potomac blockade, and deny it exists. The price of articles in -Washington which used to come by the river affords disagreeable proof -to the contrary. And yet there is not a true Yankee in Pennsylvania -Avenue who does not believe, what he reads every day, that his -glorious navy could sweep the fleets of France and England off the -seas to-morrow, though the Potomac be closed, and the Confederate -batteries throw their shot and shell into the Federal camps on the -other side. I dined with General Butterfield, whose camp is pitched -in Virginia, on a knoll and ridge from which a splendid view can be -had over the wooded vales and hills extending from Alexandria towards -Manassas, whitened with Federal tents and huts. General Fitz-John -Porter and General M‘Dowell were among the officers present. - -_December 12th._--A big-bearded, spectacled, moustachioed, spurred, -and booted officer threw himself on my bed this morning ere I was -awake. “Russell, my dear friend, here you are at last; what ages have -passed since we met!” I sat up and gazed at my friend. “Bohlen! don’t -you remember Bohlen, and our rides in Turkey, our visit to Shumla -and Pravady, and all the rest of it?” Of course I did. I remembered -an enthusiastic soldier, with a fine guttural voice, and a splendid -war saddle and saddle-cloth, and brass stirrups and holsters, worked -with eagles all over, and a uniform coat and cap with more eagles -flying amidst laurel leaves and U.S.’s in gold, who came out to see -the fighting in the East, and made up his mind that there would be -none, when he arrived at Varna, and so started off incontinent up the -Danube, and returned to the Crimea when it was too late; and a very -good, kindly, warm-hearted fellow was the Dutch-American, who--once -more in his war paint, this time acting Brigadier-General[9]--renewed -the memories of some pleasant days far away; and our talk was of -cavasses and khans, and tchibouques, and pashas, till his time was up -to return to his fighting Germans of Blenker’s division. - -He was _not_ the good-natured officer who said the other day, “The -next day you come down, sir, if my regiment happens to be on picket -duty, we’ll have a little skirmish with the enemy, just to show you -how our fellows are improved.” “Perhaps you might bring on a general -action, Colonel.” “Well, sir, we’re not afraid of that, either! Let -’em come on.” It did so happen that some young friends of mine, of -H.M.’s 30th, who had come down from Canada to see the army here, -went out a day or two ago with an officer on General Smith’s staff, -formerly in our army, who yet suffers from a wound received at the -Alma, to have a look at the enemy with a detachment of men. The enemy -came to have a look at them, whereby it happened that shots were -exchanged, and the bold Britons had to ride back as hard as they -could, for their men skedaddled, and the Secession cavalry slipping -after them, had a very pretty chase for some miles; so the 30th men -saw more than they bargained for. - -Dined at Baron Gerolt’s, where I had the pleasure of meeting Judge -Daly, who is perfectly satisfied the English lawyers have not a -leg to stand upon in the Trent case. On the faith of old and very -doubtful, and some purely supposititious, cases, the American lawyers -have made up their minds that the seizure of the “rebel” ambassadors -was perfectly legitimate and normal. The Judge expressed his belief -that if there was a rebellion in Ireland, and that Messrs. Smith -O’Brien and O’Gorman ran the blockade to France, and were going on -their passage from Havre to New York in a United States steamer, -they would be seized by the first British vessel that knew the fact. -“Granted; and what would the United States do?” “I am afraid we -should be obliged to demand that they be given up; and if you were -strong enough at the time, I dare say you would fight sooner than do -so.” Mr. Sumner, with whom I had some conversation this afternoon, -affects to consider the question eminently suitable for reference and -arbitration. - -In spite of drills and parades, M‘Clellan has not got an army yet. A -good officer, who served as brigade-major in our service, told me the -men were little short of mutinous, with all their fine talk, though -they could fight well. Sometimes they refuse to mount guard, or to go -on duty not to their tastes; officers refuse to serve under others to -whom they have a dislike; men offer similar personal objections to -officers. M‘Clellan is enforcing discipline, and really intends to -execute a most villainous deserter this time. - -_December 15th._--The first echo of the San Jacinto’s guns in England -reverberated to the United States, and produced a profound sensation. -The people had made up their minds John Bull would acquiesce in the -seizure, and not say a word about it; or they affected to think -so; and the cry of anger which has resounded through the land, and -the unmistakable tone of the British press, at once surprise, and -irritate, and disappoint them. The American journals, nevertheless, -pretend to think it is a mere vulgar excitement, and that the press -is “only indulging in its habitual bluster.” - -_December 16th._--I met Mr. Seward at a ball and cotillion party, -given by M. de Lisboa; and as he was in very good humour, and was -inclined to talk, he pointed out to the Prince of Joinville, and all -who were inclined to listen, and myself, how terrible the effects of -a war would be if Great Britain forced it on the United States. “We -will wrap the whole world in flames!” he exclaimed. “No power so -remote that she will not feel the fire of our battle and be burned -by our conflagration.” It is inferred that Mr. Seward means to show -fight. One of the guests, however, said to me, “That’s all bugaboo -talk. When Seward talks that way, he means to break down. He is most -dangerous and obstinate when he pretends to agree a good deal with -you.” The young French Princes, and the young and pretty Brazilian -and American ladies, danced and were happy, notwithstanding the -storms without. - -Next day I dined at Mr. Seward’s, as the Minister had given _carte -blanche_ to a very lively and agreeable lady, who has to lament over -an absent husband in this terrible war, to ask two gentlemen to -dine with him, and she had been pleased to select myself and M. de -Geoffroy, Secretary of the Trench Legation, as her thick and her thin -_umbræ_; and the company went off in the evening to the White House, -where there was a reception, whereat I imagined I might be _de trop_, -and so home. - -Mr. Seward was in the best spirits, and told one or two rather long, -but very pleasant, stories. Now it is evident he must by this time -know Great Britain has resolved on the course to be pursued, and his -good humour, contrasted with the irritation he displayed in May and -June, is not intelligible. - -The Russian Minister, at whose house I dined next day, is better able -than any man to appreciate the use made of the Czar’s professions of -regret for the evils which distract the States by the Americans; but -it is the fashion to approve of everything that France does, and to -assume a violent affection for Russia. The Americans are irritated -by war preparations on the part of England, in case the Government -of Washington do not accede to their demands; and, at the same time, -much annoyed that all European nations join in an outcry against the -famous project of destroying the Southern harbours by the means of -the stone fleet. - -_December 20th._--I went down to the Senate, as it was expected at -the Legation and elsewhere the President would send a special message -to the Senate on the Trent affair; but, instead, there was merely a -long speech from a senator, to show the South did not like democratic -institutions. Lord Lyons called on Mr. Seward yesterday to read Lord -Russell’s dispatch to him, and to give time for a reply; but Mr. -Seward was out, and Mr. Sumner told me the Minister was down with the -Committee of Foreign Relations, where there is a serious business in -reference to the State of Mexico and certain European Powers under -discussion, when the British Minister went to the State Department. - -Next day Lord Lyons had two interviews with Mr. Seward, read the -despatch, which simply asks for surrender of Mason and Slidell -and reparation, without any specific act named, but he received -no indication from Mr. Seward of the course he would pursue. Mr. -Lincoln has “put down his foot” on no surrender. “Sir!” exclaimed the -President, to an old Treasury official the other day, “I would sooner -die than give them up.” “Mr. President,” was the reply, “your death -would be a great loss, but the destruction of the United States would -be a still more deplorable event.” - -Mr. Seward will, however, control the situation, as the Cabinet -will very probably support his views; and Americans will comfort -themselves, in case the captives are surrendered, with a promise -of future revenge, and with the reflection that they have avoided a -very disagreeable intervention between their march of conquest and -the Southern Confederacy. The general belief of the diplomatists is, -that the prisoners will not be given up, and in that case Lord Lyons -and the Legation will retire from Washington for the time, probably -to Halifax, leaving Mr. Monson to wind up affairs and clear out the -archives. But it is understood that there is no ultimatum, and that -Lord Lyons is not to indicate any course of action, should Mr. Seward -inform him the United States Government refuses to comply with the -demands of Great Britain. - -Any humiliation which may be attached to concession will be caused -by the language of the Americans themselves, who have given in their -press, in public meetings, in the Lower House, in the Cabinet, and -in the conduct of the President, a complete ratification of the act -of Captain Wilkes, not to speak of the opinions of the lawyers, -and the speeches of their orators, who declare “they will face any -alternative, but that they will never surrender.” The friendly -relations which existed between ourselves and many excellent -Americans are now rendered somewhat constrained by the prospect of a -great national difference. - -_December_ (Sunday) _22nd._--Lord Lyons saw Mr. Seward again, but it -does not appear that any answer can be expected before Wednesday. All -kinds of rumours circulate through the city, and are repeated in an -authoritative manner in the New York papers. - -_December 23rd_.--There was a tremendous storm, which drove over the -city and shook the houses to the foundation. Constant interviews -took place between the President and members of the Cabinet, and -so certain are the people that war is inevitable, that an officer -connected with the executive of the Navy Department came in to tell -me General Scott was coming over from Europe to conduct the Canadian -campaign, as he had thoroughly studied the geography of the country, -and that in a very short time he would be in possession of every -strategic position on the frontier, and chaw up our reinforcements. -Late in the evening, Mr. Olmsted called to say he had been credibly -informed Lord Lyons had quarrelled violently with Mr. Seward, -had flown into a great passion with him, and so departed. The -idea of Lord Lyons being quarrelsome, passionate, or violent, was -preposterous enough to those who knew him; but the American papers, -by repeated statements of the sort, have succeeded in persuading -their public that the British Minister is a plethoric, red-faced, -large-stomached man in top-boots, knee-breeches, yellow waistcoat, -blue cut-away, brass buttons, and broad-brimmed white hat, who is -continually walking to the State Department in company with a large -bulldog, hurling defiance at Mr. Seward at one moment, and the next -rushing home to receive despatches from Mr. Jefferson Davis, or to -give secret instructions to the British Consuls to run cargoes of -quinine and gunpowder through the Federal blockade. I was enabled -to assure Mr. Olmsted there was not the smallest foundation for the -story; but he seemed impressed with a sense of some great calamity, -and told me there was a general belief that England only wanted a -pretext for a quarrel with the United States; nor could I comfort him -by the assurance that there were good reasons for thinking General -Scott would very soon annex Canada, in case of war. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - - News of the death of the Prince Consort--Mr. Sumner and - the Trent Affair--Dispatch to Lord Russell--The Southern - Commissioners given up--Effects on the friends of the South--My - own unpopularity at New York--Attack of fever--My tour in - Canada--My return to New York in February--Successes of the - Western States--Mr. Stanton succeeds Mr. Cameron as Secretary - of War--Reverse and retreat of M‘Clellan--My free pass--The - Merrimac and Monitor--My arrangement to accompany M‘Clellan’s - head-quarters--Mr. Stanton refuses his sanction--National vanity - wounded by my truthfulness--My retirement and return to Europe. - - -_December 24th._---This evening came in a telegram from Europe -with news which cast the deepest gloom over all our little English -circle. Prince Albert dead! At first no one believed it; then it -was remembered that private letters by the last mail had spoken -despondingly of his state of health, and that the “little cold” of -which we had heard was described in graver terms. Prince Alfred dead! -“Oh, it may be Prince Alfred,” said some; and sad as it would be for -the Queen and the public to lose the Sailor Prince, the loss could -not be so great as that which we all felt to be next to the greatest. -The preparations which we had made for a little festivity to welcome -in Christmas morning were chilled by the news, and the eve was not -of the joyous character which Englishmen delight to give it, for the -sorrow which fell on all hearts in England had spanned the Atlantic, -and bade us mourn in common with the country at home. - -_December 25th._--Lord Lyons, who had invited the English in -Washington to dinner, gave a small quiet entertainment, from which he -retired early. - -_December 26th._--No answer yet. There can be but one. Press people, -soldiers, sailors, ministers, senators, Congress men, people in -the street, the voices of the bar-room--all are agreed. “Give them -up? Never! We’ll die first!” Senator Sumner, M. De Beaumont, M. -De Geoffroy, of the French Legation, dined with me, in company -with General Van Vliet, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Lamy, &c.; and in -the evening Major Anson, M.P., Mr. Johnson, Captain Irwin, U.S.A., -Lt. Wise, U.S.N., joined our party, and after much evasion of the -subject, the English despatch and Mr. Seward’s decision turned up and -caused some discussion. Mr. Sumner, who is Chairman of the Committee -on Foreign Relations of the Senate, and in that capacity is in -intimate _rapport_ with the President, either is, or affects to be, -incredulous respecting the nature of Lord Russell’s despatch this -evening, and argues that, at the very utmost, the Trent affair can -only be a matter for mediation, and not for any peremptory demand, -as the law of nations has no exact precedent to bear upon the case, -and that there are so many instances in which Sir W. Scott’s (Lord -Stowell’s) decisions in principle appear to justify Captain Wilkes. -All along he has held this language, and has maintained that at the -very worst there is plenty of time for protocols, despatches, and -references, and more than once he has said to me, “I hope you will -keep the peace; help us to do so,”--the peace having been already -broken by Captain Wilkes and the Government. - -_December 27th._--This morning Mr. Seward sent in his reply to -Lord Russell’s despatch--“grandis et verbosa epistola.” The result -destroys my prophecies, for, after all, the Southern Commissioners -or Ambassadors are to be given up. Yesterday, indeed, in an -under-current of whispers among the desponding friends of the South, -there went a rumour that the Government had resolved to yield. What -a collapse! What a bitter mortification! I had scarcely finished -the perusal of an article in a Washington paper,--which, let it be -understood, is an organ of Mr. Lincoln,--stating that “Mason and -Slidell would _not_ be surrendered, and assuring the people they -need entertain no apprehension of such a dishonourable concession,” -when I learned beyond all possibility of doubt, that Mr. Seward had -handed in his despatch, placing the Commissioners at the disposal of -the British Minister. A copy of the despatch will be published in the -_National Intelligencer_ to-morrow morning at an early hour, in time -to go to Europe by the steamer which leaves New York. - -After dinner, those who were in the secret were amused by hearing the -arguments which were started between one or two Americans and some -English in the company, in consequence of a positive statement from a -gentleman who came in, that Mason and Slidell had been surrendered. I -have resolved to go to Boston, being satisfied that a great popular -excitement and uprising will, in all probability, take place on the -discharge of the Commissioners from Fort Warren. What will my friend, -the general, say, who told me yesterday “he would snap his sword, and -throw the pieces into the White House, if they were given up?” - -_December 28th._--The _National Intelligencer_ of this morning -contains the despatches of Lord Russell, M. Thouvenel, and Mr. -Seward. The bubble has burst. The rage of the friends of compromise, -and of the South, who saw in a war with Great Britain the complete -success of the Confederacy, is deep and burning, if not loud; but -they all say they never expected anything better from the cowardly -and braggart statesmen who now rule in Washington. - -Lord Lyons has evinced the most moderate and conciliatory spirit, and -has done everything in his power to break Mr. Seward’s fall on the -softest of eider down. Some time ago we were all prepared to hear -nothing less would be accepted than Captain Wilkes taking Messrs. -Mason and Slidell on board the San Jacinto, and transferring them to -the Trent, under a salute to the flag, near the scene of the outrage; -at all events, it was expected that a British man-of-war would have -steamed into Boston, and received the prisoners under a salute from -Fort Warren; but Mr. Seward, apprehensive that some outrage would be -offered by the populace to the prisoners and the British Flag, has -asked Lord Lyons that the Southern Commissioners may be placed, as -it were, surreptitiously, in a United States boat, and carried to -a small seaport in the State of Maine, where they are to be placed -on board a British vessel as quietly as possible; and this exigent, -imperious, tyrannical, insulting British Minister has cheerfully -acceded to the request. Mr. Conway Seymour, the Queen’s messenger, -who brought Lord Russell’s despatch, was sent back with instructions -for the British Admiral, to send a vessel to Providence town for -the purpose; and as Mr. Johnson, who is nearly connected with Mr. -Eustis, one of the prisoners, proposed going to Boston to see his -brother-in-law, if possible, ere he started, and as there was not the -smallest prospect of any military movement taking place, I resolved -to go northwards with him; and we left Washington accordingly on the -morning of the 31st of December, and arrived at the New York Hotel -the same night. - -To my great regret and surprise, however, I learned it would be -impracticable to get to Fort Warren and see the prisoners before -their surrender. My unpopularity, which had lost somewhat of its -intensity, was revived by the exasperation against everything -English, occasioned by the firmness of Great Britain in demanding -the Commissioners; and on New Year’s Night, as I heard subsequently, -Mr. Grinell and other members of the New York Club were exposed -to annoyance and insult, by some of their brother members, in -consequence of inviting me to be their guest at the club. - -The illness which had prostrated some of the strongest men in -Washington, including General M‘Clellan himself, developed itself as -soon as I ceased to be sustained by the excitement, such as it was, -of daily events at the capital, and by expectations of a move; and -for some time an attack of typhoid fever confined me to my room, and -left me so weak that I was advised not to return to Washington till -I had tried change of air. I remained in New York till the end of -January, when I proceeded to make a tour in Canada, as it was quite -impossible for any operation to take place on the Potomac, where deep -mud, alternating with snow and frost, bound the contending armies in -winter quarters. - -On my return to New York, at the end of February, the North was -cheered by some signal successes achieved in the West principally by -gunboats, operating on the lines of the great rivers. The greatest -results have been obtained in the capture of Fort Donaldson and -Fort Henry, by Commodore Foote’s flotilla co-operating with the -land forces. The possession of an absolute naval supremacy, of -course, gives the North United States powerful means of annoyance -and inflicting injury and destruction on the enemy; it also secures -for them the means of seizing upon bases of operations wherever -they please, of breaking up the enemy’s lines, and maintaining -communications; but the example of Great Britain in the revolutionary -war should prove to the United States that such advantages do not, -by any means, enable a belligerent to subjugate a determined people -resolved on resistance to the last. The long-threatened encounter -between Bragg and Browne has taken place at Pensacola, without -effect, and the attempts of the Federals to advance from Port Royal -have been successfully resisted. Sporadic skirmishes have sprung up -over every border State; but, on the whole, success has inclined to -the Federals in Kentucky and Tennessee. - -On the 1st March, I arrived in Washington once more, and found things -very much as I had left them: the army recovering the effect of the -winter’s sickness and losses, animated by the victories of their -comrades in Western fields, and by the hope that the ever-coming -to-morrow would see them in the field at last. In place of Mr. -Cameron, an Ohio lawyer named Stanton has been appointed Secretary of -War. He came to Washington, a few years ago, to conduct some legal -proceedings for Mr. Daniel Sickles, and by his energy, activity, and -a rapid conversion from democratic to republican principles, as well -as by his Union sentiments, recommended himself to the President and -his Cabinet. - -The month of March passed over without any remarkable event in -the field. When the army started at last to attack the enemy--a -movement which was precipitated by hearing that they were moving -away--they went out only to find the Confederates had fallen back by -interior lines towards Richmond, and General M‘Clellan was obliged -to transport his army from Alexandria to the peninsula of York Town, -where his reverses, his sufferings, and his disastrous retreat, are -so well known and so recent, that I need only mention them as among -the most remarkable events which have yet occurred in this war. - -I had looked forward for many weary months to participating in the -movement and describing its results. Immediately on my arrival -in Washington, I was introduced to Mr. Stanton by Mr. Ashman, -formerly member of Congress and Secretary to Mr. Daniel Webster, -and the Secretary, without making any positive pledge, used words, -in Mr. Ashman’s presence, which led me to believe he would give -me permission to draw rations, and undoubtedly promised to afford -me every facility in his power. Subsequently he sent me a private -pass to the War Department to enable me to get through the crowd of -contractors and jobbers; but on going there to keep my appointment, -the Assistant-Secretary of War told me Mr. Stanton had been summoned -to a Cabinet Council by the President. - -We had some conversation respecting the subject matter of my -application, which the Assistant-Secretary seemed to think would -be attended with many difficulties, in consequence of the number -of correspondents to the American papers who might demand the -same privileges, and he intimated to me that Mr. Stanton was -little disposed to encourage them in any way whatever. Now this -is undoubtedly honest on Mr. Stanton’s part, for he knows he -might render himself popular by granting what they ask; but he -is excessively vain, and aspires to be considered a rude, rough, -vigorous Oliver Cromwell sort of man, mistaking some of the -disagreeable attributes and the accidents of the external husk of the -Great Protector for the brain and head of a statesman and a soldier. - -The American officers with whom I was intimate gave me to understand -that I could accompany them, in case I received permission from -the Government; but they were obviously unwilling to encounter -the abuse and calumny which would be heaped upon their heads by -American papers, unless they could show the authorities did not -disapprove of my presence in their camp. Several invitations sent -to me were accompanied by the phrase, “You will of course get a -written permission from the War Department, and then there will be -no difficulty.” On the evening of the private theatricals by which -Lord Lyons enlivened the ineffable dullness of Washington, I saw Mr. -Stanton at the Legation, and he conversed with me for some time. I -mentioned the difficulty connected with passes. He asked me what I -wanted. I said, “An order to go with the army to Manassas.” At his -request I procured a sheet of paper, and he wrote me a pass, took a -copy of it, which he put in his pocket, and then handed the other to -me. On looking at it, I perceived that it was a permission for me to -go to Manassas and back, and that all officers, soldiers, and others, -in the United States service, were to give me every assistance -and show me every courtesy; but the hasty return of the army to -Alexandria rendered it useless. - -The Merrimac and Monitor encounter produced the profoundest -impression in Washington, and unusual strictness was observed -respecting passes to Fortress Monroe. - -_March 19th._--I applied at the Navy Department for a passage down -to Fortress Monroe, as it was expected the Merrimac was coming out -again, but I could not obtain leave to go in any of the vessels. -Captain Hardman showed me a curious sketch of what he called the -Turtle Thor, an iron-cased machine with a huge claw or grapnel, with -which to secure the enemy whilst a steam hammer or a high iron fist, -worked by the engine, cracks and smashes her iron armour. “For,” says -he, “the days of gunpowder are over.” - -As soon as General M‘Clellan commenced his movement, he sent a -message to me by one of the French princes, that he would have great -pleasure in allowing me to accompany his head-quarters in the field. -I find the following, under the head of March 22nd:-- - -“Received a letter from General Marcy, chief of the staff, asking me -to call at his office. He told me General M‘Clellan directed him to -say he had no objection whatever to my accompanying the army, ‘but,’ -continued General Marcy, ‘you know we are a sensitive people, and -that our press is exceedingly jealous. General M‘Clellan has many -enemies who seek to pull him down, and scruple at no means of doing -so. He and I would be glad to do anything in our power to help you, -if you come with us, but we must not expose ourselves needlessly to -attack. The army is to move to the York and James Rivers at once.’” - -All my arrangements were made that day with General Van Vliet, the -quartermaster-general of head-quarters. I was quite satisfied, from -Mr. Stanton’s promise and General Marcy’s conversation, that I -should have no further difficulty. Our party was made up, consisting -of Colonel Neville; Lieutenant-Colonel Fletcher, Scotch Fusilier -Guards; Mr. Lamy, and myself; and our passage was to be provided in -the quartermaster-general’s boat. On the 26th of March, I went to -Baltimore in company with Colonel Rowan, of the Royal Artillery, who -had come down for a few days to visit Washington, intending to go -on by the steamer to Fortress Monroe, as he was desirous of seeing -his friends on board the Rinaldo, and I wished to describe the great -flotilla assembled there and to see Captain Hewett once more. - -On arriving at Baltimore, we learned it would be necessary to get -a special pass from General Dix, and on going to the General’s -head-quarters his aide-de-camp informed us that he had received -special instructions recently from the War Department to grant no -passes to Fortress Monroe, unless to officers and soldiers going -on duty, or to persons in the service of the United States. The -aide-de-camp advised me to telegraph to Mr. Stanton for permission, -which I did, but no answer was received, and Colonel Rowan and I -returned to Washington, thinking there would be a better chance of -securing the necessary order there. - -Next day we went to the Department of War, and were shown into Mr. -Stanton’s room--his secretary informing us that he was engaged in the -next room with the President and other Ministers in a council of war, -but that he would no doubt receive a letter from me and send me out -a reply. I accordingly addressed a note to Mr. Stanton, requesting -he would be good enough to give an order to Colonel Rowan, of the -British army, and myself, to go by the mail boat from Baltimore to -Monroe. In a short time Mr. Stanton sent out a note in the following -words:--“Mr. Stanton informs Mr. Russell no passes to Fortress Monroe -can be given at present, unless to officers in the United States -service.” We tried the Navy Department, but no vessels were going -down, they said; and one of the officers suggested that we should -ask for passes to go down and visit H.M.S. Rinaldo exclusively, -which could not well be refused, he thought, to British subjects, -and promised to take charge of the letter for Mr. Stanton and to -telegraph the permission down to Baltimore. There we returned by the -afternoon train and waited, but neither reply nor pass came for us. - -Next day we were disappointed also, and an officer of the Rinaldo, -who had come up on duty from the ship, was refused permission to take -us down on his return. I regretted these obstructions principally -on Colonel Rowan’s account, because he would have no opportunity -of seeing the flotilla. He returned next day to New York, whilst -I completed my preparations for the expedition and went back to -Washington, where I received my pass, signed by General M‘Clellan’s -chief of the staff, authorising me to accompany the head-quarters -of the army under his command. So far as I know, Mr. Stanton sent -no reply to my last letter, and calling with General Van Vliet -at his house on his reception night, the door was opened by his -brother-in-law, who said, “The Secretary was attending a sick child -and could not see any person that evening,” so I never met Mr. -Stanton again. - -Stories had long been current concerning his exceeding animosity -to General M‘Clellan, founded perhaps on his expressed want of -confidence in the General’s abilities, as much as on the dislike -he felt towards a man who persisted in disregarding his opinions -on matters connected with military operations. His infirmities of -health and tendency to cerebral excitement had been increased by -the pressure of business, by the novelty of power, and by the angry -passions to which individual antipathies and personal rancour give -rise. No one who ever saw Mr. Stanton would expect from him courtesy -of manner or delicacy of feeling; but his affectation of bluntness -and straightforwardness of purpose might have led one to suppose he -was honest and direct in purpose, as the qualities I have mentioned -are not always put forward by hypocrites to cloak finesse and -sinister action. - -The rest of the story may be told in a few words. It was perfectly -well known in Washington that I was going with the army, and I -presume Mr. Stanton, if he had any curiosity about such a trifling -matter, must have heard it also. I am told he was informed of -it at the last moment, and then flew out into a coarse passion -against General M‘Clellan because he had dared to invite or to -take anyone without his permission. What did a Republican General -want with foreign princes on his staff, or with foreign newspaper -correspondents to puff him up abroad? - -Judging from the stealthy, secret way in which Mr. Stanton struck -at General M‘Clellan the instant he had turned his back upon -Washington, and crippled him in the field by suddenly withdrawing -his best division without a word of notice, I am inclined to fear -he gratified whatever small passion dictated his course on this -occasion also, by waiting till he knew I was fairly on board the -steamer with my friends and baggage, just ready to move off, before -he sent down a despatch to Van Vliet and summoned him at once to -the War Office. When Van Vliet returned in a couple of hours, he -made the communication to me that Mr. Stanton had given him written -orders to prevent my passage, though even here he acted with all -the cunning and indirection of the village attorney, not with the -straightforwardness of Oliver Cromwell, whom it is laughable to name -in the same breath with his imitator. He did not write, “Mr. Russell -is not to go,” or “The _Times_ correspondent is forbidden a passage,” -but he composed two orders, with all the official formula of the War -Office, drawn up by the Quartermaster-General of the army, by the -direction and order of the Secretary of War. No. 1 ordered “that -no person should be permitted to embark on board any vessel in the -United States service without an order from the War Department.” -No. 2 ordered “that Colonel Neville, Colonel Fletcher, and Captain -Lamy, of the British army, having been invited by General M‘Clellan -to accompany the expedition, were authorized to embark on board the -vessel.” - -General Van Vliet assured me that he and General M‘Dowell had urged -every argument they could think of in my favour, particularly the -fact that I was the specially invited guest of General M‘Clellan, -and that I was actually provided with a pass by his order from the -chief of his staff. - -With these orders before me, I had no alternative. - -General M‘Clellan was far away. Mr. Stanton had waited again until he -was gone. General Marcy was away. I laid the statement of what had -occurred before the President, who at first gave me hopes, from the -wording of his letter, that he would overrule Mr. Stanton’s order, -but who next day informed me he could not take it upon himself to do -so. - -It was plain I had now but one course left. My mission in the United -States was to describe military events and operations, or, in -defect of them, to deal with such subjects as might be interesting -to people at home. In the discharge of my duty, I had visited the -South, remaining there until the approach of actual operations and -the establishment of the blockade, which cut off all communication -from the Southern States except by routes which would deprive my -correspondence of any value, compelled me to return to the North, -where I could keep up regular communication with Europe. Soon after -my return, as unfortunately for myself as the United States, the -Federal troops were repulsed in an attempt to march upon Richmond, -and terminated a disorderly retreat by a disgraceful panic. The whole -incidents of what I saw were fairly stated by an impartial witness, -who, if anything, was inclined to favour a nation endeavouring to -suppress a rebellion, and who was by no means impressed, as the -results of his recent tour, with the admiration and respect for the -people of the Confederate States which their enormous sacrifices, -extraordinary gallantry, and almost unparalleled devotion, have -long since extorted from him in common with all the world. The -letter in which that account was given came back to America after -the first bitterness and humiliation of defeat had passed away, and -disappointment and alarm had been succeeded by such a formidable -outburst of popular resolve, that the North forgot everything in the -instant anticipations of a glorious and triumphant revenge. - -Every feeling of the American was hurt--above all, his vanity and -his pride, by the manner in which the account of the reverse had -been received in Europe; and men whom I scorned too deeply to reply -to, dexterously took occasion to direct on my head the full storm -of popular indignation. Not, indeed, that I had escaped before. Ere -a line from my pen reached America at all--ere my first letter had -crossed the Atlantic to England--the jealousy and hatred felt for -all things British--for press or principle, or representative of -either--had found expression in Northern journals; but that I was -prepared for. I knew well no foreigner had ever penned a line--least -of all, no Englishman--concerning the United States of North America, -their people, manners, and institutions, who had not been treated to -the abuse which is supposed by their journalists to mean criticism, -no matter what the justness or moderation of the views expressed, -the sincerity of purpose, and the truthfulness of the writer. In -the South, the press threatened me with tar and feathers, because I -did not see the beauties of their domestic institution, and wrote -of it in my letters to England exactly as I spoke of it to every -one who conversed with me on the subject when I was amongst them; -and now the Northern papers recommended expulsion, ducking, riding -rails, and other cognate modes of insuring a moral conviction of -error; endeavoured to intimidate me by threats of duels or personal -castigations; gratified their malignity by ludicrous stories of -imaginary affronts or annoyances to which I never was exposed; and -sought to prevent the authorities extending any protection towards -me, and to intimidate officers from showing me any civilities. - -In pursuance of my firm resolution I allowed the slanders and -misrepresentations which poured from their facile sources for months -to pass by unheeded, and trusted to the calmer sense of the people, -and to the discrimination of those who thought over the sentiments -expressed in my letters, to do me justice. - -I need not enlarge on the dangers to which I was exposed. Those who -are acquainted with America, and know the life of the great cities, -will best appreciate the position of a man who went forth daily in -the camps and streets holding his life in his hand. This expression -of egotism is all I shall ask indulgence for. Nothing could have -induced me to abandon my post or to recoil before my assailants; but -at last a power I could not resist struck me down. When to the press -and populace of the United States, the President and the Government -of Washington added their power, resistance would be unwise and -impracticable. In no camp could I have been received--in no place -useful. I went to America to witness and describe the operations -of the great army before Washington in the field, and when I was -forbidden by the proper authorities to do so, my mission terminated -at once. - -On the evening of April 4th, as soon as I was in receipt of the -President’s last communication, I telegraphed to New York to engage -a passage by the steamer which left on the following Wednesday. -Next day was devoted to packing up and to taking leave of my -friends--English and American--whose kindnesses I shall remember in -my heart of hearts, and the following Monday I left Washington, of -which, after all, I shall retain many pleasant memories and keep -souvenirs green for ever. I arrived in New York late on Tuesday -evening, and next day I saw the shores receding into a dim grey fog, -and ere the night fell was tossing about once more on the stormy -Atlantic, with the head of our good ship pointing, thank Heaven, -towards Europe. - - -THE END. - - -BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Since died of wounds received in action. - -[2] It may be stated here, that this expedition met with a disastrous -result. If I mistake not, the officer, and with him the correspondent -of a paper who accompanied him, were killed by the cavalry whom he -meant to surprise, and several of the volunteers were also killed or -wounded. - -[3] Since killed in action. - -[4] I have since met the person referred to, an Englishman living in -Washington, and well known at the Legation and elsewhere. Mr. Dawson -came to tell me that he had seen a letter in an American journal, -which was copied extensively all over the Union, in which the writer -stated he accompanied me on my return to Fairfax Court-house, and -that the incident I related in my account of Bull Run did not occur, -but that he was the individual referred to, and could swear with his -assistant that every word I wrote was true. I did not need any such -corroboration for the satisfaction of any who know me; and I was -quite well aware that if one came from the dead to bear testimony -in my favour before the American journals and public, the evidence -would not countervail the slander of any characterless scribe who -sought to gain a moment’s notoriety by a flat contradiction of my -narrative. I may add, that Dawson begged of me not to bring him -before the public, “because I am now sutler to the ----th, over -in Virginia, and they would dismiss me.” “What! For certifying to -the truth?” “You know, sir, it might do me harm.” Whilst on this -subject, let me remark that some time afterwards I was in Mr. Brady’s -photographic studio in Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, when the very -intelligent and obliging manager introduced himself to me, and said -that he wished to have an opportunity of repeating to me personally -what he had frequently told persons in the place, that he could bear -the fullest testimony to the complete accuracy of my account of the -panic from Centreville down the road at the time I left, and that he -and his assistants, who were on the spot trying to get away their -photographic van and apparatus, could certify that my description -fell far short of the disgraceful spectacle and of the excesses of -the flight. - -[5] P. 200, Spencer’s American edition, New York, 1858. - -[6] Since killed in action. - -[7] Since killed in action fighting for the South at Antietam. - -[8] Since shot dead by the Federal General Jeff. C. Davis in a -quarrel at Nashville. - -[9] Since killed in action in Pope’s retreat from the north of -Richmond. - - - - -NEW WORKS LATELY PUBLISHED OR IN THE PRESS. - - -UNDER HER MAJESTY’S ESPECIAL PATRONAGE. - -_In One Vol., large 4to, printed in the highest style of art, and -embellished with Photographs, Coloured Borders, numerous Wood -Engravings, &c., &c._ - -THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY IN 1862. - - [_In the Press._ - - -MR. THACKERAY. - -_In One Vol., crown 8vo, price 7s., a New Edition, uniform with -“Vanity Fair,” &c._, - -THE VIRGINIANS. - -BY W. M. THACKERAY. - -Author of “Vanity Fair,” “Pendennis,” “The Newcomes,” “Esmond,” &c. - - -LANDSCAPE GARDENING. - -ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS PLANS, SECTIONS, AND SKETCHES OF GARDENS, &C. - -_In One Vol., demy 8vo, a New Edition, much enlarged and improved, of_ - -HOW TO LAY OUT A GARDEN. - -BY EDWARD KEMP, OF BIRKENHEAD. - -INTENDED AS A GUIDE IN CHOOSING, FORMING, OR IMPROVING AN ESTATE. - -(From a Quarter of an Acre to a Hundred Acres in Extent.) - - [_In the Press._ - - -RUSSIA IN THE TIME OF PETER THE GREAT. - -_In Two Vols., post 8vo., price 21s._, - -THE DIARY OF AN AUSTRIAN SECRETARY OF LEGATION - -AT THE COURT OF MOSCOW IN THE REIGN OF CZAR PETER THE GREAT. - -TOGETHER WITH A NARRATIVE OF THE DANGEROUS REBELLION OF THE STRELITZ, -ETC. - -TRANSLATED BY COUNT MACDONNEL. - - [_In the Press._ - - -BRADBURY AND EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET, E.C. - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE - - Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been - corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within - the text and consultation of external sources. - - Many words with hyphens, or without them, have been silently - adjusted to be more consistent. For example, instances of - ‘head quarters’ have been made ‘head-quarters’; ‘bedroom’ has been - changed to ‘bed-room’; ‘fire-arms’ has been changed to ‘firearms’. - - For consistency, instances of A.M. or P.M. have been made lower - case a.m. or p.m. - - Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, - and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. - - Pg v: ‘“Tory”’ replaced by ‘“Troy”’. - Pg vi: ‘Battle seenes’ replaced by ‘Battle scenes’. - Pg vii: ‘camp--Generall’ replaced by ‘camp--General’. - Pg 18: ‘volunteeers. He served’ replaced by ‘volunteers. He served’. - Pg 39: ‘or be garotted’ replaced by ‘or be garroted’. - Pg 40: ‘developes itself’ replaced by ‘develops itself’. - Pg 47: ‘the but over’ replaced by ‘the butt over’. - Pg 48: ‘grimace, he exclamed’ replaced by ‘grimace, he exclaimed’. - Pg 53: ‘on a drisly day’ replaced by ‘on a drizzly day’. - Pg 65: ‘defective educacation’ replaced by ‘defective education’. - Pg 70: ‘West-point men’ replaced by ‘West Point men’. - Pg 71: ‘to the field picee’ replaced by ‘to the field piece’. - Pg 79: ‘Illonois railroad’ replaced by ‘Illinois railroad’. - Pg 85: ‘apropos’ replaced by ‘à propos’. - Pg 89: ‘the crusiers of either’ replaced by ‘the cruisers of either’. - Pg 104: ‘ornamental mocassins’ replaced by ‘ornamental moccasins’. - Pg 104: ‘command of McDowell’ replaced by ‘command of M‘Dowell’. - Pg 105: ‘indefinite strengh’ replaced by ‘indefinite strength’. - Pg 119: ‘drove up Pennyslvania’ replaced by ‘drove up Pennsylvania’. - Pg 120: ‘developes its power’ replaced by ‘develops its power’. - Pg 129: ‘the whileom editor’ replaced by ‘the whilom editor’. - Pg 141: ‘that n the South’ replaced by ‘that in the South’. - Pg 169: ‘vivacions prying’ replaced by ‘vivacious prying’. - Pg 177: ‘white gaiter--mdae’ replaced by ‘white gaiter--made’. - Pg 186: ‘started at 4·15’ replaced by ‘started at 4.15’. - Pg 190: ‘with turburlent and’ replaced by ‘with turbulent and’. - Pg 199: ‘stray aide-de-camps’ replaced by ‘stray aides-de-camp’. - Pg 200: ‘spiled with blood’ replaced by ‘spoiled with blood’. - Pg 210: ‘in eference to’ replaced by ‘in reference to’. - Pg 220: ‘to develope loyal’ replaced by ‘to develop loyal’. - Pg 222: ‘commssiariat carts’ replaced by ‘commissariat carts’. - Pg 225: ‘Notwitstanding all’ replaced by ‘Notwithstanding all’. - Pg 228: ‘from he men and’ replaced by ‘from the men and’. - Pg 231: ‘the throng inrceased’ replaced by ‘the throng increased’. - Pg 235: ‘down theere with’ replaced by ‘down there with’. - Pg 241: ‘whiskey and and tallow’ replaced by ‘whiskey and tallow’. - Pg 250: ‘General Patteson’ replaced by ‘General Patterson’. - Pg 253: ‘andot hers who’ replaced by ‘and others who’. - Pg 258: ‘hanging a Secesssionist’ replaced by ‘hanging a Secessionist’. - Pg 267: ‘House--Drunkeness’ replaced by ‘House--Drunkenness’. - Pg 277: ‘developes itself in’ replaced by ‘develops itself in’. - Pg 283: ‘be seat off’ replaced by ‘be sent off’. - Pg 283: ‘time to develope’ replaced by ‘time to develop’. - Pg 294: ‘This day month’ replaced by ‘This day a month ago’. - Pg 306: ‘has been meeted to’ replaced by ‘has been meted to’. - Pg 321: ‘Captain Foote, U.N.S.’ replaced by ‘Captain Foote, U.S.N.’. - Pg 377: ‘and resmbles its’ replaced by ‘and resembles its’. - Pg 382: ‘utterly villanous’ replaced by ‘utterly villainous’. - Pg 391: ‘egregrious share’ replaced by ‘egregious share’. - Pg 401: ‘with grizly bears’ replaced by ‘with grizzly bears’. - Pg 404: ‘his own responsibilty’ replaced by ‘his own responsibility’. - Pg 415: ‘plaee in honour’ replaced by ‘place in honour’. - Pg 421: ‘villanous deserter’ replaced by ‘villainous deserter’. - Pg 421: ‘cotillon party’ replaced by ‘cotillion party’. - Pg 440: ‘almost unparelleled’ replaced by ‘almost unparalleled’. - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY DIARY: NORTH AND SOUTH (VOL. -2 OF 2) *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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